BIPOC Lenses Issue 6

BIPOC LENSES ISSUE 6

EDITORS NOTE Welcome Back, everyone, to the second year of BIPOC Lenses. It feels equally crazy, as it is wonderful to say that. Going into our second year of publishing means new opportunities and students to talk to. This issue, for me, was a dream come true. BIPOC stands for Black Indigenous People of Color, and it has always been a goal of mine to have an issue focusing on Native students and the community within Oberlin. I spent the summer communicating with wonderful students who were willing to share their stories about being Native, and I thank them for trusting me with their work and stories. This issue, like every issue, taught me so much. I am in awe of all that I can learn from just listening and reading people's work. I do BIPOC Lenses for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is that I get to know so many different communities and people on campus. With each issue, My perspective and knowledge only grow and challenge me to think about all that BIPOC Lenses could be and the different places people come from that I have yet to explore. This year, I hope to expand BIPOC Lenses into new ideas and photoshoot concepts. Focusing not on just separate POC communities but the intersectionality that many folks have as well. So, I thank you for reading this issue and helping me with this journey.

Editor-In-Chief

Writers

Models

Nikki Keating

Isabel Handa Maya Joselina Lynette Gassner

Isabel Handa Maya Joselina Lynette Gassner Rio Manzanares

Artists Joella Byron-Dixon

Photographer Serafina Yan @serafina_luvs_cats

Manger Ella Powell Treasurer Arya Menon

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CONTENTS BIPOC LENSES

Issue 6

1 Editors Note 2 Photoshoot Purpose 5 Retribution 9 a native’s reflection of existing at oberlin 12 Outreach and Aid 13 Spreading Awareness and Outreach 14 Joella Byron-Dixon 20 Untitled 24 25 How to Get Involved

Photoshoot Purpose This photo shoot is dedicated to highlighting and creating space to celebrate Native heritage at Oberlin. A discussion was had during the photo shoot, with those who contributed to the issue deciding that Native would be the term used to represent the models and writers in the issue.

Each Model within these pages is featured in Oberlin, wearing red, which in many Native cultures signifies transcending the physical world and calls to the ancestors in the spirit world. This issue and photoshoot represent only a fraction of the Native heritage in the world. While we have a small population of Native students in Oberlin, BIPOC Lenses hopes to showcase the students who identify as Native and give a platform for them to share their stories. Rather, this photoshoot showcases some of the many beautiful places students can have heritage from.

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RETRIBUTION Isabel Handa The box marked Hawaiʻi is wrapped in a white bow. Stacked like fresh pastries on scaffolded holding racks, white bow-wrapped boxes cover the shelves of a cabinet that reaches to the ceiling. The Indigenous Remains Cabinet. On the box marked Hawaiʻi, an arrow drawn in Sharpie points upwards, which, from the side, looks like a “please keep upright” notifier like the ones on shipping boxes.

However, when you are standing above the box, about to see the iwi poʻo (skull) of your kupuna (ancestor), the arrow points directly at you. When you open the box marked Hawaiʻi, you are staring straight into the eyes of your desecrated kupuna.

No one was ever going to be able to prepare me for this.

“You’re it” says Halealoha Ayau, Chairman of the NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) Review Committee. It is the week before my finals, and the leading activist in Hawaiian repatriation tells me that I am going to be performing a wrapping ceremony and bringing home a Hawaiian ancestor.

Approximately two days prior, at a meeting of the Working Group on Indigenous Matters, I had discovered from Professor Amy Margaris that Oberlin was in possession of an iwi poʻo. Given to Oberlin by E.P. Church, a missionary and Oberlin alum, the iwi poʻo became part of Oberlinʻs Museum archives, before consecutively being forgotten with the later shutdown of the museum. That is why, even in the pursuit of iwi kupuna by Hawaiian repatriation organizations, even after the passing of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 33 years ago, Oberlinʻs possession of the iwi poʻo went unknown. And in that time, 150 years have passed.

Halealoha Ayau always said, “Donʻt fear your ancestral shadow.” Because the kūpuna are in our iwi, because we have such a profound relationship to one another, it is our kuleana (responsibility) to care for and protect one another (Halealoha 2023). Halealoha Ayau and the Kumu of Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo taught me the skills I needed to do so. By weaving and learning the oli and pule (prayers and chants), I was able to develop a stronger relationship with my own kūpuna, so I did not fear them, but I did fear failing them.

Halealoha Ayau was one of the first people to take me in and teach me about my heritage and history. I was not born in Hawaiʻi but Berkeley, California and my grandparents from the islands passed away when I was young. Because I was raised with Western values, ideas, and culture, I felt lacking in my identity as Kanaka Hawaiʻi. Thus, when I took a year off from school, I dedicated my time to opportunities to learn and practice all that I could.

But no matter how much I learned and grew, I never believed I was Hawaiian enough. I still donʻt, really. And so, how could someone who wasnʻt even Hawaiian enough perform a wrapping ceremony and transport the iwi kupuna back home?

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Of all of the skilled Hawaiian scholars, activists, and cultural practitioners that I trained alongside in Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo, why should it be the 19-year-old haumana from Berkeley?

Furthermore, why should it be the 19-year-old who was a mess of identity insecurity and imposter syndrome? Halealoha Ayau always said that to protect the mental well-being of both the living and the kūpuna, emotional boundaries must be set. But how could these lines be drawn by the person who struggled all year with feeling like Oberlin was not a space for her Indigeneity? After grieving the loss of the life she had, finally developing her identity as Kānaka Hawaiʻi? I could not handle it well when I learned that my kūpuna was trapped at Oberlin because I did not think it could get worse. Youʻre not supposed to be stuck here too, in this institution with no space for us.

I could not handle the grief like I was trained to. I could not look my kūpuna in the face without breaking down from the trauma of their 150 year entrapment. I could not withhold my anger at the cruelty of the act from a missionary that graduated from this very college. That I was at this college where my white peers are allowed to feel supported and safe, while my ancestor is in a fucking box on the third floor of King. I was not supposed to, but I clung to the iwi kūpuna. We were getting each other through this.

And we did. Oberlin, Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo, and Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum completed the repatriation process in 2 weeks. I took an all nighter before my economics final to weave a hinaʻi lauhala (hala basket), scraped by the rest of my finals, and Professor Margaris and I set off on the smoothest plane ride to Oʻahu. In the end, at Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum mihi (amends) with the Caceres family and museum representatives, I was able to let go of the iwi kupuna. I really was not sure that I would be able to, but seeing everyone amend this chapter of the history between Oberlin and Hawaiʻi, I was convinced that we both could begin to let go of our grief. Since then, opportunities have been opening up for me at Oberlin to create the space that I wanted all along.

It was the doing of the kupuna. Kalehua Caceres, Kumu at Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo, said “the kupuna was ready, so they put you on the path to get them home.” And finally, I understood. If I had not been trained in repatriation, and had not gone to Oberlin as a student, I would not have found Professor Margaris and the iwi kupuna. It was because I was a young student at a liberal arts college that made me the perfect person to bring the kupuna home. I did not have to be Hawaiian enough because, ultimately, the kupuna will be the ones to decide when and who they are going to call. As Kānaka, I just have to make sure that I am ready for when the call comes.

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a native’s reflection of existing at oberlin Maya Joselina Talking about my Indigeneity is so personal and vulnerable. It seems like an impossible task to write and release publicly. I feel myself wanting to criticize my writing; there are so many amazing writers out there, how dare I think I can write as good as them. But that mentality right there, that’s a colonizer mindset, built to silence us. I can’t let them take away my voice.

This isn’t a happy message because I don’t feel happy about this. I’m not going to sugarcoat my experience as a native person just to ease you of your guilt. You’ve made me feel like the way I express myself will never be good enough for you. You made me feel that way, my mother, my grandmother, and every mother that came before. In honor of my family, my cousins, my ancestors, my tribe, I offer my message with the constant fear that this will not get better, but also with the hope that I have nothing to lose trying to save our serenity and joy.

As a native student at Oberlin, I connect with my ancestors through the trees. These are old and wise trees and I strongly encourage you to make their acquaintance. Through their strong trunks I am reminded to take a breath and separate from the grind culture that surrounds me everyday.

They remind me that life expands beyond the physical. This energetical space is strong in Oberlin, a town situated on Erie, Kaskaskia, and Wyandot land, making the buildings, cars, roads, and white people feel less real.

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No amount of land acknowledgments made by white professors is going to change the amount of violence that has occurred in this space. Many of us, I’m sure, feel this too. I often find myself in disgust looking around at the infrastructure and privileged rich white Obies and mourn what this place once was; although I wasn’t there as my present physical self, my soul remembers.

A native practice that I learned through…being born…is community care. Although a lot of people at Oberlin feel like they have a strong support system, I don’t feel as though we inherently embody a community based way of living. This does not look like poc forgiving white people for being racist for the sake of maintaining a conflict-free environment.

This also does not look like locking ourselves in a practice room or study room and isolating ourselves from the world around us. This also does not look like ignoring the non-Oberlin students that live in our town and surrounding towns. Not only is this campus a bubble within the town of Oberlin, there are also bubbles within that bubble that further isolate us from each other. This was a big culture shock for me, and I did not realize it would be.

It is already isolating to live in this country as a native person. For me personally, I grew up far from where my tribe resides currently. I’ve never been on the reservation, I barely know the language, I don’t have any stories, recipes, physical mementos from ancestors.

All I have is this feeling in my soul, these random moments of emptiness while I walk around lands imagining the endless amounts of violence that have happened in order for a road, a school, a home, a police station, to be built. So to come to a place where the most basic set of values that I carry with me everywhere - empathy, collaboration, care, unconditional love - are scarce, that was and still is shocking. I don’t think anything will change.

I give my appreciation to Third World Co-op, it has been a warm home with warm people that see me and care for me and I hope they feel seen and cared for in return. I also want to thank the special musicians that inspire me to be better not only as a musician but also as a human being, you know who you are. I offer gratitude to the Chickasaw Nation and my guardians that are with me always. I see you in the birds, I feel you and hug you in the trees, I hear you in the wind. I know you are within me, always. I am within you, too.

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Indgienous

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OUTREACH AND AID

Recently Hawaii experienced a series of wildfires in early August 2023. The fires affected the islands of Maui and Hawai’i, causing evacuations and widespread damage to many communities.

Maui Fire and Disaster Relief

The Kākoʻo Maui Fund

Hawaii Wildfire Relief Fund

Maui Strong Fund.

Help Maui Rise: Directly Aid ʻOhana Displaced by Fires : Donate Directly to Maui ʻOhana Spreadsheet

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OUTREACH AND AID

SPREADING AWARENESS AND RESOURCES Here are some organizations dedicated to uplifiting Native communities to get involved with.

Native American Rights Fund The American Indian College Fund invests in Native students and tribal college education to transform lives and communities.

The Association on American Indian Affairs The oldest non-profit serving Indian Country protecting sovereignty, preserving culture, educating youth and building capacity.

The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc. A Native-led nonprofit organization dedicated to ending violence against Native women and children.

The Native American Rights Fund Holds governments accountable. We fight to protect Native American rights, resources, and lifeways through litigation, legal advocacy, and legal expertise.

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FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER

JOELLA BYRON-DIXON

My name is Joella Byron-Dixon (she/they), I am 24 years old and I’m a portrait and concert photographer. I grew up in Oberlin, OH and have been involved in the community my whole life. I am a cofounder of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Committee of Oberlin, and I help to coordinate our events & collaborations with other organizations. My family has Kanienʼkehá꞉ka Hodinǫ hsǫ :i ancestry (Iroquois Mohawk), and our process of reconnecting is largely what inspired me back in May of 2021 to start this project. #MMIWG2S is a movement to raise awareness about the epidemic of Native women, girls, and Two Spirit going missing or being killed. The hand print painted over the mouth symbolizes the voices of these people being silenced and ignored by the media.

In many Native nations, red is believed to be the only color Spirits see. By wearing a red handprint (and/or red clothing), we hope to call back the missing spirits of our women, girls, and two-spirit relatives so they can be laid to rest or reunited with their families.

Here are a few of the statistics that stood out to me at the time of the project 96% of Native female victims of sexual violence were attacked by non-Native perpetrators.

The murder and disappearances of Native women/girls are often connected to domestic/dating violence, rape and sex trafficking.

The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls & two-spirit has deep roots in colonization and fetishization.

There were 5,712 known incidents of missing/murdered Indigenous women in 2016. However, only 116 of these cases were logged into the DOJ database. (Sources: National Institute of Justice, Urban Indian Health Institute) I did very little preparation or advertising for this project; it was a last minute idea, and I felt moved to get it started as soon as possible. By word of mouth (and a little bit of social media spamming the morning of), I ended up with 30 community members who participated and allowed me to share their photos. It was a cold, windy, rainy day. I think the high temperature was around 37 degrees. But people kept coming, and some people came only because they saw a classmate, co-worker, professor, or friend wearing a red handprint and asked, “what does that mean?”

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Approaching this topic through the film as an “outdated” photography method, I want to open discourse between two ages and generations.

This project enabled me to have a deeper understanding of my mom.

The arrangement of the photo album comes from my memory of my family photo album.

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Untitled LYNETTE GASSNER

It was a brisk midnight evening at a mild house party in my first-year. I was settling into this new college environment with beyond excitement for the start of classes.

The lukewarm, mysterious punch settled into my cup when I decided to speak to some folks who were there. 30 seconds didn’t even pass when I encountered the question, “So, what are you?”. I don’t mind ignorant people, its only when microaggressions like these make me lose my mind. But, of course, being an Indian comes with some major drawbacks. Every day is a new day of experiencing a form of racism. It was never like this when I was younger. I guess maybe because I didn’t understand. Visiting the reservation and family dinners felt natural to me. I was happy to do it, I was happy to attend Navajo school. It wasn’t until my first year of college in Ohio when I really started noticing there was this fishy behavior going on, and it was deeper than being asked what ethnicity I was before my identity as a person.

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In the year 2023, racism and prejudice against American Indians are shown through the betraying acts of violence caused by the United States Government,Democrat, Republican, Liberal and Conservative ideologies alike. It starts with the violent act of murdering Indigenous women, the failed response of government officials and then peoples respond to these murders and conviction of the perpetrators. Mika Westwolf was a 22-year old Indigenous woman who was killed on March 31st by white supremacist who ran her over on the side of a highway. Her killer, 28-year old Sunny White, was behind the wheel, and her two younger children named “Aryan" and “Nation” were in the back seat. Westwolf’s family believed that the prosecutors treated Westwolf more like a suspect than a victim, “Once they found out that she was a young Indian woman, and it was late at night, early in the morning, they started investigating whether or not she was drinking or doing drugs,” Shelby, the families attorney said. “Then they started investigating if she was suicidal.” “Once local investigators learn that there is an Indian victim, they try to victim blame right away… it becomes about criminalizing them.” Mika Westwolfs killer is yet to face any charges. You can read more about this story at mikamatters.com.

To no surprise, Americans do not care about the lives of Indian women, the genocidal history of this country proves that. In the year 2023, racism against Indians starts in Kindergarten, where children are encouraged to craft feathers and wear them as Indians to during class time. Then it happens in high school when children are encouraged to dress as Indians for Halloween, or at sports games to represent their school mascot, the Redskins, the Savages, the Indians.

Some people have the capacity to tell Natives to get over colonization. Why don’t you tell Americans to get over 9/11? Why don’t you tell Americans to get over all the veterans who died during the war in Afghanistan?

Historically, the founding Americans tried their best to erase the native people from their lands, for wealth, greed and land resources. First it was through the spread of disease, which decimated tribes and killed millions. Then it was through the forced assimilation of Indian boarding schools by government officials and Christian and Catholic missionaries. With the goal being to kill the Indian and bring out the man, since Indians aren’t people in their natural state. In Nebraska, archeologists and the Nebraska American Indian Affairs are digging up a gravesite at a boarding school and uncovering 80 bodies of native children. This underlies the true harsh reality of these boarding schools.

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This campus is filled with secrets of Native erasure. From the very first Oberlin missionaries that recruited local tribes into their religion, to the indoctrination of savagery propaganda in the Oberlin College Ethnographic Collection, that accuse Plain tribes Indians of using human skin to create the “Warrior Society Rattle”.

Nothing indicates that this includes human skin in its components”, yet the atrocious words stand in the archives. Never forget that the Oberlin Anthropology department keeps Indigenous, Polynesian and African remains in the King building.

More dedicated Repatriation and returning of remains needs to be done before Oberlin can finish their draft of a Land Acknowledgement.

By being asked the ethnicity question "What are you?", I am forced to satisfy and comfort the persons curiosity, and all in all the question communicates that they care more about themselves then being considerate. Instead of that question ask me about my life as a dedicated musician. I’d be more than happy to explain.

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Highlight Club?

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Want to support Native Students at Oberlin?

Reach out to the Indigenous Student Council.

If you have questions or want to show your support, please get in touch with the Indigenous Student Council to get involved. indigenousoberlinfutures@gmail.com

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How to get Involved

Join our Mailing list for Photoshoot Information, Writing/Art Submission and more!

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BIPOC LENSES

BIPOC Lenses is an Oberlin Student-run magazine that unites many different POC organizations under one publication to showcase the beauty, talent, and art thats students of color create on campus.