A Voice from the Eastern Door

Daunnette Reyome Speaks at Day of the Girl Summit

The 2017 International Day of the Girl was on October 11 and to celebrate a Day of the Girl Summit took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Daunnette Reyome from Akwesasne spoke at the event. Daunnette is the daughter of Rodney and Launa Reyome. She is currently working on trying to get the International Day of the Girl established in Indian Country.

You can watch Daunnette's speech, and a video of the entire event, at http://dayofthegirlsummit.org.

Here is the transcript of her speech:

Since I was a little girl I've always known I wanted to be involved in the entertainment or fashion industry. At 3 years old I was wearing my mom's heels and using whatever I could get my little hands on to make myself outfits for "the runway" which was the hallway in our house! As I got older and more focused on modeling I searched for a Native American model that I could learn from and be inspired by; unfortunately, there weren't any. That's when I decided to become that inspirational Native American model for myself and other Indigenous youth. I believe it's important for children to have a figure they can relate to and connect with that resembles who they are and where they come from - somebody they can look at and say, "she did it and she's from a reservation so I can do it, too."

In 2016 I collaborated with a major fashion magazine on a couple projects; the first one being an article and video on Cultural Appreciation and then a four-part video series called #AskANativeAmericanGirl. In the video I discussed topics such as: why it's offensive and how it makes me feel when just anyone puts on a Native American headdress. The video series, where some of my friends joined me, goes more in depth addressing misconceptions about Native Americans, the history behind Thanksgiving that isn't taught in school and talked about the situation in Standing Rock with NoDAPL. Though all the videos are very informative and quite interesting two of them gained a lot of attention and stirred up a lot of controversy – "The history about Thanksgiving" and "Misconceptions about Native Americans" had over 30 million views in total.

Some of the feedback was very positive; thanking my friends and I for speaking on these issues and the magazine for giving Native Americans a major platform for our voices to be heard world-wide. But with good there is always bad. I've been told to "go back to my tipi" "go back to Asia" "Natives are savages" "You all are a bunch of Asians from Alaska with no life" but I think the most shocking was a 40+ year old man who devoted 17 minutes of his life to insulting me in a YouTube video. It was an immature attempt to devalue everything we had to say. I could not believe the hateful things people of MY OWN country had to say about me just because I chose to speak out for my people and our culture. But my response to all of it – thank you! The support lets me know I'm doing something right and the ignorance people have towards the situation and the hate being spewed only validates my point even further. I've heard many times to "Get over it. It's in the past" but how can we get over the past when those that tell us to get over it still show the same disdain towards us after all these years? Why are imitation headdresses and Pocahontas costumes still for sale? Why are there major league sports teams with mascots and logos that resemble the stereotypical image of my ancestors? Why are we reduced to cartoon imagery as if we're fictional characters? Furthermore, when the script calls for a Native American actor, use a Native American actor. If the items you're designing are "Native inspired" use a Native American model.

We were forced down a path that was meant to lead us to our death and to be forgotten, yet we are still here. Native women suffer the highest rates of violent crimes against them but we are still here. The suicide rate in Indian Country is 2.5 times the national rate but we are still here. How do we overcome the issues that were historically created by our country? My goal is to work towards providing an understanding of our culture and us as People. We can do our part to educate the older generations by sharing information when asked but the Government can also do their part by incorporating more of our history into school lesson plans. US History started with Native Americans so teach about us in entirety. I think if the educational system were to put more effort into teaching Native American history controversial topics such as; the headdress, the mascots, and the costumes would no longer be an issue because people would have a more in-depth knowledge and understanding of who we are as Native Americans and what our culture and traditions really mean to us.

I understand it's going to take a lot of work to repair the damage that's been done but just like the drum, if one person starts hitting it, you'll hear it. If one person starts singing, you'll hear it. If more people show up to beat that same drum and sing that same song it will resonate throughout the people.

We are not just people of the past but people of the present and future.

 

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