"Congratulations, all Indian graduates.

Whether you graduated from high school (I have a bunch of nieces and nephews who graduated this year), college, culinary arts school, law school or medical school, your graduation signifies something big for Indian people. Very big. Be proud of yourselves—you defied the odds and showed that Native people can be successful according to all standards of success, Native and non-Native, traditional and contemporary. You are the cream of the crop and give hope that Indian people do not have to sacrifice “being Indian” in order to achieve mainstream success.

Your purpose is to be both “Indian” and “successful”; you can remember, honor, and give service to your homelands and still make money. Good job!

Still, nothing is free. Just as your purpose is to wade into uncharted educational waters to show the younger generation the map, our Indian ancestors’ purpose was to pay, painfully, for our right to improve our lives through education. Those ancestors benevolently pre-paid our tuition in blood, broken dreams, beatings and sexual abuse. They paid because they knew that protecting our homelands and our Indian way of life was worth it and that we needed educated people in order to protect those valuable things."

Get the Story:
Gyassi Ross: The Purpose of Graduation (Indian Country Today 6/14)