Northern Arizona University’s student voice since 1914 Vol. 114 Issue 12 | December 1, 2022 — December 7, 2022
NEWS
Students hold “No thanks, no giving” march DAISY JOHNSTON
The Students’ Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff marched to raise awareness of colonial holidays like Thanksgiving
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n celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the Students’ Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff organized a march,“No thanks, no giving,” to Flagstaff City Hall Nov. 17, one week before Thanksgiving. Students involved said they were there to protest colonialist holidays. Led by student ambassador Kaly Arvizu, people dressed in orange marched in protest of several issues such as the NAU Flagstaff mountain campus having ties to Arizona Snowbowl and raising awareness about historical inaccuracies around Thanksgiving. Arvizu explained the importance of the march. “It’s to bring awareness to colonial holidays like Thanksgiving and why we should boycott them, as well as other issues going on in Indian country right now,” Arvizu said. The origin of Thanksgiving is a story about pilgrims and the Wampanoag people celebrating a successful harvest with a large feast. Traditionally, it is shared as a story about coexistence and unity between cultures. Beyond giving thanks and spending time with loved ones, many commonly shared narratives about the founding of Thanksgiving have been proven by historians to be myths. When the Wampanoag leader Ousamequin reached out to the English at Plymouth, several natives had already been killed by disease. Protesters at the “No thanks, no giving” march said while they would not be celebrating the holiday in its traditional sense, the time off school and work should still be used to show appreciation for loved ones. “My family is very traditionally Navajo, so when the holiday comes around, we all have time off work and school anyways, and we just come together,” Arvizu said. At 2 p.m., students and Flagstaff locals gathered outside the University Union to make signs and rally supporters. Around 3 p.m., they began making their way through downtown Flagstaff.
FEATURES
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, Students’ of Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff organized a “No thanks, no giving,” protest Thursday afternoon, Nov. 17. Octavia Freeland | The Lumberjack Arvizu said although the protest was planned in conjunction with the Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff, the march was organized entirely by students. “It’s all a big farce, history is written by conquerors, so truly educate yourself on what Thanksgiving is about,” Arvizu said. “Just decolonize, decolonize, decolonize, I can’t say that enough.” Throughout the week leading up to Thanksgiving, NAU’s Indigenous Ambassadors planned events for students to celebrate Native American heritage. After the protest, Arvizu attended an event where she honored the students elected to be ambassadors in 2023. Members from the Black Student Union (BSU) and Somos Unidos also attended the event to speak about solidarity between minority groups on campus.
Junior Griffin Fitch was just one of the students from BSU at the march. Fitch said it is important for minority groups to support each other because they all are in a similar situation. “The best way for us to have power is for us to all be together,” Fitch said. “People want us to be separate but we can work better and get more done together.” Raised in a predominantly Hispanic area in Mesa, Fitch said being a student at NAU was a culture shock. “I knew there would be a lot of white people, but this is so much more than I expected,” Fitch said. “I don’t ever feel like my voice is represented. That’s why I’m in BSU.” See PROTEST on PAGE 5
Powerlands: A story of perspectives
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ZACHARY MARKEWICZ
he audience came in droves, filling nearly all 407 seats in the Cline Library assembly hall. Individuals had come early to pick the seat they wanted. Friends and partners sat together, talking in the minutes before the film was shown. Students walked in and waved hello to their professors who made attendance mandatory. Everyone came for different reasons, but the hall fell silent in unison when the lights dimmed. It was the night of Nov. 15 and time for the Flagstaff premiere of “Powerlands,” the first feature film by 27-year-old Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso. Spanning three continents and featuring seven languages, “Powerlands” relays the stories of Buttons promoting Powerlands sit on a table at the Indigenous peoples’ similar experiences of displacement entrance to Cline Library Assembly Hall during a and environmental loss brought on by the same chemical companies. screening of the documentary, Nov. 15. For Manybeads Tso, the seven-year project was Jacob Handley | The Lumberjack
personal. One of the stories in the film was of the community she grew up in, Black Mesa, Arizona, located in Apache and Navajo counties. Although her experience in the film industry started when she was 4 or 5, Manybeads Tso said she began learning how to make films at age 9. In 2004, her uncle, Klee Benally, started Outta Your Backpack Media (OYBMedia), an Indigenous film collective made to teach youth how to tell their stories through media. At 13, Manybeads Tso made her first official film, “In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman,” which screened in over 90 film festivals and won 11 awards. Manybeads Tso said she came to dislike the film industry, but the reason she loves filmmaking has never changed. She said she likes films for their ability to show others’ perspectives. See POWERLANDS on PAGE 12