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The third day of the 2023 Statewide Annual Elders and Youth Conference at the Dena’ina Center in downtown Anchorage, Alaska started off with a Native dance group from Unalakleet and a touching speech from Youth keynote speaker Quannah Chasinghorse (Gwich’in from Eagle Village, Alaska and Oglala Lakota Tribes of South Dakota), an Indigenous land protector and model.
More work shops broke out in the early afternoon, which included salmon cutting, practicing self-governance, and the much-anticipated Native Youth Olympics.
NYO was created by Alaska Natives to help develop crucial survival skills in harsh weather and environment.
Today, the youth compete in the games to preserve and display their cultural identities in modern day life.
Maio Nishkian is a coach at the Ya Ne Dah Ah school in Chickaloon Native Village, a small town just north of Palmer and one of the NYO instructors.
She came to the gathering with three students ages eight through ten. She says NYO today is more than just physical strength and endurance.
“It’s about supporting each other, helping each other. You’ll see kids from different teams teaching each other how to do certain moves, helping each other. It’s very different than most western sports. The cultural learning that they get they’re whether native or non-Native helps them appreciate indigenous cultures.”
One of Nishkian’s students, 10 year-old Colt Jennison, shared what he’s excited about doing during the workshop.
“One foot or maybe Indian if there is Indian. This is my second year. NYO is awesome.”
@nativevoiceone Student Elmo Henry does a 2 foot high kick during the Elders and Youth Conference #Native Youth Olympics workshop. More details in the latest edition of National Native News with Jill Fratis. https://www.nativenews.net/wednesday-october-18-2023/ #Alaska ♬ original sound – Native Voice One
Duke Ngo, another instructor and a coach from Juneau, is anticipating the 2023 Arctic Winter Games which will be held in Alaska this year.
He says while he’s not certain yet about his involvement with this year’s competition, he’s looking forward to the games coming to his home state.
“It’s really exciting and I hope our team Alaska will do their best and be able to have fun at the games.”
As the Elders and Youth Conference is beginning to wind down, at the same time, preparations are underway for the Alaska Federation of Natives convention taking place at the same location starting Thursday.
Guatemala’s three-week-old popular uprising, led by the country’s Indigenous citizens, is beginning to turn bloody.
At least one protester has been killed as armed vigilantes attacked a group of protesters on Monday.
The uprising’s Indigenous leaders say they’re fighting to save their country’s fragile democracy, as Maria Martin reports.
As this week started, there were fewer blockades across Guatemala, but people are still leaving their Indigenous communities to come to the capital to protest and demand the resignation of what they claim are corrupt justice department officials.
Meanwhile, Guatemala’s Attorney General Consuelo Porras is calling for the government to use force against the hundreds of thousands of largely Indigenous protesters in peaceful resistance.
The protesters want her resignation and that of other officials leading an investigation against the political party of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo.
The justice department’s illegal raids of electoral offices was the last straw for many Indigenous groups.
48 Cantones leader Luis Pacheco expressed disappointment that Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei has ignored their demands during a recent dialogue .
“We maintain hope and prayers that this struggle, a peaceful effort for democracy, has a good outcome.”
But yesterday, in various places, violence broke out.
In the Indigenous community of Malacatan in the border province of San Marcos, an armed masked group of vigilantes attacked the protesters.
A food vendor who was part of the protest is reported dead; more are hospitalized.
Representatives of ancestral authorities say they’ll be coming together to discuss next steps in light of the violence.
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