Revealing the ugly underbelly of human trafficking, one woman answers the question: What can we do?

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‘Human trafficking’? That can’t possibly be a real thing happening around me…

Or could it? 

Those were the questions running through my mind as I sat on my friend’s couch in Sydney, Australia back in 2008 listening to her tell me about a new nonprofit where she was volunteering in the fight against human trafficking. She told me how thousands of young women and men were being lured away from their families into false jobs or false relationships and sold as sex slaves or forced labor — never to see their families again. She also said there were organizations starting to do something about it in many countries, and the need was tremendous. 

I left her house that day with a heavy heart and a scrambled mind, wondering if what she had said was really true. My first impression was likely not uncommon to most when they first hear of it — How could this really be happening in the year 2008… let alone 2020? It just didn’t seem possible. I was 26 years old at the time with two babies and a husband, barely scraping by because we had foregone our budding careers back in the States to live abroad for a few years.

I’m embarrassed to say the story I told myself that day was that I couldn’t do a thing about human trafficking even if it were true…

So I tried my best to forget about all of the emotions I was having in response to the conversation with my friend, and I carried on with my life. But I couldn’t shake it.

A few months later, my family moved back to the States, and there it was again — human trafficking. By this time, awareness had gained momentum and I knew this tragedy was a reality all over the globe. I also knew that this time, I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise… not now, and never again. 

I didn’t have to look far. I would learn that this was, in fact, something not only happening in my home state, but in every state across the U.S. — to women just like me and to kids just like my own, a sobering reality. Initially I tried to contact nonprofits that had formed around the issue to see if I could volunteer, but my efforts were not very fruitful. I wrote a few articles and raised awareness in a very small circle of community leaders, but I could never figure out how to do something as big as I wanted to do. I grew frustrated, but I kept looking for opportunities, praying that modern-day slavery, human trafficking, and child exploitation would end, and I tried to stay ready to join the anti-trafficking movement in a big way if the opportunity presented itself.

But waiting didn’t make it go away… or create any impact.

Tragically, all these years later, human trafficking is still a growing global reality. Modern-day slavery is still being perpetrated around the world and in every state in the U.S., and it continues to surge with over 40.3 million victims of human trafficking on the planet (Polaris Project) and an average of 150 reports per day in the United States alone (National Human Trafficking Hotline).

Today, I know in my bones that we have the power to stop it. Human trafficking and exploitation can stop in our generation if each one of us takes a few simple steps right now.

It took 12 years too long for me to realize it. Twelve years of working in the nonprofit field. Twelve years of sitting on my hands and writing in my closet until this past summer when I sat at my favorite coffee spot one morning telling a writer friend about the issue and why I’m so passionate about it, and she leaned forward and spoke a question that prompted this article and fuels many more to come:

“What can I, we, all of us, do about it?” 

And that’s what we all want to know, right? It’s big. It’s ugly. It’s like a horror story from a movie, but what can be done? 

A lot can be done in five simple steps. 

In fact, if every single person who reads this article takes these five steps and shares this article with five people who also take these five steps, and that pattern repeats itself over and over again, human trafficking can be stopped all over the globe in a matter of months. And that’s a beautiful reality. Let’s not turn away. Let’s not pretend it’s bigger than us. Instead, let’s do this together.

Step 1: Refuse to buy sex or any type of pornography and shift your awareness about those who sell it. 

This one may seem easy for most of us, but I think we would be surprised to find out that buying sex and pornography happens more than we know by people that we may know, and it causes more human trafficking and exploitation than we probably realize. Instead of thinking that people who sell sex are the problem, start seeing the issue a different way. What if the person selling sex is the victim and the people buying it and forcing them to sell it are the criminals? In fact, that is the reality.

To read a true story about this issue, get yourself a copy of Rescuing Hope: A Story of Sex Trafficking in America — it rocked my world just a few months ago. And I can’t tell you how many times I ran across the idea of supply and demand during my research, which this book puts into clear perspective. The fact is simple – when we all stop buying sex and pornography everywhere — even in movies, games, Internet searches, magazines, photographs, and yes, in motels, backrooms and brothels, too — there will be zero sex trafficking in the world. When demand goes to zero, so does supply. The math is really that simple.

Step 2: Refuse to purchase foods or clothes created by ethically questionable businesses. 

To do this, buy more food and clothing locally rather than shopping in large chain stores, and purchase fair trade as often as you can. It’s true — making purchases from ethically-sourced, local producers makes a huge impact. 

If everyone stopped buying clothing from those big box stores that have been repeatedly cited for unethical practices that lead to child labor and exploitation, if everyone stopped buying meat raised and packaged by trafficked labor workers, if everyone stopped buying items made in countries like China that have been repeatedly called out for forced labor — and everyone started buying from small, ethical businesses instead, the impact would change the entire globe. 

It may seem big, but actually, it’s not — just start with one thing and then another and another. And then it’s done. To find out how you score in this area, take the quiz at slaveryfootprint.org. I was appalled at my own results revealing that 41 slaves work for me based on the purchases I make for my household — 41! And I thought I was a minimalist. If you can’t find things you like that are fair trade or ethically sourced, start with these slave-free companies or start your own brand like these makers I love: Mercy House Global, Bead for Life, Whispers of Love Uganda, and my own tiny start-up handmade Uganda bead shop at my website Togetherness Redefined. 

Step 3: Educate yourself. 

Don’t be afraid to search the Internet for human trafficking prevention organizations in your state. Visit anti-trafficking websites to learn how to recognize a trafficking victim. Save the hotline number in your phone (1-888-373-7888) so that you have it when someone needs it. Become familiar with myths and facts surrounding the issue. Print a copy of the warning signs of a trafficking victim so that you can read it often and recognize a victimized person and reach out when you see him or her. Learn where it happens most and how to report labor or sex trafficking when you see it. Read survivor stories and immerse yourself in their world for a few hours.

Knowing the facts will make a huge difference. Responsible companies like UPS are even educating their drivers to be aware of the signs of human trafficking victims.

Step 4: Talk about the issue with people you know. 

You don’t have to shout from a rooftop or scream at a street corner to even join the awareness train. You only need to look for small, appropriate opportunities to bring up the subject with your family and friends. If every single one of us talked about this with just one person even a few days out of the year, the impact on the world’s awareness would increase exponentially, eventually reaching every customer of the trade and every profiteer too, letting them know that the world is not going to stand for human trafficking any longer. 

As I said to a friend on the phone recently, we have to stop being embarrassed to talk about this issue. We might be parents who don’t feel comfortable talking about sex or prostitution in our normal, everyday conversations, especially around our teenage sons and daughters, but we have to. Not talking about it doesn’t make it go away. In fact, it’s part of the problem. We all have to let people know that we know what’s going on so that the people buying and selling these children will realize they can’t hide anymore. When everyday people start speaking out every day, the universe will shift. 

Step 5: Open your eyes. 

Chances are every person reading this article has crossed paths with someone currently being trafficked (isn’t that terrifying?). Look for someone who needs help, walk over to them, ask them how they are, where they’re from, what they love to do, and see where it goes. Many times, the person you’ve approached is just fine, but it’s that one time when s/he’s not and now has someone who cares… that can potentially make a huge difference.

And that’s it. If we all do those five things and share what we know with others who will also do those five things, the tragedy of human trafficking will end with our generation. While activism and changing the world as it relates to something as horrific as human trafficking may seem like something out of reach for regular everyday people, it isn’t. As Margaret Mead famously said, 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Who will you share these steps with today? 

January is Human Trafficking Awareness month… but until this horrible practice is eradicated, it is every month. Will you join me in being the change you want to see in the world?

If you want to know more about this issue and how you can help, visit polarisproject.org. And for more information, here are some links to non-profit organizations to check out: 

The Abolitionist Movement and Agnes Scott College
Just 1
Sacred Roots Farm
Georgia Cares
Victoria’s Lighthouse
Gigi’s House
Street Grace

You may also be interested in reading Mother Nature’s Hourglass: A Biologist Reminds Us That Time Is Running Out by Dave Cannon

The post Not In My Backyard: The Reality of Human Trafficking and 5 Steps to End It appeared first on BEST SELF.

Photographer Lou Jones describes an ambitious project to create a contemporary, visual portrait of modern Africa.

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Folded under me, my knees were about to explode. My heavy camera bag was in my lap. The compass pointed due north to my destination in Ghana — a clinic in the epicenter of Asante territory, 250 kilometers from Accra. For two days I had bumped over red clay dirt roads, stuffed into the rumble seat of an American vintage pickup truck. My body was no longer capable of absorbing this kind of abuse. So began my ambitious quest to photograph the continent of Africa…country by country.

A number of years before, I read a newspaper article that reported the African Union was contemplating censoring western access to the continent because of their negative, biased coverage of only poverty, pestilence or conflict. At first I was appalled at such a kneejerk reaction, but eventually I came around to their way of thinking. In an effort to stem this craven indifference, I contemplated how my profession might help ameliorate the problem by depicting Africa in a realistic, yet more positive way.

My career as a freelance photographer and Road WaRRioR (a long-term project sharing my experiences as a social documentary photographer) prepared me for the rigors of travel. While on assignment, I have visited 55 countries, 48 of 50 United States, covered 13 Olympic Games, published books on 27 death row inmates, been captured by guerilla rebels, visited opium dens in southeast Asia, acquired a lot of frequent flyer miles, and born witness to many of the globe’s flora and fauna. Africa is the latest in a long list of my travel obsessions.

The idea to photograph every African country has been percolating in my mind ever since I first went to Africa in the 1970s. Since then, I’ve been dreaming and conceptualizing, meeting and calling people to develop the concept. I explored several potential strategies, but all were rejected. It was not until social media and crowdsourcing matured that the full scope of my vision became a reality in August 2013 with the creation of the panAFRICAproject — a contemporary, visual portrait of modern Africa.

Photography is a universal language — one especially well suited for this kind of almanac.

Although approximately 2000 languages are spoken in Africa, photography is the premier means of communication the world over. One does not have to be able to understand the lingua franca. In newspapers, magazines, the Internet, social media, stories can be told best when people experience the evidence in pictures. We can transmit the vast landscapes, deserts, jungles and sunsets across the Atlantic, as well as colors, textures, weather, mores, parent’s love for their children, and hate for one’s neighbors in the cradle of civilization.

The panAFRICAproject is designed to dispel the myriad misconceptions that plague the minds of people who have never been to Africa. Despite the problems of colonialism and exploitation lasting so many generations, Africa is lockstep with the advances being played out on every other continent. Besides progress in economy, agriculture, natural resources and technology, many countries are consciously trying to preserve the ancient, traditional ways of life that make their history unique.

Ghana was our first destination. Since then, my team and I have been to nine African countries and are working to go to number ten at the time of this writing. My studio conducts extensive research before choosing which country to visit. The algorithm is complex. It takes into account weather, location, accessibility, time of year, and the country’s relative “position” on the pecking order of nations. We utilize all types of modern analysis, but the most important technique is “six degrees of separation” (i.e., a friend tells us about a friend or relative who has an associate in a country who puts us in contact with an organization or individual who has close ties to something indigenous). Grassroots relationships are key.

There are a billion people on the continent of Africa who go to work everyday, raise their children, get educations, preserve cultural traditions, conduct business, and mastermind brilliant innovations.

To expose a more realistic portrait of the continent, we point our camera towards contemporary, modern subjects that inhabit towering high rises and multi-story industrial buildings that silhouette new skylines that make Africa the fastest growing continent in the world.

Over 600,000 tourists visit Ngorongoro Crater annually, considered to be one of the last footholds of majestic wildlife on earth. There, one can see lions, giraffes, elephants, wildebeests, and hyenas in abundance. Scores of foreigners purchase safaris to experience firsthand this ecological phenomenon. Coexisting right beside these animals is a tribe called Maasai. They are a proud nomadic culture that dates back hundreds of years. Split by a colonial border between present-day Tanzania and Kenya, they are being pressured to uproot their homelands to accommodate the growing tourist trade. Animals pay well — better than people.

How a culture cares for its citizens is a good indicator of how deeply concerned it is in other endeavors. For this project, we delved into all types of medical/healthcare aspects: hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and elderly care. Refreshingly, many people hold fast to their upbringing and still prefer traditional healers, rather than more modern advances. We have spent time on both sides of the subject. There is much to be gained from each.

In Lesotho, we photographed a woman whose mysterious practices baffle doctors and nurses, but her holistic approach gets results. Up north in Tanzania, after extensive negotiations, I photographed a female who had been burned over 30 percent of her body. In a state-of-the-art operating room, the patient was in excruciating pain. I felt a tremendous ambivalence about the graphic nature of the scene and invasion of privacy, but the medical staff understood the importance of my mission as well as theirs.

Historians concede that much modern music originated in Africa. It came over with the slave trade, was distilled, refined and now has been reabsorbed back into the homeland. Gospel, blues, and jazz have all been rooted in the African diaspora. So much culture, whether it is ancient tribal rhythms or the latest rock and roll, is being produced in the towns and villages. It spawns a whole new dynamic where Africans have never ceased expressing their joys, rituals, and lifestyles through performances, the radio, CDs, videos and mobile devices. Sound abounds.

In Swaziland I was able to photograph a minuscule popup recording studio where wannabe hip-hop artists are expressing their rebellion against today’s inequities.

Between the Sahara Desert and Cape of Good Hope is the highest concentration of religions in the world, from mainstream to little worships passed orally from father to son and mother to daughter. Despite its most recent difficulties, the antiquarian Ethiopia boasts of how well Christianity, Islam and Judaism coexist amicably side-by-side. On Sunday in Swaziland, the entire country dons primary colored robes and parades to their respective churches. We were welcomed into a small church that practices a unique form of Zionism. They prayed, spoke in tongues, danced, chanted and hallucinated for hours in front of my cameras.

Namibia offered some of the most extreme contrasts — the rural areas are an anthropologist’s dream. An intrepid traveler falls through the looking glass of time. Herero, Himba and San tribes exist unchanged for millennia and at the same time, in the cosmopolitan cities, urban life vies for space next to bare-breasted women, plying their trades and suckling their infants on the streets and in the department stores.

It took several days to gain permission to photograph a native airline pilot in the cockpit of his huge, passenger Boeing 737, flown between major cities in southern Africa. I also had the unbelievable opportunity to photograph the pressroom of the major newspaper. The publisher had been exiled for activities during the revolution. Now he was shaping political policy and opinions. They were printing the 25th anniversary of independence issue and used some of my photographs in the commemorative centerfold.

The good tourist photography that comes out of Africa is mainly of things that are otherworldly to western eyes and alien to our own environments.

It is only natural that the exotic differences in life be documented, but since the bigger-than-life panoramas are so enticing and compelling, these images are largely of exterior spaces, photographed outside in nature. The interiors of homes, commerce and politics are still mysterious. We attempt to take the neophyte inside and reveal the inner sanctums of Africa as well.

The algorithm we use to select each new country is designed to take us to diverse extremes within the continent so there is little homogeneity. In Ghana, the citizenry are very leery of you taking their picture; Namibia, not so much. In Swaziland there is a widespread paranoia about all sorts of dealings, whereas Ethiopia is very open about their history and contemporary machinations. Tanzania emphasizes their animal background because it attracts tourists and revenue, but there is little tourism in Lesotho, so your presence is a curiosity.

When you get off the plane you have to decipher a lot of the personalities. In some urban areas, it is important to be cognizant of the military/police presence. Corruption is rampant and obvious in some places, but extremely quiet in others. The challenge is to figure out each area’s unique protocol and what is possible to photograph on the street. In some places, street photography is okay and in others, it is very hard. Making the mistake can cost dearly in many ways.

Gaining access to the interiors is another problem. Even though we have had good success into manufacturing, hospitals and some industry, people want to be paid. In health care, there are confidentiality problems. The reason I undertook this project was because, in my career, I have encountered all of these situations. Usually not all at once, but we have the skills to organize from afar, insinuate ourselves into different organizations, quell and negotiate difficult situations when there are ‘boots on the ground’.

We navigate diverse cultures and think on our feet to convince a large company owner that his establishment is of interest to the rest to the world and the next day argue politics in the bars with downtown locals. This makes the four+ weeks of each trip extremely labor intensive and exhausting; however overall, we have discovered that Africans are generous, accommodating and really understand how they are being maligned in western press. They also realize how important our project and tasks are.

My team and I have traveled tens of thousands of miles. We have slept in dung huts, under tents, and in nameless motels. We have eaten unidentifiable foods, enjoyed the hospitality of smokestack industries and hapless individuals who see the value in displaying their wares as a metaphor for a whole way of life.

For the first few visits, my advertising and corporate photography paid for my indulgences. More recently, we mounted a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise the money to continue. It has afforded us the opportunity to expand our outreach, research and most importantly, the ability to more widely move around and investigate the many facets of each country. We utilize social media to promote each visit to our precious constituency. Facebook and Twitter allow our ‘friends’ to travel right along with us through our daily postings of photographs and diaries of our exploits.

I find that I miss being there. I have been seduced by Africa. ALL my senses, skills and talents are coaxed while I am there, solving the complexities as to why we became photographers. 

Not only do we have to solve visual problems, but cultural ones as well. That is exciting, but the aggregate of all the photographs is intended to give any interested party a more realistic view inside a part of the world we hardly ever see in the correct light. School kids, researchers, teachers, and entrepreneurs can potentially use the imagery. We have also been exhibiting. We are small, but we are trying to lay a foundation to expand the project exponentially, to publish an almanac of images that reach far beyond our ambitions.

From the beginning of this ambitious undertaking, savvy curators have been paying attention. We have been asked to exhibit the work in galleries, schools and publications. In March 2017, Mount Ida College in Newton, MA is hosting a huge show of hundreds of panAFRICAproject pieces. Concerned franchises have also asked me to lecture about my experiences.

At no point in my wildest imagination could I have envisioned where we are today. In fact, that’s the whole point. We cannot possibly foresee the vast picture that is Africa.

This project is far from over. Actually, we are just beginning.

View the portfolio: tap to enlarge images:

For more information: panAFRICAproject.org | Facebook | Kickstarter

You may also enjoy reading Architecture and Humanity | The Conscious Urbanism of Kunlé Adeyemi by Bill Miles

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African architect Kunlé Adeyemi expresses a deep passion for social progress through his ground-breaking designs and urban planning

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NLÉ is an architecture, design, and urbanism practice for developing cities and communities.

Such is the elevator pitch on the website homepage of Amsterdam-based NLÉ, founded by Kunlé Adeyemi, a native African architect who’s work reveals a deep mission to serve communities in need, and humanity as a whole, through conscious architecture and design.

I am neither an architect, nor an architecture critic. But I am moved by exceptional design on all scales, and especially interested in those elements of urban planning that have the power to elevate and coalesce a community.

Adeyemi is one of those rare visionaries that focuses on the impact of a project first, and then goes about the work of creating it.

His story is one of perseverance in the pursuit of his vision, despite setbacks, occasional condemnations, and other forms of external resistance. His passion rides a line between conviction and ego; brilliance and audacity.

I first became aware of Adeyemi when I learned of an innovative floating school (pictured above) built in the aquatic community of Makoko in the lagoon heart of Africa’s second most populated city, Lagos, Nigeria. The unconventional, sustainably-crafted design addressed the shifting tidal and flooding conditions that rendered basic education a near impossible challenge for the existing land-based primary school. An estimated 100,000 people reside in Makoko in housing units built on stilts. Lacking roads, land, and any formal infrastructure, Adeyemi’s design would provide an adaptable hub not only for education, but also events and other community uses.

The Makoko Floating School, which was nominated for numerous awards, was actually more of a beta test — or so it would seem in hindsight. After three years of vibrant service to the community, the school was de-commissioned in the spring of 2016 for structural repairs and upgrades. As fate would have it, the building collapsed a few months later during a strong breeze and rainfall (there were no casualties). This event, as critics were quick to point out, called into question the architectural integrity of the school from the get-go. During its brief lifespan, however, the school fulfilled its promise; its legacy is revealed in an improved, pre-fabricated, multi-purpose, floating prototype called the MFS II, now on display in Venice, Italy.

The structure, according to NLÉ, “aims to identify, gather and cultivate the intelligence of communities and cities by water with a motivation to bridge inequality by improving social, economic and environmental conditions worldwide. It is an opportunity for us to think, build, and live differently, by facing challenges in this age of rapid urbanization and climate change.” If ever there was a project with a sweeping, bold social mission, this is it!

Another example of Adeyemi’s ingenuity in the face of coastal challenges is the forthcoming Chicoco Radio project — another floating structure that will house a media center anchored by a radio station. In the community of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, nearly 500,000 people live in waterfront settlements along the creeks that fringe the city. As the Nigerian government prepares to demolish these settlements, Chicoco Radio is the voice of the community during this tumultuous period. The new floating building will augment the capacity of the radio station, as well as provide much needed space for public congregation and expression.

There are numerous other remarkable, socially-conscious urban projects from NLÉ (which, incidentally, means ‘at home’ in Yoruba), both completed and in-progress, including the CDL Microfinance Bank, which provides financing to low and medium income earners. Diverse as they are, the thread that informs each NLÉ design is the social impact it will have on the heart of a community — the common folk who live and work there. In an interview with the Tennessee chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Adeyemi remarks, “Think about challenges the people have if you address them from a point of authenticity. When [projects] are driven by real needs and real resources, you create a lot more impact.”

Adeyemi certainly earned his chops prior to opening NLÉ. Influenced by his father, an early modernist architect in Nigeria, he studied at the University of Lagos and then Princeton University followed by nearly a decade working at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture alongside its famed co-founder, Rem Koolhaas, among others. So how does Adeyemi describe the work of his company? He continues in the AIA interview, “We’re essentially a young, agile firm, growing… defining a path with the right projects that add value to places and people we serve. We are setting new standards with the people we work with. Bridging the gap — gaps of inequality. Gaps of access. Access to resources. Social access. That’s important to us.”

By that standard, there is no shortage of global projects worthy of Adeyemi’s attention. I hope that his mission will encourage the world’s most influential urban planners and community leaders to support — and fund — sustainable, environmentally responsible and socially conscious architecture. Adeyemi’s work certainly takes us one step closer to this ideal, and reminds me that when we work with authenticity, empathy, and passion, we are capable of attracting forces far beyond our own — forces which conspire on our behalf to manifest our visions, for ourselves and the greater good of all.

You may also enjoy reading Krash | Co-Living Space for Networkers by Bill Miles

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A professor’s journey to becoming adopted by a Native American Tribe after a lifetime of building cross-cultural bridges

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My life has existed at the crossroads of two cultures for more than three decades — one foot planted in the modern American paradigm and the other equally in that of the Native American. Recently, I was deeply honored to be adopted into an American Indian Tribe, an extraordinary event which punctuated my journey of building cross-cultural bridges and mutual understanding. This story begins here:

I met Melinda on a river trip. I was on a leave of absence from teaching; she was a physician practicing allopathic family medicine on the Navajo Reservation. This fateful meeting changed my life personally and professionally.

Melinda’s experience on the reservation piqued my interest in American Indian studies that went way beyond the Hollywood stereotypes and mascot politics of Native Americans. In particular, I was intrigued by Melinda’s relationship with Mrs. Stanley, an honored medicine woman who was also her clinic’s nurse and interpreter’s mother. When Melinda could not figure out a difficult diagnosis in her clinic she would say, “Maybe you should see Mrs. Stanley up on the mesa…” — meaning a traditional Navajo diagnostician would take over. Likewise, when Mrs. Stanley saw something she thought allopathic medicine would heal she would say to her client, “Maybe you should see that white lady doctor down in the valley…”

This mutual respect between two healers inspired Melinda to learn Navajo so that she could speak to her patients in their own language. She believed that working collaboratively with native people was the most powerful way to impact their healing.

This practice served her well in her capacity as a consultant for over 20 years to the Indian Health Service on reservations throughout Montana.

Melinda and I married 15 months after that trip, and we both went on to finish our graduate studies at the University of Arizona. While there, I had the honor and life-changing good fortune to work closely with the noted Native American scholars, Vine Deloria, Jr. and N. Scott Momaday. I took their classes, visited with them over coffee, and listened to their stories about life on reservations. What impressed me the most was that these men were able to balance exploring new worlds — literally and academically — while remaining deeply connected to their own culture and families. This is something I have since strived to achieve in my own life.

I think back now to the very first class I taught at MSUB when I was publically confronted (and ironically the only time such an incident occurred) with the question, “What makes you think you can teach Native American Studies when you are not an Indian?” Whoa, I said to myself, This could be a short career here. And I answered the most honest way I could think of relating back to what I learned from my mentors, “Yes, I am not a Native, and I have studied under some of the best American Indian scholars and I admire and respect Native culture and contributions. I know about the general dynamics of tribal societies, the history of American Indian people, as well as treaty law and federal Indian policy, and I would like to share that knowledge and respect with any who cares to listen. I will never purport to say what Indians think about this or that, because I am not one.

I will honor and listen to both sides of the story and share the Native historical side because so little of it has been accurately reported.”

And thus began my 30+ year career in Native American Studies.

As a professor and a teacher of diversity training workshops, my primary goal has always been to accurately tell stories and share information that others may not know. So many of these stories — the true DNA of a people — were culled from my previous international travels as well as from my Native students.

Many of my students were first generation college students who did not have the luxury of being ‘just students’. Like so many from similar first generation families, they were also parents, full-time workers (outside of class times), and care providers to elders of their families. Many had special obligations to their families, clans and societies that required them to be present at tribal ceremonies that were not regulated by the university calendar. Being American Indians in a public state university, many had to leave the comfort zone of their own towns and families and learn how to live the duality of both worlds: the white majority society and their own rural reservation. Many of my non-Indian students had no idea of the unreported American Indian perspective of history. For example, what it was like to be a contemporary Native American who could be listening to the latest rap tune on his/her iPhone while going to a Sundance (where upon it would be put away after a stern glance from an elder). All of this provided me with abundant opportunities for an exchange of information and cross-cultural understanding.

This past spring of 2016, upon my retirement from Montana State University-Billings (MSUB), in recognition of my life’s work, I was bestowed one of the highest of honors — being formally adopted into the Crow Tribe of Montana. While it is not so rare for a ‘trusted friend’ of the Crow Tribe to be adopted (such as Barack Obama), my adoption was unique in that it took place off the reservation in the university gymnasium before approximately 1500 people. Since it was conducted off the reservation, to assure that the ceremony was performed in a traditionally correct way, it had to have the approval and blessing of many Crow elders from districts across the vast reservation (almost 2.5 million acres, about the size of Connecticut). This was accomplished thanks to my colleague, Reno Charette (Crow) and her family, with the assistance of many Native students such as Levi Yellowmule, a traditional Crow Indian who received academic credit for his key role in aiding my cross-cultural adoption.

My adoption ceremony was filled with cherished memories. In a sage and cedaring blessing ceremony earlier in the day, I was given a Crow name: Bawaaeechecheiishiitche. You cannot be ‘adopted’ without being ‘born’ and given a new name. The approximate English translation of my Crow name is: He who enjoys teaching and sharing with others. During the ceremony, Melinda and my sister, Hilary, were gifted with traditional clothing — one of the many physical and spiritual gifts that were given to us throughout the day. Becoming a member of the Crow tribe was certainly the most significant singular honor ever bestowed upon me — a day I will never forget. The connections and the cultural bridges that were built out of my initial curiosity and admiration and willingness to ‘learn another way’ and not be afraid of what I might find eventually led to mutual understanding and trust in a truly extraordinary cultural embrace.

So, after 35 years out west, and on the heels of being bestowed with this extraordinary honor, Melinda and I have just returned to my home state of New York, looking to meet new friends, to share old stories and create new ones. For as my new name so accurately proclaims, I truly enjoy sharing with others.

Aho’

Jeff Sanders (Bawaaeechecheiishiitche)

You may also enjoy reading Art Is Our Teacher: Let’s Learn From Rather than Destroy the Art which Reflects Our Past by Jill Skye.

The post Into the Tribe | Being Adopted by a Native American Tribe appeared first on BEST SELF.