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Photo: Latham Young slaps a highway sign as he rides toward Window Rock on a five-day horseback ride to register new voters on the Navajo Nation. (Richard Alun Davis / KNAU)
Four generations of a Navajo family led a five-day horseback ride last month to the Navajo capital of Window Rock, Ariz. to register new voters ahead of the November election.
It’s the second presidential election that the group known as Protect the Sacred has worked to increase participation on the vast, mostly rural, reservation where residents often face barriers to voting.
KNAU’s Richard Davis joined the group on their final leg of the journey.
Lucinda Young and her son Latham are the first to unload their horses from their trailer alongside Highway 264.
The group has ridden 45 miles through seven Diné communities.
This trail ride continues her family’s legacy of civic engagement.
“My mother used to campaign and donate a sheep, prepare it for meals and serve voters. In remembrance of her, it’s important to continue to carry that tradition to promote voting. Our forefathers, grandmothers, once they were given the ability to vote, they rode to the polls.”
Lucinda’s brother Frank Young trots by on his horse; the ride was his idea ahead of the 2020 election, in which Natives were critical to President Joe Biden’s narrow Arizona victory.
“Our ancestors fought for our sovereignty. We wanna let them know that we’re still here, fighting for something sacred to them. [horse snorts] And through the horse connecting with them, we’re gonna protect that sacred. ”
Frank’s daughter Allie Young runs the non-partisan Protect the Sacred.
During this ride she says they’ve verified or updated the voter registration status of upwards of 400 Diné citizens.
Arizona law requires proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration.
“It is truly disrespectful, a slap in the face to ask Indigenous peoples to prove their citizenship in 2024. In our own ancestral homelands. We were here first, and they’re on the wrong side of history … The native vote is stronger, the momentum’s building.”
As restless horses stomp Allie’s grandfather, champion bull rider Stanley blesses the group before they saddle up to begin their descent alongside the highway into town.
Adults and youth get ready to play double ball during the first annual Indigenous Dakota Games event in Lake Traverse Reservation. (Photo: Dustina Gill / Arts Midwest)
Traditional Native games are being revived in places like South Dakota, where they teach kids a range of lessons from cooperation to Native language.
More from Kathleen Shannon.
Jeremy Red Eagle is a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation and is leading a movement to revive traditional games in Native communities.
Sports that come from Native people, including lacrosse and archery, Red Eagle says, teach teamwork, cooperation, respect, and, historically, survival skills.
“Our people lived off of the land. We lived according to natural law. Physically, mentally, emotionally – we had to be strong in all of those areas of our life. And these games were a way of developing that.”
Plains Style games have classifications like “games of chance and intuition” and “games of skill and agility”.
After Native language, identity and teachings were nearly eradicated during colonization, Red Eagle says games offer kids a unique way to reconnect with those aspects of culture.
The games also foster connections between players and their environment, Red Eagle says.
Some games require crafting supplies from natural materials.
“When I work with young people, take them out, have them harvest willows or whatever it is that we’re doing, we’re sharing other teachings that are connected to it through the culture, the language. You’re getting them to be grounded in the land.”
Red Eagle started learning about traditional games after becoming sober. He says unlike some “revolving door” programs he sees on reservations, these games offer life lessons that can help prevent issues like substance use among young people.
Though many of his students are kids, Red Eagle invites people of all ages to participate. He says games help bridge the generational gap.
“When you engage in play, it does something to you emotionally. It keeps you young at heart. I think that just mentally and emotionally for older people to stay engaged in that, it’s healthy for them. ”
This story is produced with original reporting from LaVerne Whitebear for Arts Midwest
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