The Hook & Ladder is proud to present “Decolonize Thanksgiving”, a very special Indigenous concert and different perspective on the holiday benefiting First Nations Kitchen Native food-shelf.  Featuring some of the most legendary and up & coming names in Native Americana music including Nett Lake Anishinaabe troubadour Keith Secola, jaw-dropping buzzed about powwow singer Joe Rainey Sr (with Minneapolis electronic hero Andrew Broder), Leech Lake Anishinaabe songwriter and activist Annie Humphrey, and a special performance from Indigenous ally, poet & songwriter David Huckfelt & The Unarmed Forces.  First Nations Kitchen will be on-site with a food table sampling their Sunday Meal Service. Donations will be accepted!

 

David Huckfelt & The Unarmed Forces: featuring a rotating cast of Minnesota musical luminaries including Jeremy Ylvisaker, Liz Draper, and occasional special guest appearances from the likes of Erik Koskinen, J.T. Bates & more, Huckfelt’s full band shows are not to be missed.  The Unarmed Forces have appeared at First Avenue & festival stages around the country, as well as both “Water Is Life” festivals in Duluth with Bon Iver, Ani Difranco, Low, The Indigo Girls and more.  With singular ferocity they deliver the full sound and message of Huckfelt’s two records “Stranger Angels” and “Room Enough, Time Enough”, as well as a cache of brand new material building toward a third record, coming soon.

 

Joe Rainey is a Pow Wow singer. His debut album Niineta showcases his command of the style – faithful to tradition – accompanied by cinematic, bass-heavy production from Andrew Broder. Depending on the song, his voice can celebrate or console, welcome or intimidate. No matter the inflection, each note conveys a clear message: We’re still here. We were here before you were, and we never left. 

 

Keith Secola is an icon and ambassador of Native music. He is one of the most influential artists in the field today. Rising from the grassroots of North America, he is a songwriter of the people. Critics have dubbed him as the Native versions of both Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. NDN Kars (Indian cars), his most popular song is considered the contemporary Native American anthem, achieving legendary status and earning him a well deserved cult following. It has been the number one requested song on tribal radio since the 1992. In 2011, he joined the ranks of Jimmy Hendrix, Hank Williams, Crystal Gale, and Richie Valens, and was inducted into the Native Music Hall of Fame.

Growing up on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota, Annie lived in a home filled with voices made of thunder and nothing could stop it.  Her parents were brilliant people individually.  Her father, a singer and musician and her mother an artist and poet.  Together they made sadness.  Each of her parents taught Annie the beautiful things they knew.  They showed her that she carried their gifts in her hands too.  This is how creating art and music came about for her.  This is  what saved her.  This is how she lives now.

 

Uniquely, First Nations Kitchen is a ministry led by indigenous people for indigenous people.  FNK’s Ministry Team leads all aspects of the program on a volunteer-basis without compensation, though there are specific and agreed-upon roles and responsibilities for team members such as Program/Kitchen Director, Volunteer Coordinator and Fundraiser. In addition FNK enjoys volunteer support from 13 area Episcopal congregations, the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) of William Mitchell, and multiple churches of various denominations.  The engagement of the partner congregations has evolved as a model for the Episcopal Church in Minnesota which in recent years has collectively discerned a call to engage opportunities for mission in regional settings, combining efforts, gifts, and resources across congregational lines.

First Nations Kitchen is primarily a justice-focused, Gospel-based ministry.  Its primary intent is to provide food to indigenous people who would not otherwise have access to high-quality, fresh organic food in an environment of radical hospitality and cultural empowerment. While FNK makes full use of its relationship with the Twin Cities Coop Partners (free organic vegetables, fruits, and dairy) we desire to deepen its ministry by engaging its guests and volunteers in the production of its own food. It is hoped that the garden will serve as a neighborhood gathering place, a chance to build deeper relationships with guests and volunteers, provide an opportunity for traditional harvest ceremonies, and bring indigenous people together to learn ancestral methods of growing their own food.

The FNK Ministry Team also wants to deepen and widen its program by investing in its relationships with guests and volunteers.  The kitchen provides a unique opportunity to come together around common interests (mission, Gospel faithfulness, addressing real human need) across cultural differences that in other circumstances divide rather than unite.   The team sees transformative potential in deepening their relationship with their parish partners and guests – providing opportunities to know one another better, regularly engage the practice of Gospel-Based Discipleship, and together confront and move beyond racism.  There are countless opportunities to more deeply involve parish partners and guests beyond tasks associated with making a meal, such as building relationships with new volunteers, fundraising, tilling soil, tending the compost pile, distributing food city-wide.  We want to move from simple task-allocation to a deep, real invitation to work together – ministry team, parish partners, guests — in all aspects of our mission work.  We see the potential result of this harder relationship-building work and the bringing together of a more diverse collection of gifts and talents as nothing less than transformational to us all.