Civic Engagement in Action
As our organization has turned our building into a safe gathering place for community members to find supplies, services, and resources, we want to uplift the voices of our staff and community members who are helping our front-line observers. These are the voices of those striving to hold All My Relations Arts gallery as a place of comfort for the community to gather, find resources, and access medicines. This series focuses on how art is healing, the importance of community and gathering, and how democracy is Indigenous.
Jolene Jones (Ojibwe, White Earth, and LCO) reflected on what she experienced:
I am very proud of what our community has done and extremely honored to be a part of the action that’s taking place. When things impact our community, we have to respond. It’s all under the umbrella of civic engagement.
Have the recent ICE events and occupation in Minneapolis changed what voter protection and voter advocacy mean to you?
I think the recent events in Minneapolis being caused by ICE has shown the need to do more voter rights and voter protections teaching this year. When the Trump administration demanded our Secretary of State hand over our voter rolls in order for ICE to leave and when Steve Simon said “no” I really feel like this is what the federal occupation has been about: suppressing voters.
How have you seen the community mobilizing?
I am very proud of what our community has done and extremely honored to be a part of the action that’s taking place with NACDI, Pow Wow Grounds, and the Indigenous Protectors Movement. We stepped up. The All My Relations Arts gallery opened up its space to help our Indigenous relatives. Our allies have a place to come to where they’re safe and they can get geared up to protect themselves. It’s been a privilege to be able to support these efforts with NACDI.
What are you hearing from community members during this time?
As a people, we know how it feels to have our children ripped from us and brought to cages to be held at Fort Snelling and those children crying out for us. The very fact that they are using the Whipple building, where Fort Snelling is and where they held our ancestors. They did horrible, indescribable, horrendous things to our people and children that tremendously affected our community. This made us step up because we know the generational damage that will happen from families being ripped apart.
What are you seeing that gives you hope for the future?
The thing that gives me hope is seeing how many of our young people are stepping up, how our elders are joining together to talk about how it is not right that people are trying to take our freedom and democracy. It’s not moral what’s been happening. Together, we are creating a community that says the government doesn’t have the right to treat anyone like this. We are all human beings.
How have you been taking care of yourself, your family, and your friends during this time?
Taking care of myself and my family involves communication: letting them know what’s going on, what areas to avoid, speaking out, and by keeping our tribal ID’s on us. These are things we shouldn’t have to do, but it’s about educating for our safety. This directly affects our youth. My great grandson is 11 years old; it has become “normal” for him to experience his Latino friends not being at school. I’m having to discuss with my grandson what ICE is doing and what the government is doing to people. This activity has provided a crash course in historical events that have happened to our people. The way we can get through this is explaining that this is not new to our people and by creating more awareness. By talking through it and explaining this has happened to us before and we’ve been resilient, it alleviates his fear.