Indigenous communities have historically been some of the most oppressed communities globally. Indigenous People’s Day comes and goes once a year but Indigenous people face discrimination day in and day out with mostly apathy from non-Indigenous populations. A thread.

Countless Indigenous people were brutally tortured and murdered by European colonialists when they first arrived in North America. Many were enslaved. The Indigenous population of the Americas was reduced from an estimated 10 million people to 300,000 due to genocide.

Many know of the Indian Removal Act, signed into law in 1830, which led to the Trail of Tears, a series of forced relocations of several tens of thousands of Indigenous people. This is only one of many anecdotes of state-sponsored anti-Indigenous violence.

Residential schools were operated until 1996. They banned the speaking of Indigenous languages and forcibly converted Indigenous people to Christianity. They perpetuated several cultural genocides in the name of assimilation. They were bastions of abuse and torture.

Many Indigenous people suffer from cyclical houselessness and poverty as a result of decades of oppressive policymaking and land theft by the U.S. government. Not more than a century ago, Indigenous homes were burned down by settlers for sport.

To this day, the U.S. often encroaches on demarcated tribal lands. Mount Rushmore, for instance, was carved out of the Black Hills, a mountain range regarded as sacred to the Lakota, Cheyenne and Hidatsa people. There are numerous other examples of U.S. settler colonialism.

Mental health is also a key problem within Indigenous communities. Genocidal trauma still exists in the collective Indigenous consciousness. Suicidal ideation and alcoholism are rampant too as a direct result of neglect and abuse by the American, Canadian and Mexican governments.

Today, anti-Indigenousness continues not only in the form of violence but also as erasure. Indigenous groups are homogenized by people, companies and governments alike. The majority of this country’s settlers cannot name the Indigenous people whose land they occupy.

Physical torture against Indigenous people is everywhere. Police brutality against Indigenous people has existed since the formation of policing as a construct. Indigenous women, especially, are subject to horrific acts of violence and many are made to forcibly disappear.

Indigenous people are also often subject to environmental racism. Across the U.S. and Canada, a combination of colonialism, racism and capitalism has resulted in large dumps and factories being relocated near or on Indigenous land with little to no government repercussions.

The U.S. and Canadian governments have also gone forth with countless natural gas pipeline projects through Indigenous land. Indigenous groups have been protesting these pipelines for decades and no U.S. or Canadian administration has done much to put an end to them.

Aboriginal people of Australia and Adivasis of India have faced horrendous discrimination at the hands of the Australian and Indian governments too, as have the millions of Indigenous people of the Global South. Their stories are diverse, however, and warrant their own threads.

There’s a lot non-Indigenous people can do to actively amplify Indigenous narratives. There are also several anti-Indigenous behaviors, practices and phrases which have been institutionalized and must be unlearned. I've compiled some, but this thread is by no means conclusive.

The concept of spirit animals is appropriated from Ojibwe culture. Dreamcatchers are appropriated from Anishinaabe people. These don’t belong to settlers. Don't wear war paint or put feathers in your hair. Don't dress up as an Indigenous person for Halloween or at any other time.

Don't support sports teams which use logos of Indigenous people. Don't refer to a regular group of friends as a "tribe" and don't police Indigenous identities. Don’t use the term "pow-wow" to refer to your meetings or get-togethers. Don’t make assumptions about two-spiritedness.

Don’t tell an Indigenous person that they "don’t look Indigenous." Don't assume anything about an Indigenous person. When referring to Inuit people, do not use the e-slur. Do not refer to Indigenous people as "red." Always speak respectfully. Always be willing to learn.

Indigenous governance is the only legitimate governance on Turtle Island. Each one of us who lives on Turtle Island is occupying Indigenous land. Understand that. Internalize it. Constantly acknowledge it. I am grateful to have worked on Potawatomi, Pennacook and Lenape land.

Understand that a lot of place names in use today were coined by colonialists. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to study in Lenapehoking, not in New York, and to be able to live on Turtle Island, not in the United States. The rhetoric of nation states reeks of hegemony.

Read Indigenous writers. Richard Wagamese, Rebecca Roanhorse, Kelli Jo Ford, Ernestine Hayes, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Eddie Chuculate, Natalie Diaz, Terese Marie Mailhot and Stephen Graham Jones are a few who come to mind. There are many others. Do your own research.

Be specific. Don't say "Native Americans" when you specifically mean Navajo people. There are over 600 First Nations groups in Canada and hundreds more Indigenous groups in the United States. Each is linguistically, culturally, spiritually and culinarily unique. Do not conflate.

Push for the teaching of Indigenous languages in schools by Indigenous teachers. It’s not a coincidence that academia tends to prioritize colonial tongues like French and Spanish over Indigenous ones. Raise awareness about the ubiquitousness of systemic anti-Indigenousness.

Capitalize the "I" in "Indigenous." The @APStylebook, for one, requires it. Follow Indigenous activists. @apihtawikosisan, @MumilaaqQaqqaq, @kdeveryjacobs, @tagaq, @jessewente and @RMComedy are just a few wonderful Indigenous activists who I look up to for their incredible work.

Fight for land rights on the terms of Indigenous people. Decolonization and leftism go hand in hand. Learn about Indigenous movements to reclaim land in your area. Support them in any way you can. Protest. Donate. Fight for what’s right. Never forget whose land you’re occupying.