The Hilton Arlington in Arlington, Virginia will be the host hotel for the annual Mid-Year UNITY Conference which will be held February 11-15. The sessions will be in the Conference Center of the nearby corporate headquarters of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
MID-YEAR is designed primarily for the National UNITY Council representatives (one young woman and one young man from each affiliated youth council) and their advisors. In addition to leadership training, interacting with government officials, visiting elected representatives on Capitol Hill, youth will provide valuable input into finalizing plans for the 2009 National UNITY Conference.
Photo Left to right: Mary Kim Titla; Lance Gumbs, Trustee of the Shinnecock Nation of New York; Michelle Tom, Navajo; and Millie Titla. (Courtesy Lance Gumbs)
I had seen throngs of people gathered on old footage such as when Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I have a dream" speech in
front of the Lincoln Memorial and on TV like the MillionMan March but
I'd never been in the midst of such a gathering until Inauguration Day.
The
proof it was as bad as experts had warned began in the morning as my
group of four boarded the Metro (subway) into Washington. We were
packed like sardines. It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic.
On
the way I asked people where they were from. Many were local, from
Virginia or the Washington, DC proper, and many others came from the
nearby New England or other Northeastern states. I personally met
visitors from Washington State, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia and
Belgium, and I noticed all races of people who converged on this day to
see the first black President sworn into office. Of course, many wanted
to know where I was from and if I was Native American. I proudly
responded I was from Arizona and I'm an Apache Indian.
