WGR’s DEI Committee met on Tuesday, November 9 for a conversation on the topic of Native American Heritage and how it is represented in mainstream American culture and history lessons taught in school. This conversation was facilitated by Liz Westbrook, WGR board and DEI Committee Member, as well as the WGR Congressional Outreach Committee board liaison.
Liz shared her personal experiences of growing up as a woman of native heritage and how it impacted her view on American culture. She and her father often discussed their family history and would expand on school textbooks, so she knew when full stories were not being told. This included Thanksgiving, which she was aware of from a young age that there was a lot missing from what she was being taught at school. Liz’s story encouraged a conversation on how we can educate our students on the history of America in an honest way. During this conversation, a member raised the importance of sharing real and modern stories of Native American communities to show “we are still here and part of the American diaspora.” Liz encouraged us all to look into land acknowledgments to see who were the original inhabitants of the land on which many will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Resources were shared that can be used to learn more about Native American people and their stories:
A very special thank you to Liz for facilitating this month’s discussion topic!
We welcome all WGR members to join us each month at our DEI Committee meetings! The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, December 14th from 11:30 AM - 1 PM. Please register for the December meeting here: Women In Government Relations (wgr.org). For more information on WGR’s DEI Committee, please reach out to dei.wgr@gmail.com.
This month’s blog is authored by DEI Committee Chair, Madisyn Rhone.
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