S’EILTIN JAMAIANN HASSELQUIST (SHE/THEY)
(Lingít)
Healer, aspiring Íx̱t’
Áak’w Ḵwáan, Juneau, Alaska
I developed a three-layer system to help people connect with the land and the people of the land. One: Learn whose land you are on. Two: Learn how to say their traditional name, and what that name translates to. Three: Learn how to say “thank you” in that language. Lingít, Oyate, Diné — all of our names mean “people.” Indigenous people are older than the terms Native or Indigenous. We are the people; we are human. With this three-layer learning system, the message I am trying to get through asks you to see us as human, and to say, “Thank you.” Picking up those words shows that you respect us and want to learn — that you see us, and you hear us.
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This article appeared in the June 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “IAMTHEWEST.”
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