Allen Salway Wants You To Wake Up To What What Navajo Nation Life Is Like

By Michell C. Clark


Activism was never a choice for Allen Salway. Like other 21-year-old college students, Salway adores listening to Megan Thee Stallion, watching sunsets, and using the correct meme at the correct time. Yet he is also community organizer as well as a staunch contributor for Indigenous peoples worldwide, who has personally experienced several of the issues that he writes about and works to remediate.


Salway grew up on the eastern piece of Navajo Nation, in New Mexico — without electricity, running water, or a residence address. The nearest source of drinkable water was hours awayand, in the scenario of an emergency, calling 911 on the reservation was never an option; group in attempt to survive, Salway and his family member had to deal with crises or threats themselves. In August 2017, Salway complex these realities of reservation life in a Twitter thread that soon went viral.


It was then that Salway realized that he had a responsibility to use his voice and bring light to the issues the people of the Navajo Country and other Indigenous tribes navigate on a day-to-day basis. Their struggles are exacerbated by the fact that their existence is often overlooked; studies show that media inclusion of contemporary Native peoples is so rare that 95 of 100 Google image search results for “Native American” are historic representations. A 2014 study also noticed that 87 percent of academic textbooks mentioning Indigenous peoples In America refer to them primarily as a population that only existed before 1900, once in reality approximately 2.9 million Indigenous Residents of the United States are alive today.


To that end, Salway uses social media — @LilNativeBoy on Twitter and Instagram — to stand in direct opposition to the modern day erasure of his people, and peoples like him. There, he shares uncomfortable truths from a lifetime of hardships brought by the United States government’s treatment of Indigenous peoples. His eats, and his work more broadly, serve as a critical reminder of the United States’s origins: It is a nation  built on land stolen from Indigenous peoples that the government keeps it up and continues to disenfranchise.


Salway currently serves as an ambassador for DigDeepH2O, a nonprofit business working to bring hot and cold running water to Navajo homes without access to water or sewer lines. (Out of the roughly 350,000 present-day population in the Navajo Country, approximately 40 percent of households don't have a tap or toilet at home; the Navajo Country is also facing the residual effects of a drought brought on by the intensifying climate crisis.) The student is also currently majoring in American Indian Statistics, with the aspiration of using his academic credentials and real-world experiences to teach at a respected university in the future.


MTV News discussed with Salway about how he uses social media to help the Navajo Country, regular misconceptions about Indigenous peoples, and why we can all do our part to support Native communities.


MTV News: What sparked your activism to start with? How did you start to harness social media group in attempt to reach more people and amplify the work you and your fellow activists are doing?


Allen Salway: I have been speaking and writing about Native issues since I was young. I’ve experienced most of them of the issues that I write about in my life. I saw social media being used as a tool by other Indigenous people to not only survive, yet also to educate each other and share personalized experiences that illustrate what we go through. I began to share my story, and eventually people began to take notice.


Most of my Twitter threads revolve around my experience growing up on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, and dealing with Native mascots at my own schools. I think a lot of folks are genuinely interested in seeing a Indigenous person openly navigate this society, because it hasn’t been shared publicly before, especially with younger generations.


MTV News: You use your social media and writing purposefully, as a means to supporter for fellow Indigenous peoples. What led your choice to use social in that way?


Salway: I determined to use social media to help my people because even As soon as I had very few followers, I felt like I had a voice. I was talking about issues that affected me. I saw social media as a means to spread needed data sort in attempt to combat the ignorance perpetuated in regards to our struggle. I also saw social media as a way to find other Natives, since our population is so small. It’s good to connect with others through healing work.


MTV News: What do you do for leisure while you have to decompress?


Salway: I’m attending college away from residence, so simply taking the trip back house to be able to see my family member cooperates with the me to recharge. While I’m at school in Tucson, I love watching the sunsets. I’m not from Tucson, although my blood is — this is O’odham land. I feel it every time I sit on a cliff at Gates Pass looking out at the desert.


I have [also] been listening to Megan Thee Stallion. I love her flow, the way she carries herself, and why her music makes you feel — she’s superior to several of the artists who are out now, and I think she deserves a lot more recognition.


MTV News:  You're currently going to college and majoring in American Indian Statistics. What led you to pick that focus?


Salway: Majoring in American Indian Statistics permits me to learn as much as I can about Native issues and Native history. This possibility holds a special place in my heart, because so much of our history has been lost. I also realized that there aren’t several Native educators in any institutions. I’d love have the ability to use my knowledge and work to teach my own class at a university one day.


MTV News: Have you found anything incongruent to what you've experienced as a Native citizen while focusing on American Indian Statistics at a collegiate level?


Salway: All the time. I oftentimes find myself correcting my own educators and peers about the true nature of the original inhabitants of this land.


One time a professor stated that he only considers those who are full-blood Navajo to be piece of Navajo Country, which offended me. I am Navajo, O’odham, and Lakota and grew up on the Navajo Country, living the Diné way of life. I explained to the class how the concept of blood quantum was instituted to destroy Native Nations. The quantity of Native blood that you have doesn’t matter. What matters is your connection to the community, and the community’s connection to you.


MTV News: You grew up on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico — what were some of the most unexpected adjustments you had to prepare any time once you started to attend college off of the reservation?


Salway: The biggest adjustment I’ve had to create is in regards to the significant disconnect that I feel from the land that made me and the culture that shaped me. I’m not around my family member the way I used to be. I’ve found that the more I learn out here, the more I forget my own language — which is scary to me, because language is the heart of any culture.


MTV News: In your viral Twitter thread about growing up on the Navajo reservation, you instructed us that you grew up without water, electricity, or a house address. Today, nearly 40 percent of Navajo don't have tap water or a toilet at house. Did you expect that thread to resonate so deeply with other people as soon as it took off?


Salway: I honestly didn't expect that Twitter thread to resonate with so several people. I had been hiding this piece of my life for so long. I was ashamed of it. I had to identify that it wasn’t my fault for being in the position that I’m in, and to notice that America is at fault for how they’ve treated us for centuries.


MTV News: Today, you're working as an ambassador for DigDeep, a community-managed utility option that brings hot and cold running water to homes without access to water or sewer lines. How did you become involved with them?


Salway: I noticed DigDeep through my own statistics about Navajo Country issues. Immediately after seeing the work that [they were] doing in the community that raised me, I began to share their story and support them in any way possible. Eventually, we got in touch and I worked with them to prepare and amplify a fundraiser that raised over $20,000 to help Navajo Country families increase access to running water and electricity for the initial time. I aspire to continue working with them up until all of my people have access to generic necessities like water and light.


MTV News: What are your immediate objectives as a Navajo Country citizen?


Salway: I want the United States to support the sovereignty of my Country and all Native Nations. This action alone would protect land water, and also other generic rights, all over North America. Each day, we visualize a new article about how limited our window of time is to save the Earth, so I’m not sure if we’ll ever visualize our generic rights upheld.


MTV News: Your aim is to "be who you needed any time whenever you were a little bit boy, and to help your people." What does that look like to you today?


Salway: I hope to be there for the youth and for my people, in any way possible. I know that I’m nowhere near my objective, and have a lot to learn and unlearn. Once I was younger, I needed to know that someone was there who'd experienced struggles similar to the situations that I dealt with. I needed to be able to see people who'd defeat, noticed happiness, and discovered healing. I required to understand the steps they took to find healing in their own lives.


MTV News: To be an ally requires action. Can you propose a number of ways that each person can tangibly support Native activists and communities?


Salway: The first step that each person must take is to acknowledge that the land they live on may have initially been inhabited by Indigenous people. That acknowledgement is key. Moreover, each person should seek to uplift the Native voices that need to be heard. Those voices may be hard to find, however believe me — they are there.


It’s key to support Native-owned businesses, several of which can be found with a fast Google search. Finally, it’s crucial to call out people and agencies who steal from Native artists — and Native people overall — because in the event you don’t, who will?