MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Happy Monday to you, and happy Indigenous People's Day. This is a day to recognize the first people of this nation, and this is part of a growing movement to acknowledge the people who were here long before Columbus. And this day invites questions about how the history of this country should be taught. NPR's Jonaki Mehta spoke with two Indigenous educators.
IRENE KEARNS: (Non-English language spoken). My name is Irene Kearns. I am a citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.
JONAKI MEHTA, BYLINE: Kearns is a former public school teacher who now helps create free educational resources through the National Museum of the American Indian. She says step one for teachers...
KEARNS: Learn the history of the place that you are. first and foremost. Make sure you know the tribal history of the lands that you live on.
J'SHON LEE: And consider whose lands they occupy.
MEHTA: That's J'Shon Lee of the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
LEE: And what connections and relationships are they building with the Indigenous people there.
MEHTA: Lee is also a former teacher, who belongs to a group called Indigenous Educators.
LEE: Indigenous peoples are oftentimes in history, in the standards, pre-1900.
MEHTA: But she says Native people don't just belong in the history books. They're still here. And she says educators must sit down with their curriculum and rethink the perspective from which lessons are taught.
LEE: We tend to focus on a glorification of settler colonialism - things like Indian removal, or even Manifest Destiny, that these kinds of histories and experiences were destined for Native people.
MEHTA: And Lee says while it's necessary to teach the truth about the violence Indigenous people have long faced, it's also important to humanize and celebrate them.
LEE: What are the things that we're really excited about? What are the ways that we are engaging in our cultures and our languages? And we have to show our joys just as much as we share our struggle and our issues.
KEARNS: And the more that we show cultures in a shining bright light and the good things about them, the more students build empathy and can endure and confront those difficult lessons that happen later on.
MEHTA: Kearns says this day is a reminder for educators - not just to teach a lesson, but to steep their teachings in the narratives and experiences of the very first people of this land.
Jonaki Mehta, NPR News.
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