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Educational Sovereignty. Reconnecting Traditions Now to Create a Positive Future Tomorrow.

A century ago, our ancestors would never have dreamt of creating a language immersion school for our youth. What would be the purpose, when English and Spanish
were being used much more frequently, and attending a public school with white children was how your child ensured a good future? Now the idea of what is good for our youth, and in fact our people as a whole, has shifted dramatically. The importance of learning our Native languages and ways of being has come to the forefront, and tribes around Turtle Island are figuring out ways to re-center the culture and language of our ancestors. School is one of the first places tribes start this re-centering, and since 2002 Pechanga’s Chámmakilawish school has endeavored to challenge and decenter Western school systems, replacing them with a system that is unique to Pechanga. “For the first time, we have the power to teach our kids what we want them to learn,” Chámmakilawish principal and tribal member Andrew Masiel Jr. tells me in an interview. “We are creating a new norm for ourselves.