The light rain that fell in Stanislaus County the first week of October was welcomed and greeted with hopes of more precipitation for a thirsty, wildfire-plagued California.
Water always has been precious, so it is fitting that the element was a central theme of Stanislaus State’s fifth annual Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration.
Hosted by the Indigenous Students in Activism (ISA), Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) and Ethnic Studies program, the theme of the virtual event was “Healing Waters in Us and Around Us.” It drew 255 registrants.
Indigenous Peoples Day is observed nationally on second Monday of October. Stan State held its two-hour celebration on Oct. 12, but ISA members see every day as Indigenous Peoples Day. This year, the ISA, ASI and Ethnic Studies chose to observe the day by celebrating water.
Yaynicut Franco of the Wuckchumni Yokuts Tribe, on whose native land Stan State now sits, offered a welcome and honored water as a sacred element, along with earth, fire and air.
The event included a panel discussion featuring guest speakers Helen Coats, Casey Camp-Horinek and Maria Vaisevoi. Stan State’s Cueponca Moreno Sandoval, an assistant professor of Native American and Mexican Indigenous Studies, moderated the discussion.
While humans try to tame “natural resources,” members of Casey Camp-Horinek's Ponca Nation of Oklahoma remove the “re” and view natural bounties as sources.
“It’s a source of life, and we’re part of that source of life if we eat, if we drink, if we breathe,” said Camp-Horinek, who spoke from Washington, D.C., where she was one of 135 protesters cited for obstructing traffic during the first day of the Indigenous Peoples “Build Back Fossil Free” protest in front of the White House.
“It just makes sense to say we’re going to recognize the rights of nature to exist in the form that the great mystery put in place. Most things still operate within the natural laws: the birds still know how to fly, build their nests, lay an egg and raise their young. Humans are the only beings wildly not following those natural laws.”
Man’s actions have diminished the power of water, said panelist Carolina Londono Michel, a geoscientist and faculty member at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. While explaining the damage done by pumping aquafers, which have stored water underground for thousands of years, Michel described how surface water is equally compromised.
The San Joaquin River, which stars in the Sierra Nevada, “carries sediment to the valley that allows for the agriculture in the Central Valley,” she said. “Because of the damage to the river, the surface water is no longer able to maintain all the expansion and growth.”
Hence, river water is less able to fertilize the region.
Healing the water means healing ourselves, Michel said. We all must drink water to survive.
“Our inner environment is a reflection of the outer environment,” Michel said.
Water has the power to give and take life. It nourishes. The lack of it annually kills more than 200 people who attempt to cross the desert of Mexico and reach Arizona, according to Maria Vaisevoi, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe who serves as a social worker on the reservation in Tucson.
“Through ceremonies we honor the lives lost,” Vaisevoi said. “We honor the life water brings. We have a reverence for water, all the elements. Too much of something can take life, or the absence of it can take life. Where we live, we have our monsoon seasons, and sometimes we lose people because of the abundance of water that comes through. We do our ceremonies throughout the year to develop a relationship with water and to maintain that connection. Water is life.”
Elder Helen Coats grew up surrounded by water as a member of the Ahwanechee Yosemite Tribe. Waterfalls and the Merced River surrounded her people until the government removed them from the national park.
Coats never thought of water as sacred because of its abundance, but she did grow up in fear of “water babies.”
“They were supposed to live in the water and you stayed away from them,” Coats said.
Native people believed spirits of the water existed, and if you went into the water at night, the water babies would drown you.
The story made sense to Camp-Horinek, who said she finally understood why, when she was growing up and her family would go to a river, lake or ocean, “no one went into the water before my mother placed her hands in the water to show our intention, to show respect and to ask for mercy so there wouldn’t be a problem with the water feeling invaded by us.
“I wonder if those water babies were the reason for that,” Camp-Horinek said. “That’s something I learned tonight.”
For Stan State student organizers, there was plenty to take away from the event.
“I believe our guest panel was really strong tying into our theme, because they all had different aspects in relation to the water,” said Elizabeth Flores Reyes, an ISA member.
The event itself was deemed a success.
“Our ISA is building community,” said Priscilla Sanchez, one of ISA’s co-leaders. “We collaborated with the Queer Art Club for the first time and with Eco Warriors. This is a time to come together. With community, a big thing is accountability, to count on each other to continue to do the work.”
“We’re building relationships among the community, continuing to reach out to those who attended the event,” said Aleydis Ferrera. “We want to keep in touch with them. We’re trying to get a grant to help us with water damages and bringing Indigenous land acknowledgments to the Central Valley.”
ISA is looking for supporters as it also works to protect Tesla Park in Livermore from recreational vehicles and is joining the fight to prevent the creation of the Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir in Patterson.
For those who missed the event, part of it was recorded and is available for viewing. Moreno Sandoval, who serves as ISA’s faculty advisor, hopes that all who attended or will watch it expand their understanding of healing waters in and around us.
