Photo courtesy of Sebastián Freire. // Joseph Pierce spoke to Hofstra faculty and students about the importance of kinship to Indigenous people.
Hofstra University’s Center for Cultural Engagement provided a series of events to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, Oct. 11. Joseph Pierce, citizen of the Cherokee Nation and associate professor in the department Hispanic languages and literature at Stony Brook University, was invited to give the keynote speech. The event was held via Zoom and titled, “Kinship with Stars: Cherokee Stories of Celestial Relation.”
Formerly known as Columbus Day, President Joe Biden announced the formal change of the holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Friday, Oct. 8.
“For generations, federal policy systematically settled to assimilate and displace native people and eradicate native cultures,” Biden said. “Today, we recognize Indigenous peoples’ resilience and strength, as well as the measurable positive impact that they have in every aspect of American society.”
“The struggle to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day is something that’s been going on for many decades,” said Vice Dean of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication and moderator of the event, Mario Murillo.
In honor of this day, Pierce spoke on aspects of honoring Indigenous people including land reparations and acknowledgement. Many people have been advocating for the land to be returned to the native people.
“The problem with the land acknowledgment is it is often not followed by meaningful action,” he said. “Acknowledgement without action is an empty gesture, exculpatory and self-serving.”
One way the land was given back to the Indigenous people was in the form of reservations. Indigenous people were confined to a designated area of land that they were “allowed” to live in the way they pleased but were not allowed to leave.
“It’s not a way of life, and it’s not a way these people want to live,” said Salvatore Bernardini, a student at the event.
“A reservation is not ‘land back,’” Pierce said. “A reservation is stolen. We don’t want a reservation; we want it all.”
While Pierce views it as a positive thing that many are advocating for more awareness of the Indigenous people and reparations, he feels that this is not enough. Some students share a similar sentiment.
“At what point is raising awareness just raising it, and not actually changing anything,” Bernardini said.
Rebecca Fulman, a sophomore neuroscience major, attended the event and said that she learned a lot about the Indigenous people, but wished the University provided more events throughout the year to educate the community.
“Instead of it being a one-day thing,” Fulman said, “they should repeat it with new speakers in the future.”
Pierce suggested ways the Hofstra community can do more for the Indigenous people closer to home.
“At Hofstra, how many Indigenous faculty do you have?” he said. “At Hofstra, how many Indigenous students do you have? What ways are you engaging in to return the land underneath Hofstra to the people whose land it is. If you’re not doing any of that, then it is a lip service.”
Pierce talked about recognizing and understanding what kinship means to the Indigenous people, the avenues to gaining understanding about how they view the land and what reparations are needed. He proceeded to tell two prominent stories from the Indigenous culture that emphasize the interconnectedness of life and spirituality.
“Through our stories, we understand that we are connected to all things that have been and all things that will be,” he said. “We recognize and are recognized by others as part of an emergent relationality through which the bonds of accountability and reciprocity are not restricted to the imposed epistemic arrangements of the colonial order.”
Pierce also emphasized that breaking up Indigenous kinship systems is one of the “essential mandates of colonialism.” Therefore, repairing and recognizing this kinship is essential. Bernardini pointed out how all people are connected to each other and to the land.
“The water that flows down the river is the same water that makes up 70% of the human body,” he said. “We are all just the same carbon and water, and we are all connected in the same struggle to just survive here.”
Pierce ends his speech by defining kinship and spiritual connections explaining that it all circles back to the land and the people. He also acknowledges that the land does not make up for what the colonizers took from the Indigenous people.
“The land does not need acknowledgement,” Pierce said. “It needs to be listened to as our most important teacher, as the stuff of stars and poetry, memory and futurity.”
