The Coco Canary Monthly Newsletter
December 2021
Summary:
New Website, 131st anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre, Stop Line 3 (Dec Update), and more!
Welcome to Coco Canary!
If you’re new here, read this section! Otherwise, skip on down.
Hello from Molly O’Connor, the principal and founder of Coco Canary Consulting, LLC, a creative evaluation firm.
We are based in St. Paul, MN, and acknowledge that we are on the stolen lands of the Dakota People (specifically the Wahpekute Band of Dakota, who are among the Oceti Sakowin (“Seven Council Fires”). These people were the first stewards of the lands we occupy, and they are still here. We honor their connection to this land and their ongoing resilience in the face of violent colonialism.
You may ask, how do social justice and racial equity relate to evaluation? Well, from our experience, we have seen evaluations designed and reported in ways that harm, undervalue, and take advantage of the communities being served. This is our current status quo, and it is not okay. It has to change. We do our work differently because we want to be a part of the solution, not the problem.
A Grounding: Stop Line 3 December Update & Calls to Action
If you haven’t heard of the Stop Line 3 movement, learn more here.
As mentioned in our last newsletter, hundreds of water protectors are facing criminal charges for standing in defense of water, environmental justice, and Anishinaabeg treaty rights.
Calls To Actions:
- Donate Monetarily to the Line 3 Legal Fund
- Offer NON-Monetary Aid to Stop Line 3 – I signed up to host meals and provide short-term housing for when water protectors need to come to St. Paul for court dates
- If you haven’t already, check out the Stop the Money Pipeline website
Logo Designed by Mel Tillery (Cyaneus)
In love and solidarity,
<3 Molly
Business Updates
1. Check Out Coco Canary’s New Website!
It gives me such joy to announce that the new Coco Canary website is finally live! Technically we had a soft launch last week (shoutout to my friends & fam for sending me emails/texts with found bugs, typos, and copyedit ideas. I love you all sooo much!).
This website update has been months in the making and coincided with a company rebrand. You will see new offerings, a reworded mission/vision, colors*, and much more. Check it out here (and let me know if you see anything that needs addressing)! <3
*Shoutout to Daniel Kim for UI inspiration and the color palette.
1. The 131st Anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre
December 29th, 2021, is the 131st anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890). Did you know that this was one of the largest massacres ever committed in U.S. history? The United States Army murdered 300 Native American men, women, and children. See below for a summary and read this article by the award-winning hip hop artist, music producer, and activist Frank Waln (“Oyate Teca Obmani,” Walks With Young People). Frank is from the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (“Burnt Thigh Nation”).
A Portrait of Frank Waln retrieved from the School Library Journal. Photo by Leslie Frempong
I had the honor to attend an online event where Frank Waln was the keynote. He shared stories, music, and encouraging words to keep fighting toward equity and justice. One such story he touched on was how his ancestors and relatives were impacted (and are still impacted) by the Wounded Knee Massacre—he wrote an article about it for the School Library Journal titled Čhaŋkpé Ópi Owíčhakte Wičhúŋkiksuyapi: We Remember the Wounded Knee Massacre. He also shared his upbringing (the beautiful and the painful) and how he holds generational trauma within his heart, mind, and body, which was passed down from his ancestors.
In the late 1800s, the “Ghost Dance” was practiced by the Lakota (originally developed by the Paiute in the West). The dance was a form of peaceful resistance. Individuals danced and prayed to restore their land and the return of life as it was lived before colonization. It was especially healing for the plains Native Americans because buffalo were being slaughtered, their people were starving, and their treaty rights were being disrespected. There was much fear of Native people during this time by European settlers and the U.S. government, specifically afraid of retaliation due to the centuries of wars. In the upper midwest region, the Oceti Sakowin—Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota nations—were forcibly displaced into reservations (“open-air prisons”) after the US-Dakota War of 1862 (if you want to learn more about the US-Dakota War of 1862, read this blog post). The U.S. government prohibited native religions and ceremonies by law through this process. So when the Ghost Dance was being practiced, it was perceived as warlike and militant.
On December 15th, 1890, there was a dispute about a Ghost Dance Ceremony at Standing Rock (South Dakota), in which its chief, Sitting Bull, was murdered by police. After this, a group of over 300 Miniconjou Lakota men, women, and children left Standing Rock by foot to escape further harm. Led by their chief Spotted Elk (also known as Big Foot), they walked 187 miles in harsh winter weather to the relative safety that was the Pine Ridge Reservation. The U.S. Seventh Cavalry surrounded them at gunpoint at a creek called Wounded Knee—on Pine Ridge Reservation. The military was in the midst of taking weapons when a shot was fired by a scared and upset Miniconjou youth, killing a soldier. After that, the massacre ensued, and 300 Lakota people were gunned down and executed.
‘The soldiers kept shooting until nothing stirred within the entire camp. Little babies were shot to death right in the carriers strapped to their mothers’ backs.”
Luther Standing Bear’s My People the Sioux. A recounting of the massacre as told by his brother, who witnessed it on a nearby hill.
The event was made a spectacle by journalists and other photographers who took images of the soldiers posing next to the pile of dead bodies. The soldiers were labeled heroes and were awarded Congressional Medals of Honor. Frozen by the winter cold, the bodies were placed in a mass grave. Another form of disrespect, since it made it nearly impossible to retrieve the bodies and return them to their families for a proper burial.
There is so much more to say about, but I will end there. Please see below for examples of current-day resistance and further reading, listening, and learning. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. Please share any other readings you recommend.
“For the last [35] years, the Big Foot Memorial Ride, consisting of mostly Oceti Sakowin riders and organizers, retraces the same 187-mile path through the plains that Chief Big Foot’s camp took before they were surrounded and killed. Every year, they ride through the harsh plains winter, the same way our ancestors did, to honor the lives lost and keep the memory alive.”
Oyate Teca Obmani (Frank Waln)
- The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present, by David Treuer (New York: Riverhead Books, 2019)
- Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee – Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1992
- Recordings of American Indian Ghost Dance Songs – James Mooney, 1849
- My People The Sioux – Luther Standing Bear, 1928
- Čhaŋkpé Ópi Owíčhakte Wičhúŋkiksuyapi: We Remember the Wounded Knee Massacre – Oyate Teca Obmani (Frank Waln), 2020
Other Business Updates
Community Centric Fundraising Articles to Read!
I highly recommend reading the article and listening to the podcast below, especially if you’re an evaluator. I found them immensely helpful.
Flava Café is Seeking Advisory Board Members!
I’ve been following LaShante “Shaunie” Grigsby for over a year now and am excited that the café will open in Spring 2022 (if all goes to plan!). Flava Café’s mission is to build community through coffee and create opportunities for young women of color and gender-expansive youth by propelling them from coffee to career. They are a General Benefit Corporation (i.e., a social enterprise), which means they require an advisory board. They are recruiting, and I will likely become a board member (for 6-months and then possibly longer if it’s a good fit). If you’re interested, read this announcement from Shaunie! You can reach out to her directly at info@flavacafe.org
Daylighting Lower Phalen Creek: A Video and Some History!
If you’re not tired of history, then please check out this video and blog update from the Lower Phalen Creek Project. It is super exciting that they plan to return Phalen Creek above ground and connect the waterways from Lake Phalen (southernmost lake of a chain of lakes) to the Mississippi River.
Personal Update
Happy Holidays And Happy New Year From Me To You
Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, Happy Belated Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, And Happy New Year.
Every year I draw a cartoon that depicts a memory or feeling (real yet fictionalized). This year, I drew an image of my friend Franco and me walking with sleds, likely talking about food or something “TMI” or both. Each year, the card builds off the card prior (and even the landscape stays the same. For example, the hill in the back was in a previous card where I was stargazing on it). Perhaps one of these days, I’ll get them organized somewhere so folks can look at them. Until then, enjoy this piece of art, and I wish you rest and peace for the new year.
Much love,
-Molly
Let’s Stay Connected!
To keep up to date with my business news, connect or follow me on Linkedin. Don’t forget to follow our newsletter (and share with others), as well! And, of course, if you know of anyone who may benefit from our services, send them our way. Referrals are what make the world go round.
Much love and in solidarity,
Molly O’Connor (she/her/hers)
CEO – Evaluation Specialist
direct: (612) 868-0364
email: moconnor@cococanary.com
website: cococanary.com
Black Lives Matter
Justice & Accountability for Daunte Wright Jr. The officer that murdered him was found guilty..
Great content! Keep up the good work!