Il’lik Cxo’Hun
The color of community leadership is diverse shades of brown, ageless, nonbinary and is hopeful. I see the coveted traits of leadership displayed around the kitchen table, the campfire and playground. As a cismale at 6’2” tall my presence alone gets the attention of folks and my soft spoken words capture an audience. Many have mistaken me for a community leader when I am only an apprentice. Leadership qualities are those of our elders which despite being removed from their home, families, communities at a young age, sent to Sherman boarding schools, returned home, kept our culture and way of life alive; not only for me but for my children and their children- are the leadership qualities that I value most.
The stories passed on to me by my mother, her mother and my ancestors, have provided a blueprint for “community leadership.” It consists of shared responsibility for Mother Earth, it’s rivers and creatures. Aligned with our elders' teaching, I co-founded Il’lik Cxo’hun (Water is Life) community group to protect and preserve our way of life for generations to come; while finding sustainable and permanent solutions to today's pressing issue, climate equity. Il’lik Cxo’hun leadership is diverse and brings with it, it's gifts. Tule River Indian Reservation has a population of 1,900 members with forty percent displacement and approximately 30 percent homelessness. Between us, it’s also the only reservation with groves of Giant Redwoods, whose timber was used to build the cities of San Francisco and Porterville.
Red Cloud Manuel is a young member of the Tule River Tribe of the Yokut people. He takes his daughter to a sacred site on the reservation, in the hills above Porterville, and shows her pictographs painted on the huge rocks. The pictographs are at least 600, and possibly over 1,000, years old. The figure he shows his daughter is Coyote, the mischievous trickster who appears in many Native American stories.-
David Bacon, The Hard Price of Poverty
Self Sufficiency
The resilience of my people to not only exist but thrive, has only been possible through the wisdom of generations past; to carry on with our traditions, our culture. Those things have come to us during ceremonies, just as they have for thousands of years. Today we find ourselves grasping at the remenaces of our once vivrent language “Yowlume.” .
A culture revival has emerged and I intend to not only build on our youth’s desire to learn and carry on with our traditions but to build upon it, a movement. The concept of identity as a foundation in combination with modern organizing techniques, is not only effective at mobilizing people, it is also robust enough to carry on the climate equity fight for generations to come.
The work will include significant community education and engagement. Social media platforms as well as traditional gathering will be used to deliver the message. Tribal Council has demonstrated its willingness to support any cause for the betterment of the Tribe. With this in mind, regular updates to Tribal Council shall be made. Furthermore, due to the displacement of our Tribal Members, surrounding communities will also be engaged at all levels. Here I intend to, through storytelling, leverage relationships and political will to address climate equity within my community.- Red Cloud Manuel.
Red Cloud Manuel lights sage, and in a cleansing ritual at the sacred pictograph site, he blows smoke over his wife and daughter
.- David Bacon, The Hard Price of Poverty.