Message from Kikeokàn

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Transcript:

Let me tell you a short story. My given name is Kikeokàn. This is my last given name. As Indigenous people, we are given names many times in our lives by our family of tribal members — names that speak or spoke to who we are in the many seasons of our lives. People have called me by many names: I have been known as belonging to the Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, Crystal Proctor, Cryz Proctor, Native American, Indian, Piscataway Conoy, scholar, artist. And I have played those roles the best I could have for those seasons.

But I have come to know the gift my ancestors left within my DNA. And that is the courage to know myself and become that outwardly. No performance, no wise words or working for colonized validation. I am creator-created-creation: the liquids, minerals, and metals of the earth and cosmos. I am here, remembering what it’s like to be in balance with all beings. Oneness.

I share this story with you so that you remember that your ancestors left that courage and message inside your DNA, too: the courage to know yourself, to know your power comes from within. And it’s within the responsibility of being human — human being. And as human beings in balance, we must be coherent, responsible, and in motion between the energies of creator-created-creation, transitioning always between them.

We are here today not because we are free, but because we are not free. Thank you for taking this step in healing our collective past by choosing to pay land tax. Thank you.

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