We at Morningside Center invite you to both honor Native and Indigenous communities, wisdom and history and remember the joy and genius of First Nations and Cultures. Below we share commitments, learnings and event opportunities as we shine a light on the Lenape Center.
Every year, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is marked on September 30th. About two weeks later arrives Indigenous Peoples’ Day/ Día de la Raza (Spanish, Day of the People, México, etc.)—this year Monday, October 14th. And these momentous days precede what is now Native History Month (November).
In the education community, this makes for an incredible opportunity to bear witness, honor Native practices that can and do reshape the world, celebrate Indigenous joy and genius, and get to work. Morningside Center is no stranger to any of these practices, and we take it upon ourselves this year to recommit to each of them.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation marks the long Canadian (and American) history of forcibly removing/ abducting Native children and placing them in traumatic residential schools that explicitly aimed to use any and all means to take the Indigenous out of the child—often through physical, spiritual and other harms. Thousands upon thousands of children died. The last residential school was closed in 1996 (full disclosure, that’s the year I graduated from high school; had I been Native, I may not have lived to get my K-12 diploma).
Indigenous Peoples’ Day began in South Dakota as “Native American Day” in 1990. Berkeley, CA, then adopted it in 1992 in protest of Columbus' arrival 500 years earlier. CNN has said it’s a day to reflect on how the US has treated Native Peoples. And, while words cannot begin to represent the horrors of the last 500 years for Indigenous peoples in the western hemisphere, it is also incumbent on allies to recognize that in addition to all that was done to Native peoples, Indigenous peoples (and their nations) have voice, strength and sovereignty and empower themselves every single day. Native peoples are also alive and thriving—and non-Native peoples can celebrate and learn—and listen—every autumn from now on.
At Morningside Center—an explicitly anti-racist school transformation organization—we work to make schools joyful, supportive homes for community, inclusion, diverse cultural celebration and sharing. We opted to learn from Native practices about how to do this, and implement those practices in our trainings, coaching and more—including in our Circle practice (stay tuned for more)—attributing learnings and wisdom to the Indigenous communities we learn from early and often.
And we are always looking for ways to grow the relationships that bear witness, work toward reconciliation, increase justice and move us all into the joyful right relationships that are so beautifully, powerfully shown to us in so many Indigenous cultures and practices. We also affirm Native sovereignty, and commit to moving forward in partnership with Native communities.
So, this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Morningside Center would like to honor, uplift and celebrate the Lenape Center, and its founders Joe Baker, Curtis Zunigha, Hadrien Coumans and Brent Michael Davids—the people of Lenapehoking, the living land on which we reside and for which we are responsible. We invite you to follow the Lenape Center, attend their Brooklyn Library event, and visit an exhibition at Montclair Museum that Joe Baker (co-founder) helped make possible:
Teaching Lenape History & Presence in New York City Schools
https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/teaching-lenape-history-central-library-dweck-20241118-0730pm
The Brooklyn Public Library, in collaboration with the Lenape Center, presents a talk to introduce and discuss a new Lenape curriculum developed for PK-12 students.
Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art
https://www.montclairartmuseum.org/exhibition/interwoven-power-native-knowledge-native-art
Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge / Native Art is a fresh reinstallation of Montclair Art Museum’s renowned collection of Indigenous art from North America. Foregrounding Native perspectives, the exhibition explores the transformative power of Indigenous knowledge to address pressing social issues. Themes include relationships to the earth and its beings, gender and family, sovereignty and justice, and the power of art itself.
We also commit to adding more action to our work at Morningside Center—an effort we intend to develop over the course of Native History Month. You can view our current Land Acknowledgement (linked), and please stay tuned as we develop new steps and collaborations, and publish a new re-dedicated Acknowledgement and Commitment.
Morningside Center knows we can all do better, be better—including us. We move toward right relationship with all living beings—inspired and motivated by Native teachings, joy, genius and wisdom.
Join us in celebrating Indigenous Peoples, cultures, joy, genius and wisdom—and let us know what you’re doing to uplift, learn and celebrate!
Further Reading
Further Watching