Alli Adams
In collaboration with some of Colorado State University’s Cultural Resource Centers and KCSU, the Native American Cultural Center hosted its celebration of Native American identity for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
“We’re out here celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” said Ty Smith, director of NACC. “It’s an event that’s celebrated across the country and especially in our Native community. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a day we celebrate our communities, the contributions that Native Americans have had to this country and continue to have to this country, not only from our Native scientists (but) also our knowledge keepers. We celebrate our culture and then also our military that proudly serves our country as well.”
NACC collaborated with El Centro, the Pride Resource Center and KCSU to highlight Native American culture and celebrate the Indigenous community at CSU.
“It’s a collaboration between a handful of the Cultural Resource Centers,” said Brianna Maxwell, NACC volunteer. “We just like to come out here, have a good time and hang out with people.”
This year’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration also included support from El Centro.
“El Centro is trying to support Indigenous Peoples’ Day and then also support national Hispanic and Latinx/é Heritage Month,” said Alejandro Lopez, an El Centro volunteer. “And what El Centro has done is host, like, a whole plethora of events, and we’re basically down to the last two. We’re also promoting spaces where we can build community.”
For many, Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a celebration of heritage and the history of the land where CSU and the Fort Collins communities now reside.
“We’re out here celebrating contributions that Native Americans have had to this country since even before the beginning of what we know as the United States,” Smith said. “(We’re celebrating) the contribution that Native nations had in the creation of the Constitution, and then also acknowledging the land … of those nations that were here before CSU and Fort Collins existed and acknowledging those ties that those tribes have to this area — a place that they call home.”
For several CSU students involved with CRCs on campus, Indigenous Peoples’ Day was an opportunity not only to celebrate their culture, but share it with the community.
“It just brings people together,” Maxwell said. “It gives us a chance to wear our fun stuff, like ribbon skirts and whatnot, and just to celebrate community.”
For others, community building is incredibly important.
“I think Indigenous Peoples’ Day and these sort of community building exercises are really important because it shows people that there are people like them here on campus,” Lopez said. “There are people that stand with them. There are people that appreciate their culture and their history.”
Smith said NACC also uses this celebration to promote more of their programs and upcoming events, as well as to spread the word about Native American Heritage Month in November and a new art exhibit in the Duhesa Gallery.
NACC is ramping up for several events in the coming weeks, including the upcoming 40th annual Powwow Nov. 2 and dance performances on Halloween.
Smith said he hopes to remind students of the resources that CSU’s CRCs offer and build community through celebration and remembrance.
“I think days like today are for celebration — we acknowledge it today, but we also, I think it also brings to mind that we should celebrate culture, diversity and the strengths that that brings,” Smith said. “It’s an opportunity to chat with CSU students and faculty that stop by the booth today, and an opportunity to engage with all, and then also to welcome everybody to the programs that we have and the Native American Cultural Center. It’s open to all students, as well as programs offered by the other Cultural Resource Centers. Everything we do is for all students.”
Reach Gracie Douglas at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.