This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Native People, Native Voices, Native Perspectives

Native American people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and careers will speak at Blake’s 21st annual Diversity Symposium on Tuesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at the Upper School (511 Kenwood Parkway, Minneapolis). The panel discussion will focus on the opportunities and challenges of creating a historically accurate, multi-dimensional, forward-looking view of the local Native community as well as an America that breaks down stereotypes, builds relationships and defines 21st century Native people on their own terms. This event is free and open to the public.


The panel guests include:


Joe Horse Capture is an author and associate curator of Native American Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA). Horse Capture, the MIA’s first Native American curator, will begin a new job at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. this May. He specializes in Native North American Indian art, specifically from the Great Plains and Great Lakes/Woodlands regions. Horse Capture has served on the board of directors for the Otsego Institute for Native American Art History in Cooperstown, N.Y., since 2005 and is also a board member of Aboriginal Curatorial Collective in Ontario, Canada.

Find out what's happening in Hopkinswith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Sasha Houston Brown ’05 is a graduate of Carleton College and The Blake School and currently leads the American Indian Success Program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Houston Brown gained national attention when she led a grassroots campaign that stopped Urban Outfitters from promoting a “Navajo” line of clothing and accessories — including hipster panties and hip flasks — that appropriated millennia-old, sacred designs by artists from the Navajo Nation.


Anna Reid, Blake Upper School English teacher, is the designer and teacher of the school’s English elective focused on Native voices in literature and film. Reid has a master of arts in English literature from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Find out what's happening in Hopkinswith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Roy Taylor, Blake parent and community leader


For more information, please contact Blake Director of the Office of Equity and Community Engagement Scott Flemming at sflemming@blakeschool.org or Blake Director of Communications Cathy McLane at cmclane@blakeschool.org.


Founded in 1900 and committed to “challenging the mind, engaging the heart” of each of its nearly 1,400 students on its three campuses located in Hopkins, Wayzata and Minneapolis, The Blake School is a pre-kindergarten through grade 12 co-educational, independent school providing a dynamic curriculum with exceptional opportunities for each child in academics, the arts and athletics. Learn more online at www.blakeschool.org.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?