Native American Heritage Month

November 11, 2016

Native American Heritage Month

With the end of Halloween and cultural appropriation issues, the election, and the current protest in North Dakota, it has been a rough couple of months. It’s enough that I have come to dislike Halloween because people can be so immature about cultural appropriation but the election and the protest combined have brought out so much more foul attitudes.
After a hectic weekend, I stopped for dinner on my way home outside of Flagstaff. There's this little Subway off the freeway on the way home and although it is not a truck stop, many truckers stop here. Tired, I entered Subway minding my own business and I noticed a couple of truckers just finishing up. I had just got off the phone with my dad and I could feel someone looking at me. As I turned I heard one of the men scoff, “damn prairie n*****” as he stood up and looked me up and down. Instead of feeling belittled or angered, I felt this strong sense of calmness. I turned back to the nice sandwich artist and began ordering. I took the high road and refused to give this individual my attention and he was surprised. The kind man behind the counter called me strong and admired my will for not showing the same type of attitude towards the gentleman. 

This incident occurred at the beginning of my week and with the upcoming week of classes and the election I emailed my professors immediately and asked if they could allow me to speak to the class about Native American Heritage month. November is Native American month and it is a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and history of indigenous people. I spoke to my classes and brought up old slides that I used to use in presentations about fighting stereotypes through interaction and education. I invited my fellow peers to events on campus as well recommendations for American Indian Studies classes that didn’t require a prerequisite. But I also shared with them the stories of the racism I encounter as a Native American woman often reinforced with Hollywood stereotypes. Throughout the week I wore my moccasins and tsiyeel (Navajo hair bun) to show individuals my pride in my culture. What seemed to start off as a bad week, turned into the best as I spoke and engaged with peers that I never spoke to in class. After speaking people embraced me with hugs and now we have become more than just that kid sitting in front or behind me in class. 

I openly encourage others to be open-minded and rid themselves of any ethnocentric feelings or viewpoints. Take a class in Latin studies, Asian, Native American, African studies and all the other diverse communities around the world. Be respectful. Ask questions. There’s a lot of uncertainty with the election of our new President but he didn’t create this divide. It’s been there and in order to heal it, we have to engage with others not like ourselves. That’s one of our biggest challenges as a nation moving forward.

Attached is a schedule on events happening on campus (NAU) as well as a flier I used when encouraging others to take more culturally diverse classes:

I should note that my sister will also be a contestant in the Miss Indian NAU pageant on November 18^th, 2016. Come join us as five young women share their culture for the title of 2017 Miss Indian NAU. This is a great night for people of all ages as this event brings many tribes together. My sister’s platform is self-identity and youth empowerment.