(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Two events, one purpose: Showcasing Montana's diversity – Daily Montanan [1] ['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- July'] Date: 2022-07-19 Two events during the weekend in different parts of the state were held to showcase Montana’s diversity and emphasize a state culture that is more diverse than many may suspect. Big Sky IndigiFest, held in Billings, showcased Indigenous artists, production companies, business consultants, and fashion designers to demonstrate the diversity of successful Native Americans across the Treasure State. And the second-annual “Better Together” event in Superior featured speakers discussing Montana’s Jewish history and its Hmong immigrants. The event was held last year in response to the Red Pill Festival, a gathering of conservative activists and politicians. After that, a group came together to celebrate diversity and push back against the notion that Sanders and Mineral counties were hostile to diversity and immigrants or were not welcoming. Like New Mexico, only Montana The idea for IndigiFest came from different organizations that wanted to spotlight the talent and diversity of Native Americans in Montana. Tracie Garfield, the communications director of Western Native Voice, one of the organizations sponsoring the event, said that in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a huge Native American festival celebrates the diversity of different tribes and cultures. She believes such an event would be perfect for Montana, which has a summertime tradition of fairs, festivals and farmers markets. “We want to create a Native event where everything is Indigenous,” Garfield said. In addition to a vendor event hosted at Billings’ Double Tree on Saturday, there were Native American comedians, performers and a fashion show on Friday and Saturday. Just outside, the downtown streets of Montana’s largest community were holding its weekly farmers market. Garfield sees a time when both events complement each other. “We want to bring it to people. We live here, but they don’t see us,” Garfield said. “Some people have been at pow-wows, but there’s more to it than that.” Lucy Backbone, 18, a Crow Princess from Wyola, came to dance on Saturday. She said she’s been dancing before she could walk. Her grandmother, Lovey Backbone, made her traditional dancing costume, like she has for her other grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “When you dance, you dance for the people who can’t walk. You dance for the people who can’t be there. And you dance for the people in need to help them heal,” Lucy Backbone said. ‘We’re homogenous, but not that much’ Treasure State Values hosted the event in Superior on Sunday and said even after the Red Pill organizers announced they wouldn’t hold the event at the Mineral County Fairgrounds again, the group of community members saw a chance to tell a different story. “It’s more fun because this is not in response to something, and we could do our own things,” said Travis McAdam of the Montana Human Rights Network, which co-sponsored the event. The group, comprised of community members from the two counties, gathered around 50 people on Sunday to hear about the experiences of Jews in Montana as well as Hmong refugees. They plan to have a series of speakers later this year to focus on “Montana’s Many Immigrants.” This weekend’s gathering featured speakers, musician ands root beer floats. “All immigrants are also emigrants,” said musician Bill Smith, whose own songs included tunes about sojourning immigrants as well as putting lights at Wrigley Field. “Even though they travel to somewhere different, that’s not where their heart is. Sometimes, their hearts never leave that place. “Folks face a lot coming to this country, and all you have to do is approach them with a little understanding. But pretty soon, they become the normal, and you have to be careful you don’t become the outsider.” Diane Magone, of Treasure State Values, said that she’s concerned about the growing number of people who come to Montana because they embrace a narrow world view and seem to despise the state’s historical reputation of “live and let live.” “We’re homogenous, but not that much,” she said. Rabbi Laurie Franklin of Har Shalom in Missoula spoke about the Jewish Experience, and Bert Chessin of Missoula spoke about how Jewish immigrants helped build the state. “Risk-taking is common among immigrants,” Franklin said. “You have to reinvent yourself and you have dream and innovate. We are all children of immigrants, and we all come here with that strength.” She spoke about how the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society once was established to help bring Jews from war-torn or oppressive countries to the United States. Through time, the organization has evolved to help persecuted immigrants from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Chessin told about Jacob Leiser, a Missoula merchant who was one of the few to extend credit to the Salish. He touched on Herman Cohen, who believed in Missoula so much he build brick buildings and sidewalks. “It was a testament to how much they wanted to live here and stay here and establish something permanent,” Chessin said. Susie Miller and Gayle Morrison worked with Hmong refugees in western Montana after the Vietnam War ended. Miller focused on the Hmong tradition of embroidery and the symbol of the crosspost, a “T”-like cross featured in many traditional designs. The crosspost is something found in many Hmong homes in Laos. “It’s a symbol of where the home is. It’s not everywhere. It goes where the home is,” Miller said. She found in nearly 40 years of working with Hmong refugees that things like culture and English were hard. Other things were surprisingly easy. The Hmong seemed at home in Missoula. “They are mountain people, too,” Miller said. John Skinner from Valley Neighbors of the Flathead also spoke about efforts there to help host immigrant families, whether that was Syrian, Afghani or Ukrainian. “People said that the Flathead was not the right place for immigrants,” Skinner said. “Well, you know what? We found that they were already in the community.” Rebecca Miller, who is also working in the Flathead with different faith communities, said the power of immigrants’ stories is what ultimately changes many hearts. “It’s easy to have opinions about immigration, but it’s different once you know them,” she said. “But when you know them, you root for them.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/07/19/two-events-one-purpose-showcasing-montanas-diversity/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/