Letter for Native Sovereignty

A Letter for Native Sovereignty

After all these lessons about Indigeneity, your culminating assignment is A Letter for Native Sovereignty, both a reflection of what has happened and what we should do now. One of the most persistent and harmful myths perpetuated about Native peoples is the Myth of Disappearance– that Indigenous people were successfully colonized, the land owned by the United States of America, and Native people and Native issues are a thing of the past. But we know now that Indigenous people are still here, and have always been here. So we have a responsibility to be in conversation with each other about that reality.

Letter Audience
Choose an authentic audience you actually want to speak directly to. Here are some suggestions:
A loved one who is not as knowledgeable about Indigenous history and issues,
The Washington Football Team on their recent mascot decision,

A public official in San Francisco (Mayor, Board of Supervisors, Board of Education, etc.) about Indigeneity in our community,
A younger version of yourself,
An Indigenous content creator who you have learned from during this unit,
Whoever else you come up with!

Talk to me if you’d like extra credit for actually sending the letter!

Letter Contents & Format
Your letter does not have a required length, but
You must include 3 meaningful details and citations, from what you have learned in the course and/or independent research. By details, I mean choose key ideas you feel confident in explaining, analyzing, and reflecting on at length.
Use a structure that feels true to your writing voice. This is not a secret 5-paragraph essay.
Write in a way that is respectful to Indigenous people, course content, and your intended audience.
The most obvious way to format your letter is in a Google document, but if you want to record your letter, perform a spoken word poem like Bay Area local and Samoan poet Terisa Siagatonu, or whatever form makes the most sense to you.

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