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Native American trauma to be discussed

A workshop that will discuss and take an inside look at the historical and intergenerational trauma of Native Americans will be held at the Vo-Tech Building at Stone Child College Monday and Tuesday.

Danita Strawberry has been giving these lectures and workshops for some time as a way for her to do her part to help the healing process of Native Americans.

Her workshops are designed to help Native Americans to find or further themselves down a path of healing themselves from the multi-generational and intergenerational trauma their people have suffered since Europeans colonized the Americas, she said.

She began giving the workshops in a college in northern Alberta, Canada, and said they usually last for five days, so it will be a challenge to condense it into two at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

“We’re going to take a really good look at the trauma that’s been done to the native people,” Strawberry said. “It’s staggering.”

Strawberry graduated from college with a degree in social work and found she did not feel as though she was helping much. She said she felt like a robot with what she was doing in social work and wanted to make more of an impact.

She said the workshops are very visual and are not designed to show people their flaws, but to show them how to become healthier, spiritually, mentally and physically.

“It’s not because they’re bad,” she said. “It’s not because they’re no good. It’s because of all the trauma that has happened to us. Our people before European contact were very respectable, honorable people. The trauma has gotten to the point where we are hurting ourselves and others.”

She cited a prophecy that was made a long time ago that the 7th generation would be the one to put a stop to the trauma and begin the healing process for all Native people.

“We are the seventh generation,” she said. “They can become their highest self.”

She said she avoids protesting, not because it is wrong, but because she is more focused on helping people take their power back in other ways.

Native American people make up a small number of the population in the United States but have the highest rates of poverty, domestic violence, substance abuse and others out of any race, Strawberry said. This goes back to the original trauma.

“We can’t heal an entire nation, but we can work to heal ourselves,” Strawberry said. “ … They don’t need this; they don’t need to be another statistic.”

Strawberry herself has relatives in Rocky Boy, as her people fled the area to Canada after the Custer battles. She said half of the people on her reservation have ancestors from Rocky Boy.

She said the first day of the meeting is to train the trainers that will help their own people. Rachel Top Sky, one of the organizers of the event, said the first day is invite-only and the people they invited were “individuals in the community who are committed to change in Rocky Boy.” They chose people who have the capacity, skills and desire for change to go to the workshops and learn how to help their people.

The second day will be open to the community. Each day is free and lunch will be served. The workshops will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day.

 

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