Each November, RIT celebrates Native American Heritage Month, a tradition that honors the rich history and culture of Indigenous peoples. This month’s celebrations include a game of lacrosse, activities focusing on supporting Native American businesses and arts, along with a variety of food from the Onödowa’ga nation.
While these activities offer entertaining insights into Native American traditions, they take place within the context of RIT’s legacy, which is built on land that was settled and fostered by generations of the Onödowa’ga people — many of whom are still in the Rochester area.
Nathaniel Kilbridge, a third year Psychology student who descends from the Q’eqchi’ Maya Nation and is the president of the Native American Student Association (NASA), reflected on the importance of outreach and spotlighting Native voices beyond November.
“Get involved with the actual communities, I think a lot of people mean well, and they’ll try to advocate for Indigenous communities, despite never actually engaging with them,” Kilbridge stated. “Particularly for Indigenous advocacy, there are so many nuances…so you need to actively be engaging with these communities and not trying to speak for or above them.”
While RIT has formally acknowledged the Onödowa’ga people, some feel the university has failed to reckon with its complicity in the erasure and disenfranchisement of the Onödowa’ga community. When asked about RIT’s specific efforts to acknowledge the Onödowa’ga people — such as hanging the Onödowa’ga flag in the Student Alumni Union (SAU) — Kilbridge highlighted the mixed feelings that he and other Native/Indigenous students have felt towards RIT’s actions towards acknowledgement.
“I feel as if the university itself doesn’t really engage that much with local Indigenous communities,” Kilbridge stated. “Native faculty and students particularly feel that it shouldn’t be on the wall with the Black Lives Matter, Pride and the Hard of Hearing flag, because we don’t think it should be down there. It’s that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a group of sovereign nations that the United States still has binding treaties with…It isn’t us trying to raise ourselves above those other communities and causes; it just shouldn’t be next to non-nation flags.”
Kilbridge also spoke about the issue of many Indigenous staff and faculty towards the bridge land acknowledgement before hockey games and other gatherings.
“A lot of us feel like it’s too performative, and when you consider it in the context of RIT, there hasn’t been a lot of meaningful engagement, and it rings a little hollow.”
Kilbridge highlights the complex nature of RIT acknowledgments, as while these efforts represent change, it does little to impact Native students or the Onödowa’ga nation. These feelings speak to broader issues surrounding the relationship between the United States government and cities like Rochester and Indigenous communities.
Critically evaluating RIT’s relationship with its Indigenous faculty and students and the Onödowa’ga nation offers opportunities for the university and community to support its Indigenous members. Indigenous communities are a foundational part of the United States, and as such, it is crucial to acknowledge and understand existing systems in place that have been instrumental to the disenfranchisement of Native/Indigenous peoples.
