Saad Nizhóní (Beautiful Words)

Navajos have all been deeply impacted, either directly or indirectly through our kinship ties, by COVID-19. Most news reporting reveals the tragic impact of COVID-19 on the Navajo reservation, yet we rarely hear from the people directly impacted. Because of this, I decided to do a poetry reading so people can hear us, instead of reading about us. I want people to understand that we are strong, resilient individuals who have persevere many atrocities. We are a community who understand K’é (kinship) and how we as a community have come together.

I love poetry, I write at times, but lately I have not been very motivated. Most news I hear from back home on the rez have not been good. It has definitely taken a toll on my both physically and emotionally. However, after hearing of a loved one that passed a few weeks ago, my aunt who was visiting my mom back home on the reservation decided to share a few words with me over the phone — her being a poet — she read a few of her personal poems to me in the Navajo language, and from that I had an epiphany. Why not create an event where more people can hear the voices of the Diné people and what better way than with beautiful words.

I have partnered with The Autry museum in Los Angeles, and we put together a zoom event where anyone from around the world can hear Navajo poets and their beautiful words of our culture, our language and our survival. We are also doing a fundraising for an organization that my relative Sahar is working endless hours fundraising and driving around the hot heat in the…