Native American Heritage month wraps up as November comes to a close. Indigenous students at Syracuse University from different tribes share their thoughts on the value and opportunity such observations present.
Many Central New Yorkers are familiar with the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of six nations. Nia Nephew is from the Seneca Nation, one of the Haudenosaunee … and she welcomes anyone interested in learning more about local indigenous culture as a way to seek the truth.
“I think someone that takes the time to educate themselves on a culture and just be intentional about not making mistakes and … falling into the same stereotypical behavior that people take on about us indigenous people and being the person that will stick up for us when we're not there. When you hear someone make a weird or rude comment about native people, like, I think that's definitely a huge part of it as well.”
E-J Figueroa, of Arizona’s Hopi Tribe and the South American Quechua, agrees native American Heritage month is a good opportunity; she feels awareness is growing
“… but there's still loads to do, and you still get those few people that are weird about it or that don't actually know that indigenous people are still here,” adds Figueroa. “And it's, it's tricky and there can be a lot of alienation because of that. But that's what we are here to do is to keep pushing that forward and to create more space for indigenous voices to be heard and to be loud.”
In recent years, S-U and other institutions start public events with a land acknowledgment, publicly stating that we’re on ancestral Onondaga lands. Better than not saying it, says Figueroa, but to her it falls short.
“I know a lot of indigenous students who think of it as really like almost this white guilt kind of thing of like, ‘oops, sorry we did a bad’, offers Figueroa. “But it needs to be more than that. I feel like Syracuse and Syracuse University can do a lot to be able to show that it is more than that. And to be able to show students like there's reasons behind these words. There are meanings behind these words and, it's not just something to say; it's something that is important and here's why it's important.”
Nephew agrees the Land Acknowledgment could go further … to help nonindigenous people understand relationship to the land.
“I think Haudenosaunee people and just indigenous people in general have really spiritual relationships with the world around us,” explains Nephew. “When it comes to the land, like it's our duty to take care of it, honor it. And that's a part of the land acknowledgement is us honoring it. … The natural world around us has life to it. And if you're not taking care of it and you're not giving thanks to it and honoring and respecting it, it's gonna kind of come back in some way.”
Both Nephew and Figueroa do public education events … and both say they welcome anyone who wants to learn more since we’re all part of the community.
