I am US-based so some of this may be different where I am, but I have heard most of these words (not "Don't go Indian on me" or "Cheque Day/Treaty Day." I was surprised by a couple of explanations because they are even MORE racist the way I learned them: for me growing up, "Indian giver" implied someone gave you something and then took it back "the way an Indian does." I thought this emerged from a European perception that an Indian would give or sell land or another resource and then say, "no that's not yours permanently." I believe it stemmed from different beliefs about land ownership as well as who has the right to give or sell something (again, this is my US-based perspective because I'm ignorant about Canada and am trying to learn) but many tribes (and I assume bands), had overlapping use of land, so no individual tribe/band could give or sell it. Europeans would "buy" it from one person or tribe/band who didn't represent others. The other one that I heard in an even more racist way is "Circling the wagons" -- which as I heard it is what Natives would do to settlers going out west to attack them. I am not sure if those are US/Canadian differences or maybe the explanation I was given growing up was not typical. I also learned through the video that I had taken for fact a misconception I read online about totem poles. I had read that the bottom position is one of strength because it holds up the others. Thank you for correcting this for me.

Answer the following questions. Share your answers in the community. Q: Patience - When it comes to building relationships, how patient are you with yourself and others? How could you improve? A: I think I could improve by not jumping to conclusions about what others think of me. For example, if I reach out to someone via email or LinkedIn and don't get a response, I have a voice in my head that says it's because people see me as intrusive because I'm not Native or I said something wrong, but the vast majority of the time it's probably because people are busy. Q: Awareness - How aware are you of the issues being faced by the Indigenous communities you will be working with? How can you improve? A: I try to listen and observe and be aware, but there are still things that I don't see and don't "feel" myself so I have to constantly try to put myself in someone else's shoes. The example Sandi gave about why someone might be late is a great example. Q: Tenacity - How likely are you to "keep going" even if you make a mistake while building relationships? How can you improve? A: I have been working with Tribal Nations since 2010 and am still going. In my current role I am more directly interacting with people (before I was mostly doing office work), and relationship building is more important. It is honestly very embarrassing when I make a mistake, but I try to not beat myself up too much and just keep reflecting and learning. Q: Humility - How humble are you? Are you comfortable with learning? Do you leave your ego at home? How can you improve? A: I think I'm pretty good in those areas, but sometimes I think I know the answer and then realize I don't, which is always embarrassing.

I think I can prove I'm not a cat by taking the effort to educate myself as much as possible so I can act in ways that don't force Indigenous people to have to educate me themselves. Also to recognize that sometimes I absolutely am a cat without meaning to be/realizing it, and listening when people point it out to me. For example, I started an online education business that focuses on workforce and governance training for tribal nations and named it "ndgenius." I met an amazing Muscogee Creek woman who was brave enough to point out to me why that was inappropriate, and suggested I either change the name and expand the focus to tribal and non-tribal education, or partner with an Indigenous partner or partners and become a Native-owned business (I am going the 2nd route). It took a lot of courage for her to educate me, so I am trying to put in more work myself so others won't need to do that work.

This lesson (where we took the privilege test) was really interesting to me in thinking about my own identity. I am 1/2 Turkish and 1/2 Mixed European descent (USA citizen by birth and currently) and grew up being asked what I "was." My dad told me Turks are Caucasian, which means White, so I grew up identifying that way and "correcting" people when they told me I was not White. I took this same privilege test in a Sociology class in college, when I self-identified as White. Shortly after, I became friends with some Navajo students who informed me that it doesn't matter if Turks are "Caucasian" or not, nobody sees me as White. It was honestly a shocking realization and put a lot of my own experiences into perspective for me. So taking this test again now as someone who now identifies as non-White (or mixed), it was a different experience. And then reading it over again after I re-took it but checking "no" to every question (I had a mix of yes and no personally) was also enlightening.

I appreciated the approach of this lesson and the fact that some actions could reflect different things depending on the context.