We were able to dive deeper into the struggles that native women have to face. Brenda was able to help us understand the difficulties of not only being a woman, but being a native woman in today's oppressive society. We covered topics on colonization and oppression, tactics of battering and control, and the emotional effects of the trauma. Brenda presented a chart that showed the similarities between the tactics of war and the tactics of battering and we were all shocked at the strong correlation. A disturbing statistic that surprised us reports that 70% of violence against natives is committed by non-natives. This presentation led to a really great reflection and exchange of interpretations on all of our parts.
Norm Watts, the facilitator of the Batterer Intervention Program, introduced us to a project we will work on, where we will be making our own talking sticks that will be a representation of our past, present, and hope for our future. Tomorrow we plan to go on a nature hike and select a stick that speaks to us.
During our free time today we visited a local flower shop that sold Native American items like braided sweetgrass, handmade jewelry, and ceremonial sage and abalone shells. On our trip back to the church, Louise decided to make a stop at an intriguing building that was reminiscent of Jesse Hall. The six of us (Veronica, Ali, Devon, May, Dani, and Caitie) discovered it was City Hall once we were inside. We were invited to witness a wedding. The groom was decked out in a t-shirt that read "Groom" in iron-on letters, camo baseball hat, jeans, and boots, while the blushing bride wore a short white dress with camo streamers attached to the back, accompanied by her bridesmaid who wore a strapless dress over a cobalt blue bra, leggings, and tennis shoes. During the ceremony the grooms phone went off twice, and the bridesmaids phone loudly played "Swimming Pools (Drank)" by Kendrick Lamar. We left the newly married couple happily groping as we made our exit.
On a recommendation of a man we met in the Town Hall, we went across the street and chatted with a woman named Lindy Stabb who revealed she had been a nurse at Indian Health a local clinic. It was an enlightening experience to hear her point of view on the natives and domestic/sexual violence in the town of Sisseton, since we haven't had the opportunity to speak with many other non-natives. We had a delicious dinner of chicken tacos and another night of ice cream and blogging at Dairy QueenJ.
Sisseton Sistas
(Contributing writers Ali and Devon)
(Supervising Editors for all posts are Dawn and Veronica, as per uzh)
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