Photo by Lime Soda Photography
This poem was submitted by Natasha Anderson-Brass, a Saulteaux, Ukrainian and French Canadian farmer, artist, knowledge keeper, and scientist, to raise awareness of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG) Report and its Calls for Justice. May 5th is recognized annually as Red Dress Day, or the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People.
INTERGENERATIONAL BEAUTY
By Natasha Anderson-Brass
We are violated on deaf ears
Over and over again
Raw and bloodied
You yearn to hear our pain and see our beauty
But only want one side of truth
Only want to hear our stories without telling yours
How can you tell half a story?
Someone once told me: “you don’t look Indigenous”
Fighting back tears I thought
How would they know?
Slowly moving through my grief
This inherited energy
Intergenerational beauty
From my Grandmother
Stagnant inside me
Her brown skin a cause for torture
Creation of heavy stones
That I now must carry
I know you suffer too
I get lost on the road to compassion
Fury and fire are more friendly
Do not give me pity
Give me a land of plenty and my heart will sing
Give me seeds to plant and I will grow a thousand
Give me back the hands that were meant to hold mine
And we will water the Earth together
LEARN MORE AND TAKE ACTION
Read: Amnesty International No More Stolen Sisters Campaign
Listen: Taken the Podcast
Learn: Elements of Truth: Before Reconciliation. Are you a farmer located in B.C. wondering how to engage meaningfully with the Indigenous lands you steward? kinSHIFT, an Indigenous-led organization, hosts essential online trainings about cultivating better relationships with Indigenous peoples and places. Young Agrarians has received funding to subsidize the cost of participation in the kinSHIFT workshop series, Elements of Truth: Before Reconciliation for B.C. farmers and food provisioners. The next workshops start in October, 2024. Learn more here.
About the Author
Natasha Anderson-Brass is a Saulteaux, Ukrainian and French Canadian farmer, artist, knowledge keeper, and scientist. Natasha is a member of the Key First Nation, who are located in Treaty 4 territory. As a result of residential schools and the 60s scoop, Natasha was not raised on her traditional territory with her Indigenous kin or culture, but is grateful to now be learning her cultural ways from her family, including her auntie Sharon Jinkerson-Brass who learned from her great grandmother Rebecca who was a traditional midwife and healer.
Natasha began farming in 2018 and started Minwaadizi Farm in 2022. Minwaadizi Farm is a small scale organic market farm and land-based cultural center located on the unceded traditional territory of the K’ómoks First Nation. Minwaadizi means ‘they live a good life’ in Natasha’s native language, Anishinaabemowin. Natasha believes in the power of caring for the land, growing nourishing foods, and practicing culture as a way to heal from the impacts of colonization.
Nindinawemaganidog,
(all my relations)