Saturday, August 06, 2022

Papal Visit: Singer at peace after captivating world with protest song by M. Morrisseau, Indian Country Today

Friends:

Listen to this song and cry. I just did. 

It was sung by a Cree woman named Si Pih Koh from Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada to Pope Francis last July 25, 2022.  The video of her singing is embedded in the Indian Country Today story written by Miles Morrisseau. I link to it below, as well.

The Pope's visit is on the heels of the 2021 report of 215 remains of Native children discovered at Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. You can read my earlier post of this to this blog.

She expresses being on her own healing journey and she went to sing truth to power. She sang for the heart ache and generational trauma. Holding his jacket in her arms, she sang for her brother's mysterious death while in policy custody. 

She sang for healing. She sang against injustice. She sang for freedom. 

-Angela Valenzuela


Papal Visit: Singer at peace after captivating world with protest song

‘For the love of the children,’ she sang in Cree, after the Pope’s apology
  • JUL 28, 2022
    Si Pih Koh, Cree, who sang an emotional protest to Pope Francis with tears streaming down her face in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada on July 25, 2022, was at peace by the time she followed the Pope to Lac Ste. Anne on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Photo by Miles Morrisseau/ICT)


WARNING: This story has disturbing details about residential and boarding schools. If you are feeling triggered, here is a resource list for trauma responses from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition in the U.S. The National Indian Residential School Crisis Hotline in Canada can be reached at 1-866-925-4419.

Miles Morrisseau
ICT

LAC STE. ANNE, Alberta, Canada — She is glowing as she stands near the shores of Lac Ste. Anne, wearing the same white buckskin dress and beaded headband that captivated the world.

But this time Si Pih Ko didn’t break into song in Cree as she did Monday in Maskwacis, with tears streaming down her face — a symbol of protest at Pope Francis’ first public appearance on what he calls a “penitence pilgrimage” across Canada.

LINK TO VIDEO AND SONG

Instead, on Tuesday, she stood beaming as the sun sparkled on her beadwork and her smiles at the sacred waters of Lac Ste. Anne. It was as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.

“I'm on my healing journey,” she told ICT.

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