Photos by Leda Costa for West Seattle Blog
(Dominique Salinas [Jicarilla Apache/Navajo] and Marcos Arellano Martinez [Mexivo, Otomi] performing a Deer Dance, with Diana Romero [far left] on drums.)
Neighboring Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School have the largest Native population of any school in Seattle Public Schools, according to Sealth principal Aida Fraser-Hammer, who hosted the schools’ first Indigenous Peoples’ Day assembly today.
Leda Costa was there for WSB – more of her photos, ahead:
The students who were onstage weren’t just performers. Below, Sierra Carpitcher (Seminole/Creek Nations) spoke about the Dakota Access Pipeline situation, which has brought a massive turnout of Native/Indigenous people and their allies to the Midwest to try to stop the controversial pipeline.
There was poetry, too – Michaela Yellowbear (Northern Arapaho) and Dominique Salinas (Jicarilla Apache) recited their poem “What Do You See?”:
Salinas also danced with Marcos Arellano Martinez:
Pacific Islanders were spotlighted at the assembly too – these students represented Fiji, Hawai’i, the Philippines, Samoa, Tahiti, Thailand, and Tonga;
From the Chief Sealth Folklorico Club, four members performed the Dancza Del Fuego (Fire Dance):
And Juan Betancourt and his family, representing the Squamish/Blackfeet/Yakama Nations, performed a Grass Dance:
Sealth also is home to the Native leadership class Šǝqačib.
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