Crafts for Justice was created by me, Xóchitl Kountz (Xóchi is pronouced SO-tchie). I’m a cis-gender queer white woman. Ever since my mom showed me how to make rings out of seed beads and wire when I was 5 years old, I’ve been in love with making things. Crafts for Justice came out of a workshop entitled White People Challenging Racism: Moving from Talk to Action in which I was challenged to create and enact an action plan to disrupt racism. Selling my crafts as a way to raise money to donate to social justice organizations seemed like the perfect fit for my action plan.

I have specifically chosen Indigenous social justice organizations as the recipients of the donations because my name, Xóchitl, is the Nahuatl* word for flower. I came by my name honestly: it was given to me as an infant and it’s on my birth certificate. I have always known that my name was in Nahuatl. Then, as an adult, I learned about how the Indigenous nations that use this language have been devastated by colonization. That their advances and contributions are rarely discussed. The name Xóchitl has been culturally appropriated from a culture that is completely separate from mine - I’m a 3rd generation Polish Catholic American (and German & Irish) Racially, I’m white and part of the dominant culture. I am not denied a job, questioned about my citizenship, told I speak English so well, or criticized for this name, but Nahuatl speakers are. I’ve learned that is white privilege. I have this name but I am NOT this name.

In honor of my name and the people from whom it comes, I’m choosing MMIWUSA and other North American Indigenous peoples’ organizations as the recipients of the donations received from the craft sales. It is time to take responsibility and action to support Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island✢.

*Nahuatl is the language of the Mexica (pronounced me-SHEE-ka) nation, known in the US as the Aztec nation. It is part of a larger language group called Uto-Aztecan that spanned a large portion of the Southwestern North American continent. Here’s a map of where the Uto-Aztecan languages were found.

✢Turtle Island refers to the continent of North America