Young Native Americans are amplifying their voices as they envision a future in which their identity, heritage, and culture are preserved and valued. It is a future in which their unique knowledge creates a better world for everyone.-By Jill Motley

Native American youth are speaking up in powerful ways today, but understanding what they are saying depends on knowing why they are speaking up. For many, it is the fulfillment of a prophesy and a recognition that young Native Americans have the power and responsibility to address and overcome historical traumas. Going back to the late 1800s, Oglala Lakota Leader T?ašú?ke Witkó (Crazy Horse) said, “The red nation shall rise again, and it shall be a blessing for a sick world; a world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations; a world longing for light again. I see a time of seven generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the sacred tree of life, and the whole earth will become one circle again.” The time of darkness for so many Native Americans is defined by the current challenges of drugs and alcoholism, historical separation from family, a suicide rate that is four times higher than for non-natives, and suppression of culture.

Empowering the Seventh Generation

Today, many believe the Seventh Generation is here as Native American youth initiate cultural, economic, and social renewal. Native Hope develops projects to help Native American tribes based on conversations with community members. The organization strives to heal historical wounds and generational trauma by meeting Tribal needs, and one way is by giving young Native Americans a voice through storytelling.

Dr. Marie Yellow Horse Brave Heart explains that moving forward requires first confronting the causes of historical trauma and the consequences, releasing the pain of historical trauma, and transcending the trauma. Sharing stories is one way of learning, empathizing and reflecting on lives and journeys. Increasing knowledge and sharing of culture is another. For example, Starr Chief Eagle keeps Lakota traditions alive by learning and performing hoop dancing art at schools and reservations and sharing art, history, and language. Restoring cultural traditions is a positive approach to healing trauma. In the YouTube video, Life as a Young and Native American, Delmar Uqualla returned to the Viejas Reservation in San Diego, California, to reconnect with her native American culture. Having moved away from the reservation as a child, Delmar lost her connection to tradition. She talks about her happiness at being able to be herself and sees her heritage as one of survival and healing. Delmar wanted to learn about traditional practices to honor her heritage and find her place in the world. Working with her cousin, she learned about water therapy to ease mental and physical pain. The high rate of drug and alcohol abuse on the reservation is a symptom of the pain so many Native Americans feel about the way their people were treated in the past and the current struggles they experience. Delmar’s cousin wanted to pass on a positive way to deal with the trauma to her children, so she uses ancient water therapy practices. This is an excellent example of how young Native Americans blend their cultural heritage with modern-day needs to heal themselves and embrace their identity. Sometimes, Delmar dons her tribe’s clothing and attends a pow-wow, finding empowerment in the colors of the clothing, the traditional dance steps, and interactions with Native Americans.

Powerful Voices for Change

Across the country, young Native Americans are speaking up, starting movements, tackling challenges like environmental sustainability, and doing it while embracing a painful history. The voices of the young have been rising for years. In 2016, 10,000 people gathered on the banks of the Missouri River close to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to protect the earth’s waters with cultural signs. It was an Indigenous youth-led movement with singing and ancient ceremonies. This has led to the Black Hills Sioux Nation Council partnering with native and non-native organizations to create opportunities for Native youth to embark on a journey as water protectors and cultural revitalizers by carrying traditional knowledge systems forward. Today, in South Dakota, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s One Mind Youth Movement has four parts: Elder to Youth Knowledge Transfer, Leadership Training Program in areas like ceremonial practices and traditional food systems, Protection of Sacred Sites, Sensor Installation Training Program using sensor technology to monitor water, air, and soil quality.

Young Native American college students must deal with historical trauma and an educational system that makes Indigenous culture a footnote in textbooks and offers few resources that help them remain true to their culture. It is a new form of assimilation for people who lost land, family, and culture over past generations.

In 2023, Hanhe Wi Iyoyanpa Win, Bright Shining Moon Woman, Isabella N. Fridia reflected on Native American Heritage Month, the month she says is “one of the few times our country values tribal people, our cultures and our history.” Active in the Tribal Youth Resource Center in high school, she attends the University of Denver. “Each day, I live traditionally, praying with our medicines and singing in our languages. I find what my mom calls “teachable moments” to insert accurate information about Native American people on topics from our sovereignty to our kinship systems. I am also dedicated to thinking and learning through an Indigenous lens. I try to think about everything I learn in school from the perspective of my people.” The intersection of traumatic history and contemporary life is found in the fact the founder of the University of Denver was involved in the Sand Creek massacre a few days before he took the land the university sits on. Many Cheyenne and Arapaho people were murdered.

Because of active voices like hers, colleges and universities are adding cultural immersion programs that provide an opportunity to develop community, celebrate culture and stay connected with home. Holly Patterson graduated from Dartmouth in 2019 and said it was a culture shock moving from a small New Mexico Native American village to the East Coast college. Besides the culture shock, she also had to navigate her classmate's lack of knowledge. Though difficult to believe, when she introduced herself as being of Native American descent the reaction was, “ ‘Wow, I didn’t know Native people still existed. I thought they only existed in textbooks,’” Patterson recalled. “It just kind of gave me perspective of being like, ‘No, I deserve to be here.’ … And in that moment, too, something struck within me of being like, I need to make a stand that we exist, and that my existing is a really good thing, and I should be very proud of that.” Today, she is a business coach for Change Labs, a nonprofit supporting Native entrepreneurship on tribal lands.

Courageous Youth Making a Difference

There are so many more stories of young Native Americans giving voice to issues – barriers to success in the non-native environment, the need to revive and learn historical culture, the application of cultural knowledge to protect the environment, and healing from generations of historical trauma. Reading the words of the courageous and determined youth and their daily efforts to make the world a better place, one can only say the prophecy was right. The Seventh Generation has arrived and is being heard.