Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
What does my own education of Native cultures look like? What information did I receive or not receive in my formal education regarding Indigenous history? How can I better understand my own culture alongside the culture of others?
Let us humbly sit in the reality that an anti-racist world—one where the dignity of all humans is upheld—is possible. For this world to be ushered in, we must face hard truths and grow in our capacity to engage in meaningful conflict.
-Meditation by Indigenous Solidarity Collective Member Scott Pyzik.
The 2022 Advent Calendar is a project of CTA's Indigenous Solidarity Collective, a working group that addresses the Catholic Church's historical and current role in colonialization. To support more projects from working groups like this one, please consider making a contribution!
Call To Action's 2022 Advent Calendar, planned and written by the Indigenous Solidarity Collective, provides 27 days of prayer and study to lead into action and solidarity with Indigenous communities. Here is today's meditation.
Call to Action: 27-28
Justice
“27. We call upon the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to ensure that lawyers receive appropriate cultural competency training, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal– Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
28. We call upon law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti- racism.”
December 14th, 2022
Further Reading
"Indigenous Peoples and Violence" from the Association on American Indian Affairs.
"The U.S. criminal justice system disproportionately hurts Native people: the data, visualized" from the Prison Policy Initiative.
"Native American women face an epidemic of violence. A legal loophole prevents prosecutions" from NBC News.
"The Catholic Church must come clean—completely—about what it did to Native Americans" from America magazine.
The watercolor paintings featured on this calendar were created by Duane Yazzie, an artist of Hopi and Navajo ancestry. Yazzie creates artwork that reflects his Indigenous heritage and his childhood spent in the Southwest.
