The Local Native
Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking your time to read this magazine. I have put a lot of thought and hard work into these pieces during this semester. I had the opportunity to talk to someone who has first hand experience working with the Native youth and was able to write about an issue that spoke to me. I really wanted to bring forward some of the issues that the Native Youth in Salt Lake City are facing and educate others who may not know about the situations they face. My people are going through a lot of hardships and they need to know that they are not alone. The Native youth in Salt Lake City are the future and need to now that they can do anything that they put their mind to.
-M.A.Y
Thank you for taking your time to read this magazine. I have put a lot of thought and hard work into these pieces during this semester. I had the opportunity to talk to someone who has first hand experience working with the Native youth and was able to write about an issue that spoke to me. I really wanted to bring forward some of the issues that the Native Youth in Salt Lake City are facing and educate others who may not know about the situations they face. My people are going through a lot of hardships and they need to know that they are not alone. The Native youth in Salt Lake City are the future and need to now that they can do anything that they put their mind to.
-M.A.Y
A Leader
Denece Tayor-Begay use to be a student counselor at the Academy for Math, Engineering & Science in Salt Lake City, Utah. The position of her job required her to work closely with the youths that attended the school. She worked with the native youth, whether they attend the school or not, and the AMES Native American Club. She got to work first hand with teens that were actively seeking to participate in Native American culture and help them with any problems they may face throughout high school, college and their young adult lives.
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I had a few question that I had prepared for Mrs. Begay about what it was like to work with the native youth and what her thoughts were about some of the issues that they are facing, working with them for so long she would have the best ideas of what local issues Native American students would be facing and how involved they were in learning their culture and heritage.
I asked, “What was it like to work with the Native American Club and what was your favorite thing to do?” Mrs. Begay responded, “The reason there was a Native American club at AMES was because a couple of Native students wanted to start a club so they could learn more about their individual cultures together. One of the students’ mother was adopted by non-native parents, so this student did not really know anything about her culture or heritage. The other student’s father was of Apache blood and he passed away when she was young, which resulted in her wanting to learn more about her father’s history. One of my favorite things to do was when we went to the Adopt-A-Native-Elder rug show in Park City, where students spend time with an elder, learning from them and discussing their culture with them. I really liked that the club wasn’t just for Native students, all students were able to join and participate in anything the club was involved in.”
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"What were some of the biggest challenge that you saw some of the Native youth face?""One of the biggest challenges would have been self confidence. I think it is difficult for some of them to be able to learn about their culture because they live in the city and there really is not much being taught in schools, which made them self-conscious in their ability to interact with Natives more familiar with their heritage.” In the state of Utah, they don’t offer most of the courses related to Native culture that they would on the Reservation. School on the Reservation usually teach their Native languages, histories and traditions.
In an earlier conversation that we had, Mrs. Begay mentioned that “Native American students have the 2nd highest dropout rate in the state of Utah. According to the Utah department of health (2017), Native American youth also has the highest suicide rate in the state.” I was curious about this statement and found that “as of 2015, the overall Utah graduation rate was 84 percent, but for Native American students, that percentage was just 69.” A main reason for suicide in the community could be that “the issue of suicide, which is especially prevalent for Native Americans between the ages of 15 to 24, is often a result of societal and cultural pressures”** and I think that it ties back to the self confidence issue that she mentioned in the last paragraph. |
While she was working at AMES, the Native youth really started becoming involved in local politics, it was the year of the controversial 2016 presidential election. I questioned Mrs. Begay about how she thought the 2016 presidential election affected the Native youth and what her thoughts were were on the issues surrounding Bears Ears National Monument.*
“The election highlighted the fact that the Native community still deals with the fact that the majority of people know very little about Native Americans and there are so many stereotypes out there. I also think that many communities who are trying to protect their land and are very interested in environmental issues and the election brought up new fears because they knew that there are many people who are not interested in environmental issues. The issues surrounding Bears Ears bring up many issues native communities face all of the time. There are always land disputes because different groups have different opinions on what’s the best way to use the land. It also brings up a lot of tension between two groups, I think it has a lot to do with lack of knowledge. People that live near Native communities have a very different perspective. It’s also difficult when whoever is working for the us govt had a different view of what tribal sovereignty is. I feel that if people really honored treaties and treated native communities as actual dual citizens, there wouldn’t be this issues. But when people are not taught what it is, it just brings animosity towards people.” My sister and I on the reservation
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Photo from Utah Elevated
For my final questions, I asked her what were some ways that she thought the Native youth could be more involved in the community while also keep true to their culture? She responded. “One way would be to work with some of the organizations in the community such as the Urban Indian Center, Adopt-A-Native-Elder organization and form clubs at school. Youth can use social media to connect with other Native youth in different communities to exchange information and learn their language. I feel like the Native youth today seem to care more about issues facing their communities. I feel that if we give them the opportunity to have a voice, they can make some big changes. And for educators like myself, need to learn more about Native America. History and the issues youths are facing today. We also need to be an advocate for our Native youth and give them the opportunity to have a voice.”
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I thanked Mrs Begay for her insight and reflected on her answers. I agreed with the points she was making. It is important for us to understand each other. We must be outspoken for our own culture, but welcome those who want to learn about us. We need to accept each other, help each other, grow together and remember our roots.
Sources:
*Bears Ears National Monument
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/climate/bears-ears-national-monument.html, The New York Times, Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman, March 2, 2018, October 4, 2018
**Utah Native Americans Face 69 Percent Graduation Rate
https://universe.byu.edu/2016/11/16/low-graduation-high-suicide-rates-plague-native-american-youth/, The Daily Universe, Carley Porter, November 16, 2016, October 4, 2018
*Bears Ears National Monument
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/climate/bears-ears-national-monument.html, The New York Times, Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman, March 2, 2018, October 4, 2018
**Utah Native Americans Face 69 Percent Graduation Rate
https://universe.byu.edu/2016/11/16/low-graduation-high-suicide-rates-plague-native-american-youth/, The Daily Universe, Carley Porter, November 16, 2016, October 4, 2018
Americanized Cultural Holidays
Source: HBO, Game of Thrones
Columbus Day is a long celebrated holiday in America, in schools it is taught that this brave and strong conqueror discovered a promised land, and saved modern civilization by taking the land from godless savages. Would you teach that Hitler was a progressive leader in Germany? How about Stalin being a visionary in Russia? These countries wouldn’t be what they are today without these men yet they are seen as evil and we learn from their mistakes. In America we celebrate an evil man, honor him as someone who made this country great and lie about him in schools. Columbus was not a great man, he looked to find India but did not, he looked to be rich off lands but instead enslaved people to rid himself of some kind inferiority complex and he couldn’t even beat those people in war or negotiations, he only won through diseases carried over from the old world. It’s not even the only holiday in America that is arguably racist.
America made mockeries of St. Patrick’s Day and Dia De Los Muertos. Especially in the late 90’s and early 2000’s St. Patrick’s Day in America has grown into a free day of stereotyping Irish and drunken crimes. Americans dress up as Leprechauns and drink 3 times as much alcohol as usual, they call it celebrating the Irish, pushing a stereotype of drunken, angry and small minded Irish. Now, people are fighting to change the stereotyping. Dia De Los Muertos, a day to remember and celebrate our dead, has suffered a similar fate. People dress up like Mexican art for Halloween and sexualize our culture to get “turnt up” at parties, then they get drunk celebrating it as “Mexican culture”, it stops being anything about respecting our dead. These holidays contribute to backwards ideals like Columbus Day and need to be changed. |
Imagine you’re a character in Game of Thrones, you’re one of the good guys, honorable, kind, and pure. You’re a Stark, your people made the North, they built it with their culture, but one day some spoiled rotten brat who believes himself entitled to the world takes over the North and kills your people, this Joffrey Baratheon villain gets an entire holiday dedicated to him. People cheer for how he created the North and rose it to greatness, the discoverer of the Northern Kingdom of Westeros. How dreadful, how did this happen, this evil man is loved by people who do not understand the rich history of these land, of your people. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but this did happen, here in the country, Christopher Columbus is the Joffrey Baratheon and Native Americans the honorable Starks.
Source: Google
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Source: Google
If we want to celebrate the discovery of America, it starts with America’s Native people, it should be Indigenous People’s Day. Many states have already made this switch, even in Utah we now recognize the holiday in Salt Lake City as Indigenous People’s Day but that’s not enough, we have to move forward state-wide and stop glorifying Columbus to children in elementary schools. We should teach about Columbus’s failures and human rights violations to remember the wrongs he did, we should teach about Native culture and what made this land a paradise to European immigrants. It is unfair to Native people to be reminded every day about the evil “Joffrey” who stole their land, raped their people and infected them with disease. Columbus was the beginning of the end of Native Culture, the cool thing about Utah specifically is that we have places that have started to reach out to Natives, the University of Utah often looks to Natives for input, we as a state need to follow suit and add their input to political issues. Let’s start by changing this holiday state-wide and teaching the truth about “America’s discoverer”.
Sources:
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Dia De Los Muertos was originally a day to celebrate your dead. When the Spanish and Aztec peoples came together and created the holiday it was both a day of mourning and acknowledging your dead friends and family, celebrating their lives and coming together for a day, almost like their spirits were there celebrating with you. The tradition was very family oriented, it was fun and festive, in modern America and Mexico it’s been exploited by people and corporation almost like a Halloween add-on. Instead of the original celebration of the dead it has become a time to party, drink and do spooky things, buy fake skull paintings instead of decorating them with your family, play dress up and go to random parties, spend money on candy and costumes instead of celebrating with your family and remembering those who have passed. Dia De Los Muertos doesn’t celebrate the dead and Columbus Day doesn’t celebrate America.
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Notebooks
Week 2 - 5g
Write an introduction to an essay, titled "On_________." Fill in the blank with a one or two word description of your issue, or something related to your issue. Use the title as a way to explore the points/ideas/questions that you would like to write about in one of your pieces for the semester. Examples: why is ________ and issue ? What does it mean to be a part of _______? Assumptions people make about ___________ are ______________?
On The Many Issues Facing the Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is made up of four areas of the U.S., Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. These areas are also know as The Four Corners. The Navajo Nation is made up of nearly 300,00 people, being one of the largest federally recognized tribes in the United States. When talking about the Navajo Reservations, people may think that it is a piece of land that was given to them with everything that they could ever need, but that is incorrect. There are many of the same issues that are facing the Navajo people today as there were almost 100 years ago. Some of these issues are, not having the proper resources to keep crops alive, not having running water, violence against Navajo Women and children, not having proper health care facilities, the education of children that are living on the Navajo Nation not being beneficial to them or just as simple as the Navajo Language being forgotten. I want to explore the reasons that may be behind these issue and ways that these issues could possibly be solved. I am hoping to educate outsiders about my people and let them know about ways that they can help as well.
On The Many Issues Facing the Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is made up of four areas of the U.S., Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. These areas are also know as The Four Corners. The Navajo Nation is made up of nearly 300,00 people, being one of the largest federally recognized tribes in the United States. When talking about the Navajo Reservations, people may think that it is a piece of land that was given to them with everything that they could ever need, but that is incorrect. There are many of the same issues that are facing the Navajo people today as there were almost 100 years ago. Some of these issues are, not having the proper resources to keep crops alive, not having running water, violence against Navajo Women and children, not having proper health care facilities, the education of children that are living on the Navajo Nation not being beneficial to them or just as simple as the Navajo Language being forgotten. I want to explore the reasons that may be behind these issue and ways that these issues could possibly be solved. I am hoping to educate outsiders about my people and let them know about ways that they can help as well.
Week 5 - 2j
Pretend that you are going to write about this space (a place connected to my public issue) for one of your essays. How would you write about it in a report? Evaluation? Position? Proposal? Profile? Memoir? Where should the story about visiting and experiencing the space begin? What research could you include to flesh out your experiences there and its connection to your issue?
I decided to write about my Navajo Language class in a memoir style.
I walked into the building where my Navajo language class was going to be taught on a chilly fall day, feeling very excited for what the class had to offer me. I mean, how cool was it that they finally offered a language class that was usually only on the reservation. I felt like I was finally going to get a little close with my culture. I took the elevator up to the third floor and walked past empty classes. I finally got to the room where my class was going to be held, but I thought I had the wrong room number written down. All of the lights were off, leaving the computer screens to put off a light blue glow. I walked through the classroom door and noticed that I was the first one there, besides the instructor. "Yá’át’ééh, go ahead and write your first and last name in the desk over there" the instructor said with a dull tone. I wrote my name on a piece of paper and found a set the was in the back of the class. More people showed up, but no one that I knew. Finally, the instructor began to fiddle with some cords and eventually turned on a projector. "Take out a notebook and a pen and just take notes as the video goes." While I was digging around for a pen in my backpack, I thought to myself, "What? This class is only based on videos? You have to be kidding me, this is not what I wanted?" I sat in the classroom for 20 minutes, wishing that we had a person teaching us in person. Finally, the lights turned on and I felt like I learned absolutely nothing. I grabbed my stuff and left, feeling angry that I wasted my time.
I feel like this experience of mine really shows how native youth can have a really hard time learning their language and traditions. I feel like if the state of Utah had more resources for students to learn about these things some would feel like they aren't completely lost.
I decided to write about my Navajo Language class in a memoir style.
I walked into the building where my Navajo language class was going to be taught on a chilly fall day, feeling very excited for what the class had to offer me. I mean, how cool was it that they finally offered a language class that was usually only on the reservation. I felt like I was finally going to get a little close with my culture. I took the elevator up to the third floor and walked past empty classes. I finally got to the room where my class was going to be held, but I thought I had the wrong room number written down. All of the lights were off, leaving the computer screens to put off a light blue glow. I walked through the classroom door and noticed that I was the first one there, besides the instructor. "Yá’át’ééh, go ahead and write your first and last name in the desk over there" the instructor said with a dull tone. I wrote my name on a piece of paper and found a set the was in the back of the class. More people showed up, but no one that I knew. Finally, the instructor began to fiddle with some cords and eventually turned on a projector. "Take out a notebook and a pen and just take notes as the video goes." While I was digging around for a pen in my backpack, I thought to myself, "What? This class is only based on videos? You have to be kidding me, this is not what I wanted?" I sat in the classroom for 20 minutes, wishing that we had a person teaching us in person. Finally, the lights turned on and I felt like I learned absolutely nothing. I grabbed my stuff and left, feeling angry that I wasted my time.
I feel like this experience of mine really shows how native youth can have a really hard time learning their language and traditions. I feel like if the state of Utah had more resources for students to learn about these things some would feel like they aren't completely lost.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I put a lot of hard work and thought into these pieces and I am very happy with the outcome.