Photo By Yanelli Z. Robles / Staff
By Zeke Watson
A Native drum circle thumped and sang in unison to accompany a senior dancer dressed in festive regalia and his clutch of devoted young students. A blustery breeze huffed and faded as the dancers honored the Kumeyaay People of San Diego County at the remnants of the Mayan Hall flagpole. Burning incense sent its fragrant prayer into the southwest sky as clouds parted and rays of sun pierced the clouds.
Lucia Napolez, a smile beaming from her face, strode to a grassy spot behind the scene. As she planted herself on the grass, a gentle swirl of wind moved like an infant tornado and paused for a moment at the base of the pole, causing the incense to spin like a fancy dancer, spreading its blessing out over the entire gathering. It was a good morning and became better as the afternoon took its turn.
Napolez continued to smile. She is walking a path lightly traveled across Mother Earth. It began as a lonely quest and blossomed into a journey of joy with many blessings.
Native Americans have returned the mesa top without ever having
gone away.
The ebullient Southwestern College Native American Student Support Program technician is working hand-in-hand with Assistant Professor of Native American Studies David Salomon, DEI Director Dr. Guadalupe Corona and a small team to bring a Native American presence to Southwestern College after 60 years of near invisibility.
They are off to a thumping start.
Southwestern College – built on top of an ancient Kumeyaay settlement – hosted its first full-scale powwow this spring. It was a popular and spiritual success as Native Americans symbolically reclaimed seized land and welcomed new friends to join them. It thundered with drums, undulated with dance but was underscored by the gentle, poetic prayers of elders.
“It was so lovely,” said Napolez, an Arizona native who identifies as Yaqui. “I was so happy that it went so well. It showed that Native culture and Native People are welcomed and appreciated here.”
Napolez, the joyful warrior, is also the co-founder and president of the student organization Native American Students and Allies. Stocked with active activists, NASA has helped present two powwows, a pair of Kumeyaay flag raising ceremonies and is pushing for so much more.
The club had humble beginnings, starting out as a weekly zoom-based group during the pandemic. Salomon led discussions of prospective Native-themes activities and engaged the students in conversations about Native American history, both national and local.
“There were no in-person events yet when I arrived,” said Napolez. “I kind of helped get the club more organized, develop marketing, the Instagram and started promoting ourselves more.”
When Southwestern reconvened face-to-face instruction, Napolez and her vice president set about to change the name of NASA from Native American Students Association to the much more inclusive Native American Students and Allies.
“We cannot change the world by ourselves,” she said. “We need all types of good people to help us. For me and for others who are allies, there was a sense of exclusion by not including the word allies.”
Napolez and her crew are dreaming big.
“There (is no) Native American Studies Department, no Native American Student Resource Center yet,” she said. “Those things are in the works now that California Community Colleges are trying to build (programs focused on Indigenous People) through the Native American Student Support and Success Grant.”
NASSS grants, she said, can be the sunshine needed to grow the new crops.
“That is the push from up above,” she said. “The chancellor’s office, everyone, is pushing that. So, we can carry that and start laying the foundation to create the programs. But those, I would say, would be a barrier, the lack of representation.”
NASA is supporting faculty and students who urge college leadership to slow down the process of destroying Southwestern’s Mayan-theme architecture. Mayan art on the outward facing walls of the gym and performing arts center are attempts to salvage the Mesoamerican aesthetic Southwestern was once known for. Napolez expressed coy optimism.
“We might have Mayan buildings (in our future),” she said.
NASA is leading a budding Native American renaissance at Southwestern, which is a wonderful development, Napolez said, but very humbling. NASA’s upbeat president likes to accentuate the positive, but grim reminders of local Native American history are everywhere. It is the fact that few people can see them that is so daunting.
San Diego County has 17 Native American reservations, more than any other county in the United States. A few have enjoyed new-found prosperity from gaming, but most remain poor, some destitute. The Los Coyotes People along the spine of the Cuyamaca Mountains up against the Riverside County line live in third world conditions with unreliable water sources and vast swathes of land with no electricity. Though the creation of Warner Springs High School has greatly reduced the dropout rate among Los Coyotes teens, the rate is still too high.
Higher education can help lead the way, said Corona. Southwestern may eventually join Cuyamaca College by becoming a center for Native America studies and public events.
Napolez agreed. She said she hopes more of Southwestern’s faculty and employees will join the movement and participate in NASA events.
“I know it is a lot to ask because they are busy folks, but having representation from leadership there, like at the powwow, it sends a message to the broader community that they are behind us,” she said. “Keep letting us have events and access to facilities. Keep letting us invite Native speakers to campus to speak, and ensure we have the funding to pay these people their fair share for coming to educate us.”
Napolez encourages all students to sign up for Salomon’s Native American Studies classes. A member of the Gabrielino/Tongva of Southern California, Salomon is also an accomplished cedar flute player who knows Kumeyaay bird songs, the once-endangered traditional music of the Kumeyaay handed down through the folk process. He frequently performs with students and friends on KUSI and other local television stations.
“We can learn so much from each other,” Napolez said. “That’s the best way to learn.”
