Author, speaker addresses community as part of Native American Heritage Month

Members of the GVSU and West Michigan communities filled Grand Valley’s Cook-Dewitt Center Auditorium to hear from author and speaker Anton Treuer as a part of Grand Valley’s Native American Heritage Month celebration on October 28. 

Following a performance by Sharp Feather, a Native American drumming group, remarks were delivered by Levi Rickert of GVSU’s Native American Advisory Council, Jenny Hall-Jones, vice president for Student Affairs and Tiburcio Lince, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. 

“Indigenous peoples have long fought for access to K-12 and higher education,” Lince noted. “Our mission is to share in the stories and foster access and belonging among Indigenous students by connecting them with Indigenous community members, faculty and staff who can support their education.” 

Treuer recalled seeing his mother as the only Native American in certain spaces, but one stands out in his mind – inside the courtroom, serving as Minnesota’s first female Indigenous attorney. 

“When I was a kid, she’d bring me to court,” he reflected. “I can’t remember her court cases, but I remember that she was the only woman. And I remember that she and her law partner were the only Natives in the court.” 

“I remember walking out of there thinking, you know what? We can do stuff.”

Treuer, who authored the book Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask , shared with attendees his personal story of growing up near the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota, provided insight as to how higher education institutions can better support the success of Indigenous students and how individuals can engage in meaningful conversations across differences in culture and understanding. 

“Nobody sees the world the way that it is. We all see the world the way that we are – and we are all a little bit different,” Treuer noted.

For Carsyn Brunette, a first-year graduate student studying social work, her biggest takeaway from Treuer’s message was the importance of truth. “No matter how many times you rewrite history, the truth is still there,” Brunette reflected. “And I think that's important because, like Treuer said, not only is that Indigenous people's truth, or the Black community’s, or the Latino community’s truth, but that's also the white people's truth. That's everybody's history.”

For Brunette, who serves on GVSU’s Native American Student Association’s executive board, it relays an important message of the belonging that she has found at GVSU. “The importance of bringing in guests like Treuer is just to remind people that we're still here,” she said. “And at the same time, we're just like anybody else. And for the Indigenous students, you're not any less just because we are a minority. You can do it too.”