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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah is hosting its 51st Annual Pow Wow on Friday and Saturday. The event is free and open to the public.
Each year the university's Inter-Tribal Student Association and American Indian Resource Center select a theme for the powwow. This year's theme is "Elevating Indigenous Youth," which organizers hope will bring awareness to how issues like residential boarding schools have impacted Native Americans.
"The American Indian Resource Center and members of the Inter-Tribal Student Association encourage the U. community to come out and support Indigenous students, ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of who Indigenous people are," the university said in a statement. "Reconciliation takes time, but it starts with wanting to learn and become knowledgeable of the ways in which the U. community can facilitate true healing."
Anisha Marion, a doctoral student and member of the Inter-Tribal Student Association, said the theme touches on issues that hit close to home. Marion's grandfather spent months in the residential school system. He remembered Native children at residential schools holding secret powwows to continue traditions, like language, song and dance, that were illegal to practice.
"I think this was an emotional decision for all of us, as each of us has our own personal and family experience and traumas tied to the residential school era," Marion said of the theme in a statement.
The trauma from the boarding school era pushed Marion's grandfather to raise her father as French Catholic and hide his Indigenous ancestry. It wasn't until his late 20s that Marion's father learned the truth.
"There were so many missing pieces, but throughout the years, my father worked so hard to piece together who he was and teach himself many Anishinaabe traditions that he could pass down to us," she said. "My father, like many Indigenous people, continued to struggle with his identity and passed away with a piece of his spirit missing. I have promised myself that I will do anything in my power to prevent this dark history from repeating."
For Marion, that promise starts with raising awareness about the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law that was enacted to protect Native children from being forcibly removed from their families and tribes. The act was passed after the boarding school era, during which about a third of all Native children were removed from their homes, often without cause. The Indian Child Welfare Act currently faces a Supreme Court challenge.
"Overturning this law would threaten our cultural traditions and tribal sovereignty once again," Marion said. "Every time I dance at powwows, I always remember that the traditions that I am lucky to be able to practice were ones that my father and many other Indigenous ancestors fought and died for."
More information about the powwow, including various event times, is available on the U.'s website. The event is held at 200 Central Campus Drive in Salt Lake City.
