Given the current climate, when I came back to Twitter, I decided to do so anonymously.
I chose O-o-dee’s photo because it’s always spoken to me - rooted in heritage while defying stereotype.

She transcends the stoicism that the American gaze fetishized in Natives back then.

I love Edward Curtis photos.
I’m grateful they exist. They capture a side of our story.
But I’m also grateful that photographers captured another side. It’s a side that captures how I understand my community and history more than a portrayal of stoicism in defeat ever could.

I’ve been attackrd about my identity a lot in the last few weeks because I don’t fit an ideological stereotype.
Both my parents are half Hispanic and Half Native.
I was raised rooted in both traditions and one history and heritage.

The border crossed them in 1846. They fought and resisted. They lost and paid a heavy price.
But then they moved forward as Americans. They fought for the Union. Fought in WWII. And fought for me to have opportunities I would never have had anywhere but the US.
That’s power.