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A group of children shook maracas and held feathers and flowers as they danced to the beat of a drum in honor of American Indian Heritage Month.
The adorned 4-year-old students of the Walatowa Head Start youth program celebrated the University’s American Indian Heritage Month kickoff event, held by American Indian Student Services in the SUB on Friday. The event is one of many scheduled throughout the month, including a lecture about American Indian health services, an arts fair and a documentary screening.
Director of AISS Pamela Agoyo said she hopes the upcoming events not only educate students, but drive students to learn more about the state’s American Indian community.
“Whatever event you choose to go to on campus, and I’m not just talking about this month’s, I always hope that people are going because they’re interested, that they’re going to learn something, and so they can contribute in a positive way,” Agoyo said.
This is the fourth year AISS and the University have celebrated the heritage month. Friday’s event was marked by a proclamation on behalf of UNM President Frank before the Walatowa’s Pueblo-influenced children’s butterfly dance.
Miss Indian UNM Wahleah Watson opened the event, addressing the crowd first in her native Navajo language, Diné, and finishing her address in English. Watson said with students from 19 different tribes attending UNM, this month gives American Indian students an opportunity to showcase their cultural identities.
“It gives the students and other diversities an opportunity to see what we do and what we cherish, who we are and to give a small taste of what we do and how we represent ourselves as Native American people,” Watson said. “Plus, it gives them a chance to see us closer as students, as far as getting to know each other and networking with other people.”
Attorney and Huffington Post contributor Gyasi Ross concluded the day’s events with a lecture on the importance of networking among American Indian students. Ross spoke of his college hardships, which included moving from one college to the next, following whatever scholarship was awarded to him.
Ross said he wants students to recognize that success in the academic and professional world is congruent with American Indian culture, not at odds with it.
“What I talked about is institutional knowledge, creating a pipeline of Native leaders, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be forced into that pipeline, and I think it’s my job as such to help create more,” Ross said. “It’s a Ponzi scheme, only with leadership.”
Ross said that while his lecture was directed toward American Indian students, the monthlong festivities should be for those who are uninformed about the state’s American Indian peoples.
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“It’s not even for the Native students, it’s for everyone else, the non-Native students, everybody should acknowledge where they’re at, this is Native America, this is Pueblo and Navajo land,” he said. “That people don’t understand the history of this, that they don’t understand where they’re at, that’s a failure to teach the history of this area. It’s indicative of some amount of knowledgeable ignorance.”
For a regularly updated list of upcoming American Indian Heritage events, visit aiss.unm.edu and click under “Upcoming Events”
