I come from amazing Indiginous heritage that honors the diversity in the world from all creatures beings, from all forms of life and when you understand what it means to be Indiginous, everything is alive or has life! Though I was raised in a way that views the world as black and white, this way of thinking was so limited to me and left a gaping hole inside. With a black and white view of the world, you miss so much, you deny so much, and because of this it allows such a limited personal and world view. It has made life for me so difficult to navigate and to honor my Indiginaity. Black and white thinking is so limited, and allows for limited room of the diversity of life of the world. Imagine walking this path, always being shared a black and white view of things. Never knowing what life truly has to offer and being stuck in a black and white world view is no way to live. I was lucky to have a glint of hope from my mom and grandparents from my mothers side. When we were young my mother and her parents often told us that we were indiginous, or in grandmas words we are Indians and the mean ones. This was the extent of our Idiginaity and because of this it allowed for at least one other color to be a part of my life, RED.

Red is associated with Indiginous people whether its vulgure or because the beautiful red tint of southwest peoples skin, a people that I come from a people that i belong to and whom belong to the red earth. Red is the color of blood, when we are cut no matter the color of our skin or our beliefs, we all bleed red. Red is that glimmer of hope in my life when I was lost. Red was the light at the end of the tunnel for me. Red was and is the hope in my life, red is the signal that I belong to something so much greater than a citizen of the U.S., to me Red is and always will be hope and my guide. Red is something that defines my individuality, my indiginaity but it also is a color that connects me to everything else.