Native Pride

University of Toledo hosts Indigenous peoples activist, author for Native American Heritage Month

Savannah Joslin / IC

Meg Perry, Staff Reporter

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UT presented Sara Marie Ortiz, Acoma Pueblo poet, performing artist, filmmaker, and indigenous peoples rights activist, on Monday, Nov. 28 as a part of Native American Heritage Month. The UT Division of Student Affairs Multicultural Student Success program worked in tandem with the Department of English Language and Literature to bring Ortiz to campus.

During her visit, Ortiz read from the book “All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, as well her from her father’s work, poet Simon J. Ortiz, and from her own.

“It is really great to hear other people’s stories, especially indigenous people’s stories,” said Sharon Barnes, professor of women and gender studies. “I am a poetry lover, and it is rare to get the chance to hear an indigenous writer.”

Ortiz’s poems have been published in journals such as Ploughshares, the Kenyon Review, New Poets of the American West, and the anthology Sing: Indigenous Poetry of the Americas. She is also the author of the collection of poems Red Milk.

“There are still a lot of people in this world that don’t want Native people’s histories to be taught, celebrated or honored,” Ortiz said. “American Indians and Alaskan Native people have been severed from their lifeways, languages, culture and land. Federal policies reduced our land bases and made it near impossible to actually develop economies.”

Ortiz explains that the struggle is real when it comes to fighting off these ongoing attacks to continue to remove Native people from their land and resources. The most recent example of this, she notes, is the Dakota Access Pipeline crisis.

Ortiz commented on the current situation during her speech by stating, “I do believe there is a way to resist the oppression and the oppressive forces that are around us. You have to fight back for the sake of the land and for the sake of the people.”

Ortiz said this is especially important for students, explaining that the movement needs every single one of them to join the fight for social justice and for the protection of sacred, powerful and beautiful things.

One student from Toledo Public Schools who attended the event stressed the importance of attending events like this to have a better understanding of other cultures.

“At times like this, it is more crucial than ever to learn about the experiences of people from other cultures and backgrounds, as well as sharing your own,” the student said. “This fosters an atmosphere for mutual understanding and respect.”

Ortiz has received a Truman Capote literary fellowship, a Brigham Young Morning Star Creative Writing Award and an American Indian Graduate Center Fellowship. She works as an education administrator in Burien, Washington and is currently working on a documentary about her father’s life and legacy.

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