Inappropriate

As a weird woman I spent my life hearing how gifted I am and how everyone wants to hear my stories. But as a native woman I've more often than not heard how inappropriate I am to speak considerately of some historical stories. And so I decided to work as a historian where I was sure I would have a place to advocate truth and history and to explain the culture that was Virginia when it was just Tsenacommmacah.

I was spilling hot historical tea and I realized quickly that it was not always easy to swallow. People struggled to process simple truths and oftentimes felt history was a politically charged subject. Virginia is unique because school books generally start US history here with subjects like Jamestown and so the basis of what people know is fairly bare, one-sided, and local.

We also have tribal presence and the people here are descendants of who we hear about in our formative years of school. To those of us who are descendants, history does mean politics. The politics of land ownership until the 20th century. The politics of rights. The politics of voting. The politics of blood quantum. And it goes on from there. But it mostly is something we embrace because at the core of these issues we want understanding. And you cannot understand something you have not been exposed to.

So I'm exposing myself in public: what I mean is that I'm telling truths. And I'm spilling historical tea. And I'm saying accurate and appropriate things that feel inappropriate because that's how cognitive dissonance works. This will not be exclusive to native or 17th century history. Advocacy is writing the content people are looking for to gain understanding. It's not allowing the public to invent narratives to use as weapons. And history is outside of the museums because this is where the things happened.