November 12, 2020

Carly Shaken, an undergraduate nursing student and member of the Board of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, attended a professional development workshop called "UnColumbus Day: Changing the Way We See Native America" on October 23. She learned about a resource–a website–that allows visitors to plug in locations (where they live, work, dwell, vacation, etc.) and see to which Tribal Nation the land belongs. Not only are territories provided, languages and treaties are as well.

Shaken shared that keynote speaker, Vanessa Bollin, provided guidance for considering the perspectives of Native Americans when teaching about Indigenous peoples. "She spoke with immense knowledge and connection to Native American experience and culture and communicated the importance of recognizing those who lived on this land before us," Shaken shared. "That message resonated with me in that the first step to solving injustices and forming a better future is recognition,” she added.

Bollin is an Indigenous artist, activist, street medic/ trainer and founder of the Eyes Wide Open Project, Richmond Indigenous Society, and River City Medic Collective/Richmond Community Care Collective. She was a medic in Standing Rock North Dakota during the No DAPL movement, in Charlottesville on August 12th, and in Houston after Hurricane Harvey where she served and cared for the flood survivors.