Author, speaker addresses community as part of Native American Heritage Month

"Nobody sees the world the way that it is. We all see the world the way that we are - and we are all a little bit different," Treuer noted.

For Carsyn Brunette, a first-year graduate student studying social work, her biggest takeaway from Treuer's message was the importance of truth. "No matter how many times you rewrite history, the truth is still there," Brunette reflected. "And I think that's important because, like Treuer said, not only is that Indigenous people's truth, or the Black community's, or the Latino community's truth, but that's also the white people's truth. That's everybody's history."

For Brunette, who serves on GVSU's Native American Student Association's executive board, it relays an important message of the belonging that she has found at GVSU. "The importance of bringing in guests like Treuer is just to remind people that we're still here," she said. "And at the same time, we're just like anybody else. And for the Indigenous students, you're not any less just because we are a minority. You can do it too."