Anishinabe Playwright: 2008-05-04

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

i spoke last night on KFAI with rhiana yazzie, harry waters and meena natarajan about native theater here in minneapolis/st. paul. the 30 minutes flew by. the program can be heard online for the next two weeks by going to the KFAI site - Womanspeaks.

i spoke today with a non-native playwright who talked about power structure within the theater arts community. when she talked about power imbalance i said that i use the term racism when i feel that non-native people are using their power to overpower another's voice when that other person is non-white.

while this period of time has been frustrating and hard it is also good the number of conversations that have happened as a result.

The Cost of Silence

The Cost of Silence

I am writing this letter as an apology to people who have migrated here from Mexico, Central America and South America. I am Anishinabe, Indigenous to what is now called Minnesota. I am also a playwright. Within the last year I was approached by a production company, OffLeash Area, to write a play with them called Border Crossing. It was my understanding this play would address the inhumane issues people confront when entering the United States.

As a Native American, I am interested in the stories of the indigenous people of this continent we call Turtle Island and the peoples of what is now known as South America. I am interested in the impact the building of the wall between Mexico and the United States has on Native Nations whose reservations created by the United States straddle this man-made border, also made by the United States. That is part of the story I had hoped to tell. In November 07, I did research for a week in the Sonora desert southwest of Tucson on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. I had hoped to include a very strong voice for Indigenous people in this piece. I had hoped to include a very strong voice for Migrant people in this piece.

In my interviews with people I heard stories of inhumane treatment. I heard stories of a sea of sorrow – a desert littered with the bones of people trying to get here for a better future for themselves and for their future generations. I heard stories of joy, hope, survival and celebration.

I am writing this apology because this is not the story that is being told in Border Crossing. It is not your story and your voice has been removed from the piece. I wrote dialogue for native peoples. That dialogue was cut. I wrote dialogue for the characters crossing the desert. That dialogue was cut. I argued to give voice to the oppressed. My voice was silenced. I am sorry. I understand any anger on your part where you would question why I, as a Native American, would have thought that I could tell your story.

If you have questions or comments to me, I am open to dialogue.

Miigwitch

Marcie Rendon, Anishinabe Playwright

MRendon703@aol.com

Anishinabe Playwright

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Adventures at Camp KaKeeKwaSha and the Magic Musky Casino

Quillwork on Birchbark by Juanita Blackhawk

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across the continents painting by Alicia Siu, el salvadorian

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The Cost of Silence