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I don’t know about you but I’m thinking we all need a superhero right now and my vote is for a fierce and intelligent Indigenous fighter like Dani Moonstar featured above. That’s right, a woman. For all the wildfires, more police violence, misinformation, and those hurricanes - I think a fictional Northern Cheyenne badass is exactly what will help see us through. Moonstar’s superpower is to create illusions on her opponent’s fears or wishes - a wide range of energy manipulation and know-how. Sound familiar? She’s being celebrated in November courtesy of Marvel Comics along with other Indigenous heroes, and I don’t think that can happen soon enough. As I observed the extraordinary timeline of events from Kenosha, WI sparked by another controversial case where police shot and seemingly tried to kill another black man in America, Jacob Blake, I studied another police shooting that erupted on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation in the neighboring state of North Dakota, but I’m guessing you haven’t heard anything about that case. Brandon Luducer died and that’s really the only official information we know. That these two incidents centered around the execution of the only Native American on death row this week is not lost on me. As I write in my weekly analysis, I make the case: If we are at all to begin truly judging the cracks of justice in America in this moment, it should start in Indian Country. Indigenously, I can’t leave out the relevance of these events to our motherland, either. As Muscogee (Creek) attorney and inductee to the National Women Hall of Fame, Sarah Deer co-wrote recently, the violence to our planet is not at all divorced from the violence inflicted on our communities. It’s why I’ve entitled this edition of the newsletter Heartwork - an introduction to a series I’ll be developing with this platform focused on what I’ve been working on for the last 2.5 years - violence in Indian Country, although “violence” is such an abrasive word. When you sit and talk to the grassroots Indigenous sisters as I have, who have been fighting this good fight for decades (and I imagine in the spirit of Moonstar), they embrace the pursuit of justice as work coming from their heart. It’s what will be framing my weekly analysis. Tomorrow morning, Saturday, Aug. 29, you’ll find published my latest piece taking a look at A Tale of Two Police Shootings: a Black victim who sparked protests and a dead Native man who basically got ignored. I hope you’ll find my research as intriguing as I have and bookmark the link for your weekend reading. If you like it, please share. I’ve been working on my next phase which will introduce Indigenously to social media in a meaningful way - and next week while I’m away on travel, I plan to introduce you to someone who has agreed to help me do that, and so much more. She’s a recent Native grad from the Berkeley School of Journalism and I can hardly wait to start working with her. Until then, take care of yourselves out there. I’ve been hearing people talk a lot about being functional in times of depression and trauma; it’s a thing. Later in the newsletter, I share an endorsement for my source of wellness during these times - how I’ve been honoring our Indigenous songs, the healing power of the drum. Good medicine. Dawa’eh (Thank you) for being a part of this journey with me. Stay safe. - Jenni
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