Pre-Event: Toward a Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples
Date: Wednesday, January 29
Time: 10:00am – noon
Location: on-site
Cost: Due to a generous grant from the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, there is no cost to participants for this event.
The Blanket Exercise is an interactive learning experience that teaches the Indigenous rights history rarely mentioned in American history. It presents education on American-Indigenous history as one of the key steps to reconciliation covering over 500 years of history. Participants take on the roles of Native Americans standing on blankets that represent the land. They walk through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization, and resistance. The script is read by a Narrator and three-people representing the voices of Native Americans, European colonizers, and Western Historians. Participants are drawn into the experience given cards of various colors which ultimately determine their outcomes. By engaging on an emotional and intellectual level, the Blanket Exercise effectively educates and increases understanding. This is followed by a debriefing time in groups, then in a Talking Circle of all participants.
Leader: Rev. Irvin Porter
Irvin is descended from three Native American tribes: Pima, T’hono O’odham, and Nez Perce. Church of the Indian Fellowship in Tacoma, Washington called Irvin as a Commissioned Lay Pastor in September of 2001. He was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church, USA, in October of 2003 and is the first Native American pastor since the church was founded by a Presbyterian missionary among the Puyallup Indians in 1876. He has worked as Associate for Native American Intercultural Congregational Support 3/4 time and Pastor at Church of the Indian Fellowship 1/4 time since 2013.