I’ve been writing often lately, and have many saved blog drafts. I think I’m overthinking them. With that in mind, I listened to one of the all time great songs written by one of my favorite artists – “People Get Ready” Curtis Mayfield, then with the Impressions and it reminded me how much I wanted to write a post for Indigenous People’s Day. Mayfield’s lyric warning that there’s no room on the train to salvation for those “Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own” is one of those wielded like a blade to cut into a truth at humanity’s core. Bob Marley used it in “One Love”, and it made me think of the recently passed Indigenous People’s Day because the song “People Get Ready” was one used as an anthem during the Civil Rights Movement in the ’60s, and that lyric in particular is just as applicable today.
What Bob Marley’s “One Love”, and what the train in “People Get Ready” both represent is the empowering ability of culture and unity. It’s as true of the American Civil Rights Movement as it is with the efforts towards Truth and Reconciliation here in Canada. The cultures that have been, and in many ways continue to be under constant attack, have to be celebrated now. That’s how I think of Indigenous People’s Day, as a reminder to celebrate Indigenous culture.
Very locally to me there are awesome initiatives to restore some WSÁNEĆ traditions. They can be checked out here, and here.
I also want to make my first audiobook recommendation. I love audiobooks and would say I do half my reading in that format. One of the most incredible adaptations into audio format is Tanya Tagaq’s 2018 book Split Tooth. The novel is equal parts poetry, fiction, and memoir, and it’s incredible. The audiobook, however, is infinitely superior because of Tagaq’s own reading and the inclusion of her throat singing interludes between chapters. I can’t imagine the book now without her voice and the music. It’s visceral and complements the equally visceral prose in an indescribable way.
This is also a fantastic interview about the audiobook.
Happy belated Indigenous People’s Day.
M. W. IRVING 