Jan 18, 2018 - there are arrows here by nahaan

i see you.
the ones above ground.
sacrificing for the land.
fighting for future generations.
you are visible.
you are powerful.
you will succeed with that which many say is impossible.
you were born to do so.
your lineage, Indigenous beauty
already proves that.
you remind us prayers and good thoughts
wont stop the destruction of 526 years.
you remind us that for some,
prayers are arrows,
aimed at the hearts of the enemy
since the enemy has no conscience.
the enemy is still as rote as their ancestors unaddressed pain
so much so that they have no ability to look for their missing parts,
so they try to replace emptiness with more greed,
money, mental chains,
walls, behind white hoods and crosses,
flags, and bullets.
bullets everywhere.
nukes everywhere.
they brought death to life
in their manufactured mirrors.
we already know these things.
Indigenous warrior.
you are the answer
i see you in your stillness.
in your dekkkolonization.
the way you push out the oppressive governments.
the way you move out the fake fish farms.
the way you stand against the oil companies.
the corporations
the systems
the lies.
the way you occupy the lng structures.
the white man supremacy.
i am so proud of you.
i love you.
protector of the sacred.
draped in the beauty dekkkolonized lands
lavished in the hereditary resistance of your aunties and uncles
bringing grandparents stories of the supernatural back to life.
if for nothing else,
may you hear my song.
echoing through the desolation.
its called:
never stop.
shuffling papers can only go so far before
even the most eloquent of orators and writers
are often ineffective
so you have decided
to put your body there.
risking it for me. for all of us.
warrior:
never stop.
a 3 prong approach to change.
a collection of the most shocking of facts
of what they have done, are doing and plan to do to us
to Indigenous lands.
one can only swallow so much death.
before something must be done.
before we recognize
they dont show us how to fight back inside their schools for a reason
so we have started a new classroom,
one of streets
and stomps
and screams from the suffering
and shields made of mirrors
they pretend they cannot see into.
2018 is the year revolutionaries turn up.
you can find arrows here.
arrows cast out together
unbreakable:
never stop.
as you rise
they fall.
never stop.

by nahaan

nahaan is of Łingít, Iñupiaq, and Paiute ancestry. His work reflects his teachings and cultural background. He has been a natural artist all his life. As a tattoo artist of 5 years and running he focuses exclusively on working within the spirit of the traditional tattoos of his ancestors. As a carver, painter and designer he emulates the visual storytelling crafts so dear to his people of South East Alaska. He teaches the Tlingit language and song, and is the spokesperson for Náakw Dancers a group which he started in Seattle, Washington in order to perpetuate the rich expressions of the Pacific North West’s indigenous population. He focuses on aspects of community empowerment and self mastery through elements of decolonization and activism.