I found this on twitter and wanted to share it here; I think it’s important for non-natives to realize just how much of a presence history has on us as a people. It’s something that’s on our minds every day. I think about my language being stolen from my people and myself by the Spanish missionaries every day. I think about my ancestral homeland being taken over and stolen by white people who drove the cost of living up so high that I may not ever be able to move back, every day. I think about how my grandparents and great grandparents were forced to change their identities because practicing our cultures was illegal, and how being native was a crime, every day. I think about how my people were brutalized and enslaved by missionaries and then by white “Americans” every day. My head is constantly filled with thoughts and prayers about my ancestors and if they are alright. If they know that we are alright. The history of my people and of all native people weighs heavy on my heart and my mind, and it is not something that you can tell me to “get over”, because it does not feel like something that happened so long ago. I’m not quite sure what else I can say except for the fact that I am hurting. I am hurting for myself and my ancestors and my family and for all my native brothers and sisters.