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LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. – Native American Indian Heritage Month is a time to honor the contributions made by our Native American brothers and sisters and an opportunity to educate the public about the diverse cultures and traditions of America’s indigenous people.
Each year, Luke hosts events to recognize the achievements and continuous contributions of Native Americans. Tech. Sgt. Derek Baskin, 56th Operations Support Squadron consolidated maintenance section, is the organizer for the events this year.
“The point of this month is to spread awareness of all the different tribes and individuals associated with Luke over the years,” said Baskin. “This year’s theme is sovereignty, trust and resilience, and how those concepts tie into their relationship with Luke, the military and the Phoenix community.”
Due to the ongoing response to COVID-2019, event planners have made accommodations to ensure public safety. One of the events will include a livestreamed reading of the book “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story” written by Kevin Noble Maillard. This year, Staff Sgt. Aiden Newell, 56th Operations Support Squadron aircrew flight equipment, will read the book during the event.
“Usually, without restrictions, we would read to a group of about 15 kids at the base library and after the reading we’d have an arts and crafts session,” said Newell. “This year we’ll be doing the whole thing over livestream so the kids can still participate in the event.”
This year, Luke Air Force Base Library staff will offer arts and crafts items for pick-up from Nov. 11-18 (Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
Another new event is the NAIHM writing contest. The contest is for children in grades sixth through eighth and grades ninth through 12th, separately. The contestants are tasked to choose one person of Native American Indian heritage and talk about his/her accomplishments in context with this year’s NAIHM theme of sovereignty, trust and resilience.
“We’ll be sending out e-mails across Luke housing and to outside communities such as the Hopi tribe,” said Baskin. “We hope to get a lot of participants.”
The contest runs from Nov. 9-23 and a cash prize will be awarded to the top three winners.
For more information on these events, call Tech. Sgt. Derek Baskin at 623-856-6485.
| Date Taken: | 11.12.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2020 13:42 |
| Story ID: | 382868 |
| Location: | LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 63 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Native American Indian Heritage Month: Sovereignty, Trust and Resilience, by SrA Dominic Tyler, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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