The room in City College’s MS building was not very packed, with about 30 people in attendance.
But excitement and pride thrummed throughout the entire room for the first formal celebration for Native American and Indigenous graduates on Tuesday, May 12.
Among the students honored was Valeria Netro, a Chicano studies student transferring to San Diego State University who is from the Xi’úi and Huastec nations that are in what is now known as Mexico.
“I stand here today as a first-generation student – the first in my family to be receiving a degree,” Netro said. “Although I am receiving this degree today, I am eternally grateful for the teachings of my grandparents and my parents. (This) knowledge that you have passed down is one that cannot be replaced by institutions.”
The celebration at City College, which is built on Kumeyaay land, included Kumeyaay bird songs performed by Blue Eagle Vigil and Jamie LaBrake.
There were also honor songs, complemented with a drum courtesy of Green River, and round dances.
Bird songs often include meaningful lessons that are meant to be learned from and can be sung in multiple languages, from spiritual to animal to human, according to the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.
Honor songs, as the name suggests, are sung to honor an individual or group.
Round dances are performed by First Peoples across all of North America and are done by participants joining hands in a large circle, while matching their steps to the drumbeats, according to the Indigenous Dance website.
Three graduates attended the celebration, and the rest of the attendees were family, friends and supporters of those graduates.
“Education is important,” Bird singer Vigil said. “It’s something that no one can take away from you, and it’s true. It’s something that can be handed down for generations and generations.”
The graduates were gifted unique stoles representing their individual cultures, as well as an eagle feather, a bundle of sage and a flower bouquet.
Many First Peoples Nations consider eagles and their feathers as sacred, and the feathers are given in times of great honor, according to the Native American Rights Fund.
Sage is a sacred Indigenous plant with versatile uses and purposes, according to the Indigenous Corporate Training Inc.
“I am extremely, extremely proud of the graduates, two of them being students of mine,” Professor of Chicano Studies Velma Calvario said tearfully. “Although this is a moment of great joy – great celebration, Professor John Bathke broke me when he acknowledged that you guys graduating is this miracle.”
Only 32 students identified themselves as Native American in City College during the Fall 2024 semester, making up less than 1% of the entire student population.
According to a census by the Postsecondary National Policy Institute, Native American enrollment into higher education has faced a 38% decrease between the semesters of Fall 2010 and Fall 2022.
The same census also reported that in 2022, only 25.8% of the 18 to 24-year-old Native American population was enrolled in higher education, compared to the 39% of the corresponding overall U.S. population.
“Something that stuck with me that Professor Velma said, she’s like, ‘Don’t (just) claim that you’re Native American. Live the culture and be in it,’” said Anthony Azul, a social work student transferring to SDSU.
Azul belongs to the Tohono O’odham tribe of the Sonoran Desert, whose territory historically spanned a large area in the southwest of North America.
The term “Native American” includes all of the Indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere, from the northern tip of Alaska to the southern tip of Chile.
An immense amount of diverse cultures and people reside within these two continents, with each culture having their own practices and histories.
Ricardo Martinez Guerrero of the Huichol Nation is graduating as a double major in both political science and history and is transferring to UC Berkeley, a notoriously difficult school to get into.
Martinez Guerrero’s parents would only be able to watch and enjoy his celebration from recordings.
“I would like to thank two members that are not here in the audience with me,” Martinez Guerrero said. “Those are my parents – my mom and dad. They can’t be here because, although Native peoples come from all the way south (to) all the way north of this continent, … there is a scar in between that they cannot cross.”
Feelings of joy, pain and grief intertwined during the graduation celebration, as people celebrating an important moment must also live with the realities of the hardships they and their communities endure.
An enthusiastic round dance, where individuals within the same community held each other hand-in-hand, was followed by anecdotes about the violence and discrimination faced by Native Americans on their own land.
“It’s been awesome being able to build a Native community here on campus,” said Taté Garcia, the vice president of the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Association. “Being from two different tribal backgrounds and (being) off of my homelands is something that a lot of Native people experience.
“They are often navigating these systems by themselves and trying to find those areas that feel like home, feel like acceptance. We wanted to bring that onto this campus.”
This story was edited by Tresean Osgood and Rosemary Archer.
