The Association of American Indian Physicians has partnered with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Native American Youth Influencers to encourage Native American youth to say yes to a better tomorrow by saying no to underage drinking and non-medical use of prescription drugs. “Preserving our cultures means highlighting how tomorrow’s leaders can experience positive health outcomes and grow together,” said Tom Anderson a Cherokee tribal member and executive director of AAIP. “Our communities have experience, support and resources to offer young people, and through this campaign, we hope to encourage Native youth to embrace healthy hobbies and activities; we also aim to equip elders and families with tools to inspire positive behaviors and find ways to impart wisdom and Native culture to our next generation of leaders.”
There IS power in humor when it comes to Indigenous activism. Humor in Native culture has never been simply about entertainment. Comedy is also used to fight cultural invisibility and structural oppression. Native comedy has been around since, well, the beginning. The roots of Native humor are deep and structurally meaningful—and well-known in Native communities. In his pathbreaking (and very funny) 1969 book, “Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto,” the attorney, activist, and former National Congress of American Indians executive director Vine Deloria Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux) was one of the first to write about Native humor. Humor in Native culture, according to Deloria, has never been simply about entertainment and fun, but about governance and organizational styles and getting things done.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
