As Native people there is no doubt that decolonization may look a little different to each individual. In my personal opinion I sometimes feel as though reconnecting Natives have a fantasization on what it was like to live at the time of our ancestors, and wish to emulate that. Our ancestors were not perfect, and they too made mistakes just like us. Sometimes decolonization to some is just buying land, farming, and living like our ancestors, which is fine because I am for that. However, decolonization to me is more educational and financial. I believe in financial decolonization to my core. Now, this could be for the fact I was raised within my culture therefore when I picture my people, my vision is not stuck on imagery of the past, but I see the future. The fantasization I constantly am referencing is a warped view on Indigineity.

Those disconnected or non native when they picture Indignity they are just imagining life from the 1400’s-1800’s. What people fail to realize is our ancestors continuously traded with other tribes, intermarried with other tribes or races, adapted to other cultures, had advanced technology, and more. Even if our ancestors had not come across Europeans we would have evolved and adapted to other ways, such as another tribes ways from cultural exchange. If you think about it this all goes back in history. White people made sure our people could not read, write, or vote. They beat us, raped us, removed our language, put us in missionaries, boarding schools, and kept us away from being educated in a world they began to create for themselves, all through North to South America. They made sure to keep us disadvantage so that our people could never regain power. The only way to regain power is to play the game of “Capitalism” in the Capitalistic society we live in today.

In a world where Capitalism thrives, if we as native people don’t begin to become financially literate or educated we will not thrive as a people in the future. There is true power in acquiring and passing down wealth to your descendants. About 10 years ago I almost worked for this finance company. I knew I was there for a reason, but did not know exactly what it was yet. I met this man who was Chinese and he was a recruiter and team leader of the branch of this company. He told me a story about how his family were immigrants and were very poor. His father had two failed businesses, and at one point his mother started a business that began to thrive, however she was in massive debt due to his fathers failed businesses. When he began to enter college he met a friend who was into finance. His friend offered his services telling him he could help lower his mothers debt and create a plan for her to pay it off. He made a deal with his friend that if he truly could complete this task, he would work with him in finance. Long be hold his friend lowered his mothers debt, she paid it off, and so began his career. This man was a a legit millionaire.

I continued to stay in the company maybe for like a month. I met another millionaire in the company who was Ecuadorian who came from a village like my family (so he was definitely native). He shared us his story on how his village never had a hospital and he was the first person to create a hospital in his village! This is the power that you can acquire with financial literacy! Later on his father worked with his son and then they even opened a school for his people. You maybe asking yourself now “If this is so important why did you leave this company?”. Well, while being there I was still unsure of my path. At the time I Was fresh out of personal training school and I was new to having a business in general. So when money started to die down, I started to rethink my career. However being in this company was the stepping stone for me to begin focusing on my financial literacy because back then I did not have any. What I learned was two things. 1) I was meant to continue my path as a personal trainer and 2) financial literacy. Years later I had a business for 7 years, I co-owned a second business, and I have several streams of passive income along with investments. The moral of the story is acquiring financial literacy gives you the power to put your people on. Financial decolonization to me is unlearning bad financial habits with money, and creating new ones.

Financial Decolonization:

• Investing

• Buying Land

• Creating Businesses And Opportunities For Your People

• Learning How To Save Money

• Learning How To Budget

• Learning To Be Strategic With Money Develop A Passive Income. Work Smarter Not Harder)