Nome celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day

By Laura Robertson
Monday’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration filled the Nome Rec Center with food, music, celebrities and community. The Native Village of Solomon hosted the event for the third year running. The Savoonga Dancers threw their voices to the sky and danced in perfect unison. Nick Hanson, the Unalakleet-born professional ninja, interviewed Ojibwe-Cree superstar D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, the first indigenous person to be nominated for an Emmy in Comedy for his role as Bear in the series Reservation Dogs. Under purple lights, Inuit-soul group Pamyua closed out the night by leading the community in dancing to Reindeer Herding Song.
“Just three years ago, today was renamed Indigenous People’s Day. Before that, it was named after a colonizer,” said Native Village of Solomon President Kirsten Timbers in a speech introducing the events. “Our Native community, at home and around the country, faces incredible hardships on many fronts.” She made a list, including the proposed IPOP gold mine at Bonanza Channel, over-incarceration, and the crisis of missing and murdered Native peoples. “Sometimes, we feel tired from constant resistance and advocacy,” she said.
“But as the previous name of today represents, we have been practicing this for 532 years,” Timbers said. “And we’re proudly able to celebrate who we are today because of this.”
The event began with interactive tables. Eight-graders raised money for their Washington D.C. trip. Families played Inupiaq bingo. At the far end of the gym, Vanessa Connors sold beadwork with three generations of her family. Kirsten Timbers made Eskimo salad with other members of the Native Village of Solomon. At the climbing wall, people could film videos about why they opposed IPOP.
The Diomede Dancers were supposed to start the festivities, but they were unable to make it. The Savoonga Dancers were passing through Nome on their way to the annual Alaska Federation of Natives conference, so they stepped in and saved the day. Made up of children from eleven to eighteen, they were perfectly choreographed and rehearsed, ready to perform in Anchorage.
All night, short stories hung on the walls. Middle schoolers had been tasked to tell what it meant to them to be Indigenous, and three were chosen to speak to the crowd.

Inspirational
Eskimo Ninja Nick Hanson talked about his journey to celebrity. Hanson once competed in the Alaska Native Games at NYO competitions. After struggling with depression, a young friend told him he would be great on American Ninja Warrior, and he started building makeshift obstacles and practicing that day. Now, he has tens of thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram and is preparing to compete in his eleventh season.
At the end of his speech, Hanson advised to stay focused on the life in front of them, instead of social media.
“If you’re going to blend the technology with our traditional culture and our values, that’s where we’re really going to thrive most,” Hanson finished. “That’s what I think Indigenous Peoples’ Day is all about: blending those traditional skills that we have with modern technology and the things we are capable of doing now today.”
Elders lined up for a potluck dinner of crab mac and cheese, Eskimo salad, walrus, pilot bread, fry bread, and dessert, and soon the line stretched across the room.
Native Movement took the chance to tell the crowd how important it was to vote.
“Voting is our first line of defense,” said Lauren Baldwin, wearing a shirt which urged people to “Defend the sacred. Vote our values.”
As people settled down to eat, D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai came to the stage. Nick Hanson interviewed Woon-A-Tai, who played Bear in the hit TV series Reservation Dogs. For this role, he is the first indigenous North American to be nominated for an Emmy  Award in Comedy.
Woon-A-Tai spoke about his childhood in Toronto, about the importance of community, and about language revitalization, land rights and ceremonies he grew up with. He also complemented the people of Nome on their salmon.
Woon-A-Tai discussed some of his activism. At the Emmy red carpet, Woon-A-Tai wore a red handprint across his face, representing the MMIW crisis. He said his grandfather had asked him to do that when he got a big enough stage, and he chose the Emmys, but he also recognized the weight of representing the crisis to non-Native people who might be hearing of it the first time. He expressed interest in learning more about IPOP.
He insisted that it was possible for this generation to change the acting industry. He gave an example: he had moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career, but he soon realized it wasn’t necessary.
“You can stay home and do art among your people,” he said, emphasizing that actors shouldn’t feel like they have to choose.
As Woon-A-Tai left the stage, the lights dimmed and the Native fashion show began. Young people strutted down the red carpet, as their names and designers of their garments were read out.
Finally, Pamyua came out. They played crowd-pleaser after crowd-pleaser. In their final piece, dozens of members of the audience joined them in dancing. They were about to leave the stage, when the audience began chanting “Pamyua!”
Pamyua is the band’s name, but it is also Yup’ik for ‘encore’.
“Since you said Pamyua, we’ll do it again,” they said, and they played out the end of the evening.