In America, we traditionally take the month of November to honor Native Americans who have historically suffered injustice at our hands and, arguably, still do. It’s important to take time to recognize Native Americans, many of whom live in or around Whatcom County. This commemorative month was first instated by former president George W. Bush in 1990. To learn more about this month and the people who celebrate it, The Rising Tide conducted an interview with Laurel Ballew. Ballew is the Executive Director of American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nations Relations and Tribal Liaison to the President at Western Washington University.

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Ballew recently established her position and is working on reaching out to students of Native American heritage to offer support and guidance. “I am working with Native students faculty and staff,” said Ballew, “There is a board here at Western and I am working on building relationships with the students, and support and retention. We are working on letting people know we have this office here now; it’s been very well received.” Before Ballew came to work at Western, she lived on reservations for much of her life. Ballew says she learned a lot from life on a reservation. “I learned from my grandmothers how to support and take care of our people, from all communities. Wherever we visit we are conscious. Everything we do is for the people, and that includes the unborn. We are always thinking of the three future generations,” said Ballew.

The month of November is supposed to recognize Native Americans, but it is also the month colonizers came and “founded” America many years ago. “We despise October 12th. Columbus didn’t discover America because we were already here. We have always been here. This institution is even on Lhaq’temish land and we never have really left. We didn’t own the land, we just lived on it and thrived on it. In our culture, there was no such thing as entitlement or claiming. It’s kind of ironic that November is Native American Heritage Month,” said Ballew. Despite Indigenous people’s understandable contempt for the day of November 12th, they do celebrate and enjoy Thanksgiving. “We do have a Thanksgiving and we just use it as a time to give thanks for what we have and for our families”, said Ballew. “We will always have a big table full of food, sometimes it’s a potluck. We take time to bless the meal and to give thanks.” Ballew herself is a fan of the traditional Thanksgiving foods that many Americans find on their table during this holiday. “I love turkey and the potatoes, I just don’t like the pie,” Ballew said.

Life and the customs that go with it are unique to each culture and community. Ballew has been in the unique situation of living in both Native American and non-indigenous-American communities. “The difference is a sense of community. Out there people know you by your affiliation with your family, and back in the day, it would have been by longhouse. Traditionally, we have had several families in a longhouse. And you still see that today where you have two-three families in a long house. It’s just how we live,” said Ballew.

A topic that has come up a lot recently in society is cultural appropriation, and Native Americans have unfortunately been one of the most appropriated communities. “Indigenous people are misrepresented in textbooks that I have read. The other thing is the mascots that they use. Even the school I came from La Conner, still has the Braves and there has been animosity over that. And around Halloween people think it’s okay to wear feathers and paint there face. Those are the big ones,” said Ballew. As American citizens, it is our job to honor other cultures in a respectful way.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Indigenous people that Americans may not be aware of on a conscious level. “People think that we live off the government. And that if you have a casino, you are rich which is not true. Or that we don’t pay taxes, we pay them just like everyone else,” said Ballew. Not only do people have errored beliefs about Native Americans, but they often dismiss the intergenerational trauma they went through. “If you could imagine that you woke up and everything you had was no longer yours. And you’re forced to go live somewhere else. And everything is taken away by people who don’t even speak your language. That kind of trauma will live with you and carry on, because we are connected to our ancestors. Americans can just acknowledge how we feel, and not just say get over it,” Ballew said. “Another way people can support non-natives is when you see something wrong, like in a store with racial profiling, do something, stand up against it.”

Our current administration has recently created National American Founders and History month during the month of November. This new month happens to overlap entirely with Native American cultural history month. (President Trump did not respond to a request for comment about this development.) When asked what she thought of this, Ballew said, “Founders – that’s interesting. I think he can do and believe whatever he wants. It doesn’t mean that I condone it. I could probably tweet or whatever it is he does, but I will not lower myself to that. We know what this month is. We know who we are, and we know who the real founders are. That person really has no knowledge of the real history, I’ll just leave it at that.”

Americans may be wondering what non-natives can do to support our indigenous friends and community members during this time. “Attend any events sponsored by Native Americans or founded by them. Go visit a friend if you know someone, go sit down have a cup of coffee and just catch up,” Ballew said. Sometimes it can be easy to get wrapped up in our own lives, especially during the excitement of the holidays. But it’s important to remember those in our community who we have historically wronged, and hopefully begin to make a change.