Tansi friends. I'll be in conversation virtually with the truly brilliant Michelle Brass (who also works with Indigenous Climate Action) on rematriation, reclamation, and repair this Wednesday, May 4. Michelle is one of the smartest people I know, no lie, and the things she's taught me are invaluable. If you want to get connected with… Continue reading Upcoming Talk, Wednesday May 4: Indigenous Persistence on the Prairie
CBC Music #CanadaListens 2022: Crown Lands n Me
I'm excited to be representing the gorgeous, decolonial rock band Crown Lands for CBC Music's 2022 edition of CBC Music's Canada Listens. I get to chat with four other brilliant panellists about why Crown Lands are truly great and why rock and roll still matters. (In other words, it's my dream job.) A mystical trip… Continue reading CBC Music #CanadaListens 2022: Crown Lands n Me
The Secret of Decolonial Love
Tansi friends! I wrote an essay on an Indigenous power couple, Renee and Joel, & their gorgeous decolonial love story. It was so much fun to interview & write about Renee (Rama) and Joel (Dakota/Ojibwe), who met at a moccasin-making workshop 10 years ago and have been together ever since. As the legend goes, Joel… Continue reading The Secret of Decolonial Love
In memory of Colten Boushie, toward Indigenous liberation in our lifetime
Today - February 9, 2022 - marks four years since the colonial court acquittal of Gerald Stanley for the killing of Colten Boushie. Still, few of my days pass without Colten and his family coming to my mind, and I know the same is true for many of our relatives on the prairies and beyond.… Continue reading In memory of Colten Boushie, toward Indigenous liberation in our lifetime
Red Dress Special: An Indigenous Love Poem for Valentine’s Day and Every Day
Bring me flowers whiles I’m livin’ /Then don’t bring them when I am dead - Peetie Wheatstraw, “Bring Me Flowers While I’m Living” (1941) "They didn't have one, but I wanted a red dress for tonight," Olivia added. "I wanted fire. I wanted blood." "You need a man," Elsie said. "Correct," Olivia said, tilting forward… Continue reading Red Dress Special: An Indigenous Love Poem for Valentine’s Day and Every Day
The Guardian: Native children didn’t ‘lose’ their lives at residential schools. Their lives were stolen | Erica Violet Lee
I wrote an essay for The Guardian on Native resistance, colonialism's theft of childhood joy, and reckoning with the unearthing of graves at canada’s residential schooling institutions. “Some of the stories we are told about residential schooling prisons involve Native children digging graves for other children. Rarely did our ancestors receive proper burials or grave… Continue reading The Guardian: Native children didn’t ‘lose’ their lives at residential schools. Their lives were stolen | Erica Violet Lee
#CancelCanadaDay: Livestream this afternoon with The Red Nation
At 3pm PT / 4pm SK & MT / 6pm ET today, I'll be talking about #CancelCanadaDay and canadian colonialism with Nick Estes and The Red Nation. Join us on YouTube or Facebook. Stay cool out there on the frontlines.
Refinery 29 Feature: What Indigenous Beauty Means to Me
"I'm Plains Cree, or Nêhiyaw, and I started doing research and learning about the traditional face paint that warriors would have worn and the beautification traditions of my people and I thought, this is my war paint."
Two Poems: Brick 107
I have two poems in the Summer 2021 issue of Brick Literary Magazine, issue 107. The issue is available to order online now, and I encourage you support local bookstores if you can. 🙂
Treaties Beyond the State: On Black and Native Solidarity on the Prairies
"I want to move through the world in a way that acknowledges Black women as the originators of so much freedom work without reducing our existences as Black and Native women to a harmful and impossible comparative study."
Erica Violet Lee 