Hear the Message conference provides guidance to young men by reinforcing Indigenous traditions
Chucho Ruiz Vai Sevoi speaks to attendees at the “Hear the Message” gathering for young men at Sho-Ban Jr./Sr. High School on Friday, August 21.
By JOSEPH WADSWORTH
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — Hear the Message gathering for Indigenous men and boys was Friday, August 21 at Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High School where over 40 community members and tribal workers were in attendance.
Hear the Message is a gathering for cultivating healthy relationships, with a focus on maintaining a healthy idea of masculinity. Coordinator of Healthy Manhood Initiatives Chucho Ruiz Vai Sevoi is from the Opata and Yaqui people of Mexico. Ruiz is also the lead facilitator for A Call to Warriors.
Chucho Ruiz Vai Sevoi, Healthy Manhood Initiatives coordinator
An opening and welcome was given by Jason Butler, Waapi Kani (Cedar House) Behavioral Health manager and served as emcee for the event “the goal that we all have is to get up every day and to grow, to live life and, hopefully achieve a place of wellness and happiness, where we can get up and enjoy our lives every day.”
“Cycle of Consequences” model featured during the presentation.
Fort Hall Business Council Chairwoman Donna Thompson welcomed those who attended and spoke about how things have changed, and that life is priceless. “We all have great memories of how we grew up, but again, life is changing and so we need to change how we’re looking at things.”
FHBC chairwoman Donna Thompson welcome.
Tribal Elder Pete Broncho offered words and gave a prayer.
Speaker Chucho Ruiz, in his first session, said “A Call to Men” is about educating communities all over the world on healthy, respectful manhood. Embracing and promoting a healthy, respectful manhood prevents all forms of gender-based violence.
Tribal elder Pete Broncho gives the opening prayer.
They work with male identifying people who care about their communities and families. Men who want to create positive social change. Men willing to challenge social norms and be an example to other men.
Ruiz started off by having community members and tribal workers join him in a circle to introduce everyone by name and share why they are at the gathering. He later thanked everyone and he explained that standing in the circle was intentional — to bring everyone’s voice into the space to share their ways in experiencing life.
The purpose of A Call to Warriors is identity safety, cultural relevance and exchange, integration and feedback as there is so much diversity amongst tribal and Indigenous peoples’ commonalities in beliefs and values, providing the opportunity for indigenous men from different tribes and lineages to share space in a meaningful way.
Local youth participate in the Hear the Message gathering presentations.
Ruiz said, “part of the message that I see that kind of shows up everywhere is that the fact that we’re still here. it’s very powerful. Because there’s been a lot of intentionality to get rid of us. There’s been a lot of focus, policies and laws to get rid of us.”
Ruiz asked “what works for us? What are the things that we’re identifying that work for us?”
Richard Tarness speaks at the gathering.
“We’ve been disconnected, displaced from the land, which is our main source of medicine the main source of power when thinking about the land and the sun, when thinking about masculinity and femininity lives within all of us as human beings.”
When speaking about ancestral teachings Ruiz said, “ones that could work for our community, and maybe some don’t — sometimes we want to hold on to some of the answers for teachings and practices. Sometimes those teachings within those practices, not the teachings themselves, but within the practices, it could be harmful”.
He asked attendees “what in your life that you have learned specific to meaning to being a man?”
Many in attendance said learning traditions and not making bad decisions, along with taking responsibility for their actions, and don’t hurt people, one youth said.
“The Collective Socialization of Manhood” presentation slide.
Ruiz also spoke about gender and how it is created by society — the difference between sex and gender is describing your reproductive parts is the messaging of what color to paint a room for a boy or a girl? “Those are the things that we value and we normalize.”
“We assign gender to so many things in the world. And sometimes, one of the ways as human beings that we just want to be loving and kind to everybody, will act like we don’t recognize these identity markers,” meaning, height, age, gender, race.
“And that’s coming from a place of kindness, of wanting to treat everybody equally, however, society isn’t set up in a way that it values everyone the same. So, it’s important for us to see color. It’s important for us to see these identity markers because they matter, even though we’re making them up.”
“Men need to start putting in the work and need to start caring. So that’s the invitation to y’all,” Ruiz said.
