This is a recording of an event that was live-streamed on May 20th, 2020.

Who gets to be an American? It is a loaded and complicated question, especially for Native Americans. On May 20th, Patricia Whitefoot (Yakama Nation), Elizabeth Woody (Warm Springs), and Chuck Sams (Umatilla) joined together for a thoughtful exploration of this theme in light of our country’s colonial legacy and Indigenous people’s enduring spirit and cultural resilience.

This event was a partnership with the Vanport Mosaic: The Vanport Mosaic is a memory-activism platform. Theyamplify, honor, present, and preserve the silenced histories that surround us in order to understand our present, and create a future where we all belong. This year, their theme who is “Who Get’s to be American?” More than ever, we need to reckon with the gap between our ideals and our reality. Let’s look back to move forward, and together grapple with critical questions of identity, justice and survival: Who gets to be American? What does it mean to be an American today? What are the lessons that can inform how we respond to today’s crisis as a city, as community and as individuals?