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Nya Smith and her family celebrate their heritage by wearing traditional dress “regalia” and going to pow-wows. Smith comes from a long line of Native Americans, and she has family living on a reservation in Arizona. Photos courtesy of Nya Smith

What is your tribal affiliation?

NS: I am Osage and Navajo. My mom, my grandma and my great grandma were on a reservation and then my grandma left because she thought that my mom would have a better education off of the reservation because they don’t really focus on school. Their textbooks on the reservation are like 20 years old. They moved to Kansas and then my grandma met my grandpa. After that, my mom ended up meeting my dad who moved to Mizzou to get his undergrad and then they moved to Kansas and then my dad went to KU to get his masters.

What percentage of Native American are you?

NS: I am half Navajo and a fourth Osage.

What do you do to celebrate your heritage?

NS: Well there are pow pows and so normally I go to those and I take pictures of my cousins dancing because my family is not really into photography. When I was little I didn’t have a bunch of pictures so I want to make sure that my cousins know that they are Native American and that they don’t need to be ashamed and hide it.

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

NS: Normally I go to my grandma’s house because my grandpa is Osage but my grandma is like German, Irish and Scottish and so it’s just a traditional Thanksgiving. There is nothing different about it.

Are there any holidays that you celebrate that other cultures do not?

NS: Yes so, there is like a main Christmas in December so we get some presents then and then, I think it’s around February, there is a second Christmas so then we get more gifts then.

What is something that your tribe does that other tribes do not do?

NS: Ok so when you are Osage there are like two colors: red and blue. If you are the first child born, it doesn’t matter if you are a girl or boy, you can wear red or blue. But, if you are a second child, you can’t wear red, you can only wear blue. And if you are Navajo a lot of the elders don’t really leave the reservation. My great grandma lives in a trailer on the reservation and they have land and they grow crops and stuff. I think it’s my great aunt, she lives up in the mountains and they do the exact same thing as my great grandma and they built their own house.

Where is the reservation that your tribe lives on?

NS: It is in Arizona. If I am not mistaken, I think it is either the largest or the second largest Native American reservation in the United States.

Have you ever experienced racism or been stereotyped because of your culture?

NS: Yes, especially during Halloween when I take my brothers, sisters and family to the halloween store to find something to wear. There is always a section with “Native American Costumes.” In so many ways it is offensive. It is such a stereotype.

What is one thing that you want to say to those who stereotype Native American cultures?

NS: It is not a costume that you can put on. We are actual living people. We are not extinct. We didn’t disappear. We take a lot of offense and a lot of people don’t realise that they are doing harm but I would like to show them that they are. There is this thing in the Boy Scouts and they dress up as Native Americans and as you go through ranks you get called something, I don’t even know. And if you donate like $1,000 you get called like a “dog soldier or something” and they like dance and stuff. They like to take designs off of our regalia and some of our designs were made for family. You can’t just take something and make it yours.

What do you think about Christopher Columbus?

NS: I mean, I know that there is a Columbus Day but honestly I don’t feel anything toward him. Yeah he came to America but I don’t think people realize, yeah there was a holocaust for the Jews and slavery for African Americans but millions and millions of Native Americans were slaughtered. It was our land first and we wanted to protect it, and I don’t think people realise that we were here first and they came here and just took everything from us. They wanted the reservations where you couldn’t normally grow crops and they moved us off of our land. The Dakota Pipeline and all them have been talking about it and especially for the security people to bring dogs and let them attack people. They bit children in the face and they didn’t do anything. They were only trying to protect the river and the water.

How many generations of your family has celebrated your culture?

NS: I would probably say all of them. When my dad was younger he knew he was Osage but my great grandpa, so my grandpa’s dad died when my grandpa was really young so he didn’t really talk about their heritage very much and like my aunts and uncles they weren’t really interested but my dad was. My dad started to go to pow pows and stuff and then he started making regalian and dancing. And then, he met my mom at one of the pow wows and that all happened. But I guess my dad is really the reason why I would be going to pow pows now.

What is regalia?

NS: It is what people think are costumes. But, it’s what we wear at pow pows. People like to call it “clothes” or like “costumes.” We get a lot of comment like that at pow wows but we are like “it’s called regalia and stuff.”

How does it make you feel about sports teams having names that are affiliated with being Native American such as the Indians or Redskins?

NS: Redskins is a racial slur, and it is not ok to say. I don’t get why people think that it’s ok to say. And like the Chiefs fans wear headdresses and those were meant for people who fought for our people and they earned a feather for every battle they were in. To put it in a simpler way it more like saying, let’s take this person and they put on like some stuff from the army and they call themselves a “veteran” but they have never fought in a war. The Indians, I guess it doesn’t really get to me because we are Native American, not Indians. Indians are from India and Native Americans are from America.

Do you have any eating habits/rituals that are specific to your culture?

NS: Well there is this thing called fry bread that we have at pow wow and stuff. It is so good. My mom makes that and we usually do pow wows and sell it because you make a ton of money. It is like a version of funnel cake. In Arizona, they eat mutton, or lamb and my great grandma always makes that when she is here visiting.

Is religion important to your tribe?

NS: I guess it is in a way but not in my family. We don’t go to church or anything. My parents say, “If you want to go to church then you can.”

What is your favorite thing about being a Native American?

NS: I would say, I guess just being more diverse than everybody. A lot of people are Native American but like I don’t think I have ever met anybody from any of my school that were like something else besides Cherokee.