Something that genuinely still exhausts me that I see in the fandom all the time (which is not specific to the fandom but rather a larger societal phenomenon) is how people seem to love "Native Americans" as a concept but couldn't care less about us Native folks in real life. I say as a concept because people love the idea of this society that they perceive to have no rules and are just "wild" peoples, that somehow still have a dictator which they call a chief (even though a chief in our cultures are nothing of the sort). No, in reality, you had a lot of morals you needed to live up to, they were simply different than ones in the west.

All this to say, peoples perception of who we are is still remarkably backwards. I keep seeing people who admire us as a concept display behaviors that would never fly in our traditional societies.

So admire the art I've commissioned, it's a reflection of who I am. But I hope that you admire who we are as a people in real life just as much and support us just as much, especially in regards to land/treaty rights. We are not just something for your eyes to admire in fantasy. We are not fantasy. I am not fantasy. What I have commissioned is not fantasy but a real way of life, a culture, a spiritual way.

If anyone wants to chat on Discord, mine is TonyaSong

Just please be respectful and such.

Hope everyone's enjoying the art dump here. I'm not much on here anymore and I deactivated Native_American_Furs. If you want to ask for my Discord and Telegram feel free to do so, but no guarantee that I'll give it to you.

I'm back for the time being. I don't expect to be too active on here though. Anyway my big delayed announcement is that I have two singles available for purchase now on bandcamp! Check them out here!

If you want to stay in contact I am best reached on Discord nowadays. If we've known each other for a while, feel free to DM for it.

https://tonyasong.bandcamp.com/

Stay Tuned! It's going to be great!

I have so much art that I'd gotten that I hadn't uploaded. It also took me forever to figure where the new journal button was because FA always manages to find a way to make the layout less sensical. Anyway, more to come I guess. I'm just looking for more places to put my art.

While listening to some old recordings I ran into this performance from a few years ago which I had uploaded to FA. It acknowledged my struggle while giving me hope. I suggest listening to it without distractions and good speakers or headphones if you have them, and not turn down the volume when it gets to the louder section.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26864187/

Yeah I didn't see it coming honestly, but hey I am loving my new look, my new species. She's got a big backstory that I'll get into sometime, but for now, I'm a fluffly little ball of endless energy!

Here's a writeup on what #IndigenousPeoplesDay celebrates, & should not just be celebrated today but everyday.

I realize there are many out there who don't have regular interactions with an Indigenous person, thus doesn't ever hear that experience Indigenous folks have had to put up with, & we still have to put up with so many uphill battles. But let's start from early on.

Each of our respective tribal nations mastered living in many harsh conditions on Turtle Island (America for those still colonized of mind). We thrived & made civilizations from the pounding heat of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona to the deep freezing cold winters of Minnesota. When the settlers arrived, we faced their deception, then their unquenchable thirst for violence (& read history. That's not exaggerating). We were stripped of our land & resources; the only lives we knew & we still found a way. We found away to continue into the 20th-21st centuries. But that wasn't enough for the superimposing settler cultures. Through the 20th century we faced termination policy, boarding schools torturing children, sabotage to our attempts at autonomy, we faced racism & violence. And in every turn, despite it all, we were still there to fight.

Every single one of those previous generations, from initial contact to today is accumulated historical trauma which we Indigenous ppl face. Many of us, including myself, have been severely uprooted from our cultures & trying to reconnect. We do this on top of fighting our demons. Our demons being our own personal traumas we face; & so many Indigenous folks deal w bc of the circumstances we were forced into early on. Growing up, I had a neighbor who gave me death threats. I still remember that; & I still remember how I was treated in every corner. But hey folks guess what, us Indigenous ppl are still here, & still fighting on. Still existing thru our struggles, humor, values & more.

Non-Natives, you don't see it, but we carry massive burdens in our lives no one else has to carry as the original ppl of these lands, but somehow so many of us manage to continue to carry on; thru trauma, thru oppression, thru all the obstacles we face. Recognize that. You've largely ignored our presence, bc we're "low" on ur "priorities" but no more. Today's a good day to start recognizing who's land you're on.

And for my fellow Indigenous folks today. I sit here this morning listening to Russell Means, John Trudell, Charlie Hill, & many figures, activists, musicians, comedians, other great folks that have come out of our communities & find inspiration. Yeah kinda cheesy but hey, we don't need a day to know who we are, but it's still a good day to be proud of every struggle our ancestors have done to get us here and every step we ourselves have taken for survival. It's brutal out there for us, and it's hard, but we're doing it & we got each other and if there's something important I learned from my grandmother, it's that our ancestral memory is still in us, it's dormant, but it's a matter of time. It will start kicking back in, & we will find ways to live, fight, & thrive. I love you all & you saved my life.

#IndigenousPeoplesDay may just be another greeting of the sun, but let this be the start of something greater for us Indigenous ppl & beyond.

Can we musicians get more than 10MB for pieces of music? Come on... I end up having to compress my pieces a ton. So many other websites offer at least 20MB. Can we up the limit so we don't have to compress our longer pieces to hell? We exist in this fandom too guys...

I made this post at my Native American furs group but I found I wanted to share it here too as this is a subject I've studied, sometimes not because I wanted to but rather because I needed to better understand how to better combat the stereotypes that people saw me for. These two videos I found to be very eloquent in describing the issue.

Cultural appropriation and stereotyping is a sticky subject for many, especially here in the fandom, where we can find some art that can turn appropriative on Native cultures. What's so bad about it exactly? Recently in Canada controversy sprung up as an editorial was produced saying cultural appropriation doesn't exist and that writing about others cultures should be encouraged and is a good thing. It is in fact an argument I hear a lot from people when I have these discussions myself. The column received a lot of backlash particularly from indigenous writers. Ojibwe journalist Jesse Wente goes into two discussions here eloquently describing why cultural appropriation/stereotyping is not victimless, but rather is a perpetuation of institutional erasure of Native voices (in this case in Canada but also applies to the US). Cultural appropriation needs to be looked at in the big picture. It is not just a matter of it clashing with "artistic freedom" or "freedom of speech". It is another displacement of our own cultures on our own lands from the hands of non-Natives.

This is such a traumatic image of militarized police breaking into a tipi with weapons drawn, militarized vehicles; an excessive use of force on unarmed Natives on treaty lands. Just another day in what is an American tradition. This is sad, this is frightening for Native people most can't understand.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5Xl3vB.....Cmqt.jpg:large

By this point I don't have to explain what's going on in Standing Rock I hope, if I do please just read my last few journals. What I will say is that Standing Rock is setting a precedent for Native rights and Native sovereignty. If you don't understand what's going on, the Oceti Sakowin camp is set up on treaty land which the federal government refuses to acknowledge despite that treaties are supreme law. It means that if they go about and remove everyone tomorrow, it sets a vicious precedent that even in 2017, Native people can be removed from our own lands. This is frightening and brings me to tears, and I'm just so tired of the apathy for what's going on by non-Natives. We have faced so much violence and now it continues in the way it always has. This country can not even respect our own homes, where we have lived since time immemorial. How much more will you take from us? I'm praying hard for Standing Rock; because whatever happens there, they can do to my home, and other Native peoples' homes, and I don't even want to think about what that will look like to see family brutalized.

I've been posting and talking about the fight at Standing Rock for some time now and have been involved both from long distance work and actually went to Standing Rock last November. This is a (not an exaggeration) fight for our very livelihood being threatened, and just one of the endless acts of violence and removal from the US, who has always seen Indian lives as disposable. If you don't understand the context of all this, this documentary not just explains NoDAPL but also goes all the way back in history both by way of all the removals that were done and also the treaties that were signed that are directly involved in this dispute. Most importantly, it gives human faces to those directly affected, those suffering because of what this country is once again doing to Native people without remorse.

Part 1: https://www.viceland.com/en_us/vide.....4dd90112c2893a
Part 2: https://www.viceland.com/en_us/vide.....031d740d2a5145

Bless LaDonna Brave Bull for doing this for all of us, and I have to paraphrase her words here. What did we do to deserve such devastation? Such relentless attack from the US? What did we do to deserve such destruction when we've served in almost every US war (and with the highest per capita). Why do our veterans come home to their lands being polluted and taken?

How much more must we just sit here and be quiet, and look pretty when this country has brought us so much illness and death. When can we prosper again? When can we be how we want to be? When can we be free again?

Signing an Executive Order to approve the Dakota Access Pipeline to run through treaty land rightfully belonging to Standing Rock Nation. And with North Dakota attempting to pass a bill making it legal to run over "protestors" and injure or even kill them without liability, a full on war is being declared on us, and we know this country has had no problems mass murdering us in the past. That is what they are trying to remind us of right now. They are trying to terrorize Natives into surrendering our rights.

EDIT: Standing Rock Tribe Pledges to Fight Back: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news.....P=share_btn_tw

And all Native people will continue to stand with them, as we have done, as I have done.

Here is part 2 and my apologies for taking this long to write this. Shortly after writing part 1 I got really ill and was away for a while as a result. Following that I had an important concert that was taking up every moment of my free time, followed by a visit from my good friend Dibs. In any case here I will continue, and keep in mind a lot has happened in Standing Rock since part 1 and I will be talking about such things in this journal.

Part 2:

As I mentioned, I wanted to bring forward what needs to be learned in Standing Rock. One of the big things I took away from this, that I feel has already changed my life is actually quite simple. It is prayer. Every action and activity that happens at Oceti Sakowin is done in a prayerful way. They emphasize this to us that even something as simple as eating and cooking, all the way to going to the front lines to face the militarized police should be done in a prayerful manner. The entire camp and all it is doing is considered a ceremony, thus we are required to conduct ourselves in such a manner that reflects that. That has lingered with me now that I'm no longer there. It was something I was beginning to forget, what I feel I used to know well when I still lived back home and could go see my grandfather and my elders on a regular basis.

Another thing I can definitely say I felt is that besides going back to living in a very indigenous way of life, we went back to feeling like humans again, seeing each other's humanity, valuing each other to the fullest. We all have value and that is something American society has forgotten long ago, rejecting those we see as disposable. You didn't have to be in the front lines here to be valued. But we valued people even beyond the Oceti Sakowin camp. We also valued the lives and humanity of those beyond our community, most importantly the lives of those who have been terrorizing us and inflicting violence upon us, and desecrated the sacred lands of the Standing Rock nation: the militarized police forces. It was very much an anti-us-vs-them mentality, which American society has tended to do with immigrants from certain countries and people of other religions. And speaking of which, I wanted to point out something important: there were not just Native people at Standing Rock, there were people of all sorts of ethnicities there to help. They were thoroughly welcomed and their help appreciated, yet there was an excellent clarification in the fact that we all had to adhere to the laws set by the council of elders there at Standing Rock. These rules include me too actually. I may be Native myself but I was just as much a visitor there as a white ally. Those lands were Standing Rock Nation's lands, not my own ancestral lands back in Arizona.

I have to thank the Standing Rock Nation for all of what they have done. They have done something I truly did not believe was possible. They united Native people in a way that hasn't happened before. Tribes that historically were at odds with each other, even at war with each other were all there working together. We found our strength again and we found our power, and we found it through our own values, our own cultures, and our own ways that have led us for thousands of years. We are united, mind you not uniform, still many diverse Indian nations, but united, against a common enemy. And that common enemy is more than a pipeline, it is against a mindset, a culture that believes you can take forever without receiving, that you can prioritize personal gains over our most basic resources. It is that which we are trying to heal, such beliefs, and bringing people back to remembering where their resources at stores come from, they don't magically generate. It is also an assertion that we as Native people are not going to continue to be walked all over as those in power expect they can still do. Standing Rock isn't the end, Standing Rock is the prototype for what you are going to see from Native people from here forward. We are going to stand our ground for our lands and our resources. We know we can and we know it is our right. We are doing this for the well being of ourselves, our tribes, and for our descendants who have yet to come into this world. This is what warriors used to fight for, and we are warriors, not in taking up arms, but instead in standing on our own grounds and fighting with prayer. This is not a cliché or a metaphor, the council of elders understand things the world needs to hear, and this prayer will heal.

Between the time I wrote part 1 and this part, the Dakota Access Pipeline was denied easement. It is an amazing victory for us. However, we are still vigilant. We have no doubt they will attempt to build the pipeline even without the proper permissions, after all this time being told that we are the law breakers and trespassers (ironically, since it's on Fort Laramie Treaty land). We will continue to take any means necessary to defend ourselves, both on the ground and in court. We unfortunately can not depend on courts who have constantly ignored our rights and made rulings devastating our agreements with the federal government; therefore we must also be prepared on the ground, as we will be. Natives, we have overcome a continuous attempt at genocide against us, we are managing to survive and thrive despite it and are still fighting for ourselves, and we will continue to do so. Expect to continue to see us.

This past week, I went out to Standing Rock in North Dakota to the Oceti Sakowin camp. I’ve made several journals about the situation there but if you haven’t read about it, the rundown (skip if you already know it):

The Standing Rock Indian Nation is standing their ground against the Dakota Access Pipeline being built along the Missouri River (their only water source). The land it is to be built on is land recognized by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 as Indian land, yet Army Corps of Engineers claim ownership. The Standing Rock Nation set up a camp on that land to prevent continued progress of the pipeline, and the camp has since exploded to now more than 5000 people, standing to defend the water.



This will be in two parts. This first part will be about what I did there, and the second about what we need to learn from Standing Rock.

Part 1:

This is a turning point in history because it is the first time since the mid 1800s that the seven fires council has gotten back together. It is an important moment in history. Last Tuesday I got myself to Standing Rock to the Oceti Sakowin camp. It was a very tense time to have done so as just this past Sunday, the Natives there and their allies had suffered a brutal and excessive attack from law enforcement that was nothing short of a human rights violation. They were sprayed with water at below freezing temperatures, teargassed, and shot at with concussion grenades among other things. These things were completely within the possibility of happening again in the time I planned to be there.

Arriving at the camp was surreal. It was remarkable to drive up and see so many tipis again, but this time it wasn’t a movie, it wasn’t a reenactment, it was real. You could also smell the fires and the smells of ceremonial herbs being burnt, a smell familiar to me that I hadn’t smelled in so long. Not long after settling in, I began to work as was my intention there, to offer a helping hand. At first this was simply helping set up some tipis and later other things. It also involved spending time in the two-spirit camp, a group given the blessing by the council of elders (who are the authorities at camp). It was great to spend time with other queer/trans Native folks. I also have to say that as a whole, being at the Oceti Sakowin camp was probably the most I’ve felt like myself, both in terms of gender and as myself entirely.

By this point it was impossible to ignore the fact that we were constantly being watched and the threat of violence was never too far away. There are planes flying overhead 24/7, and they flew pretty low. The militarized police also installed a series of extremely bright lights over the hills in the distance that were always present to us at night. These were intimidation tactics. That night however I think I got to experience how my ancestors survived and got by day to day when they faced threats of violence. That night we had celebration and dances at the sacred fire. I even got to drum and sing with the drum group providing the music which was such an amazing experience. All the while we could see that the militarized police were on the hills in the distance, and we still celebrated, laughed, and lived even with that threat of violence. This is how our people survived after so many relentless attacks throughout our recent history.

The night was freezing, the temperature in general was very cold, it’s a true North Dakota fall, in fact it was maybe mild by North Dakota standards but it was very cold for me. The next morning I woke up early in the cold weather, to attend morning prayer. The snow came down as morning prayer began. It was a beautiful experience. It began by the sacred fire, and as the sun rose, we walked to the river to pray and offer tobacco. Later that morning I would meet Native journalist Simon Moya Smith which was my one “celebrity” sighting that I was excited to hear about.

This next day however was full of tension as we were put on high alert and told that a raid on camp was imminent this day. Women and children were evacuated. Me and a friend were at one of the tipis in the evac area with some of the kids waiting for their parents. We did music together to keep their minds off things while all the rest of the things were happening. All the while, the planes were still flying overhead, they were unrelenting. Eventually the high alert went down and I was able to briefly return to my main camp area. I would later go to Fort Yates to do a supply run where I got to see the land in all its beauty. The great plains are stunning. More of the same happened in the last day and a half to not keep this going too long.

It was surreal to get back to “cozy” Boston, after just having been in what is essentially a war zone. I’ve been on edge for the first day or so since getting back, not convinced I’m away from immediate danger. I’ve since sort of calmed down.

In the next part I am going to write about what I learned, what my takeaways were, and what we should all learn from it.

I'll be in England (London, Liverpool, Salisbury) on the week of October 24 and in France the week of Oct 30 (Paris, Strasbourg). Let me know if anyone is interested in meeting.

https://www.facebook.com/RedWarrior.....1/?pnref=story

She talks about having a gun pointed at her. This is the armed response Natives are getting for standing their ground on their own lands opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. Where is the outrage at this gross show of force. There are whole families there yet military vehicles and weapons on police are at the site, while the Natives continue to show they are unarmed. There was a photo of a plane discharging some kind of smoke above the area where the people are standing their ground. Did you think this was in the past? No, Natives still have to stand our ground against the threat of more theft from the US who will apparently never have enough of our lands.

Not from me but from  jamminbison

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7835196/

A good friend of mine and a talented artist worth throwing your money at.

9x12 recycled paper illustrations for a discounted price to get a lil more of a portfolio of anthro characters for myself!!

For $55 you'll get a full illustration of a single character and simple background/prop/etc and that includes shipping to continental US. These are pencil and ink illustrations and look even more awesome in real life, since it's hard to capture the proper lighting on them with a scanner or a camera.

If anyone wants to add me there and chat @ TonyaSong

please introduce yourself first.

Terrifying. North Dakota governer Jack Dalrymple just called the National Guard on the Natives blocking construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on their lands. I'm legitimately frightened for the people out there, and frightened that any tribe could be next; it could be mine but any tribe facing this is frightening. This country has never evolved in how it treated our Native nations. There is no honor: never with an intention to honor treaties, never with an intention to return the friendship offered by our people to those who came to settle here, and no honor in reacting to our people simply refusing to be removed from our own lands.

One thing is for sure, you can't scare Indians with the tactics that have been used on us. People don't get it. People don't get the hells we've experienced. They don't realize that nothing they throw at us can compare. They don't realize that our spirits are stronger and can't be broken; because we won't sell ourselves. We won't submit to authority like expected to do. This woman warrior sums it up well:

Children and elders were present too. That is Standing Rock Sioux land. They have a right to be there, and have a right to stop the work beginning on the Dakota Access Pipeline. This country still has no shame attacking Native people, and the media has remained silent. This country sees Native people are seen as dispensable when it comes to profits; yet Native people continue to stand up for the water, for our rights, and we will continue to do so.

https://twitter.com/RuthHHopkins/st.....53654237663233

https://www.facebook.com/sarah.orte.....59681124103092

My contract with my concert choir ends at the end of May 2017, and as soon as that finishes, I'm not renewing and I'll be looking for a position in Phoenix in the near future. I'm saving up money right now so in case I don't have a job upon arriving I have a cushion of a couple of months for me to look for something.

My initial ideal situation was to move into something set, but to be honest, after all the recent housing ordeals I've been dealing with here in Boston (if you follow my Twitter you know what I'm talking about) I just decided that having a stable job here is pointless if I'm not living my life to the fullest as I am in my homelands.

Boston friends, I will miss you when I leave, so let's make the most of my last year here.

https://frankwaln47.bandcamp.com/tr.....he-red-man-red
https://frankwaln47.bandcamp.com/tr.....he-red-man-red
https://frankwaln47.bandcamp.com/tr.....he-red-man-red



Your history books (lies)/ Your holidays (lies)
Thanksgiving lies and Columbus Day
Tell me why I know more than the teacher
Tell me why I know more than the preacher
Tell me why you think the red man is red
Stained with the blood from the land you bled
Tell me why you think the red man is dead
With a fake headdress on your head
Tell me what you know about thousands of Nations
Displaced and confined to concentration camps called reservations
We died for the birth of your nation
Hollywood portrays us wrong (like savages)
History books say we're gone (like savages)
Your god and church say we're wrong (like savages)
We're from the Earth, it made us strong



Savage is as savage does
The white man came and ravaged us
Caused genocide/ look in my eyes
and tell me who you think the savages was


Manifest destiny arrested what's best for me
They kill my culture/ America made a mess of me
You inherited everything we die for and all we get is a god damn mascot


You made me red when you killed my people
Made me red when you bled my tribe
Made me red when you killed my people
(Like savages/ Like savages)