“We’re still here…”

With indige­nous peo­ples in mind, this phrase con­jures up visions of per­se­ver­ance, of tenac­ity, of stub­born­ness. What dri­ves com­mu­ni­ties that have under­gone trauma or cat­a­clysmic events on vast scales still adhere to one another, to res­ur­rect tra­di­tional cul­tural val­ues in the face of over­whelm­ing suppression?

One of the first things this makes me think of is how sur­vival itself becomes a polit­i­cal act. What does it mean when your very exis­tence is con­tentious and must be advo­cated for and reaf­firmed? What does it mean when sys­temic era­sure and appro­pri­a­tion of your cul­ture is so wide­spread as to be invis­i­ble? What does it mean to have your exis­tence lodged in the past, part of pre-modernity, to have to fight to be rec­og­nized even as present? What does it mean when, like the Duwamish, you are under­cut by oth­ers with whom you else­wise might claim alliance?

On one level, this brings to the fore ques­tions of com­mu­nity and resis­tance. How does com­mu­nity func­tion as a sur­vival func­tion? I think of the mul­ti­plic­ity of ways that com­mu­ni­ties are formed against colo­nial­ism: shared cul­tures, geo­graph­i­cal prox­im­ity (often by force e.g. reser­va­tions), a com­mon goal, a com­mon enemy. Para­dox­i­cally, it would seem that the forces that shat­ter and splin­ter com­mu­ni­ties are the same forces that draw sur­vivors together to con­struct new com­mu­ni­ties as mech­a­nisms of heal­ing. Are these com­mu­ni­ties are not solely formed in oppo­si­tion but rather in sol­i­dar­ity with one another? Are they formed out of self-love more than hatred of the colonizer?

To me, this phase also has an edge of melan­cho­lia to it.  It brings up the unfin­ished and on-going project not only of colo­nial­ism but of geno­cide. Two premises: Geno­cide is mul­ti­fac­eted and mul­ti­vari­ate, exist­ing on lev­els of per­sons, cul­tures, and rights. Geno­cide is not a dis­crete event but the con­tin­ual rip­pling out­ward of trauma. Does geno­cide ever stop? How does one derail geno­cide? “We’re still here” but for how long?

Jesus christ….