Protecting Our Indigenous Relatives: Nanbi Towa é I'ngí'ho

Issac H. Garcia

Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara Pueblo

Issac Garcia SHP Presentation.webm

Author Jeanette Armstrong

Sharing One Skin

By Jeanette Armstrong

The first article we read in class together, "Sharing One Skin" sparked some ideas for topics I could talk about. It relates the most to me when it mentions the author's introduction, in pueblo culture we introduce: who we are, our clans, who our parents are, and what kiva we belong to. The article focused on identity and responsibility, in our pueblo culture as a man I have to recognize the responsibilities that I have to my home and communities. My identity through pueblo culture and traditions paved the way for my spirituality and open mindedness through the teachings we received growing up. "Each person is born into a family and a community" this quote stuck with me because growing up I didn't fit in because of the color of my skin and because I was from two places that spoke Tewa differently.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry

Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global

Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

Tent Rocks National Monument

How Place Names Impact the Way We See Landscape

by B. Toastie

The second article we read alone, the title is “How Place Names Impact the Way We See Landscape" I asked my culinary teacher Ms. Finley how the names of places affect the way she sees the landscape she told me, "When I drive past tent rock, I can see the tents." I think the names of places affect how we see these places whether it's the English name or the Tewa name for that place. An instance I can think of where this is true is with the name of Santa Clara pueblo in Tewa, Khapo Owinge this means Village of Wild Roses. The translation comes from our words for wild roses(Kha'povi) and village(Owinge). Another instance is with the ancestral home of the Santa Clara people, Puye(Place where the rabbits gather). When I'm at that site I always see so many rabbits and other animals. I feel connected as a Tewa person to the site and the surrounding sites.

"A lifetime spent repeating colonizers' names, invoking their stories" I feel that this quote perfectly describes what it's like being indigenous in America or anywhere else in the world. The heartache our ancestors went through because of colonization is like an open wound, and the places that hold the names of colonizers is like putting salt in that open wound. "Overwriting sacred place names with different information disrupts connections to mythic beings still existing beyond our human realm.'' When we call places by their Tewa name there is a connection to land and the spirit of the land, it's an important connection to us as Tewa people. The article made a great point by stating, "When settler narratives don't align with Indigenous ones, Cash Cash says, it creates a parallel meaning system." I think this is true because the names of places usually have a story and those stories always have two sides.

Toastie, B. “How place names impact the way we see landscape”. High Country News. 1 May 2022.

MMIW Infographic

Savannas Act and Not Invisible Act Signed Into Law

by Indian Law Resource Center

The first article I chose to read was titled, “Savanna's Act and Not Invisible Act Signed Into Law" The article states, “On October 10, 2020, two bills were signed into law to help address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in the United States." The Savannas Act was introduced in 2017 in response to the murder of Savanna LaFontaine Grey-Wind, who was a member of the Spirit Lake Tribe. The Not Invisible Act was introduced in 2019 it is intended to “increase intergovernmental coordination to identify and combat violent crime within Indian lands and of Indians''

“Savanna's Act and the Not Invisible Act Signed into Law.” Savanna's

Act and the Not Invisible Act Signed into Law. Indian Law Resource

center.

MMIW 2018 Study

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples

By The U.S. Department of the Interior

The next website I chose to read was titled, "Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples" This website was published by the U.S. Department of the Interior addresses steps being taken in response to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP). ''American Indian and Alaskan Native people are at a disproportionate risk of experiencing violence, murder, or going missing" The website mentions steps being taken by the government led by Secretary Deb Haaland to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous people. One of the steps that were taken was the creation of a "Missing and Murdered Unit" in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services.

“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples.”U.S. Department of the

Interior. U.S. Department of the Interior. 20 May 2022.

López-Chávez, Soni. MMIW. September 21, 2021)

Missing White Woman Syndrome

by Dae Borg

“Missing White Woman Syndrome: The Petito Case and MMIW” is the name of the first article I chose to represent the current state of the issue. The article is about a case where a social media influencer while on a cross-country trip with her fiance goes missing. The article highlighted the fact that if she would have been an Indigenous woman her story would have been overshadowed or ignored by the media. The author goes on to write about the significance of the red handprint across the mouth of people posting on social media with the hashtag #MMIW stating it represents Native women across the country who have gone missing or were murdered.

Borg, Dae. “Missing White Woman Syndrome: The Petito Case and MMIW.” Enloe Eagle's Eye. Enloe News. 5 Oct. 2021.

(San Manuel, Band of Mission Indians. Stand With Us. November, 2022).

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

by Laurie Collier

“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women” by Laurie Collier is an article published by The American Mosaic the American Indian Experience. It details the roots of the movement of MMIW(Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) and government's approach toward addressing the crisis of MMIW. The movement is working to address the disproportionate amount of violence that Native women across Canada and the U.S. experience. “The movement formed in response to statistics indicating that Native American women were more than twice as likely to be the victims of violent crime, rape, or sexual assault than other women in the U.S. and that Indigenous women faced a homicide rate six times higher than other women in Canada.”(Collier) In the U.S. steps have been taken by the government to address the crisis. In 2019 an executive order was signed establishing a federal task force to address MMIW. In 2021 the “Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian of Affairs” was established to oversee and coordinate investigations.

Collier, Laurie. "Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women." The American Mosaic: The

American Indian Experience. Accessed 8 Dec. 2022.

MMIW Poster Project

Spreading Awareness in our Communities

My first action plan was a joint effort by myself and Desirae Suina (Another senior). We worked together on the first action plan because our topics are closely related, hers being about forensic science while my topic is about MMIP (Missing and Murdered Indigenous People). The goal of my action plan was to create posters for students, staff, and campus visitors to see. Three posters were created for this purpose, one was in the Highschool dorm rotunda, the library, and the final poster was placed at the entrance to campus.