Thank you to everyone for your support of this petition and especially for sharing your stories and voices. I also want you to know that I am directly communicating with diverse BYU affiliates, leadership, and connected officials. People are beginning to listen, and hopefully this positive and constructive momentum will continue toward directions of equality, respect, and realized celebration and embrace of diversity. This petition is in support of equality and representation of all diverse peoples. Petitioning for Native American representation is not exclusive.
It is imperative, however, to understand that BYU and residents in the area are dwelling in a space shaped by the lives, deaths, and removal of Native Americans and the occupation of their ancestral lands—specifically Utes of what is now considered the region of Provo and Utah County.
A newly appointed BYU committee, directed to address issues of race and inequality, needs a representative who understands the unique challenges that Native American BYU students and community face at their university. They need someone who is recognized and respected by their tribal nation and diverse Native American and Indigenous communities for their knowledge and leadership.
We need to acknowledge that BYU exists in the traditional homelands of Noochee (the word for “the people” in Ute) and of Indigenous peoples who have stewarded the land throughout generations. Utah is home to eight different tribal nations, and the Utah Valley is the ancestral homeland of several diverse peoples, including the Timpanogos, Ute, Newe (Shoshone), Goshute, and Paiute people, and we seek to pay respect to their elders and ancestors—Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) and Goshute in particular. Please read more of my thoughts on this at https://farinaking.com/2020/06/20/native-american-representation-in-higher-ed-committees-on-race-and-inequality/, and please continue to share your voices and support this committee and initiatives in higher education to address issues of race and inequality.
Ahéhee'.
Wado. ᏩᏙ.
Tog'oiak'.