Larry Murillo during ISU's January 21 presentation. (Roselynn Wathomy photo)

Murillo highlights human rights & Native health issues

By Roselynn Wahtomy
Sho-Ban News
POCATELLO – Last week Idaho State University commemorated their Human Rights Celebration 2010 with a series of keynote speakers.
On Thursday, January 21, Larry Murillo the Assistant Professor of Health & Nutrition Sciences for ISU was one of the presenters. He spoke on Human Rights and Native American health issues.
Murillo has spent about 20 years working with different medicine people. He explained that Native American practices are commonly misunderstood by non-Natives and dismissed by western science based medicine. He hopes that eventually Native Americans will be able to reeducate society on the benefits of traditional health practices by seeing the positive it does in Native clinics while also sharing health philosophy and the lasting effects of intergenerational trauma.
He explained that historically “medicine people” who would practice out in the open would be put in jail or prison, even killed for practicing their religious beliefs. Now Native people are coming back to their practices and learning them to carry on.
Murillo defined historical trauma as the collective emotional and psychological injury built over the lifespan and the cross generations resulting in the cataclysmic history of genocide. Native Americans have long dealt with historical trauma and it continues to affect them today adding to their illnesses.
Several government funded programs came to help Natives deal with this including the Indian Child Welfare Act, where children were taken from there homes because their Native upbringing was considered “savage” by the whites. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act allowed more money to be sent to federal programs such as the Indian Health Service (IHS) that serve the Native community. This allowed the communities themselves to start voicing some of the needs that they had. However, it was never meant to be a comprehensive health care system and is only there to help as much as it could.
Murillo said because IHS started in the Department of War some Natives view it and white agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs as agencies that are coming in to try to destroy them. That perception exists today for some of those organizations.
Today along with taking on health care advice from IHS people stick to their traditions and ceremonies. Murillo said although at times its difficult to bring the two together some facilities are working to learn how to implement ways to bring them to their system. Today you see information pamphlets with Native images on them, or some tribes modify their facilities to include place for ceremonies.
Murillo talked about two levels of health the individual, which includes spiritual, physical, mental and environmental. The other is community, which are religion, ceremony, culture and language.
A tribal elder told Murillo that emotions could also attract sickness to the body by the attitude placing it in the body because your body is a reflection of your life’s experience. Every body part has an interpretation to it.
He explained that people learn from their ailments and it could even be considered as a blessing. One has to recognize they are sick, ask for help and let go of whatever it is that attracted the illness.
Murillo ended his talk with a quote by another tribal elder, “When someone tries to change who you are it’s like hammering a nail into the wood. The further it gets hammered in the harder it is to get out.”
Concluding he said healing is inside of us. “Sometimes what you go through is there for a reason. It helps teach you about yourself. The only way you will ever really pay attention to it is if you get sick.”
Murillo added don’t take life too hard.
For communities to heal he said they have to continue to build trust in one another and they can start by doing things together like restoring cultural values. Communities must support and care for one another. Most importantly communities must take pride within pride within itself.

More Local - Page 1

More Local - Page 2

More Local - Pages 3