Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the limits it has placed on having in-person events, Idaho State University was still able to have its second Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration using a combination of Zoom and Facebook Live.
Starting October 12, which is nationally recognized as Indigenous Peoples Day, ISU hosted workshops, Q&As, presentations and film screenings. A virtual tour of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Museum was also given.
The theme for this year’s Indigenous Peoples Day was “Celebrating Community and Neighbors: Building Relations with Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and Pocatello.” In addition to the overarching theme, each weekday was also focused around a particular theme. The themes this year were land, education, health and cultural expression.
“This week of virtual events is a chance for our campus community to come together to actively honor the indigenous people that help make this community and our nation great,” said ISU President Kevin Satterlee.
In his Indigenous Peoples Day speech, Satterlee went on to discuss how ISU is built on the traditional homelands of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes.
“The location of Idaho State University places a responsibility on the university to ensure our educational mission extends fully to all tribal members,” Satterlee said.
ISU worked closely with Native American Student Services and the Shoshone-Bannock tribes. According to Randy L. Teton the public affairs manager for the tribes, “We as the tribes are proud to be a partner in ISU Indigenous Peoples week and we are in full support of their efforts of bringing together everybody in the spirit of celebrating what it is to be indigenous. This day marks a special day for all indigenous people to celebrate and be proud of their heritage.”
ISU faculty and students were also involved in the week’s presentations and events.
ISU English professor Amanda Zink, a doctorate in English, gave a presentation discussing the history and the literature of Native American boarding schools.
“It was a pleasure and an honor to participate in Indigenous Peoples’ Week this year. Part of my research as a literary historian concentrates on the federal Indian boarding schools. As a non-native scholar, it’s important for me to be honest, even if honesty is uncomfortable, about the role white educators had and have in the marginalization and oppression of indigenous peoples in this geographic space we call the United States,” said Zink.
Zink is currently on sabbatical from ISU working on an anthology of literature written by students who lived in those boarding schools across Western states such as Idaho, Washington and Montana.
ISU senior Tyson Shay, who is majoring in business administration with an emphasis in management was another of the week’s presenters.
Shay’s presentation was called “Living in Two Worlds” and was given on Tuesday. The day’s theme was education. As a Shoshone-Bannock student, Shay’s presentation discussed how his cultural upbringing has coincided with the educational endeavors that he is currently undertaking. In Shay’s short bio that was shared on his presentation’s registration page he said, “As a person who upholds my culture to the highest standard, I took my cultural disciplines and applied the same principles into furthering my education.”
Shay was contacted to give a presentation by the Diversity Resource Center. “It’s all about raising awareness in my opinion. ISU is actually eight miles south of Fort Hall Reservation and a lot of people don’t even know that they are close to an Indian reservation. Indigenous Day helps bring awareness; letting people know that we are there,” said Shay.
Shay is graduating in 2021 and plans to use his degree to help his tribe enhance their business skills.
Dr. LaNada War Jack, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes and a doctorate of political science, also spoke at the event. Her presentation was on indigenous activism at Alcatraz.
“ISU is an institution of higher learning and it’s important to educate the students and community about the history of Native people,” said War Jack.
“Lands and resources were stolen and ISU is located on tribal property. We are not on an equal level playing field and we all need truth so we can heal.”
