by Klamath Henry (C’19)

Native American students who attend primarily white institutions are constantly dancing between two different worlds. In one world, they are their authentic selves: Indigenous. In another, they try to morph themselves into what the white man wants them to be: assimilated.

My 2018 website was named “dancing with synthetic moccasins,” because that is what it feels like for Native students who are in all-white spaces. They are constantly dancing and walking with prayer throughout their college journeys. Yet, somehow this dance must be done in shoes. Instead of wearing leather moccasins, Native students must wear shoes in order to be succesful. They must appear to be tamed, and non-threatening.

Yet, dancing through their campuses, they do not forget who they are. From the outside they appear to be everything the dominant culture wants them to be. Little does the dominant culture know what the Native people are doing.

Regardless of what is on their feet, in dancing, they resist.