Native Americans celebrated their heritage on Indigenous Peoples’ Day with an emotional ceremony on Randall’s Island Monday.
Solemn song and drumbeats blended with the gentle sound of the Harlem River licking at the bank of Randall’s Island on Oct. 9. Here, indigenous people traveled from across the country to perform a ceremony in which natives poured water from their land into the river. Lamenting colonialism and the resulting loss of life, participants wept while chanting and performing traditional dances.
“Whenever we gather, we honor earth, water. The water ceremony is a way that we bring the waters from different places and people in prayer,” said Cliff Matias, the founder of the RedHawk Native American Arts Council’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration. “Don’t forget this is also a polluted waterway and so we bring blessings, and always remember that water is life.”
For Matias, the gathering is imperative to showcase that despite all that native people have suffered, they are still here and are proud of their culture.
Representation and pride in Native American heritage is crucial for Taboo Nawasha, also known as Jaime Luis Gomez, a rapper, singer and songwriter from the Black Eyed Peas.
Taboo, 47, is of Mexican-American and Shoshone and Hopi Native descent, and has been a longtime advocate for indigenous rights. He protested at Standing Rock and continues to empower others to stand in solidarity with their Native culture, using his voice to amplify awareness.
“This was something that I needed to be a part of. So, just being able to be a voice, activate, inspire, and just be here to gather with all my relatives and allies. It’s a blessing man,” Taboo said, adding that he flew in from Mexico while touring with the Black Eyed Peas to show his steadfast support for the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration.
Taboo credits his grandmother for instilling pride in his multi-cultural background. Growing up in Arizona, Taboo learned to embrace his identity and his grandmother inspired him to become an advocate for his community.
“This is pride. This is something that my grandmother instilled in me, the pride and the culture, she’s from Jerome, Arizona,” Taboo said. “She inspired me to be an advocate for community, different communities, to cherish the moments of learning and educating myself and not claiming to know everything about, you know, native culture, or wanting to learn and educate myself.”
