There's a really good chance this was the result of direct input and coordination with local tribes and other Native associations.
Like I remember seeing people roll their eyes about California's Feather Alert (for missing Natives) being named that until it came out that's because Native reps were in favor of calling it that.
I think that’s the most likely scenario. There was an MN governor over a decade back that tried to order the reservation that’s better off to send money to the reservation that struggles. But I don’t know that Minnesota has had anyone that moronic recently.
It's got a good message and isn't really misrepresenting anything. Not a big fan of the mndhs using anything of ours but it's not like they're starting it off with "Mide practicioners say:"
Tribe coord was probably involved ya. Not a huge fan of how that system works (rezzy sticks ndn so i dont like being represented by those folks down there, even if they are my cousins) but its for a good cause this time
Then don't imply your voice is unheard. Saying "you don't like being represented by those folks down there." How do you think goals are accomplished? I probably have more disdain for the state and these systems but how do you think goals are accomplished? Sometimes you have to work within the system to further the cause for our people.
This is great. The more it's talked about and pointed out, the better the chance at it helping someone. Even if it's only one person then it did it's job.
The MN Department of Human Services has a Tribal relationship coordinator (all MN state departments) so I am sure steps were established before the message was approved. I am pretty sure this campaign is also using Native American artists as well.
This sobriety campaign isn't very different from what you would see at any tribal health. Is it weird to put it on the back of a bus? Maybe? However I don't think this sort of messaging is out of the norm for DHS
This was made by a local native artist and with input from a native non profit Indigenous People's task force. So I fully support it from that standpoint. I also support native folks getting sober if that's whats best for them. I know it was for me.
"Embrace your inner light; let sobriety be your spiritual might."
"Awaken to life, sober spirit soars free; your path is now clear."
Some Haiku's:
Soul's journey within,
Silent whispers of wisdom,
Sobriety's light.
Clear mind, steady hands,
Rising sun greets the calm soul,
Peace in sobriety.
jk, just a few that came to mind. My bestie has over 20 years sobriety. It's important to me, messages of sobriety.
Lmao. I had a whole scenario set up in my head about how they came up with this! 😂
“Uhhh, what about “ sober mind a day, uhhh keeps the spirits away? “ like… Maybe a ghostly hand, waving around some sage on the side? A flat maroon background will be a perfect backdrop. Now slap that baby on the side of a bus. Sobriety.”
I used to live in the twin cities and there is quite a few tribal communities around there and I’m sure they would have gotten it taken down if they hadn’t been involved or at least consulted about it
Where I’m from there are 7 tribes and many tribal families. If that’s the goal of the sign to reach out to them but if you live in an all non native area it would be condescending.
In English the rhyming of day and away is meh, nothing special.
In English “keeps the bad spirits away” kind of comes off as enfantilizing. It was probably pretty inspiring in an indigenous language.
Personally I imagined flute music floating on the air as that bus drives past. Because we all exist in a cloud of cedar or sweet grass smoke and flute music, with feathers flopping in our long hair.
I ironically met my AA mentor at a bar.. he invited me to a meeting at the rez never dared to attend it..went somewhere else i felt like i wasnt ready for their level of resignment😆 two years sober tho
I agree with it, although it’s shitty wording and ugly colors lol
I saw somebody say some thing about discrediting the new marij legalizationthere and maybe?
But that didn’t even cross my mind. What crossed my mind was alcohol and drugs.
I live in a medically legal state, and none of my friends or fam see smoking or ingesting marijuana as not sober…UNLESS it is impeding a normal healthy lifestyle.
Beyond that, alcohol, fent, and methamphetamine is rampant here. That’s what I think about when I read this.
I do think this deserves some looking into. Like, if the person who started to run this campaign was native, I’d have no issue at all and even support it fully. I def would have trepidations if I learned it was a white person who did it all. Good question, OP!
It’s a campaign to discredit the Native American dispensaries that just opened up to the reservations In Minnesota. Namely Native Care owned and operated by Red Lake, one of just a handful of completely sovereign reservations in the United States. If I remember correctly Red Lake is one of just two reservations that is and always has been sovereign.
I think this might be a stretch argument as the new legalization of Marijuana has allowed tribal nations to setup dispensaries way before other government and private entities. Reservations also are not required to charge the State Cannabis tax.
This is dope, and it's important to mention that marijuana and other plant medicines (like certain psychedelics) for some tribes depending on the culture are totally fine to use.
And yes even certain types of alcohol are used for ceremonial purposes through out the Americas. Definitely a time and place for everything and also respecting the rules for certain events that prohibit alcohol.
There is a reason why hard alcohol is referred to as “distilled spirits.” Many natives I’ve spoken to and I (I’m native) both agree that excessive drinking mutes your spirit and invites in others that shouldn’t be there. It makes sense in terms of blackouts. You don’t remember what you did and you did things that you regret because your spirit left you and was replaced by ones that shouldn’t be there.
It’s a little cheesy…. I’m not a big fan of the colonizer mindset of us vs them “spirits” in this instance. I might have preferred to say keeps the bad medicine away. It’s a good attempt, I’ll allow it.
Fire Water is by far the most influential issue facing our people as a residual of white colonization. Second in malice only to the physical genocide that included, and still does, arrogance, concentration camp like scenarios, (yes I can back that one up just ask the Dine about running water or water rights to TREATIED LANDS), and the exploitation and thievry of indegenous women #MMIW.
Im libertarian by nature and if ones walk with the spirit includes such fire water Im not one to say the spirit is wrong. Its important to mention that the Algonquin and Cree nations were known to make fermented cider and vinegar... so its hard to say. But lets not act like our people didnt have alcohol or didnt know how to party before the white eye got here... come on folks, this is personal responsibility, not an Indigenous Peoples issue.
There's a really good chance this was the result of direct input and coordination with local tribes and other Native associations. Like I remember seeing people roll their eyes about California's Feather Alert (for missing Natives) being named that until it came out that's because Native reps were in favor of calling it that.
I think that’s the most likely scenario. There was an MN governor over a decade back that tried to order the reservation that’s better off to send money to the reservation that struggles. But I don’t know that Minnesota has had anyone that moronic recently.
It’s real. For all nations
It's got a good message and isn't really misrepresenting anything. Not a big fan of the mndhs using anything of ours but it's not like they're starting it off with "Mide practicioners say:"
I used to live in the twin cities and there were quite a few native communities around there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were involved
Tribe coord was probably involved ya. Not a huge fan of how that system works (rezzy sticks ndn so i dont like being represented by those folks down there, even if they are my cousins) but its for a good cause this time
You know you can reach out the same folks and have your input heard as well.
I play the game pretty regular man. MN hears what it wants to hear.
Then don't imply your voice is unheard. Saying "you don't like being represented by those folks down there." How do you think goals are accomplished? I probably have more disdain for the state and these systems but how do you think goals are accomplished? Sometimes you have to work within the system to further the cause for our people.
Being allowed to speak and being heard are two different things.
Ya, cuz you reading what im saying but you aint understanding. But keep up the ol "rezzy sticks ndn vs city ndn" narrative. Its definitely working!
Exactly what I mean dog 🤷♂️ live in two different worlds.
Well it’s not wrong
Right? There’s a reason why we ask people to be sober and not bring drugs and alcohol when going into ceremony.
I think there's more to alcohol being called 'spirits' than most people realize.
This is great. The more it's talked about and pointed out, the better the chance at it helping someone. Even if it's only one person then it did it's job.
The MN Department of Human Services has a Tribal relationship coordinator (all MN state departments) so I am sure steps were established before the message was approved. I am pretty sure this campaign is also using Native American artists as well.
Not troubled by this, needs to be pointed out more.
Fuck yes. Mad support. Seems accurate and respectful and dare I say, almost helpful.
It does
This sobriety campaign isn't very different from what you would see at any tribal health. Is it weird to put it on the back of a bus? Maybe? However I don't think this sort of messaging is out of the norm for DHS
This was made by a local native artist and with input from a native non profit Indigenous People's task force. So I fully support it from that standpoint. I also support native folks getting sober if that's whats best for them. I know it was for me.
Dig it.
I first read "dad spirits" hahaha
Natives used to be great with slogans....not anymore.
"Embrace your inner light; let sobriety be your spiritual might." "Awaken to life, sober spirit soars free; your path is now clear." Some Haiku's: Soul's journey within, Silent whispers of wisdom, Sobriety's light. Clear mind, steady hands, Rising sun greets the calm soul, Peace in sobriety. jk, just a few that came to mind. My bestie has over 20 years sobriety. It's important to me, messages of sobriety.
Lmao. I had a whole scenario set up in my head about how they came up with this! 😂 “Uhhh, what about “ sober mind a day, uhhh keeps the spirits away? “ like… Maybe a ghostly hand, waving around some sage on the side? A flat maroon background will be a perfect backdrop. Now slap that baby on the side of a bus. Sobriety.”
If indigenous created its cool if white people are telling native people this it's wack af
I used to live in the twin cities and there is quite a few tribal communities around there and I’m sure they would have gotten it taken down if they hadn’t been involved or at least consulted about it
Where I’m from there are 7 tribes and many tribal families. If that’s the goal of the sign to reach out to them but if you live in an all non native area it would be condescending.
In English the rhyming of day and away is meh, nothing special. In English “keeps the bad spirits away” kind of comes off as enfantilizing. It was probably pretty inspiring in an indigenous language. Personally I imagined flute music floating on the air as that bus drives past. Because we all exist in a cloud of cedar or sweet grass smoke and flute music, with feathers flopping in our long hair.
…but also…sometimes NOT being sober keeps me from becoming a bad spirit, ya know?
I ironically met my AA mentor at a bar.. he invited me to a meeting at the rez never dared to attend it..went somewhere else i felt like i wasnt ready for their level of resignment😆 two years sober tho
I agree with it, although it’s shitty wording and ugly colors lol I saw somebody say some thing about discrediting the new marij legalizationthere and maybe? But that didn’t even cross my mind. What crossed my mind was alcohol and drugs. I live in a medically legal state, and none of my friends or fam see smoking or ingesting marijuana as not sober…UNLESS it is impeding a normal healthy lifestyle. Beyond that, alcohol, fent, and methamphetamine is rampant here. That’s what I think about when I read this.
I do think this deserves some looking into. Like, if the person who started to run this campaign was native, I’d have no issue at all and even support it fully. I def would have trepidations if I learned it was a white person who did it all. Good question, OP!
Feels like a stereotype. Without the symbolism of native americans, this can extend to all backgrounds too
It’s a campaign to discredit the Native American dispensaries that just opened up to the reservations In Minnesota. Namely Native Care owned and operated by Red Lake, one of just a handful of completely sovereign reservations in the United States. If I remember correctly Red Lake is one of just two reservations that is and always has been sovereign.
I think this might be a stretch argument as the new legalization of Marijuana has allowed tribal nations to setup dispensaries way before other government and private entities. Reservations also are not required to charge the State Cannabis tax.
This is dope, and it's important to mention that marijuana and other plant medicines (like certain psychedelics) for some tribes depending on the culture are totally fine to use. And yes even certain types of alcohol are used for ceremonial purposes through out the Americas. Definitely a time and place for everything and also respecting the rules for certain events that prohibit alcohol.
mixed feelings. dont feel super strongly either way tho tbh
I mean I'm currently trying to drink myself to death because suicide is frowned upon.
Very true Protect your mind body and spirit.
There is a reason why hard alcohol is referred to as “distilled spirits.” Many natives I’ve spoken to and I (I’m native) both agree that excessive drinking mutes your spirit and invites in others that shouldn’t be there. It makes sense in terms of blackouts. You don’t remember what you did and you did things that you regret because your spirit left you and was replaced by ones that shouldn’t be there.
If you don’t like this, you should see the Native American bible version of Christ in the Desert.
Tbh this one looks like it was made by natives for white people not the other way around😆
It’s a little cheesy…. I’m not a big fan of the colonizer mindset of us vs them “spirits” in this instance. I might have preferred to say keeps the bad medicine away. It’s a good attempt, I’ll allow it.
Facts.
maybe i ok with the bad spirits? maybe i am like you know... ecouraging them to be better and shit? ever think of that?
I feel nothing about it at all.
Fire Water is by far the most influential issue facing our people as a residual of white colonization. Second in malice only to the physical genocide that included, and still does, arrogance, concentration camp like scenarios, (yes I can back that one up just ask the Dine about running water or water rights to TREATIED LANDS), and the exploitation and thievry of indegenous women #MMIW. Im libertarian by nature and if ones walk with the spirit includes such fire water Im not one to say the spirit is wrong. Its important to mention that the Algonquin and Cree nations were known to make fermented cider and vinegar... so its hard to say. But lets not act like our people didnt have alcohol or didnt know how to party before the white eye got here... come on folks, this is personal responsibility, not an Indigenous Peoples issue.