Last Updated on November 14, 2011
Julia Good Fox, a faculty member in the Indigenous Nations and American Indian Studies department at Haskell Indian Nations University, is currently writing a six-part series of essays on understanding, confronting, and replacing Immoral Leadership, one of the main obstacles preventing us (Onkwehonwe, Indigenous People) from achieving authentic self-determination.
In her FOREWARD for the series, Good Fox explains,
Many of our tribes have understandably spent the last several generations catching our breath, if you will, from the recent activities of genocide and colonization thrust upon us not only as individuals but also on our families, our communities, and our nations. Now that we have caught our breath, it is necessary to move forward collectively and strategically. This first involves breaking free from Fort Denial and the Commodities of Indifference so that we can address and take good action upon obstacles such as internecine behavior, lateral racism or anti-Indianism, and collaboration with anti-Native forces (AKA colonization, assimilation).
We can move forward and assume our role in this intergenerational-struggle for liberation and respectful coexistence by taking the initial step of participating in honest and difficult dialogue and a factual-based assessment on what conflicts need to be addressed and transformed… and then act upon this knowledge in ways that move our tribe closer to authentic self-determination.
The problems caused us by immoral leadership—as well as understanding, surviving, and removing these individuals—are a starting point for this recovery project of self-determination. This project begins in our homes, our community centers, and other sites where Native Peoples work and congregate.
The first essay was published a couple days ago, an Introduction to Immoral Leadership in Indian Country.
If you’re looking for a way to contribute to the health and longevity of your culture, your identity, your rights and your community — or if you’re sick and tired of seeing ‘a desperate few’ sacrifice the needs of family, community and nation for their unending want of power, profit and approval please head over to Good Fox’s website, Last Woman, to read it through. You won’t regret it.
Once published, other essays in the series will include:
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