Calina Lawrence

Can’t believe it’s been one year since graduation… I have a Bachelors Degree in Performing Arts and Social Justice emphasizing in Music ! From the University of San Francisco – with honors . I definitely put my degree to use this past year; a year full of a lot of rest but also adventure and building community across the nation !! I spend a lot of time unpacking what role western academia actually plays in my life moving forward… Since graduating, I have experienced an intense amount of anxiety and depression trying to figure out where I’m most useful now ! There are many justifiable perspectives about Natives in Higher Education… a system not made for us .. a system that we do not “need” in order to be validated by our own traditional nations AND a system that does pose as a tool to learn how to code switch and communicate with our oppressors , our allies/accomplices , and all those who misunderstand us . Ultimately.. information is information and we choose what we do wit it ✨ I chose to take this information that I gained from an elite institution and somehow apply it to my daily pursuit of liberation…. I must remember that I’m a student every day of this life , in every space , learning from a spectrum of human beings ! With that being said… what I do know about me after being a scholar in an academy that is not natural to my dna…. is that my determination is unbreakable and my capacity to evolve is limitless✨ Thank you to everyone who did this wit me, this degree is ours – not just mine ! Photo by @chasingrooftops

A post shared by Calina Lawrence (@calinalawrence) on Dec 16, 2017 at 10:47am PST

Lawrence, who is a member of the Suquamish Tribe, will attend with Shailene Woodley. Lawrence is an advocate for Native Treaty Rights, the “Mni Wiconi” (Water is Life) movement led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the Puyallup Tribe’s #NoLNG253 movement. She works on a number of important causes, from racial injustice to suicide prevention.

Learn more about Lawrence and the work she does here.