Urban Indian Health Institute x TONL: We Exist

We Are More Than You Know

Growing up Native, I didn’t see myself anywhere. Not in TV, not in movies, not in magazines. The only thing I saw were false narratives—the lazy, drunk and occasionally “noble savage,” waiting for a government handout. Still to this day, it’s all “Dances with Wolves” and “Billy Jack” out there.

That is not who we are.  I am so much more than that. We are so much more than that. We contain so much history, and even more future.  Native people have been on this Land for over 10 thousand years. We are strong, beautiful, and proud.  We are doctors, lawyers, chefs, scientists, and ballers.  We laugh, we cry, we smile, we care.  We are family. We are community.  And we are more than you know.  And more than you have ever seen.  The Land knows us. We belong to it, and it belongs to us.  Regardless of whether we live on the Rez, the village, the burbs or the city, we are here—we are Native. And even after 500 years of colonialism, suppression, and lies, we grow more and more every day.  We contain so much history, and even more future.  Don’t call it a comeback.  We’ve been here for years. 

-Abigail Echo-Hawk, Director, UIHI Project Description: Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI) partnered with TONL to create the first ever stock photo selection of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) peoples. This collaboration was envisioned as a way to show the beauty, strength, and diversity of AI/AN peoples, while simultaneously addressing the lack of accurate representation of AI/AN people in stock images.