31 August 2024
Suzanne Nash wants Indigenous youth to reclaim an understanding about the ways tobacco has been used in their community’s cultural and religious practices.
“Our gift from God the creator was traditional tobacco,” Nash said.
Nash sits on the Indigenous People’s Task Force in Minneapolis, a community group focused on “restoring our cultural practices and using those cultural teachings as our teachings, as prevention around the work we do.”
The use of traditional tobacco is important to Indigenous people for many reasons. For instance, medicinal tobacco has long been used for physical and emotional well-being, according to the National Native Network, a tribal organization.
Many people view tobacco as a commercial product — such as cigarettes or cigars — but rarely as a spiritual product, said Nash, the task force’s Tobacco Programs manager. Nash hopes that by “returning back to using traditional tobacco the way it was intended,” drug use could be curbed since tobacco is thought to be a gateway drug to harder substances.
Nash has lost people to addiction and lung cancer related to tobacco use. Nash’s son also died of alcoholism.
“It makes you angry,” Nash said.
Higher tobacco use
Native Americans use commercial tobacco at higher rates than other BIPOC communities. In Minnesota, for instance, 59% of Native Americans smoke commercial tobacco, compared with 14.5% of the adult population, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
In response, the task hopes to help Indigenous communities better understand the ways tobacco has been used traditionally, such as in ceremonial purposes, offerings and prayers.
Nash likened the use of tobacco in prayer to Christian traditions, such as the Catholic Church’s use of holy water.
“We offer it to the creator, to send that message. And that’s our gift,” Nash said.
Nash said Indigenous communities stopped using tobacco culturally because of pressure on Indigenous people to assimilate into the broader society.
Tobacco farming
Growing tobacco is also culturally important to native communities. Nash said the task force plants tobacco and waters it as a thank-you gift to the Earth. “We thank the water spirits and say thank you for that gift of water,” Nash said.
Nicole Christian, the farm site manager for the task force’s Indigi-Baby and Food Sovereignty Program, produces sustainable baby food for Native American communities.
That includes ensuring that the ingredients in baby food, like wild rice, are sustainably grown.
Additionally, Indigi-Baby is often found on food shelves, so it’s accessible for low-income families.
“(We want to) give the mothers in our community peace of mind that their babies can eat well,” Christian said.
Christian hopes that with all of the tobacco grown by the task force, she will be able to teach her community techniques that will help them grow tobacco themselves.
It’s a process that has been made more difficult because of climate change.
She said that despite strong community support, the task force’s farm has struggled to keep its crops alive because of unstable weather conditions. “A lot of (our) challenges have been the weather,” she said. “That, I’m sure, will continue as we go forward.”
Despite these challenges, Christian is motivated to continue farming tobacco and other crops for the sake of her community.
Ultimately, the task force’s goal is quality over profit and to continue to foster Indigenous traditions in a world where companies — such as those that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products — prioritize revenue.
“I want them to know how much we care,” Christian said, “the youth are our future.”
Additional reporting for this story was done by Legend Primus and Ethan Vang.
About this report
This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s Multimedia Storytelling Institute for high school students in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. ThreeSixty is a nonprofit program dedicated to offering technical, ethical and entrepreneurial training for fulfilling careers in storytelling and civic leadership.
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