Emi­ly Bowen Cohen’s mini-com­ic An Amer­i­can Indi­an Guide to the Day of Atone­ment recounts her reunion with her long-lost Native Amer­i­can fam­i­ly and her reflec­tion on the trip over the fol­low­ing Yom Kip­pur. This week Emi­ly illus­trat­ed a three-part com­ic on her reac­tions to the #NoDAPL protests at Stand­ing Rock, North Dako­ta as part of the Vis­it­ing Scribe series here on The ProsenPeo­ple.

As I was fin­ish­ing up this com­ic, the news arrived that the Army Corps of Engi­neers would explore alter­nate routes for the pipeline. I did not cel­e­brate the news. At best, this would be just a pause in the pipeline’s con­struc­tion. How­ev­er, I did cel­e­brate see­ing so many peo­ple — Native and non-Native — ral­ly­ing behind the Sioux. Going for­ward, it will be so impor­tant to con­tin­ue to see this pas­sion. I would be so grate­ful if I heard my Native Amer­i­can family’s con­cerns reflect­ed in the con­ver­sa­tions of my Jew­ish family.

Emi­ly Bowen Cohen writes mem­oir-style comics about being Native Amer­i­can and Jew­ish. She grew up in a small town in rur­al Okla­homa. Emi­ly received a 2016 Word Artist Grant, a project of Amer­i­can Jew­ish University’s Insti­tute for Jew­ish Cre­ativ­i­ty, to cre­ate An Amer­i­can Indi­an Guide to the Day of Atone­ment.

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