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by S.J. Wilson
Flagstaff, Arizona (NFIC)
Kelvin Long enjoys challenging Native Americans to elevate their game.
He is well known as an environmental justice advocate as director of
ECHOES (Educating Communities While Healing and Offering Environmental
Support) – an organization supporting sacred sites protection.
Long has also developed his own athletic clothing line, Peak State.
Talking with Long reveals a small sense of guilt. As a man who has
given tirelessly to his community and others, he seems uncomfortable
about the concept of making money. Giving back is a strong sense of
duty – so Long has announced his intention of dedicating a portion of
the company’s profit towards supporting Native athletes.
“I grew up playing sports – all the way through college,” Long said.
“Unfortunately, I found myself in a desk job and wasn’t able to
exercise.”
As the years passed, Long did put on some weight, but has been taking action that has him slimming down.
“I decided to go ahead and push through a healthier lifestyle through
being more active and in supporting other Native athletes,” Long added.
Long’s activist work takes him to communities throughout the United States and the world.
“Through this, I have come to realize that there was a need not only to
defend our lands, but to also support the physical, mental and
spiritual state of Indigenous people. Peak State is built around that
idea.
“It’s a realistic approach to support Native athletes – our athletic
clothing is designed based on cultural understandings of knowledge,
balance and spirituality,” Long added.
The vision of Peak State is to sponsor semi-professional athletes,
adding possible sports venues for Native athletes in the future.
Long is a realist. He has only to look into his own childhood to
realize the affect that outside cultures has on his own people. Though
his family provided him with a strong cultural foundation, there were
other avenues for development outside his home.
“Sports are very important to Native youth in developing a sense of belonging and value,” Long said.
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“Sports are very important to Native youth in developing a sense of
belonging and value,” Long said. “As a child, I wrestled and was an
all-star football player at Greyhills Academy in Tuba City. I trained
with my brother who was a professional kick boxer, and I even played
chess.”
“I was a little bit of a nerd,” Long confessed. “I was into theater,
and I used to write plays.” He went on to say that the opportunity to
DJ for the high school radio station also helped sharpen his
communication skills.
Sadly, there was also a strong, alluring gang presence – another way of
belonging – and Long found himself gravitating towards that lifestyle.
“Fortunately, I was caught by the police at a young age,” Long said. “I
got into some trouble, and then met my mentor, Norman Brown, who taught
me about the American Indian Movement and set me on my path towards the
not-for-profit world.”
Long works with Gabriel Yaiva, a hip hop artist who operates through
Native Movement (a Flagstaff-based cooperative of programs for youth)
with the Peace and Balance Program – speaking to young people about
drugs, alcohol and gang awareness.
“I see a need for young men and women to be a part of a group,” Long
said. “In the past we had hunting parties and other things of that
nature. Men would go off for days at a time, even weeks, and they would
have that camaraderie among themselves. When I see young people in
gangs, I think about that – there is definitely a need to provide
opportunities for young people to be together in a healthy environment.
Young people need to be challenged. They need to be supported as well.
“I think a lot of times, young people just want to find an outlet. But
everybody wants something better for themselves. Everybody wants to be
happy. If you can show success to a young person and tell them how to
get it without criticizing or putting anyone down, it is my experience
that they will embrace it.”
In comparing reservation life with a life in the projects, Long said
that after his first few years of living in the “deep rez,” he went to
school at Greyhills, where he realized that just because someone lives
in a city it doesn’t mean that there is a lot of opportunities.
“A lot of the kids growing up in the projects come from poor families,
and unfortunately you need money in the city to find opportunity,” Long
said. If there are no youth programs in your community, it seems the
system is created to keep the oppressed down.
“We are taught out there to achieve the American Dream, and that
doesn’t mean being a farmer or sheepherder, so if you are out on the
reservation, what does that leave you?” Long said. “You romanticize
American culture, and primarily what we get is what we see on
television, and that creates a lot of problems. Television romanticizes
the gang culture. It’s really easy to adapt to, to become part of. So
that gang culture provides that space for young people to be part of
something.”
As an adult, Long sees his athletic wear company as a way to provide opportunities for young people.
“Part of the concept for this company comes from the fact that we as
Indigenous people have some great athletes, but up to this point we
haven’t had our own athletic company to support them,” Long said. “We
want to develop a sense of pride for our athleticism rather than rely
on huge corporations like Nike. As Indigenous people, we are
intelligent enough to createthis for ourselves.”
When asked about his feelings towards the new line of Nike shoes designed for Native American buyers, Long smiled.
“Growing up as an athlete, shoes are something that my friends and I
always talked about. Some of my friends had flat feet, some have high
arches. Mine are kind of in the middle,” Long said. “So I laugh at the
idea that there is one shoe tailored specifically for Native people.
Just like our cultures, we are very diverse physically as human beings
– I don’t know if one shoe can fit us all.”
Long began the process of forming Peak State at the very end of 2006 –
and to date had developed T-shirts and a multitude of designs.
Currently his clothing is produced by a friend’s company, but Long
plans on taking this task into his home community of Kaibito.
There are very few jobs available in the Kaibito area – Long pointed
out that there are about 2,000 people, a school that provides
twenty-some jobs, a gas station and a convenience store.
“Unfortunately the majority of people in Kaibito leave the community to
look for work,” Long said. “This isn’t unique to Kaibito. It happens
all over the reservation. But there are enough of us who have an
interest in returning to the reservation – to strengthen the
infrastructure out there and to create more local business on the land.”
There is another answer, Long believes – and that is sports. Therefore,
his dream of opening the first Native-owned and operated sportswear
company includes the responsibility to support Native American athletes.
“Whether they are runners, boxers, rock climbers or archers, Peak State
challenges Native athletes to elevate their game to their peak state –
through training and balancing their physical and spiritual beings,”
Long said.
To view Peak State designs, visit www.myspace/peakstateworld .
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