Native Activism

Features

• Culture of Sharing: North Slope leaders forge trail into future

  Elise Patkotak

  At the Tumitchiat Summit, participants recognized that the success of any member leads to the success of all. But when any fail, all fail.

• It’s Time to Talk: Tribal colleges tackle culture of silence about suicide

  Janet Freeman

  “In our culture,” says Coloradas Mangas, “we don’t talk about death.” Mangas (Mescalero Apache) testified at a U.S. Senate Committee of Indian Affairs hearing March 25, 2010, on the escalating suicide rate among American Indians. Mangas, 15, lost five friends to suicide over a two-year period.

• Power to the People: Tribal activists transform communities

  Patty Talahongva

  When everyone told them it couldn’t be done, Joe McDonald, Ed.D., remembers how firmly tribal leaders stuck to their guns and helped draft federal legislation to fund the tribal college system.

  When her own husband questioned her efforts to get a college degree, Alvena Oldman ignored his cutting remarks and kept on taking classes.

  When people try to treat Indian students as victims and don’t set high standards for them, Cheryl Crazy Bull objects and insists that they can achieve, regardless of their age or circumstances.
  And when one state university kicked him out for bad grades, Manley Begay, Jr., went back to his tribal college to seriously start his educational career. It led to a doctorate degree and to him being introduced these days as one of the most successful graduates of Navajo Community College (now known as Diné College).

  Each of these people exemplifies activism, defined in the dictionary as “the doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals.” Through education, these four have transformed themselves and strive to transform their communities.

Editor's Essay

• Activists Buck Status Quo

  Marjane Ambler

  What does it mean to be an activist in the context of tribal colleges and universities?

Resource Guide

• 22-1 “Native Activism” Resource Guide

  Cheryl Redhorse Bennett

  A guide to some of the most significant and important agents of change in Indian Country.