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REFLECTIONS

Afro-Indigenous Relations in a Reimagined Future

KYLE T. MAYS

Land Back, Black Lives Matter, Indigenous sovereignty, reparations—these words should continue to shape our collective pursuit for freedom, but what does freedom look like for African Americans and Indigenous peoples? In the 2015 documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?, an interviewer asked singer-songwriter and musician Nina Simone, “What is freedom?” Pausing to think about all the oppression she had dealt with as a Black woman, Simone responded, “Freedom is no fear.” I remember being struck by that statement. Imagine being a Black woman and living without fear. Envision what it would be like for Black and Indigenous peoples to live in a world that was free of violence and injustice.

Freedom for Black and Indigenous peoples requires that we first use our power of imagination. At the forefront of these imaginings are young Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous artists who are coming together in solidarity through creative collaborations. In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, the Seattle-based yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective partnered with Afro-Indigenous artists to create a series of free online posters that celebrated Black and Indigenous unity. The partnership actively rejected a separation of struggles. It also acknowledged that not only are Black and Indigenous communities bonded by the shared experiences of violence, erasure, and generational trauma, but that Black Natives are Native people too.

Color illustration of a Black woman and an Indigenous woman, shadows of two animals, and the words 'Together we life the sky'

The yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective partnered with artist Paige Pettibon (Black, Salish, and white descent) to create this poster inspired by a traditional Tulalip story. It tells how the people and animals of the world joined together to lift the sky so they could stand upright. The poster symbolizes Black and Indigenous peoples coming together to lift one another up.

Courtesy of yǝhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective

The Land Back movement is another space where Black, Indigenous, and Afro-Indigenous activists are converging. At its core, “land back” is a call for governments who have robbed and dispossessed Indigenous peoples of their homelands to return those lands. It also means a return to personhood, which is tied to land. Indigenous people won’t be whole until they reclaim their ancestral homelands. Black and Afro-Indigenous women are already putting their collective power of imagination into action. Tracy Stewart and Omitosin King purchased 78 acres of land in Auburn, Washington, as part of the Gathering Roots wellness collective. They want to design a healing space where Black, Indigenous, and people of color can freely explore their cultural connections to each other and the land. This is the type of work we need.

While it is not feasible for every Black and Indigenous person to purchase land, nor necessarily desirable given that Native territories were taken by theft or acquired through dishonorable treaties, it is a step in the right direction. It represents land back but also serves as a blueprint for reimagining reparations. The purchase of land by Black and Indigenous peoples will not repair the damage of colonial violence; nevertheless, solidarity on the road to reparations begins with combining our radical imaginaries, because our futures rely on our shared efforts to free ourselves.

Two people are seen from behind, walking in a wide green grassy field, with trees and cloudy sky in background
Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times

Omitosin King and Tracy Stewart, co-directors of Gathering Roots, on land they purchased to house a future healing center for Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

The displacement and enslavement of Africans and the dispossession and removal of Indigenous people from their lands have been intimately linked since the founding of the nation. Because the development of the American nation is deeply tied to these histories, some form of reparation is essential. However, we can’t divorce discussions of reparations for Black Americans as restitution for the horrors of enslavement from a clear conversation about the return of land to Indigenous nations, and we can’t engage in imagining land back without figuring out how to think differently about the relationship between Black and Indigenous lives.

It is imperative that Black and Indigenous peoples creatively work towards our co-futures. Going on the way we have been isn’t sustainable. Building our future is an act of persistent protest that will benefit all of us. Black and Indigenous women and LGBTQ+ activists have been leading the way. All we have to do is walk with them in solidarity, be good relatives, and we will gain our freedom. I know some will say this sounds impossible, but I ask, “Do we even have a choice?” Given the current circumstances, the time is now—our moment has come.

Color portrait of Kyle T. Mays
Photo by Danielle Hagopian

Kyle T. Mays (Black/Saginaw Chippewa) is an Afro-Indigenous writer and scholar of US history, urban studies, race relations, and contemporary popular culture. He is an assistant professor of history, African American studies, and American Indian studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also the author of Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America (State University of New York Press, 2018), An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States (Beacon Press, 2021), and City of Dispossessions: Indigenous Peoples, African Americans, and the Creation of Modern Detroit (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022).

The National Museum of the American Indian thanks the Frye Museum and the yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective for their research assistance.

This project received support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.

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