I am cree, and belong to a long line of chiefs and medicine men
These are passed down to the oldest son of the oldest son
I'm the oldest son. My dad was the oldest, his dad was the oldest. Since I was a kid, I've been prep'd for this
Generations of traditions have been passed down
I struggle with this in many ways, being a gay man most especially. I feel a duty to pass this on to my own son, and to help heal people in need as I was taught
I need to embrace this, and this is my first step!
I'm more white looking than my brothers and family, but that doesn't mean I'm any less native
I struggled with this my whole life, wanting to be seen as only white and pretending I wasn't native because I was embarrassed due to institutional racism
It feels awkward to even talk about this because I never experienced any racism like my more native looking family or other non-white people have faced
Thanks for listening, it's huge for me to even acknowledge this β€οΈ