Living Room: Indigenous Peoples and Inclusive Politics

Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program Intersections, 274 5th Ave Btwn 29th and 30th Sts With Tiokasin Ghosthorse: Tiokasin Tasunke Wanagi "Ghosthorse Spirit Coming In" Oyate Tokaheya Wicakiye "He Places Nations First" On the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving Day, all are invited to a vegetarian family meal and Living Room program hosted by Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Host and Producer of"First Voices Indigenous Radio," a Lakota thinker, activist, and musician. Politics for the Lakota is spiritual and not separate from the rest of life. Indigenous peoples are after an inclusive politics and an inclusive world. There is no word for "exclusion" in Lakota and there is no word for "me" or "I". The responsibility of living within this worldview is far-reaching, from the beginnings of Life itself. This way of knowing and of being must be learned by all who walk with Mother Earth. "There can be no peace on earth, unless there is peace with earth. Humankind will cease to exist if Indigenous Peoples become extinct. If you kill off a species, you remove a balance from that chain of being and things start to collapse. Let me take it one step further and say, there are three hundred and fifty million Indigenous peoples left out of 7 Billion. We live on seventy percent of the pristine land because we resisted and because we cared for it as it cares for us. And now they want that land. We are the roots. If the indigenous peoples go, there goes the rest of the earth" ~ Tiokasin Ghosthorse Tiokasin Ghosthorse, from the Cheyenne River Lakota (Sioux) Nation of South Dakota, is "First Voices Indigenous Radio" Producer and Host. Tiokasin is a storyteller, poet, university lecturer, scholar, essayist, cultural interpreter, and a peace and human rights activist. Tiokasin has a long history in Indigenous rights activism and advocacy on Turtle Island (North America) and overseas. As a teenager, he spoke at the United Nations in Geneva. He is also a survivor of the "Reign of Terror" from 1972 to 1976 on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding and Church Missionary School systems designed to "kill the Indian and save the man." Tiokasin Ghosthorse is also a master musician, and a teacher. He is one of the great exponents of the Lakota flute, and plays traditional and contemporary music. He performs worldwide and has been featured at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the United Nations. Bring a beverage, dessert, salad, or vegetarian dish to share. RSVPs welcome, but not required, on our Facebook Event or Meetup Event online. This event was submitted by Faith House, an organizational partner of NY Faith & Justice.