Life is hard for Native American youth. We come from generations of perseverent people that faced genocide, stolen land, and cultural assimilation. Today, we struggle with issues like alcoholism, loss of culture, and suicide. It is no secret that suicide is a huge problem among native youth. For American Indians and Alaskan Natives, suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth in the 15-24 age group. For the same group, suicide is 2.5 times the national rate. A few months back, On April 9, the Attawapiskat First Nation declared a state of emergency after an overwhelming number of suicides. Suicide is a problem for natives, but it is problem that is not talked about among natives. Now, there is a photo challenge that is solely dedicated to raising awareness and promoting prevention of suicide.
September 5, 2016 marked the beginning of National Suicide Prevention Week, and the beginning of the “Celebration of Life #IWillLive Photo Challenge. The Photo Challenge was created by Julian Juan, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, to raise awareness of suicide by celebrating life. Julian comes from the New Fields community in the Chukut Kuk District of the Tohono O’odham Nation. He is a student at the University of New Mexico doing a double concentration in Marketing Management and Entrepreneurial Studies. At school, he serving a second term as President of his fraternity and he is also serving on the Multicultural Greek Council Executive Board as the Vice-President of Fraternities.
Julian has been working with the Tohono O’odham Nation Suicide Prevention Program to host an event on September 10th, which is World Suicide Prevention Day. Because of scheduling conflicts, the event would have to be moved back to September 17th. That’s when idea for the photo challenge came about, “I still wanted something to do to help raise awareness during National Suicide Prevention Week. I wanted something that was interactive and would be able to reach a large audience, not only that, but would also be open to anyone that wanted to be apart of it.” Julian noted that coming up with ideas for the daily challenges was difficult. He didn’t want to have it full of generic questions like “what’s your favorite color?,” or “favorite place you’ve traveled?”. When brainstorming for the daily challenges, Julian says, “I really wanted the challenges to make people think and really use this photo challenge as a self-reflection tool. I wanted it to be daily challenges that made them think and realize important things about themselves and their lives.” That’s when he created the first challenge, “About Me”, which asks for people to share whatever they wanted to about themselves to let the world know what they hope to accomplish in life, “It really opened the door for them to express themselves and from the posts I’ve read so far it definitely did what I had hoped it would accomplish.”
If you search “#IWillLive” on Instagram and Facebook, you’ll see a countless number of posts from Native American youth from all over the country participating in the photo challenge to celebrate and share the reasons that they decide to not give up on life. Even Danielle Finn A.K.A. Miss Indian World has taken on the challenge. When asked about the amount of participation, Julian said, “I can’t even put into words how I feel about it catching on, except excited to know that people are taking on this challenge. I was always taught that if you can help one person, you’ve done a good job, but I never thought it [the photo challenge] would catch on this quick.”
With the growing success of this photo challenge, Julian has definitely reached his goal, which is to raise awareness for suicide prevention. “I want the youth to know that they aren’t alone and most importantly they shouldn’t be afraid to reach out for help. Just in this first day I have seen posts from people who have lost friends and family to suicide, I have seen posts from people who used to self harm or have had thoughts of suicide and are survivors. I don’t ever want to find out that we lost another person to suicide because we all have a reason for being here. The odds of us being alive at this exact time and at this exact moment are astronomical, so to have someone believe they aren’t important or that they don’t have a purpose in this life is not true. That’s the message I’m hoping will be spread through this photo challenge.” Julian has always had a passion for serving the Native American youth. He has served as the President and re-founder of the Chukut Kuk District Youth Group, Secretary and Vice-President for the Tohono O’odham Nation Youth Council, Secretary and founding member for the Intertribal Youth Council of Arizona (ITYCA), Youth Cabinet Member for the National Native Youth Cabinet for the National Congress of American Indians, and the Western Area Representative for the National UNITY Council Executive Committee. He has used these platforms to inspire and motivate other youth to be the ones to create positive change in their communities, and to strive to accomplish anything they set their minds to. The amount of participation is a huge win for native youth everywhere. In most reservations, the topic of suicide seems almost taboo to speak about. “I have fought for years, to raise awareness for suicide prevention back home. I grew up in Youth Groups and Youth Councils back home and one thing that the youth always wanted to do was host events that would raise awareness for suicide. Every single time though we would be told that the youth shouldn’t be doing this kind of work, or that we should be leaving it to the professionals. I now see that their hearts were in the right place, but if we keep sweeping it under the rug, or waiting for someone else to do it then all we’re doing is that feel alone or feel like they can’t”
The #IWillLive photo challenge was inspired by both Julian’s desire to help Native American youth, and his own history with suicide. He lost a close friend, Fonzo Contreras to suicide. “He was the guy you would go to when you needed a laugh, or when you wanted advice. For a long time I had beat myself up and always wondered if I had missed the signs, or wondered what would have happened if I had reached out to him sooner. Would he still be here? Even to this day I still feel like he’s going to pop up when I’m back home in Arizona, pointy shoes and all. There are still questions I wish I had the answers to. I wish a lot of things, but I know that he’s at peace now. It really opened my eyes to the realization that we never really know what people are going through and that suicide can affect anyone. It’s still something that’s hard to talk about because that means I’m admitting that it’s real, and that he’s really gone. The pain gets easier, but it never really goes away. I was going through his Twitter account the other day and one of the tweets he posted a few days before he took his life was, ‘Have you ever had that moment when you say, I love life?’ That’s what inspires me to keep doing this work. To remind our youth to love life, to live it to the fullest, and to never be afraid to reach out and ask for help because no matter how alone someone may be feeling, there are always people out there that love them and care for them. I just wish I could’ve been there to tell him that before he had taken his life, and I wish he could see all of the friends and family that miss him and still wish he was here.”
The amount of people sharing their stories is truly beautiful, encouraging, and inspiring. There are kids that want to become teachers, engineers, suicide prevention specialists, trainers, and consultants. There are kids that dream of attending colleges far from home. There is one common thing among all these posts, the desire to come back home and give back to their communities. “That’s the message I want to send is that they can do anything they set their minds to, I want them to know that they aren’t alone, that somewhere in this world there is someone that has gone through the same struggles that they’re going through, but that there’s hope. I want a kid to see #iWillLive tag on Facebook or Instagram and click on it and see youth from all over the country that care about them, that don’t want to see them lose their life to suicide.”
As a Native American youth, I have found the #IWillLive Photo Challenge very inspiring. I have spent the last year questioning my self-worth. I also spent a good amount of time contemplating suicide when I was 15. It is truly encouraging to know that I am not the only one to go through those same things.
#IWillLive #NSPW16 #CelebrationOfLife
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