Enlightenment is Empowerment
Enlightenment is Empowerment
by Ayden Clytus
For the past few years, as high school students typically do, I have had this debate with myself on what I wanted to do with my life. The odds for young Black and Native American kids to succeed in this country is already stacked against us. Difficult seems to sugarcoat the situation we find ourselves in after we receive our diplomas and toss our caps in the air. Especially today when most of us 17, to now 19 year olds can’t even relate to that moment as we find ourselves in a global pandemic.
For a moment I was not sure if I could even start college. At that time I did not see any hope for a brighter path from the BLM protests, to online courses, to a number of lost relatives, and on top of all that a major threat to our ways of life. When I started college, some might describe me as “overambitious”. I was a Political Science major ready to conquer the world’s injustices from the inside out through education. But over and over I watched the justice system fail and our so-called “representatives” make self-serving decisions. I continued to intern with a non-partisan advocacy group the following spring in an attempt to advocate for our vote as well, but as predicted our reps chose their way. So I chose to focus on what makes me happy this summer: gaining knowledge, seeing progress, and enjoying what nature has to offer.
This summer, after 18 months I finally got to go home to Dine Bikayah. There I helped the land by cursing at piles of trash located near the areas where my grandmothers and other family members live. As strange as it sounds, once cleared, the land was almost foreign. I spent my summers there as a kid accustomed to the way things were. I happened to stumble across an area my cousins and I played when we were young, only to realize we played amongst discarded objects like rusty pipes, toys caked with dirt, and collections of broken beer bottles. We have grown up in the pollution, the trash, and the alcoholism that unfortunately persists.
Oddly enough this summer was the first time I really saw the beauty and potential of my land and my relatives as well. You would think cleaning up trash would spark enough irritation to quit but the outcome was rewarding for me. I loved seeing the land transform to its natural beauty. This experience I shared with people I worked with at the EPA who wanted to hear my perspective and where I come from.
I went into my summer internship with EPA thinking they would be harsh and intimidating, but it was the complete opposite. I also thought the EPA was the solution to all things harming the environment but they are not. It was kind of ridiculous learning about the number of processes they go through and how their plans change according to the needs and wants of whatever administration they are under when in reality they want to see progress like the rest of us. Some people I met had worked for years on projects or reports only to ultimately have it thrown out making me feel as though our systems were flawed and slowing things down. Although I greatly enjoyed my time there, I realized that change can only happen when WE want it to. A collective who shares ideas and goals to better the community is stronger than one might think. Too often I see examples of lateral oppression when in reality this oppression amongst ourselves keeps us suppressed.
This collective concept really came into light when I met another group of highly intellectual Indigenous youth and elders who were all concerned about the biggest threat we currently face - climate change. As a 19 year old Dine asdzaa I can say the future worries me but I see these changes as opportunities as well. This summer I learned how rapidly things will change and the potential outcomes it will have on our health but especially our ways of life.
I am still learning my own language and traditions and I hope to continue and thrive in the knowledge I hope to gain. One thing that I have gained from my own culture is that change is not always bad. We celebrate change, we have songs and prayers centered around our bodies changing and the changing of the seasons for example. Right now Mother Earth is changing and we can’t do much but turn back to our ancestral ways and move with the land. Our job is not to correct the land but to be in harmony with it. With that being said I hope that we can use this time of change to better ourselves and our communities. Ultimately, a chance to regain our traditional way of life in an effort to heal the land.