This Land
Land of the free, unless you’re Indigenous,
Land passed from generations suddenly taken from us,
1897 kill the Indian save the man,
1883 Indian ceremonies and dancing are banned,
1885 BIA became a surrogate assimilationist governance,
1887 no more native language on your lands, your rez’s,
1891 Compulsory attendance,
Give us your children or we’ll starve you and them,
1902 you’re still here, so now we’re going to pretendian,
We’re adding ourselves to your rolls and giving ourselves guardianship of your land again,
Fast forward in time, now let’s look at 2005,
There’s been a ban on Indians in Boston since 1675,
Sixteen seventy-five,
That’s not even how long we’ve been fighting just for the right to be alive.
Courtney Akbar, 2024
Untitled, Tall Oak Weeden, date unknown.This artwork depicts Tall Oak’s own family escaping burning Fort Mystic, Connecticut, during the Pequot War (1637-1638).
About the artist: Tall Oak Weeden (1936-2022) was an artist, writer, activist, historian, and community leader. Used with permission of his family.
Miscellaneous
Of various types or from different sources,
That’s what I’ve been called in your history courses,
Nipmuc, Narragansett, Webster/Dudley,
I have the names for these pieces of me,
These labels have not mattered before present time,
But now within your structures I am being confined,
Where are these borders that seem to me imagined,
For us, during some seasons, far travel happened,
I fight for my voice, for the truth to be spoken,
But I have been silenced and our traditions stolen and broken,
We are survivors of an ongoing genocide,
It’s a miracle, every single descendant still alive,
We were welcoming and open, we have always loved,
The evidence in clear in the centuries of tri-racial blood,
But in this system, I am only given one,
Miscellaneous he said,
She’s a miscellaneous one.
Courtney Akbar, 2024