While many people celebrated the explorer Christopher Columbus on Monday and over the weekend, some New Englanders paused to mark the impact Columbus’s voyage has had on native people.
Brown University kicked off a weekend celebration of indigenous peoples with a panel discussion of young Native activists.
Byron Shorty from the Navajo Nation in Arizona was one of the speakers. He said he challenges the oppression of Native Americans by continuing the tradition of making his own moccasins.
“I’m returning to something that has always been there and I’m returning to it step by step, literally, step by step,” Shorty said.
Kara Roanhorse, activist and recent Brown graduate, said it’s important for Native people to educate others about what their community is going through.
“That’s just how society is right now. We don’t recognize native and indigenous peoples when we go to new places, we don’t recognize the land that we’re on, we don’t learn the names of the people and the cultures and traditions that they have,” Roanhorse said.
During her time at Brown, Roanhorse led an effort to establish institutional recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Shorty helped organize the Bears Ears Prayer Run, a protest against President Donald Trump’s decision to reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
Native Activism Under The Trump Administration
After the panel discussion, Shorty and Roanhorse spoke to Rhode Island Public Radio’s Avory Brookins about the progress they’ve seen in achieving sovereignty for indigenous peoples and if they think the Trump Administration could or has had an impact on those efforts.
Roanhorse, who’s been an advocate since she was a child, said she believes there hasn’t been enough progress over the years.
“Until Native peoples get their land back, and we have our way of life restored, and our languages are taught in schools, and our youth are being allowed to wear their hair and dress the way they want, I think until then, I wouldn’t call it progress. I’d call it a step in the right direction,” she said.
Both Roanhorse and Shorty gave credit to social media, which they said has allowed Native youth to share their thoughts with a broader audience.
Shorty said he’s worried about the impact of the Trump Administration on his efforts to advocate for Native people.
He said to him, Trump represents colonized thinking that oppresses minority groups. He pointed to Trump’s decision to downsize the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah as an example.
“Trump more-or-less doesn’t really care about us and I think that does a lot to defeat or try to defeat a lot of the things that we’re fighting for, which ultimately is our sovereignty, is our ability to decide what we do with our land,” Shorty said.
Shorty said activists have to become even more involved and informed to tackle hate speech that has emerged, especially on social media, since Trump’s election.
However, Roanhorse said her advocacy approach hasn’t changed since Trump was elected because she said this country hasn’t cared about indigenous peoples for more than 500 years.
