Native American Heritage Month 2021: Films, Features *worldchannel.org* PBS, Now Airing In November [View all]

- 'Returning Home Through Togetherness: Native American Heritage Month,' BY WORLD CHANNEL -

- An Op-ed From Vision Maker Media Executive Director, Francene Blythe-Lewis
Home can be a location, culture, community, family or a deep feeling of connection.

Loss of home can be a distressing experience. We anxiously wait, pray, participate in ceremony, worry and grieve while the person, sacred item or place is gone, missing, removed, taken, stolen, absent. We dream and fantasize of the return to family, friends and community – to the "home."

In our Native cultures, we have faced many atrocities since invasion, which began the loss of everything. Yet today in spirit, beliefs, practices and thoughts, we retain hope that the missing will return home. Some actively fight for the return to culture, family and community. Some wait and pray for the return. Some mourn because we know the return home will not be possible.

I have heard many folkx, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, from around the world speak of their homes. For some, home represents the closeness of their family, and for others, it's the homeland. Many shared that ingrained within their soul and spirit is a yearning for, a sense of, or an understanding of the cultural roots that binds them to their sense of home.

Our Native culture, knowledge, gathering, spirit, ceremony and wisdom help carry us through the journey, the belief and the hope of returning home. Our cultural connection to home helps us endure, hope, pray, practice ceremony and believe that the absent one will someday return home. Even if we have to fight against others for their return, we will fight. We know that a return home completes our community. We celebrate and rejoice the return home with reception, and for the future hopes and dreams the return can bring. We express gratitude and happiness that what was gone has returned... Read More & *Watch on TV, online, or on the PBS app, (WETA):

https://worldchannel.org/press/article/native-american-heritage-month-2021-viewers-guide/