“We are not a ‘historically’ underserved population. My history is one of ancestors who survived so I could thrive. My history didn’t start with ‘western civilization’. I am colonially underserved. I am institutionally underserved. And I am historically resilient.”
— Abigail Echo-Hawk, Pawnee scholar and director of the Urban Indian Health Institute
There is profound wisdom in Abigail Echo-Hawk’s words because they challenge the way Indigenous people are so often described. Too frequently, Native American history is framed primarily through suffering, disadvantage, or what happened to Indigenous people after the arrival of European colonizers. But Indigenous histories did not begin with colonization. Indigenous people had ancestors who loved them, communities that sustained them, languages that carried knowledge, systems of governance, economies, spiritual traditions, and relationships with the land long before colonial institutions arrived.
That history matters because the way we understand our past shapes how we imagine our future.
Indigenous people have survived extraordinary efforts to undermine their languages, cultures, families, and Native nations. But survival is only part of the story. Indigenous people have the capacity not simply to survive but to thrive—to strengthen their communities, revitalize their languages, exercise sovereignty, and build institutions that reflect who they are.
The goal should not be to force Indigenous people to choose between being successful and being Indigenous. We can create a world in which Indigenous identity is not something that must be surrendered in order to succeed.
Indigenous People Have Always Been Loved and Cared For
Colonial histories often begin the story of Indigenous people with European arrival. But Indigenous history began thousands of years earlier.
Indigenous people were loved and cherished by their ancestors and contemporary generations. Families provided for one another. Communities nourished and protected their children. Languages carried teachings from one generation to the next. Cultural practices connected people to one another and to the land.
Colonial governments and institutions disrupted these systems in devastating ways.
The British, French, Russian, Spanish, and American empires all participated in systems that dispossessed Indigenous peoples, undermined Native nations, separated families, suppressed Indigenous cultures, and attempted to destroy Indigenous identities. In the United States and Canada, children were removed from their families and communities and placed in institutions designed to assimilate them.
These were not simply unfortunate historical events. They were systems.
Understanding that history is essential to understanding the present.
When we see contemporary disparities affecting Indigenous communities, it is important to ask not only what is happening but why. Historical and institutional forces continue to shape access to education, health care, economic opportunity, political power, and other aspects of life.
That history should not become a story of Indigenous deficiency. It should become a deeper understanding of Indigenous resilience.
From Historical Resilience to Contemporary Sovereignty
Echo-Hawk’s distinction between being “historically underserved” and being “colonially” or “institutionally underserved” is important because it changes the question.
If we simply describe Indigenous communities as underserved, we can unintentionally make inequity sound natural or inevitable. But if we understand the historical systems that produced inequity, we can begin asking different questions:
What systems need to change?
What institutions can Indigenous people build for themselves?
What would education, health care, economic development, and community life look like if they were designed around Indigenous priorities and values?
This is where sovereignty becomes more than a political concept. Sovereignty can be expressed through the institutions and systems Indigenous people create and strengthen.
We can build educational programs that support Indigenous languages. We can create institutions that strengthen cultural knowledge. We can develop economic systems that serve the long-term interests of Native nations and communities. We can support health and wellness through cultural practices and relationships.
The goal is not to reject everything from outside Indigenous communities. The goal is to have the authority to determine what serves our people.
We Need More Than a Pathway Into Someone Else’s World
Indigenous education is often framed around helping Native students succeed within existing educational institutions. There is value in helping students navigate systems and gain the skills they need to succeed.
But that cannot be the entire goal.
If we tell young people that success means learning how to navigate institutions that have historically marginalized their communities, we may inadvertently teach them that the responsibility for overcoming those systems rests entirely on them.
Indigenous students deserve more than strategies for getting through the gates and gaps of existing systems.
They deserve educational environments where their languages, histories, cultures, communities, and identities are treated as strengths.
They deserve to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and in the institutions around them.
And they deserve to imagine futures in which they are not simply participants in systems created by others but creators, leaders, educators, professionals, artists, language speakers, community builders, and citizens of their own Native nations.
That is a different vision of Indigenous education.
One World, Not Two
I often hear Indigenous people say, “We live in two worlds. We need to be good at both.”
I understand what that expression is trying to communicate, but I think there is another way to frame it.
We live in one world.
Consider what happens when a non-Indigenous person enters an Indigenous community. They do not necessarily have to abandon their language, culture, customs, or identity in order to participate respectfully in that community.
A non-Indigenous person can attend a powwow while remaining connected to their own cultural traditions. A person who marries into an Indigenous family can participate deeply in Native community life without having to erase everything about their own background.
We generally accept that complexity when we are talking about non-Indigenous people.
Why shouldn't Indigenous people have the same freedom?
Why should Native people have to give up their languages, cultural practices, identities, or relationships with their Native nations in order to participate fully in contemporary American life?
We shouldn't.
There is one world, and Indigenous people belong in it as Indigenous people.
Success Does Not Require Cultural Surrender
One of the most damaging assumptions of colonization is that success requires assimilation.
For generations, Indigenous people were told—explicitly or implicitly—that advancement required leaving Native languages and cultures behind. Fluency in English was prioritized over Indigenous languages. Western educational systems were positioned as the pathway to opportunity. Indigenous cultural practices were frequently characterized as obstacles to modernization.
But there is more than one definition of success.
A person can earn a college degree and speak their Indigenous language.
A person can work in a modern profession and participate actively in their Native community.
A person can build a successful business while supporting their Native nation.
A person can live in the contemporary world while maintaining deep relationships with Indigenous culture, family, land, language, and community.
These things are not contradictions.
They can reinforce one another.
Being Indigenous Can Be at the Center of Success
There are many Indigenous people who have demonstrated that cultural identity does not have to be sacrificed for achievement.
Indigenous people can succeed in universities, businesses, government, health care, education, the arts, science, technology, and countless other fields while maintaining strong connections to their communities and cultures.
The goal should not be to become less Indigenous in order to succeed.
The goal should be to create enough room in the world for Indigenous people to succeed as Indigenous people.
That means strengthening language.
It means supporting Native nations.
It means investing in Indigenous education.
It means protecting cultural knowledge.
It means creating healthy communities.
And it means giving young people permission to imagine a future in which they do not have to choose between belonging and opportunity.
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