Prairie View celebrates Native American Heritage Week

Prairie View A&M University celebrated Native American Heritage week Nov. 5-9.
 The week was established to showcase the true history of Native Americans and educate students on the mistreatment they faced because of Europeans.
A series of documentaries named “We Shall Remain” (America through Native Eyes) were shown throughout the week in the Memorial Student Center in room 219. The documentaries were episodic, with each episode showing taking place on each day of the week.
 Additionally, an exhibition of Native American art, photographs and a book display of Native American history, culture and legends exhibited Friday.
 Junior mathematics major Morgan Roe said, “I think there should be more than a week because this was their land first, and I feel like it is important for us to know where we came from and essentially what we destroyed.”
 Students of Native American descent feel a connection to the history just as much as their connection to their black history.
 “It is important for us to have Native American week because it helps us remember that they were the first to settle the land, and with my background being Seminole it is not only important for me to know the African American portion, but also the American Indian half of me,” said Courtney Abney, a senior construction science major.
 Sásha Little, junior education major, felt the documentaries shed light on the brutality the Native Americans faced and unraveled the truth behind many of American’s legends and traditions.
 “I’ve never learned anything in class like the things I learned from the documentaries. We celebrate Thanksgiving without even knowing the truth behind it, it was all because they chopped the head off a Native American and had a feast to celebrate it, not that stuff about Pilgrims and Indians,” said Little.
 “Native Americans are just like you and me, they’re not savage or uneducated they act and look like you and me,” said multicultural affairs director Elma Gonzalez.