So I was just for four days in Norman, Oklahoma
at the university there for an incredible conference
called Returning the Gift, a 25 year anniversary literary--
it was an Indigenous and Native literary conference.
And there were some incredible people
that had been at the first one in 1992, Joseph Bruchac, Joy
Harjo, Roberta Hill, just incredible, Simon Ortiz, just
incredible.
And so I felt really at home in Indian country,
home to over 39 Native nations.
And the thing about it is that it
was only home to five Native nations until the Removal Act.
And those, again, are things that
are not thought about unless you study history
or unless you are relatives with the people of that area.
And this, too, is Indian country.
It's home to over 22 Native nations.
And I look out into the audience and I say, wow,
it would be so amazing if more of them
were here to hear me talk about them
and about being really so excited about being
at this conference, and that we need more
of those kind of gatherings.
Like Martín said, we need gatherings so that we can be
part of each other's lives.
So I'm going to read-- the next one I'm
going to read after I take a drink of water
is called "Borders."
"The crops are all rotting, the restaurants are bare.
No one to cook or clean, the babies without care.
Cultures mingle en una mezcla, a clash of the in-between.
Borders of empires we inherit, new skins to walk around in.
Between shifting, borders of class, borders of gender,
borders of skin color, borders of only one pair
of shoes and socks to wear to school all year.
Borders of no or little food to eat,
borders of no jobs this week, borders of gang wars,
borders of drug lords hanging right outside your door.
Borders we don't see, borders we don't choose, borders we cross.
Borders where we lose, borders that leave us dead or dying,
borders that cannot hurt us anymore."