Culture in College

I was invited to the South Seattle Community College Native American Heritage Month Salmon Bake by friend Patricia Allen—a Tlingit/Haida who is the Native American Student Commission Director, and is in charge of such events. Patricia and I met a year ago when I was the American Indian Commission Director for UW and our jobs crossed paths. I’m particularly proud of our Native students who are involved in student government and especially with my experience in putting on the ASUW AISC 2011 Winter Powwow, I’m definitely appreciative of students who take valuable time and who sacrifice to put on these important cultural events. Going to school in Seattle can be difficult if you’re Native as there isn’t a nearby Reservation or a large population in such a diverse and large city. Urban Indians, often struggle twice as hard to establish a strong, visible Native presence in schools and it’s no different in college. I know, that going to University of Washington, where there are 40,000+ students, I often feel like a number, and reaching the Native community can be a challenging task since students are so spread out. But when we come together in our Native clubs like First Nations @ UW, or AISES, it’s a beautiful feeling to find your community and to feel encouragement by the presence of your fellow peers. I like to maintain strong ties with Native students from other colleges, and I admire Patricia’s work and the example she is to me.   

I was also interested to see the turnout, she advised me that a majority of non-native students usually are in attendance, which is to be expected. It’s important for me that when I engage an audience that I do it at an appropriate level so that I pace myself. For example, I don’t give the exact same presentation for elementary students as I would these college students. Also, I try to play off of other presenters in the program that I’m part of, but this time around I was the first presenter aside from the Sacred Water Canoe family who sang an honoring song, along with various songs throughout the lunch. So, I tried to go ‘back to the basics’ and made sure to include a lot of Native history in the Seattle area and Washington state history. As I spoke, I began to realize that this is probably what professors go through when they give lectures. To make sure I didn’t put myself to sleep, I included my personal experience growing up back and forth between the Yakama Reservation and Seattle. That was after all challenging for me, and I know it's not an uncommon experience. 

But, as I spoke, I learned that there is sometimes more value in sharing a personal story rather than reciting facts and court cases. History is after all written from personal accounts, but there isn't enough written from Native peoples' perspective so why not give one? And who knows? Maybe someday...