Across the country, citizens marched, drove, walked, ran, danced, even took motorcycle rides from the organization, to polling stations in the early hours of the 2020 general election.
Others horseback riding to polling stations as part of a Navajo Nation voter mobilization effort led by activist Allie Young, who recently shared on Instagram that she “did something” with her father and her voter team in Kayenta, Arizona.
“We saddled our horses and traveled 10 miles to get to the first polling stations to make our voices heard through voting. We mount in honor of our ancestors who fought for our right to vote. We rode in honor of our ancestors who traveled more miles and hours just to exercise their right to vote for us, our people, our lands, Mother Earth and Father Heaven, and long-term generations,” Young said on October 23 in a message that has since attracted general attention, adding since Michelle Obama.
This event, in which 15 members of the Navajo Nation traveled 10 miles to the nearest polling place (with another 15 opting for the car), was the first of 3 such occasions: the time in Holbrook, Arizona, and the third, on a return. , scheduled for Election Day. Young says he hopes to have between 40 and 50 runners on Tuesday and notes that the inspiration for the occasions is twofold: the rodeo culture is popular within the Navajo network (even within his family, a “long row” of bulls) and the vision of his father, who grew up in the domain and works in Kayenta as an addiction counselor.
“I’ve done so many walks with my dad, that’s our thing, I once took a 6- or 7-hour walk, so it’s a way to connect and bond. She came here from there,” Young told Yahoo Life about the series of trips to the polls, which she does in partnership with When We All Vote. “He had the vision that we were going to the polls and, knowing that he didn’t need to participate in this election, I thought, “Why don’t we do it, so he was excited, which I think motivated him to vote.
Young, 30, who works full-time for Harness, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit co-founded through America Ferrara to help celebrities and influencers use their platforms to spread much more important messages, received its first sample from the organization in 2015 when An exit from Adam Sandler’s film The Ridiculous Six to protest offensive depictions of Navajo women. He eventually formed his own nonprofit organization (under the aegis of Harness the Sacred), To Empower and Educate Navajo Youth and Youth. Across the Indian country against COVID-19.
The pandemic has devastated the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, with more than 11,800 known cases and 580 deaths; On Sunday, according to the Navajo Times, the percentage of other people who tested positive for COVID-19 was 21. 4%, and the average rate of positive testing over seven days was 12. 4%. Last week, The Nation reported its highest daily number of new cases. COVID-19 since June.
“We have already accepted the problems with the federal government as true, so when things like this happen, it discourages us,” says Young, referring to the delay in federal investment due to a pandemic, which “put us in a position in the that we have become the number one spot in the country, “not to mention other spots contributing to the COVID-19 ire in the Indian country, adding limited fitness facilities. you in component to the extraction of uranium and coal that polluted the Navajo Land.
“Now we are at a point where almost everyone knows who has passed away. . . My father lost a nephew,” Young says, adding that the devastating effects of COVID-19 can “even be reduced to our treaties with the government. we are destined to be a guarantee of quality physical care and education, and the pandemic and the way it has affected us have revealed that this is not the case. We have poor physical care and a lot of damaged infrastructure,” many cottages without electricity or running water, which contributes to the spread of COVID-19.
“It’s 2020 and I don’t understand why that remains the case in our communities when, thanks to the rights of our treaty, the government provides resources to solve those problems,” he says.
This, in addition to a long history of Navajo and other Native Americans who feel deprived of their freedom, in part through the abolition of the electorate in the form of unavailable polling stations, which Young says is a challenge in today’s election, has deterred many Indians. Head to the country at the polling place.
“I saw a crusade that discouraged others from voting, to participate in a colonial formula that never worked for us,” he said, noting that he echoed the frustration many other people of color feel in America. “There is this resistance”. to participate in the formula. And I was afraid of that . . . We want your votes. Our ancestors fought for the right to vote.
Now, he says, since that first circular at the ballot box, his father, once politically unmotivated, has replaced his mind: “He told me how he reactivated it and somehow gave him life, strength and enthusiasm. “
In addition, Young listened to other people across the country, from their origin, who were moved by their efforts. “They make me cry,” he says, “because many of our other people feel animated. they don’t go on the walks, they send messages saying it encouraged them to vote . . . especially in honor of those who have died by COVID and who cannot now vote.
For information about your local polling place on Polling Day, visit IWillVote. com.