Anthony Tamez

Anthony Tamez challenges misconceptions about urban Native youth. As co-president of Chi-Nations Youth Council in Chicago, Anthony leads Native youth in medicine walks to harvest ancestral plants, participates in demonstrations like the Standing Rock movement, helps young people with regalia making and more. Anthony is also passionate about advocating for the elimination of race-based mascots that promote stereotypes, and works against the ongoing erasure of indigenous people in what is now known as “Chicago”.

“A lot of the time, Urban Indians are thought of as absent of culture because we live in concrete jungles surrounded by settler and pop culture. Many believe we don’t even have land to practice our traditional harvesting and ceremonies, but the truth is what little access to land we have, we utilize it to persevere and enhance our tribal and inter-tribal cultures.”