8th Annual Governor’s Native American Summit

The 8th Annual Governor’s Native American Summit was held August 14-15, 2013 at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. This was my first time attending the conference and I was extremely impressed with the turn out, especially since the Utah Division of Indian Affairs is led by a woman who epitomizes the word incompetence.

The Summit was held for Utah tribes to showcase the programs that have been successful in their respective communities and to innovate new ideas for the future.

The Salt Lake Intertribal Veterans Association present the colors. Courtesy of Utah Division of Heritage & Arts.

The Buffalo Nation drum group perform the Flag Song. Courtesy of Utah Division of Heritage & Arts.

I went to three breakout sessions. The first session was Dr. Jose Enriquez who had successfully built a pathway for Latino students to gain access to higher education through his organization Latinos in Action. Dr. Enriquez is now working with other minority populations, helping them forge pathways to higher education that specifically meet the needs of each minority’s culture and unique educational challenges. Latinos in Action, or LIA places considerable emphasis on cognitive thinking, social responsibility, and linguistic cultivation. Dr. Enriquez stated that kids get lost, meaning they don’t follow the path to hight education,  as early as the 5th & 6th grades,  “I want to teach the kids of the Latino heroes, but there were none, so we have to create our own. Our young ones need to see those heroes because if they don’t see them, then what will they see? Everything else.” The high school students involved in LIA are trained to tutor the elementary students in literacy and math. In turn, the mentor-mentee relationship builds the confidence of both involved. Latinos in Action participants:

• boast a 98% high school attendance rate
• 85% college enrollment
• 3.2 average GPA
• Leadership, literacy, and service

The social aspects of LIA are the cool cultural presentations. Dr. Enriquez believes that it so important for the youth to learn to articulate what they are  thinking in an intelligent way. LIA participants are required to keep a journal to hone their writing skills. Students are asked, “Do you feel you are worthy of your dreams? If not, then you don’t know yourself”. Tlak about an awesome writing exercise! The last component is linguistic cultivation. LIA students help out at parent teacher conferences as interpreters.  I can’t imagine these kids doing such a personal thing without getting stressed out.  in LIA, it is important to do this type of service because it will educate the kids and the community and can change how they are perceived. Tight!  Southern Utah University and Weber State actually have Latinos in Action courses. I kept thinking. I wish we could do something like this with the Native community. I wish I had the contacts to get something like this up and going for Native students. I hope someone else, somewhere in that meeting, who has those connections, was thinking the same thing.

After the Latinos in Action breakout session it was time for lunch. It was OK. Paiute Tribe youth performed a variety of traditional dances

Adorable! Courtesy of Utah Division of Heritage & Arts

I did some exploring. UVU is huge-normous!

I don’t know if these are up year round or if they are special occasion teepee’s. Either way, pretty cool.

Directly following lunch,  representatives Rex Lee Jim, Vice President of the Navajo Nation,  and Vice-Chairman Madeline Greymountain of the Confederated Tribe of the Goshute Reservation gave us an update on the cool things they are working on:

Rex Lee Jim introduced himself in Navajo which is cool.  Not only is it Navajo tradition to introduce yourself in Navajo, including your clans, but he wanted to emphasize the language revitalization projects through Rosetta Stone. In addition, the Navajo elders who speak the language are being certified to teach it through the school systems. The Navajo Nation is setting up a Navajo virtual university. It sounds like it would be a website or Wiki-page so Navajo members, around the world, could have instant access to anything Navajo. I feel that it would bridge the gap between the worlds on and off the reservation. In other news, the Navajo Nation will begin a  program that will teach traditional, peace-making communication skills to deter the use of alcohol, drugs, and domestic violence.  Rex Lee Jim said, “We have forgotten how to sit down and talk things through”. The plan will, with the help of social services and religious institutions, teach effective communication skills to deal with personal, family, and career miscommunications.  As a member of the Navajo Nation I was proud that there were so many cool things in the works. We still have a lot to work through.

Madeline Greymountain emphasized the resiliency of the Goshute youth. Kids are bussed 140 miles round trip, everyday! The Goshute tribe is trying to better serve the kids to make sure that they know they are valued, appreciated, and to get them to graduation. They have tried various plans and all have failed. Greymountain asked the audience  if they had any ideas. A classic sign of humility on behalf of the youth. The last issue affecting the Goshute Indian Reservation is ensuring their water rights. Right now there is piping going on to take their federal reserved water and ship it to Las Vegas. This is why I hate Las Vegas and St. George, Utah, the cities can’t sustain themselves. Read more about it here: Goshute Tribes Fight for Water Rights in Face of 300-Mile Pipeline to Vegas.

The last session I went to was about a program called LIBERATE! through the University of Utah’s Department of Education.

Ryan Walker, M.Ed from The University of Utah

The Live Interactive Broadcast Equalizing Rural Access to Teacher Education (LIBERATE) is designed to address the critical shortage of highly-qualified special education teachers in rural and remote areas of Utah. Specifically, during the project period, LIBERATE will deliver a comprehensive post-bachelor teacher licensure program in severe disabilities to two cohorts of 15 teacher candidates located in a minimum of three distance sites. Which is great for the up and coming innovation of distance education. The ultimate goal is for American Indian students to have free education and to work in their own communities, and on their own reservations. We had a treat as one of the first student cohorts Skyped us. Byron Manycattle from Navajo Mountain High school is in his second year of teaching there. He learned, through LIBERATE, how to view students with disabilities and to engage his students with disabilities. “Educators are so vital to the small communities. I have been able to use the Navajo language and culture in daily lessons. When I first came here, the hooghan on campus was boarded up. Now that’s where we hold class. I see that the students become focused and become engaged.” A San Juan School District Board member was present who told her story. Her son is disabled & non-verbal and works with Byron. She was grateful for Byron and his hard work. It was wonderful to hear that we are taking care of our own.

The conference ended with a special showing of the movie Smoke Signals. The next day was going to be full of presentations and lectures but unfortunately, I couldn’t go. I was so grateful that I was able to go. I hope I get invited next year.

 

How to Write the Great American Indian Novel

All of the Indians must have tragic features: tragic noses, eyes, and arms.
Their hands and fingers must be tragic when they reach for tragic food.

The hero must be a half-breed, half white and half Indian, preferably
from a horse culture. He should often weep alone. That is mandatory.

If the hero is an Indian woman, she is beautiful. She must be slender
and in love with a white man. But if she loves an Indian man

then he must be a half-breed, preferably from a horse culture.
If the Indian woman loves a white man, then he has to be so white

that we can see the blue veins running through his skin like rivers.
When the Indian woman steps out of her dress, the white man gasps

at the endless beauty of her brown skin. She should be compared to nature:
brown hills, mountains, fertile valleys, dewy grass, wind, and clear water.

If she is compared to murky water, however, then she must have a secret.
Indians always have secrets, which are carefully and slowly revealed.

Yet Indian secrets can be disclosed suddenly, like a storm.
Indian men, of course, are storms. They should destroy the lives

of any white women who choose to love them. All white women love
Indian men. That is always the case. White women feign disgust

at the savage in blue jeans and T-shirt, but secretly lust after him.
White women dream about half-breed Indian men from horse cultures.

Indian men are horses, smelling wild and gamey. When the Indian men
unbuttons his pants, the white woman should think of topsoil.

There must be one murder, one suicide, one attempted rape.
Alcohol should be consumed. Cars must be driven at high speeds.

Indians must see visions. White people can have the same visions
if they are in love with Indians. If a white person loves an Indian

then the white person is Indian by proximity. White people must carry
an Indian deep inside themselves. Those interior Indians are half-breed

and obviously from horse cultures. If the interior Indian is male
then he must be a warrior, especially if he is inside a white man.

If the interior Indian is female, then she must be a healer, especially if she is inside a white woman.
Sometimes there are complications.

An Indian man can be hidden inside a white woman. An Indian woman
can be hidden inside a white man. In these rare instances,

everybody is a half-breed struggling to learn more about his or her horse culture.
There must be redemption, of course, and sins must be forgiven.

For this, we need children. A white child and an Indian child, gender
not important, should express deep affection in a childlike way.

In the Great American Indian novel, when it is finally written,
all of the white people will be Indians and all of the Indians will be ghosts.

Sherman Alexie, “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel” from The Summer of Black Widows. Copyright ©  by Sherman Alexie. Reprinted by permission of Hanging Loose Press. Source: The Summer of Black Widows (Hanging Loose Press, 1996)