alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)
let me hear your voice tonight ([personal profile] alexseanchai) wrote2011-10-10 09:30 pm

Happy Columbus Day

And by 'happy' I mean 'if you're not First Nations and you're living somewhere that used to be First Nations territory, check your privilege'.

I saw, somewhere, a someecard saying that the appropriate celebration today would be to declare your neighbor's house yours. Cute. I had a better idea. Find a charity dedicated to improving the lives of First Nations folk and donate.

I hit up Charity Navigator, and their four-out-of-four-star charities for the keywords 'Native American' (more results than 'First Nations') are the Native American Heritage Association, the American Indian College Fund, and Trees, Water, and People, which I'm not linking because it's not specific to First Nations. Among the three-star charities are the First Nations Development Institute and the Native American Rights Fund. I'm hitting up random.org to see which of those four gets my $5 today. And the dice say...4. NARF it is.
recessional: a photo image of feet in sparkly red shoes (Default)

[personal profile] recessional 2011-10-11 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
My experience is the term "First Nations" isn't widely used outside of Canada at all, and in terms of finding Canadian charities/etc you're more likely to find it using "aboriginal" as an adjective (NOT as a noun) - ie, Aboriginal Health Services, or charities aimed at Aboriginal Youth, Aboriginal seniors, etc, etc.
staranise: A star anise floating in a cup of mint tea (Default)

[personal profile] staranise 2011-10-11 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
"Aboriginal" is good, and so is "American Indian", which tends to be things started before 1970 and run by people who are having a Stubborn. (Since this tends to be aboriginal people themselves who are like "wtfever, we're calling ourselves what we want", it's worth looking up)