I didn’t think I was going to comment on identity stuff but, I realized that one of the things that’s fucked whenever identity stuff comes up is that I almost always have a moment where I start questioning my own identity.

Am I actually Native? Do I belong to a community? Who am I even? (Just real existential lol).

Now, let’s be clear. I am absolutely Indigenous. In all kinds of ways – I’ve even got the unusual story (for my generation) of being adopted from a native family into another native family.

I’ve got all kinds of nativeness going on, lol. Sometimes too much, even (jokes). But, I bring this up because it speaks to the tension that exists in just BEING Indigenous.

For so long, just being Indigenous was "illegal". It is still criminalized, vilified, and marginalized. Indigenous identity is intricately tied to so much trauma that just TO BE feels almost unreal some days.

Being proud of who I am and where I’m from has been a lifelong journey of working through shame and deep, deep colonial scars. For me, shaping my own reality of what it means to be who I am has been intentional and sometimes painful.

So, when shit like this happens – when people just show up and establish and assert a reality that turns out to be unreal – it affects my own reality and makes me question everything I have done and been through that is directly connected to my identity.

This is what I find to be the most offensive part of false identity claims – the ease with which someone can show up and unsettle my whole world without any understanding of what it means to wield that kind of power.

My identity and reality is (partially) a result of the work I (and my relatives) have done to be in constant praxis and affirmation of who we are AS HUMANS – in the face of the violence of colonialism and oppression.

I want to live in a world where my identity isn’t a struggle. Where who I am is celebrated and lifted up without the interference of violence. I am lucky to have spaces where that is true and those are some of the places where I have learned what love really is.

Anything that challenges our ability to exist without doubt or fear is wrong and harmful.

Anything that interferes with our power to build our own worlds and identities is inherently oppressive.

Ekosi.