Cute Pukatawagan Kids Drumming & Singing

This is so cute; young Cree kids drumming on a recycling box.  Their little voices singing without anything more than just having fun.




Beautiful isn't it? This small act of playing and having fun is really significant. It shows us their parents are doing something right. In a world where our people are struggling, these kids show us how it is done. They are showing the Indigenous community and all of Turtle Island, "look at us, we are still here."

They maybe unaware of what they have done. They have essentially given the proverbial Middle Finger to colonialism. Their small voices are resonating loudly in Indian World, and they are saying "we love us."  I would like to think they are also saying a big Fuck You to all those genocidal efforts by Canada, the United States, England, Spain and all those colonial nations.

"Kill them all, Big and Small, Nits make Lice" is but one sentiment which has been part of the mindset and the actions colonial powers have towards Indigenous folk. The first attacks of genocide where brutal and many. Using force in genocide activities can be expensive and costly.  So there was the move towards a more "subtle" approach of genocide taken by the colonial overlords:

“I want to get rid of the Indian problem.....Our objective is to continue until there is not an Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department…”1920 Duncan Campbell Scott
"The great aim of our legislation has been to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the other inhabitants of the Dominion as speedily as they are fit to change.” 1887 John A McDonald 

Of course the damage to Indigenous communities was devastating. The damage is visible today.  The cuteness of the boys singing shows the world: We are still here, We are still living, We are strong, We are relevant, We love our people, We are the Good Life.

All of this coming from a group of young children just singing a song in a Reserve most of the world has never heard of.  These young innocent children renew our hope in the world. They make us feel good, feel the pride of our heritage. We know they are just playing; a chance encounter with an adult with a phone who takes a video and a post to social media. This makes me think about all those who are doing the Good Life Mino-Bimaadiziwin: the Boys with Braids, the Women and Girls Carrying Water, the Language Speakers, the Name Givers, and those who receive their names and more, much more.

And for some, it is just kids being cute...