Michelle Obama at the Indian School Commencement: A More Perfect Graduation

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http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/06/michelle-obama-indian-school-commencement/485204/

SANTA FE, N.M.— In a room redolent with ancestral and political histories, Michelle Obama recited four generations of her ancestors’ names as she delivered her second-to-last commencement speech as First Lady to an all Native American high school.

Obama stood on a stage bedecked with drums, rugs, beadwork, embroidery, baskets, and pots as she addressed the graduates of Santa Fe Indian School last Thursday. A Santo Domingo Pueblo girl presented her a gift: a Pendleton blanket that she arranged over the First Lady’s shoulders. Tewa dancers from Ohkay Owingeh performed as the graduates entered from two directions and walked in pairs. Many wore ceremonial dress of their pueblos, nations, and tribes.

The students represent a multinational demographic incorporating the 22 tribal nations of New Mexico, including the 19 Pueblos, Navajo Nation, and Jicarilla and Mescalero Apache tribes. The Indigenous Language Institute, which works on language preservation and revitalization, shares the campus.

Michelle Obama’s remarks at the Santa Fe Indian School came eight years after President Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech on the 2008 campaign trail and two years after the First Couple’s visit to Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation in North Dakota. Before that July 2014 trip, Indian country had waited 15 years for a presidential visit.

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Chyanne Quintana, the salutatorian from Ohkay Owingeh and Santa Clara Pueblo, commented forcibly that the First Lady’s appearance at the ceremony permitted her to see a side of Indian Country rarely promoted by media. “We are graduating Native Americans. We are successful Native Americans,” she said in her remarks.

At this school, which was established by the U.S. government in 1890 to enforce a ruthless assimilation policy, Michelle Obama’s oratory was strikingly direct. “The traditions that this school was designed to destroy are now expressed in every square foot of this place,” she said. “Look at you now,” she continued, singling out cultural celebrations that include dances celebrating Popé, the leader of the 1680 pueblo revolt.

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