Finding Common Ground
By Katelyn Jacobson
City on a Hill Press Reporter
Four centuries after the first white settlers landed in New England, Native American groups are reaching across the ocean to war-torn Palestinians.
Aiming to support a liberation struggle some think is analogous to the early days of America’s manifest destiny, the Bay Area-based Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine made their first international contact during a two-week tour through refugee camps along the Israel-Palestine border in August 2009.
Ras K’Dee, a member of the delegation and editor of Seventh Native American Generation (SNAG) magazine, shared his experiences from the trip prior to a concert in Kresge Town Hall. The event, a publicity venture in ongoing efforts to increase awareness of minority struggles, was hosted by UC Santa Cruz’s Native American Resource Center.
K’Dee described his goals.
“There isn’t that international wedge of support for Palestine either,” K’Dee said. “In the long run, we want to create a solidarity movement.”
An ethnic Californian Pomo Indian, K’Dee drew multiple parallels between the two groups. He equated the Cherokee Trail of Tears with the forced migration of Palestinians from Israeli lands, and compared placement of Native American children into boarding schools with Palestinian families separated by impassable military checkpoints.
“The U.N. created a land for Jews, who have been historically kicked around Europe,” UCSC student Eliot Rosenstock said. “[The Jewish people] wanted a base, and it hurts me to see my own people now marginalizing another religion.”
Native American Indians are a minority in their own home country. A 2008 diversity report revealed that they make up about 1 percent of the student population at UCSC.
Fourth-year Merrill student and attendee Amalia Coronado stated that as a Native American, she felt a connection to Palestinians in what she felt was a battle for visibility and equality.
“There’s just so much going on everywhere, it’s great to make these cross-cultural ties,” Coronado said. “We’re all fighting for similar things.”
