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2016 and 2017 brought us Standing Rock, the Native March on Washington, and various demonstrations that made the Native American population more visible to the rest of the country. Around the world, indigenous peoples have shown up in increasing numbers to international spaces, stating their grievances and demanding solutions. But, in this country, how many people actually understand what grievances Native Americans have or how those issues came to be?
On January 1, 2018, a new YouTube educational channel called Sovereign Stories launched its first short animation. The channel will operate under the umbrella of the National Peace Academy, an organization dedicated to peace building, diversity, and inclusion. Sovereign Stories will post multiple videos per week throughout the course of the year, slowly guiding followers through Native American history, policy and laws, stereotypes and misconceptions, contemporary issues, historic and prominent figures, and more. Its goal is to get the national and international conversation about movements like #NoDAPL and #MMIW at a level of sophisticated understanding and to dispel myths and stereotypes about today’s Native American population.
This channel was originally designed as a finalist submission for the Roddenberry Fellowship. It didn’t get the funding, but Sovereign Stories is moving forward with production anyway. It is directed and animated by a graduate student Faith, with the guidance of indigenous faculty and researchers. Please support its efforts by liking Sovereign Stories (@SovereignStorys) on Facebook, following the channel on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribing to the videos on YouTube. Most importantly, be sure to share this resource with your community so that people interested in learning about the topics within Native American Studies are aware of Sovereign Stories.
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Photo credit: Sovereign Stories YouTube channel