Cindy Famero Receives Parent of the Year Award
Cindy Famero won the Parent of the Year Award at the 43rd Annual Award Ceremony for the Oklahoma Council for Indian Education.
“It's really surprising. I didn't even know I was nominated until I got an email that said I had received Parent of the Year from the Oklahoma Council on Indian Education,” she said. “I was floored, of course, because I've been in my own journey of education and non-education through my early school years. So, it was really an honor. I can only say that it's hard work, it's dedication, it's commitment, it's sustainability.”
She said reading the letter of nomination from Kelly Berry was a big deal to her.
“I know Kelly Berry. He used to work at the Comanche Nation, and he was the most humble, smart guy in the world,” Famero said. “Kind, gentle, and we sure hated to see him leave the Comanche Nation. He went on to, you know, bigger and better things, but his kind words, two pages worth on the nominating letter, was really shocking to me because you never know who you influence. You never know what your path has shown to other people. I expect that my light will shine light for others, but I didn't know that he would be so affected. So that's amazing to me.”
Famero is the president of Cameron University Native American Student Association, Vice Chair of the State Chapter Missing and Murdered People, Director and Founder of Warrior Woman Society, Founding Member of Comanche Academy, Founding Member of Indigenous People’s Day of Lawton and Comanche County Woman of the Year in 2019.
She’s been in school since 2008.
“I am dedicated to the pursuit of education for all Indigenous people,” Famero said. “I think that we need to retake and really unlearn the colonial way of education that we've been taught so that we can go back and redo what's been taken from us and really make it our own.”
She said the Comanche Academy founded Comanche Academy Indigenous Charter School because they wanted to change what’s seen in textbooks.
“It is Comanche-centered. And all the books that are there, and most of them, I should say, are books that have been vetted and placed there by people that are Indian educators,” Famero said. “It is important for us to bring in our children and teach them about themselves by showing them in their own textbooks. It's important that they see that they're valid. And so, I think that it's been difficult for our teachers more than our students because the teachers have been taught in the colonial setting. So, it's difficult for them to have to learn and unlearn at the same time. So, my hat's off to them, right? But we just need to come together and make sure that we can all work together to make sure that the Indian education that we have today is that. Not just given to us; it is who we are.”
At home, she said it’s hectic and chaotic with seven children and two dogs; however, Famero said the family is working hard in educational pursuits.
“Children will be what you are, right? And you will be what your friends are. And we, as educators, and when I say educator, I mean I educate on spirit, on the wellness of the spirit,” she said. “I educate on how I got my wellness from the generational traumas that we've endured. Every single one of these people here have been affected by generational trauma. And when I spoke about it, I didn't, you know, I kind of went, ‘Do I really say, do I want to say those hard things? Because nobody's really talking about those hard things.’ But in reality, everybody's affected by them. So, we cannot say that and feel it, or we can feel it and say that ‘We're affected by generational trauma.’ And I think that when I talk to my family, to my children, to the community, I talk about how we can get well through those traumas. And then everything else comes into place. Then you can be organized at school. You can be organized in your skill set. You can be organized in managing your time. You can be organized in your home. You can organize your money. You can do all that if your trauma has been recognized if your trauma has been worked on. If you're working on your trauma. Lots of people don't do that. They get education, but they're still traumatized. And so, I say we do it all together. And it's easier that way.”
Famero works with women around wellness.
“Around healing, around traumas, around domestic violence, around loss of their children, around loss of their parents,” she said. “It's affecting us in so many ways. The highest incarceration level we have is here in Oklahoma. We make up that population. The highest missing and murdered indigenous persons, we make up that population. The highest rate. It goes on and on and on. Most drug addicted. We're the most drug-addicted.So, all that comes from having a non-stable home environment, non-stable parents, non-stable life because of traumas.”
Famero said she expects a lot from traditional government.
“It's not going to change in a day. So, what I do is I maintain my integrity by being who I am and what I've learned to be as a sacred woman, a sacred native woman,” she said. “And that means that whatever I do, I do it in a safe space. People can come and talk to me. People can understand that this right here is a connection that we won't ever have again, and it won't ever be the same. And that's important that we value that.”
Comanche Nation Vice Chairman Cornel Pewewardy was also at the event and performed an honor song for those who won awards.
