Around 100 students and staff showed up to celebrate the first ever university-wide celebration of Native American Heritage Month, hosted by Native American USC students and staff Wednesday in the Trojan Family Room at Tutor Campus Center. The celebration consisted of bird-singing performances by the Torres-Martinez Bird Singers, a panel discussion between Native American students and staff at USC, and speeches from notable USC officials, including Carol Folt.
Native American students were incredibly proud to finally have this recognition on such a large scale, especially at a predominantly white institution.
“Going into [my] freshman year, we didn’t have these big scale events here to showcase and recognize our presence,” said Daniel Williams, one of the co-directors of the Native American Student Assembly (NASA). “I’m seeing all the various different tribal affiliations come out, even from the local community [outside of USC]. It’s just been really rewarding.”
Out of 47,000 students at USC, less than 1% identify as Native American. This means that there are only around 500 Native American undergraduate students and around 350 graduate students on campus, according to Folt.
Folt spoke at the celebration to commemorate this inaugural event, praising the much needed representation of Native American students.
“I’m not going to say it’s not long overdue, but we’re here now… and [I’m] so grateful to be a part of it,” Folt said.
Native Americans in the United States have a long history of being underrepresented and invisible. Since the fifteenth century, “the founding and growth of the United States resulted in Native American communities being moved, renamed, combined, dispersed, and, in some cases, destroyed,” according to the Library of Congress.
Despite this traumatic past, there is still a thriving culture that exists in the United States today.
However, they continue to remain one of the most underrepresented groups in American society. Indigenous Peoples Day was only just recognized as a national holiday in 2021 by the Biden Administration.
Williams discussed how shocked he was going to school with so many non-Native individuals. “I grew up on the reservation, surrounded by Natives every day,... so coming in, I honestly felt pretty isolated,” Williams said.
Williams helped coordinate this celebration and brought NASA to the event, hoping to expand student membership in the organization and community for Native American students.
“I’m just really passionate about making sure that our Native, Indigenous students have the space and resources that we didn’t have as… freshmen,” Williams said.
As part of providing exposure and awareness of Native American culture, the TM Bird Singers were invited to perform bird-singing, a long-standing oral tradition for Native Americans.
“Singing is our oral tradition and our oral history. Because we didn’t have a written language, everything was done by song,” said Derek Duro, head singer for the TM Bird Singers. “Being able to sing is being able to carry my ancestors along with me.”
Through a mix of repeated phrases and shakers, the TM Bird Singers performed a few bird songs about subjects ranging from the creation of the universe to the migration of Native Americans to the existence of Native Americans today.
“Not anybody [can] be a bird singer you [have] to be picked… and then you [take] on that role you represented your tribe,” Duro said.
In further recognition of Native American people and their culture, there was also a brief speech by the Head Coach for the Women’s Lacrosse team at USC, Lindsey Munday. Munday acknowledged the history of lacrosse, as it was originally invented by Native American people.
Munday announced that there will be a land recognition before every lacrosse game this coming season, in the spirit of educating others and understanding the traditions and history of Native Americans.
The celebratory event was rounded out with a panel discussion between Hydi Ybarra, a physician’s assistant student at the Keck School of Medicine; Derek Duro; Amia-Roach Valandra, a junior health and human sciences major and member of NASA; Robert Judkins, the executive producer and director of broadcast at the Native American Basketball Invitational Network; and Chris Finley, an associate professor of American studies and ethnicity.
The panel discussed the different aspects of and experiences that come with being Native Americans in an urban society.
“Existence is resistance,” Ybarra said. “The best version of Native American history is in the future.”
The panelists also mentioned some ways for students to learn about Native American history and culture, including picking up a Native American studies minor, taking one of the multiple GE courses offered at USC and attending NASA events, many of which are being held in the weeks to come.
Terrell Mesteth, a Native American student and NASA member, appreciated the event’s emphasis on raising awareness about Native Americans in honor of Native American Heritage Month.
“[This event] is such a milestone, and really shows how the university supports Native students,” said Mesteth. “We want more Native students to come and Natives in higher education. This is just one of the many ways students recognize that we are visible and really [acknowledge] that we’re here.”