Mike Ashkewe

I wear the pride and history of my people with distinction
Leather and feathers flow in the wind as I feel the spirits bring my heart to joy
You wear my ancestors as a costume
You bought a history off the rack of a discount store run by name tags
I sing the songs of the first people so that they may live eternally through us
Beautiful and graceful voices touch the air as summer’s breezes
You mock me with gross gestures and weak imitations of warrior cries
I dance to honor Creator and the stories of the past
Bodies move to the rhythm of the life enveloping us and connect me to home
You say I am lazy, uneducated
You search for new ways to rape the land in the name of progress
I stand defiant and I stand tall
I am strong because of the path behind me despite your attempts to assimilate us
You say peace is impossible
You tell me that we can’t coexist in the same spaces
We extend our hand hesitantly and hopeful and ask “What if we tried?”