Hannabah Blue-Spoken Word
Away From Home
Forced relocation to
Reservations
Not the kind that gets you a good table at a fancy restaurant,
It's a reservation for an unwanted and barren land
Where your primary destination is termination
The Long Walk
500 miles
From the place where we had the healthy traditions for sustainability and life
500 miles
To walk in snow, burning our feet, hallowing our hearts, and reminding us that we are powerless in this corrupted and twisted system
Away from home, away from home cold and tired and all alone, yes I'm 500 miles away from home
Today teenagers are
Being exiled from their homelands
Thrown out of their sanctuaries
For being brave enough to be who they are
Two Spirit
Many today are being cast away from their lands
Forced out
Metaphorically and physically
Into humiliation and shame
Onto the streets and into addictions that can take the place of the family and love they once knew
Now they intimately know the souls of depression
And too many of our Native children, are facing this affliction
And taking the Creator’s plan into their own hands
I can’t remember when I ate, it’s just thumb and walk and wait. And I’m still 500 miles away from home. If my luck had been just right, I’d be with them all tonight, but I’m still 500 miles away from home
Modern day removal is occurring
With " illegal aliens"
Marked as second class citizens
I thought that everyone regardless of race are by law recognized as people
I guess just not when you are born on the other side of an invisible line
Mother Earth recognizes no borders
No differences in her children
Except with those who take advantage of her
Damage her
Scar her
With imaginary lines that run like stitches from a crack job operation meant to separate and classify and quarantine people like plagues
This land of the brave
Should really be the land of the Braves
But you get punished if brave
Means different
Foreign, alien, other
It becomes illegal, dangerous, and threatening
But who is the alien, pilgrim?
And who is the threat, colonizer?
Who is danger to humanity, conformers?
Don't let these indigenoids cast their spells on you
they say
But, we are actually the ones who have Injunuity.
Away from home, away from home, cold and tired and all alone, yes I'm still 500 miles away from home,
oh I wonder when they'll let me come back home
Hannabah Blue is Diné (Navajo), originally from Kirtland, NM. Her clans are the Red Bottom Clan, born for Bilagaana. Her maternal grandparents’ clan is the Tangle People Clan, and her paternal grandparents are also Bilagaana. Hannabah has a breadth of experience working on social justice issues, particularly those affecting Queer People of Color, particularly Native and Indigenous communities.
Her most recent work experience was as a Capacity Building Assistance Specialist at the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC). She worked at NNAAPC for over 3 years, where she coordinated technical assistance and HIV prevention interventions targeting Native women. She has a double major in Broadcast Journalism; and Gender and Sexuality Studies from NYU and is working towards a Maternal and Child Health Graduate Certificate focusing on Native women through the University of Arizona. She is also currently at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) pursuing a Masters of Science degree in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences where she focuses on the addressing gender and sexuality in equalities and their effects on health. Hannabah proudly serves as the HSPH Queer Student Alliance Vice President, and on the Board of Café Cultura, which promotes creative expression and leadership among Indigenous and Latino youth.
Like this:
Like Loading...
As Us 