(Photo – Pow Wow on Parade)
Peter Roybal, Co-Founder and CEO of Pow Wow on Parade introduced the program to the Pasadena School District.
By Laura Hackett
PowWowonParade.org is a non-profit organization with a mission to demonstrate and educate people on the truth about their culture. Native Americans in Pow Wow on Parade tell the story of those who live now and the history of those who lived on the Reservations. Peter Roybal and his staff will continue working with PUSD to revise the way history is written and taught in schools. Roybal is also working with documentarians all over the country to set the record straight. Roybal’s cause will affect the way Native American history is written for generations to come in the K-12 textbooks. Roybal has also traveled the nation to spread his message. Roybal’s relentless pursuit of truth in history is unwavering.
Recently, Pow Wow on Parade, gave its first formal presentation to the Pasadena Unified School District. President and Co-Founder of Pow Wow on Parade, Baltazar Fedalizo, led the introductions, then Co-Founder and CEO Peter Roybal gave in-depth analysis of the topic. PUSD is the first school district in Los Angeles County to initiate Assembly Bill 1703, Indian Education Act, where the students in the district are introduced to the underlying theme, of the Native American experience through the manifest destiny of the Wild West. Other leaders in this field nationally participated in the presentation. Buffalo Heart Woman, from the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota gave a personal analysis of the Native Boarding school experience, along with Shannon K. Rivers of the Akimel O’otham in Southern Arizona. Shannon is the project manager responsible for the implementation of AB 1703 for Los Angeles Unified School District and is also working with Pow Wow On Parade and their Education Partner, the Pasadena Unified School District, to tell the truth in history and change the Native Narrative.
Ben Hale of the Navajo Nation performed at the presentation and narrated several customs of the Navajo people. This reinforced the concept that Native is not a costume but a culture to be understood. Pow Wow On Parade is also working with universities and other school districts across California to efficiently and correctly implement the experience of the Native American in the curriculum.
Pow Wow On Parade will be giving its next presentation to the Pasadena School Board on October 26, 2023 at 3pm in honor of Native American Heritage Month. Native American dancers, festivities and music will be featured. The meeting will be held in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room (Room 236), 351. S. Hudson Avenue, Pasadena.
Next year, in partnership with Mike Crowley of TOR, the Pow Wow on Parade and the Native experience will be on display at the upcoming Tournament of Roses Parade in 2024.
CEO (Pow Wow On Parade) – Peter Roybal, Ben Hale Navajo Nation, Baltazar Fedalizo -Principle -(Pow Wow On Parade), and Mike Crowley from Tournament of Roses
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