The children did not choose what was taken from them. But they can choose to reclaim it. The Halls of Ink Foundation exists to make that choice possible. Every donation supports indigenous youth programs that return language, identity, and ancestral tradition to the generation responsible for carrying it forward.
I have always believed one of the biggest and most important ways we can give back is by making the world a better place for the next generation. The children. The ones who are born into a world we molded for them.
Tattooing sits at the heart of two of the world's most resilient cultures. For centuries this aspect of their traditions carried ancestry, identity, and spiritual meaning. Colonization tried to erase it. The language was beaten out of children. The knowledge keepers were criminalized. The population collapsed. Tattooing was considered barbaric and banned.
An entire generation grew up without access to who they were.
These two organizations are giving those children back what was taken. Their culture, which they never really had a chance to experience because it was almost completely eradicated. They can now immerse themselves in their roots and be proud of it.
This is why the Foundation exists.