“We talk about colonial powers coming in and renaming the world around us. It’s like cutting a ribbon. It’s an attempt to destroy your relationship with that place, that power that’s there. It’s part of that genocidal policy, to destroy who we are within. Because who we are inside reflects how we relate to earth outside. And if you have a belief system where the earth deserves to be respected, it structures the way you think and you feel.”

Lummi Nation elder, organizers, and Master Carver Jewell James discusses how place-names and language serve to structure a way of relating to the world around us.

More info: http://WordsAreMonuments.org