Wytewa is the tribal liaison at the University of San Diego and member of the Hopi tribe, Piikyasngyam from the village of Misongnovi. She lives on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Kumeyaay.
The United States’ Declaration of Independence names ancestors of Native Indigenous peoples “merciless Indian savages,” not ing for their intricate ways of living in balance with infinite energy and spirit beyond the land and sea.
Each time there’s progress to honor and respect this, I’m humbled and shaken in the realities of community perspective. I’m respectfully reminded that not everyone responds to urgency at the same pace or has the lived experience to demonstrate why it’s important to incorporate reflection and to inform change. Community voice and engagement can be traced back through Native Indigenous practices that maintained entire societies over hundreds of years using celestial observation to create guidance across seasons that informed their ceremonies and daily life.
We can each count the fractures in the foundations of an American society with collective vulnerabilities. In paying attention to how the changes in season and environment the ceremonies of life in Native Indigenous foraging, gathering, hunting and agricultural cycles, it’s here that there is room to understand what’s needed to sustain our futures while living with the land and each other. In a fast-paced world, offering intentional presence and listening are skills that will continue to benefit the greater society.
Factor in outside influences like personal will, choice and opportunity, it’s easy to veer from the greater goal when we lose community voice.
Communication as an essential means ensures that communities could both stay informed and prepare for what’s ahead. From shared responsibilities to individualized contributions, it takes a community and a collective energy to all the intricate but fundamental practices to sustain a culture of care for one another. Without systems of communication or spaces to share experience, lessons learned, and continuous for improvement, you might not know that Native Indigenous cultures, people and ceremonies existed hundreds of years ago and are still present today.
With our share of challenges, living “in community” is activated in our daily opportunities and choices. Consider yourself a pebble thrown into the water, sending ripples outward and never truly knowing your influence in the energy exchanged.
To address serious issues that impact us all, in rural or urban communities, we have a responsibility to stand up for and maintain community voice and engagement across private and public sectors. Creating intentional efforts to gather meaningful input and for community-driven initiatives will have greater when the community voice is acknowledged, valued and makes sense in the work that takes shape for and with the people.
Listening sessions, consultation and community forums are ineffective if we aren’t actively providing space for our community’s first-hand experience. Time behind the curtain as leaders with a “full-court press” daily schedule can lead to missed opportunities to experience the joy of camaraderie with community which is why we get into the work of advocacy, organizing and lifting up community voice.
Take a moment to reflect on all the spaces you’re invited to and those where your voice is needed or valued. What value system does our current structure of society require for you to feel heard or seen? Where do you feel most connected to your community with a strong sense of self, culture and reciprocity? Who are you surrounded or inspired by and what are you committed to? Now challenge yourself daily to reflect, recenter, recharge and create representation.
This opportunity to raise community voice is dedicated to my little brother, an artist and carver, a son, brother and father, a high school dropout, a struggling alcoholic, an unhoused relative, a great comedian, a warrior for anyone he called family and the greatest motivator for lost souls. I wasn’t able to protect you from colonial influences like intergenerational trauma and systemic oppression that permeate our existence. I will miss you forever and will never stop fighting for your lived experiences to have value for future generations and a greater society for all.
