Quannah Rose Chasinghorse, a groundbreaking Indigenous model, uses her fame to support her activism, reminding people “whose land you’re living on.” Native sovereignty, she says, is key to “defending my ways of life, trying to protect what’s left.” She is Hän Gwich’in and Sičangu/Oglala Lakota, but was born on Diné (Navajo) land in Arizona. Here, Chasinghorse stands in Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii (Monument Valley), a park administered by the Diné.
“We Are Here” appears in the languages of these Indigenous peoples, identified by color:
■ Tla-o-qui-aht ■ Siksikaitsitapi ■ Chahta ■ Karuk ■ Onondaga ■ Mohawk
SOVEREIGNTY to Native nations means both the FREEDOM to decide one’s actions and the RESPONSIBILITY to keep THE WORLD IN BALANCE, an idea the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) express by the word AATSIMOIYIHKAAN. The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating…
