Steven Charleston “Here is a word to youth, to the young woman or man, who seeks to live the sacred life, to walk the way of faith. I call on all the rest of us to turn and show you our respect. Your voice to hear, your truth to heed, your struggle to embrace.”

I said goodbye to another youth who is moving out of state to live with relatives in a calmer environment.  “I’m so glad you are leaving and I am going to miss you terribly,” are the contradictory messages I give him over and over. Sometimes I feel that my ministry of greatest consequences is to get them out of this racist dead-end environment and encourage them to flourish someplace that does not automatically sneer at them for being Native.

In talks with the probation officers here, one looked startled and then his face lit up, “I’m so glad to hear you say that.  I encourage them to leave as soon as they are eighteen so they might have a chance for a job and a less violent environment.”  Almost everyone in authority from the schools to the judicial system say the same.

Why this collective encouragement?

Border towns to Reservations are often toxic.  Instead of a community rooted in tradition and being a majority in the culture, border towns like Holbrook and Winslow ridicule and trash those who are rural Natives. It is not just the cultural stereotypes and racial insults. It is the assumption that the youth will never be any more than transient workers and intoxicated homeless people that are often seen outside the Reservation.  Not that the Reservation is a paradise.  In the midst of appalling poverty and horrific frustration, there is still a deep rootedness in seeing the sacred, of respecting people, of praying daily to Grandfather God.

So why do I want them to leave?

Because very few listen to them.  Few honor them for the sacred choices they make.  Few can look behind their race to see their dignity and promise.

When we travel to other cities and states, the youth invariably comment on how the people were really interested in what they had to say.  Once, at the coffee hour, a youth ran over to me to say, “He just asked me what I thought about the job situation in Arizona.  I’ve never been asked my opinion by an adult before.”

Once we were asked to say what was important about our tradition.  Each of the youth stood up in a room full of strangers and proclaimed in nervous voices such things as “everything is sacred,” pass on to the next generation your language and ceremonies,” “respect your elders,” and “do not forget to greet the dawn with thanks every morning.”

I was so proud.  Even better was hearing someone besides me tell them how much their remarks are appreciated. It means so much more coming from a third party.

I agree with our elder Bishop Charleston speaking to our youth who seek to live the sacred life. “I call on all the rest of us to turn and show you our respect… You are the messengers of transformation, the ones who carry the weight of change. You are the pride of all those who have gone before…”

In faith,

Kaze