Broken Lands: A Podcast About Reparations and Honoring Our Treaties

Balancing an American Indigenous identity with a Christian faith calling from within a "liminal space" between these worlds can be a place of learning and discernment. 

Vance Blackfox cannot help but be Native, but he chooses to be Christian every day, and this liminal space helps him navigate how to be safe and effective in non-Indigenous environments. 

When asked about changes in tribal inclusion within the church since he started in 1988-89, Vance expressed frustration that many of the same issues he raised decades ago remain unresolved, questioning when the church will fully implement promised changes.

Vance Blackfox, an Indigenous theologian and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, serves as the Director of Ecumenical and Tribal Relations of the Indigenous Theological Circle. Previously, Vance served the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as the Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations. An alumnus of Texas Lutheran University (TLU) and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), Vance has served the ELCA in multiple capacities, from taking a post as National President of the Lutheran Youth Organization during his TLU days to later working as a diversity and cultural education professional for the Women of the ELCA, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, California Lutheran University, ELCA Youth Gathering, and LSTC’s Youth in Mission. In addition to serving numerous ELCA and ecumenical teams and committees throughout the years, he has also served as Indigenous Theologian and Coordinating Team Member for the ELCA’s Theological Round Table, as Indigenous theologian for the Faith-Based Initiative for the City of San Antonio, and is the creator and producer of the Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium hosted at LSTC.Vance is the founder and director of Other+Wise, a multi-site cultural education and cultural immersion program for youth and student groups from across the country. He has also served as the Director of Communications at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and at Native Americans in Philanthropy, and has held executive director positions at the Haskell Foundation, which supports Haskell Indian Nations University, and the Oaks Indian Mission.

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Balancing an American Indigenous identity with a Christian faith calling from within a "liminal space" between these worlds can be a place of learning and discernment. 

Vance Blackfox cannot help but be Native, but he chooses to be Christian every day, and this liminal space helps him navigate how to be safe and effective in non-Indigenous environments. 

When asked about changes in tribal inclusion within the church since he started in 1988-89, Vance expressed frustration that many of the same issues he raised decades ago remain unresolved, questioning when the church will fully implement promised changes.

Vance Blackfox, an Indigenous theologian and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, serves as the Director of Ecumenical and Tribal Relations of the Indigenous Theological Circle.  Previously, Vance served the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as the Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations. An alumnus of Texas Lutheran University (TLU) and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), Vance has served the ELCA in multiple capacities, from taking a post as National President of the Lutheran Youth Organization during his TLU days to later working as a diversity and cultural education professional for the Women of the ELCA, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, California Lutheran University, ELCA Youth Gathering, and LSTC’s Youth in Mission. In addition to serving numerous ELCA and ecumenical teams and committees throughout the years, he has also served as Indigenous Theologian and Coordinating Team Member for the ELCA’s Theological Round Table, as Indigenous theologian for the Faith-Based Initiative for the City of San Antonio, and is the creator and producer of the Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium hosted at LSTC.Vance is the founder and director of Other+Wise, a multi-site cultural education and cultural immersion program for youth and student groups from across the country. He has also served as the Director of Communications at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and at Native Americans in Philanthropy, and has held executive director positions at the Haskell Foundation, which supports Haskell Indian Nations University, and the Oaks Indian Mission.

When we take rest and breathe easy, there is nothing to do but stay present to what is most sacred. Might there be an Advent of the Sacred as we learn to walk together here as relatives? Settlers doing their work of decolonizating extractive systems, while Indigenous Peoples do their work of returning us all to a sense of place by indiginazation. We are joined by Sarah Augustine, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery.

T.S Elliott upon completion of The Four Quartets asked for more humility in the pursuit of happiness by predicting where we are going if we do not acknowledge where we are coming from: "Where is the wisdom lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge lost in information?"

Dr. Marty expresses a similar spirit of humility when he says, "Those who tell, don't know and those who know, don't tell."   

We all know people who tell stories, and yet fail to grip their full meaning. But, where might we find sages to cultivate a spirit of humility, so that wisdom could spring forth, again? 

"There are so many paths to the center (origin) of a circle," offers Dr. Marty.

Dr. Martin Reinhardt is an Anishinaabe Ojibway citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians from Michigan. He is the former director of the Center for Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University, and the former director of Native American Programs at Central Michigan University. He has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the Pennsylvania State University, where his doctoral research focused on Indian education and the law with a special focus on treaty educational provisions. He also holds both a Bachelor's and a Master’s degree in Sociology.

http://reinhardtassociates.net/5494.html

T.S Elliott upon completion of The Four Quartets asked for more humility in the pursuit of happiness by predicting where we are going if we do not acknowledge where we are coming from: "Where is the wisdom lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge lost in information?"

Dr. Marty expresses a similar spirit of humility when he says, "Those who tell, don't know and those who know, don't tell."   

We all know people who tell stories, and yet fail to grip their full meaning. But, where might we find sages to cultivate a spirit of humility, so that wisdom could spring forth, again? 

"There are so many paths to the center (origin) of a circle," offers Dr. Marty.

Dr. Martin Reinhardt is an Anishinaabe Ojibway citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians from Michigan. He is the former director of the Center for Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University, and the former director of Native American Programs at Central Michigan University. He has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the Pennsylvania State University, where his doctoral research focused on Indian education and the law with a special focus on treaty educational provisions. He also holds both a Bachelor's and a Master’s degree in Sociology.

http://reinhardtassociates.net/5494.html

Our first guest is a dual citizen of Canada and the US, also of indigenous (Metis) and northern European descent. He was born and raised in east Duluth. He is a husband and father of three adult children. The Most Rt. Rev'd Mark MacDonald is the retired National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada. Mark recently heard an elder and social worker from Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa say to a group of east Duluth community members; "From east Duluth to west Duluth there is an eleven year gap of life expectancy. West Duluth, 'what are you going to do with your eleven years of life?'" A strong advocate for bridging the gaps between cultures, languages, peoples and nations, Mark is now fully retired from active pastoral ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church.

A reflection on season 3 and appeal to our licensers before season 4.

Thank you for listening to season 3! Miigwech!

If you are a descendant of Scandinavian or Russian heritage, kindly consider this episode a must share with all your relatives.

Because, above the Arctic Rim along the tree line, in what many conceive on maps as Scandinavia and northwestern Russia, lives a people who are still coexisting with reindeer herds. 

The Sami follow where the herd leads, not recognizing the partitions of nations and claims of corporates. Both letting go and living in one of the most harsh climates on planet Earth, the Reindeer and Sami realize harmony as more than human and human relatives.

“Here borders are to be crossed. Here opposites come together, equally worthy of existing.
Here the eye realizes the perspectives.
Here the yearning finds peace, with one foot on either side. Here the storm gets its power.

I am this storm, born and raised on the tree line. The emotions, reflections and debates I come across are found on, about and because of the tree line.

I am the snow grouse hard to trace, spreading my wings over the border with no effort at all. The hunter shoots me down again and again – still I am here. We all are.

For the unbreakable sinews of kin, I continue to sing.
For my future sisters, I raise my voice to the misters.
Kings and queens. Cities and trees. Mountains and seas. All that is in between.”

If you are a descendant of Scandinavian or Russian heritage, kindly consider this episode a must share with all your relatives.

Because, above the Arctic Rim along the tree line, in what many conceive on maps as Scandinavia and northwestern Russia, lives a people who are still coexisting with reindeer herds. 

The Sami follow where the herd leads, not recognizing the partitions of nations and claims of corporates. Both letting go and living in one of the most harsh climates on planet Earth, the Reindeer and Sami realize harmony as more than human and human relatives.

“Here borders are to be crossed. Here opposites come together, equally worthy of existing.
Here the eye realizes the perspectives.
Here the yearning finds peace, with one foot on either side. Here the storm gets its power.

I am this storm, born and raised on the tree line. The emotions, reflections and debates I come across are found on, about and because of the tree line.

I am the snow grouse hard to trace, spreading my wings over the border with no effort at all. The hunter shoots me down again and again – still I am here. We all are.

For the unbreakable sinews of kin, I continue to sing.
For my future sisters, I raise my voice to the misters.
Kings and queens. Cities and trees. Mountains and seas. All that is in between.”

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sofia-jannok/215832484

https://open.spotify.com/artist/61GJGvVkImL0wkfUQ5XuR8?si=enHmH_BqQvCtvZ3fWpbFuA

Meredith Migizi is founder and executive director of Miigwech, Inc., a nonprofit organization driven by a single goal: to promote and practice Mino-Bimaadiziwin (The Good Life) by making our community a better place for all. 

Miigwech, Inc. is continuously providing services, sharing teachings, advocating for sustenance policies, and building more understanding of Mino-Bimaadiziwin.

Miigwechinc.org