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AN INTERVIEW WITH NATIVE FILMMAKER ISAAC TRIMBL “YOU KNOW THAT TATTOO IS RACIST.” It was one of the first sentences Isaac Trimble ( Apache) spoke to the big burly man covered in tattoos next to him—a man who would eventually become his long-time film partner. Isaac was working on a film in Portland, Oregon when he was asked to pick up another crew member, LaRonn Katchia (Warm Springs/Wasco/Paiute). It was the beginning of a 9-year-long friendship. Isaac Trimble and LaRonn Katchia are a...

The loss of tribal elders has swelled into a cultural crisis as the pandemic has killed American Indians and Alaska Natives at nearly twice the rate of white people, deepening what critics call the deadly toll of a tattered health system and generations of harm and broken promises by the U.S. government. Tribal nations and volunteer groups are now trying to protect their elders as a mission of cultural survival. Navajo women started a campaign to deliver meals and sanitizer to high-desert...

The “last wild Indian,” Ishi, spent nearly 45 years in hiding with his mom, uncle, and sister as the rest of the Yahi People were killed in the Three Knolls Massacre. After their camp was ransacked, Ishi was the last survivor. He spent 3 years surviving on his own in the wilderness until he was captured by the local Sheriff. He stayed at the University of California, Berkeley and taught the anthropologists his peoples tradition, culture and language as best as he could remember. His brain...

During a time where women were no more than stay-at-home housewives, Susan La Flesche Picotte broke through all barriers and became the first Native American woman to become a physician in the United States. Graduating from the Hampton Institute as valedictorian, Susan was determined to pursue her medical degree and was accepted at Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. She wrote an appeal to the Connecticut Indian Association for finances and was the first person to receive financial aid...

In 1877, the Ponca people were exiled from their Nebraska homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. To honor his dying son’s last wish to be buried in his homeland, Chief Standing Bear set off on a grueling, six-hundred-mile journey home. Captured en-route, Standing Bear sued a famous U.S. army general for his freedom–choosing to fight injustice not with weapons, but with words. The Chief stood before the court to prove that an Indian was a person under the law. The story quickly...

Northern California ACEs Aware is a network of community leaders in health, education, and trauma-informed care. We’re working to share resources and communications, as well as to provide ACEs training for your teams. Please help us get the word out about our training activities. SIGN UP AT - www.norcalaces.org UPCOMING TRAINING ACTIVITIES Trauma Informed Care 101 (two times available) January 20th – 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM January 30th – 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM Led by Nick Dalton of Hanna Institute,...

In reporting on the transformative thinking Native communities are putting into action in these tumultuous times, I heard time and time again: “This is not our first pandemic.” Since the 1500s, when ever-larger numbers of Europeans began arriving in this hemisphere, disasters have come thick and fast for the First Nations, including tens of millions wiped out within a century by continual waves of unfamiliar diseases—measles, influenza, smallpox, typhus, diphtheria, and more. Village after...

While Vision Maker Media empowers and engages Native peoples to share stories, we also view a great deal of importance in education on how to be an ally for Native Americans. As we look ahead to 2021 we hope to cultivate conversation. Check out our list of ways you can be an ally brought to you by Native American allies in our organization. 1. STOP TALKING AND LISTEN One of the most vital steps in becoming an ally to Native Americans is simply listening. There’s a lot to learn as an ally,...

The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz...

Season's Greetings Folks, Whatever your faith, belief system, ethnicity, identity may be, I am wishing everyone peace and joy. I am grateful that our paths have crossed. I will share a song of "Joy". I don't have much to offer, but as a musician I do have the gifts of music to share. An older song of mine & video, but the sentiment remains the same. Stay safe & Take care, Michael. "Joy" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4tWjowZVo

Hey folks, A powerful music documentary. Well worth watching to learn the back story on some great musicians and music. I saw this a few years ago, glad I watched it again. Talk about overcoming trauma, racism and stigma....these folks exemplify the courage and the perseverance of the human spirit. Take care, Michael. - RUMBLE | The Indians Who Rocked the World | Independent Lens | PBS - https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/rumble/

Playwright, poet, and essayist Cherríe Moraga sees the world as a place where the body knows and “the land has memory,” as she states in this interview. Moraga was born and raised in Southern California in the days when the civil rights, queer, antiwar, feminist, and environmental movements were changing the terms of public and private life. Her childhood home was just one long block from the San Gabriel Mission, established in 1771, and within view of the San Gabriel Mountains, smog...