To my fellow immigrants. - Rachel Anna Smart

Our time here is up.  

We came here illegally, there is no question about that.  

We’ve been using up the resources of this land and these people for far too long.  

We tried to kill them off, to wipe them out.  

We tried to stop their relatives from the south from coming here,

with walls and fences, guns and dogs,

though they have more right than us

to be here

Justice was never our concern.  

We took their children.  Killed their old.   

We climbed on their backs and unburied bodies

to reach the tops our ivory towers,

and we taught our children to do the same.

We tried to kill their languages and their ways.   

We tried to convince them, and ourselves, to think they were poor, wrong, and savage,

and we promised to save them.  

But we made them suffer instead.  

In the name of our god, we tried to kill theirs.

But we failed...

So get out your DNA tests, your ancestry.com results. We have some shipping to do.

As for me,

I’ll send my nose back to Poland.  

My hands back to England.  

I’ll send some of my skin back to Germany and some of my hair back to Scotland.

But my heart... I’ll keep that in Nəxʷq̓iyt.

With all the love and anger of my Seya still flowing in it.   

My shoulders, like my dad’s, I’ll keep there too,

in case I can shoulder some of our people’s burden.

And I’ll send one of my ears, so that I can hear our songs.  

But if the people find no use for these things, these parts of me,

if its all too tainted with that immigrant blood,

then let them burn it all up.

Let my ashes become the earth beneath the strong people’s feet.

Then at least I’ll feel them when they dance above me.

And we immigrants can become

a distant memory,

like a bad dream.  

Alright colonizers and immigrants, let’s board our ships. 

 Let’s set sail, again.  

And pray

that the ancestors of our great great grandparents slaves don’t seek revenge.

BIO: Rachel Anna Smart, Queen

A Healing Journey Back to Her Native Roots

“Stories were all Rachel had because she didn’t grow up on the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe’s reservation. Rachel grew up in the Midwest, far from her people’s traditions of canoeing, fishing, and harvesting oysters. As a child, her grandmother was orphaned in Oklahoma and grew up in an orphanage run by a racist, conservative Christian woman (this was before the Indian Child Welfare Act which helps ensure that native children are raised with their tribe). It wasn’t until her grandmother was older that she traced her roots and found the rest of her siblings in the pacific northwest.

Growing up in Oklahoma, Rachel knew she belonged to the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (or Nəxʷq̓iyt Nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm in their language.) It was important to Rachel’s grandmother that her children and grandchildren understand their roots, even if they didn’t live with their people, so Rachel grew up hearing stories from aunts and uncles and other family members about their homelands and people.

She embraced her identity as Native as much as she could considering that she also belonged to a conservative Christian culture in America’s midwest.”

Since the beginning of time, people have been guaranteed a few things. One of those guarantees: Life will be challenging and at times, devastating. Another guarantee: Life will be beautiful and at times, breathtaking.

Sometimes, the challenges of life feel too much to bear alone. In those times, we may need help in order to building a life worth living.

I would be honored to journey with you, helping you find the strength you need to navigate your life. I am trained in client-centered therapy, effective communication strategies, DBT, mindfulness, dance/movement therapy, and traditional Coast Salish teachings. I believe in the wisdom offered by the plant people, and I especially believe in the wisdom offered by our own bodies. I work with all ages, and I am currently accepting clients. I am a tribal member with the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe.