On Belonging
On Belonging
We Belong to the Earth: Against Settler Belonging
— with Klee Benally
“We would not be asking about belonging if we were not severed from existence. If belonging does not restore mutuality with existence, it is just suffering disguised and prolonged.”
Grounding in land, ceremony, and ancestry, Klee narrates a poetically powerful and honest story, one that brings us to the root of this conversation about belonging. In Klee’s words: “for Mother Earth to flourish, settler failure is necessary.” Moving beautifully between genres, Klee’s words are medicine — an offering to move us towards deepening mutuality and collective liberation.
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Klee Benally passed peacefully on Dec. 30, 2023.
As we collectively grieve, please keep Klee’s powerful messages traveling. keep them radical. and celebrate Klee’s ferocity for destroying colonialism & his love for mutuality.
Donate to Klee’s kin and projects
Rest in Fierce Love, Klee.
Resources
Music also by Klee!
Klee’s websites:
On Belonging show music is by AwareNess
Show Art by Julie Flett
Keep Walking; Keep Listening
Guest Bio
Klee Benally
Klee Jones Benally (he/they) is a Diné musician, writer, artist, traditional dancer, filmmaker, & Indigenous anarchist. Klee is originally from Black Mesa and has worked nearly all of his life at the front lines in struggles to protect Indigenous sacred lands. Klee helped establish Táala Hooghan Infoshop, Indigenous Action, and is currently organizing with Kinłani Mutual Aid and Haul No! (an effort to stop uranium mining at the Grand Canyon). Klee finished a book and board game in 2023.
Book: No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred
Game: Burn the Fort
Photo of Klee by Dustin Wero
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About the Show
On Belonging: an audio series to connect us, part conversation and part storytelling, hosts carla joy bergman and Jamie-Leigh Gonzales ask their guests to explore why so many of us are feeling called to find a deeper sense of belonging, whether with our ancestors or to the land where we live, and beyond. In the many landscapes across the world, each of us walk pathways that take us to the edges of possibility, finding belonging and collective thriving along the way.
On Belonging show music is by AwareNess
Show Art by Julie Flett