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WHAT DOES DECOLONIZATION MEAN?Decolonization isn’t guilt.It isn’t self-hatred.It isn’t moving backward.DECOLONIZATION ISQuestioning the stories that taught us to disconnect from ourselves. our communities. the Earth.ASK YOURSELFWho benefits from the way things are? What wisdom was lost along the way?2
START WITH YOUR STORYAsk yourself: Where did my family come from? What languages were spoken before English? What traditions were lost? What stories survived? DECOLONIZATION BEGINS WITH CURIOSITY. YOU CAN’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU’VE BEEN. 3
NOTICE THE WATER YOU’RE SWIMMING INMany colonial ideas are so common we mistake them for truth: Productivity equals worth. Land is property. Humans are separate from nature. Competition is more valuable than cooperation. Men should dominate women. QUESTION EVERYTHING Especially what you’ve been told is “normal.” 4
LEARN WHOSE LAND YOU ARE ON Before borders and states, there were nations. Learn whose homeland you live on. What happened there? Who is still there? The first step toward respect is awareness. 5
Colonization teaches extraction. Indigenous teachings often emphasize relationship. RECONNECT WITH THE EARTH A relationship cannot be built through ownership. Only through reciprocity. Try: Watching a sunrise. Learning local plants. Growing something. Thanking the water before you drink it. 6
EXAMINE YOUR BELIEFS Ask: Who taught me this? School? Church? Television? Family? Is it true? Or is it simply familiar? 7
DECOLONIZE YOUR CALENDAR Rest is not laziness. Community is not wasted time. Joy is not a distraction. Make room for: Family Art Ceremony Play Grief. These are not extras. They are part of being human. 8
LEARN FROM INDIGENOUS VOICES Read books. Attend events. Listen more than you speak. Support Indigenous artists, writers, organizers, and elders. Don’t just consume culture. Build relationships. 9
DECOLONIZE BEAUTY Who taught you what beauty looks like? Who taught you which bodies matter? Which skin tones? Which hair textures? Which languages? Beauty existed before magazines. Beauty existed before colonization. 10
DECOLONIZE GENDER Many Indigenous cultures recognized diverse roles and identities long before colonial governments imposed rigid categories. Ask: Who benefits from limiting human expression? What possibilities become available when people are free? 11
PRACTICE MUTUAL AID Colonial systems reward individual success. No one survives alone. We never did. 12 Community teaches interdependence. Share food. Share skills. Share resources.
RECLAIM CREATIVITY Create something. Write. Sing. Dance. Paint. Tell stories. Art is memory. Art is resistance. Art is how people remember who they are. 13
GET COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE You will make mistakes. You will discover things that challenge you. Good. Growth often feels like losing an old skin. Stay curious. Stay humble. Keep going. 14
DECOLONIZATION IS A VERB THERE IS NO FINISH LINE It is a lifelong practice of: Remembering Questioning Learning Healing Relating The work is never complete. Neither are we. 15