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The Eastern Echo Saturday, July 26, 2025 | Print Archive
The Eastern Echo

NASO, EMU team up

Wakan Tankan Nici Un is Cherokee for “May the Great Spirit walk with you.” This peaceful message is strongly connected to the tribe’s perseverance through unbelievable hardships while staying grounded in spiritual faith.

November reminds us of what we should be thankful for, but it’s also a time to give recognition and to celebrate the Native American legacy and culture for Native American Heritage Month.

Through many generations, Native Americans have dealt with a history of discrimination from having sacred land seized, not being officially recognized as citizens until 1924 and the “generational trauma” of children being ripped away from families and forced to attend boarding schools to meet the Euro-American standards.

Traditional ceremonies like powwows are among the positive avenues that promote the unification and spirituality among Native American communities.

Eastern Michigan University and the Native American Student Organization are bringing awareness to EMU students by holding events on campus to spark more interest in the culture. The Lively Luncheon, held Nov. 1 at the Student Center, was the first opportunity to engage in conversation with students and staff about a series of subjects such as the misrepresentation of natives in the media and stereotypes as well as the history.

Shoshana Phillips, executive director of the Heritage of Healing organization, an advocate for providing resources to Native Americans suffering with cancer, appreciates EMU’s initiative to recognize Native American culture.

“I think it’s really great,” Phillips said. “I really applaud it because Native American Heritage Month goes very unnoticed here in the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area. Our organization, Heritage of Healing, would like to do something about that, so that’s what I’m here to do—to support EMU and their initiative.”

NASO President Jasmine Culp is hopeful students will think about heritages beyond the month of November and take interest in more events in the future. She also wasn’t shy to speak on deep-rooted subjects including the mass genocide that cut the Native American population down and EMU’s decision to bring back the Huron mascot logo on the university’s Marching Band uniforms.

“To me it was like a slap to the face. ‘Huron’ is a derogatory term [to Native Americans] just like the n-word,” Culp said.

In the discussion, Culp and students spoke of the romanticizing of Native American characters like Pocahontas. We all know in the Disney adaptation, she’s frolicking in a short dress with her animal companions, singing “Colors of the Wind.” And not to forget, there’s a completely false portrayal of her falling in love with Englishman John Smith.

In reality, she was a 12-year-old girl who saved Smith from being executed and was eventually captured by the English during the Anglo-Indian conflicts in 1613. While in England, she converted to Christianity where she was renamed Rebecca and married tobacco planter John Rolfe. She sadly died at age 22 of smallpox disease in 1617.

“History is very real for us, it directly affects us every day. It’s something we live with every day,” Phillips said. “I hope that people will gain a better understanding of Native American people as people, citizens, as members of the community.”

Discussions like this along with the other events this month will allow non-natives to look beyond the surface of the images we’ve become used to and bridge the cultural gap.

“For me personally, I feel the reasons I have survived is because of the strength I get from my culture and the practice of our traditional, spiritual, cultural ways,” Phillips said. “One of things I think of is the fortitude and the strength it took my ancestors to be able to continue those ways with the adversities that were put on them and to be able to continue anyway and to go on and survive.”

Additional Info:

The following events will be held at the Student Center during November:

•Annual Native American Fall Feast: Monday, Nov. 5, Room 310 A/B, Student Center at 6 p.m. (Please donate canned goods for Food Gatherers)

•Rhymes and Reasons: Tuesday, Nov. 13, KIVA Room, Student Center at 2 p.m.

•Don’t Get Sick After June: American Indian Healthcare Documentary Monday, Nov. 19, Room 300, Student Center at 6 p.m.

If you would like further information on what the CMA is doing you can visit their office in room 358 of the Student Center, visit emich.edu/cma or call 734-487-2377. To learn more about Heritage of Healing, you can visit heritageofhealing.org or call Shoshana Phillips at 734-544-1785.