Reflection on the Importance of Open Spaces

By Jack Soto

I recently spent a few days on Flathead Lake in Polson, Montana.  If you have not been there, you really must try, if even for a short visit.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Although I had to attend a conference at Salish Kootenai College, which was also beautiful, it was a very enjoyable and relaxing time.  The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Lake Reservation own a casino on the lake.  It has a spectacular view of the Mission Mountains, which are even more majestic when the sun rises over their peaks.  The water was clear and, although I had not planned on getting into it, it was cool enough to be invigorating.  All in all, it was one of the most holistically enriching sites I have had an opportunity to interact with in a long time.  I would most definitely go back and work at spending more time in the mountains and water.

I bring this up because we as Natives and possibly non-Natives refer to reservations with such distain and mockery.  We’ve given the term ‘Rez’ a meaning likened to Murphy’s Law and use it to allude to the more negative aspects of living for Native people.  All the while, reservations are filled with and surrounded by amazing, unique beauty. 

I currently live on the Cocopah reservation.  Although the Tribe works hard a clearing up abandoned cars and litter, it is filled with its fair share of unsightly scenes in front lawns across the community.  It, however, still holds great beauty for me because the land I live on is right on the Colorado River.  The river is a temporary home to many birds on their migratory path to and from the South.   Additionally, the Arizona sunsets hold a special place in my heart and being far from tall buildings allows me to indulge in them every day.  I am also removed enough from city lights to catch sight of the Milky Way in the night time sky.  It is quiet.  It is peaceful.

While I worked at American University in Washington, DC, I had an opportunity to bring students, predominately middle class and non-Native, out to Indian Country on social justice educational trips.  One year the students designed a trip out to the Tohono O’odham Reservation in Sells, Arizona.  Although the students were on the trip to learn about border issues, it was an amazing time of reflection on the importance of open spaces for them.  When we first arrived, the students did not understand why the Tribe was not developing their main resource, land.  Over the course of a week and a 30 minute long reflective period on the back “porch” of the cultural center, they were able to experience why open spaces are important.  I am not sure I can capture what I saw in that moment, but it was comforting.  They had come to Tohono O’odham with so many questions and as they listened, deconstructed, shared and talked with each other and the community, they stopped long enough to sit.    

Each trip is designed to give the students an opportunity to learn about the people of that community.  We had a great opportunity to work with a Tohono O’odham community member at their cultural center.  At the end of our day, our teacher took the group out back to view the desert and answer any final questions the students might have from their time with him.  As we sat, he slowly let his words stop.  Everyone sat there, like so many O’odham people before them, looking out over the desert.  The afternoon shared a gentle breeze with a hint of wet dirt floating past us as the desert lulled us into a reflective state.  Although for most Native people it is more bad than good, a coyote slowly saunter along sniffing at the ground and air, which invoked great excitement in the group.  As it realized it was being watched, hushed tones and movements occurred among the students as they worked at capturing an image of the coyote.  He, like we, lingered until our curiosity was fed.  That moment, as was shared countless times, was magical for them.  It changed their questions of development into proposed actions of protection.

Rez life found its way into the hearts and minds of those wonderfully curious young adults.  Although they saw the refuse and damaged property, they were able to see the life that lies underneath it all; the simple beauty and integration of nature into the everyday experience of Indian people across the country. 

I had an opportunity to hear Chief Irving Powless Jr. of the Onondaga Nation speak once while in Ithaca, New York.  It is a special moment I carry with me always.  In his speech that night, he recounted his work to protect the land of his people; its heartbreak and heartwarming.  He shared how while working with the New York state legislature he urged them to protect him and the Onondaga people.  They responded with detached, kind support, which encouraged his more poignant response.  He said, “You need to protect my people because we protect you.  We work and live to keep the land pure and clean.  If we die, then you all die.” 

Reservations have some of the most undisturbed nature in America.  Tribes fight to keep things the way they have been for centuries to ensure that Rez life continues for all, not just their community members.  I think there is a strong virtue in watching the corrosion of a car or a house on a reservation in juxtaposition to the enduring life of the lakes, mountains, trees, animals and culture in spaces found on that land.  If we can look beyond the crap of human existence in a given space and begin to connect to the beauty of the environment surrounding the crap, we might discover something about ourselves.  We may have that moment when we, like those college students, sit quietly and appreciate nature in a deconstructed sense while each experience compounds awareness leading to the exploration of who we are and how we fit into what we are looking upon.  It sounds so metaphysical when stated that way, but it is really simple. 

If we quietly sit long enough enjoying the beauty of the world around us, we might find purpose. 

  

Jack Soto is Navajo, Black-Streaked-Wood People, and Cocopah, Bird Clan. Jack served as Director of the Washington Semester American Indian Program – Washington Internships for Native Students at American University in Washington, DC.  Additionally, he received his M.S. in Organizational Development and B.A. in Political Science at American University.  Currently, he works to impact higher education institutional support systems of Native students as Co-Chair of the National Coalition for the Advancement of Natives in Higher Education. He lives in Yuma, AZ, preparing for doctoral work while traveling around the country hanging out with friends and colleagues pontificating, plotting, presenting and playing.