Tumal Sinu Relatives!

I wanted to express my appreciation towards Indigenous Roots for giving the youth of various communities a space to come together and help organize events to connect in these strange times. IRoots has helped ignite a light in all of us that we did not know we had. To many of us youth we call this place home our safe space. We spend countless hours bouncing ideas off of each other or we are constantly wondering what the next big event. Recently we were able to create bridges between St. Paul and Minneapolis DURING A PANDEMIC. Something that you do not see a lot even without a pandemic. Our Dia de Los Muertos Ride or Die to the Four Directions brought communities from Northside and Southside of Minnapolis together with community from West and East side of St. Paul. When I think about the role that IRoots had in this event I think of this the place where the essence of the youth was able to flourish. We as youth need spaces to be supported and not called crazy for imagining the impossible. On top of just providing space it provides mentorship and collaboration something that is needed to build community network to continue the work. It has helped me in my journey of restoring the connection between my ancestors something I always knew was there but never had someone to tell me directly you carrying generations of resilience.