Lily Joy Winder Will Never Stop Fighting for Her Ancestors and Native American Students Nationwide
Even during the most challenging times in history, it's important to highlight those who are continuing to follow their dreams and are taking strides to make the world a better place. Each month, Seventeen is honoring young people as Voices of Change, those who are making a difference in their community and the world at large.
Lily Joy Winder will not back down. A Diné and Southern Ute activist from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she will not stop fighting the battles that her ancestors started decades ago. She will not stop doing what she can to help protect Native American students across the country, who are subjected to damaging misrepresentation in their schools.
“I attended a really racist high school,” Lily Joy, 20, told Seventeen. “It was a lot day to day.” She was called racial slurs and faced hateful bigotry from her classmates. Realizing that her younger sibling would soon be a student at this school, she knew she had to do something to make their experience less disturbing. She created the Native American Student Union, amplifying the voices of her fellow Native students, and the Native students who would come after her.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in her junior year, Lily Joy used her platform on TikTok to speak to her 30,000 followers about the impacts of the pandemic on Indigenous people and how to donate to Navajo Nation relief funds. “While all of my other friends were mourning prom and state competitions, we were making calls back home to see if we lost anyone,” she explained.
While creating content, Lily Joy learned more about the issue of Native mascots in schools. “People kept sending me messages about how they felt unsafe in their racist high school, and that resonated with me,” she explained. Jumping into action, she compiled a Google Doc of high schools with Native mascots and existing petitions to remove them, and used her TikTok platform to raise awareness — to date, the #PeopleNotMascots hashtag has garnered 3.1 million views. The movement has grown into a website, People Not Mascots, which Lily Joy launched with her friend and coder Sofia Ongele. The site collects petitions by state, calling for secondary schools to remove their Native mascots and cease the proliferation of Native American stereotypes.
Next, Lily Joy, a current sophomore at Stanford University, will introduce a bill in the 2023 legislative session to ban Native mascots nationwide. Her activism is not to just make schools safer for students — it’s to humanize Native American people and stop the sexualization of Native women. “If I can make one student feel more safe in his school, if I can make even one school remove dehumanizing caricatures in their hallways and classrooms, maybe there would be less non-Native men sexually assaulting my sisters,” she said.
Below, Lily Joy Winder, our latest Seventeen Voice of Change, shares more about her mission and what keeps her fighting for her people.
How has your activism journey grown since high school?
Lily Joy Winder: In my junior year, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. I didn't really talk that much about Indigeneity at that point, but then I realized how many people didn't know Native people. I remember sitting at the TV with my mom, watching the COVID death toll rise in the Navajo Nation. So I took to my 30,000 followers on TikTok and kept talking about COVID, telling people to donate to Navajo Nation COVID relief funds.
Then June came, which is when the racial reckoning in 2020 happened. My father is Afro-Indigenous, so he's both Black and Native. I felt it was my responsibility to talk about Black Lives Matter, racial issues, and Indigeneity. A lot of people listened. People wanted to learn. I had things to say, so from there, I grew a platform of around 200,000 followers.
How did you launch People Not Mascots?
LJW: While talking about different Native issues, I kept coming back to the Native mascot issue. [After] I made a Google Doc spreadsheet with petitions, I took to TikTok and asked people to send me petitions — they poured in by the hundreds. I was so astounded. Sofia Ongele coded the People Not Mascots website, so we could reach out to state representatives and compile all petitions and resources. It’s been wildly successful with thousands of visitors from every continent taking action on the website. People were able to take petitions to their schools and make a case for the reason why they should have a Native mascot removed.
I started learning more about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and found that a third of Native women are raped. I felt like I wasn't doing enough for Native people. I felt like I wasn't doing enough for the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women epidemic. That was really hard, but then I decided that if I can make one student feel more safe in his school, if I can make even one school remove dehumanizing caricatures in their hallways and classrooms, maybe there would be less non-Native men sexually assaulting my sisters. When you have that level of dehumanization — and when that's one of the biggest forms of representation — there's going to be more men who do not treat Native women with respect.
So I kept working, trying to find a good angle with People Not Mascots. I applied for a program called Rise Justice Labs, thinking that I was going to learn more about the legislative process. But then I became so encouraged and thought, ‘Why don't I do this myself?’ So now, People Not Mascots and I are working on federal legislation that we’ll introduce in the 2023 legislative session. It's super exciting — even to introduce this legislation would be a huge win. The time was yesterday to pass a bill like this.
What motivates you to keep speaking up for your community?
LJW: This is the legacy of my people. I grew up with a family where both my parents were educated. My father is a professor of law and I go to Stanford. It is not only my privilege to do this work, but it's my duty as someone who has been given the resources and platform I've been given. In my community, you introduce yourself with your clans before you introduce yourself with your name because you are your community before you are yourself. I think that's something that's shocking to a lot of Americans but it makes sense to me. That's how I was raised. It's inherent to my people. It's inherent to my work. That's what keeps me going.
What has been your biggest accomplishment in your activism journey (so far)?
LJW: My sibling is currently the president of the Native American Student Union at my high school, which is so encouraging. They’ve lined up a president for next year. Because the Native American Student Union was created, so many other student affinity groups were formed. Creating work that you can pass along is sustainable work and that’s amazing. That has been so exciting for me to see. When you advocate for your community, not only are you helping your community, you are helping others as well. To have that many people make a difference in response to the creation of the Native American Student Union is part of the core of what I do. To know that I had an actual impact means the world to me. I did all of this to make a safe space for my sibling, so the fact that they haven’t had as many racist experiences means there's concrete change happening. Seeing that change gives me hope for change on a larger scale as well.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your activism journey?
LJW: There's two big challenges. Right now, it's very difficult to get people to care because there's so much to care about. There’s a lot going on and it's hard for people to care about the 2 percent in the country. But the 2 percent is my family. It’s all I think about. I want people to care. I had a conversation with another activist and asked, ‘How do you get people to care?’ He suggested we make an Instagram with the face of missing and murdered Indigenous women. I said we do that. I've had my stint of thinking nobody is going to care about this issue. What can we do to make people care about us? If people don't see as human beings, how are we going to get these missing and murdered rates lower? How do you get people to see you as human beings in the first place? It's like screaming into a void sometimes.
The second hardest challenge is when people do not take me seriously. Or they doubt my intelligence. That's happened my whole life. I'm a Native woman and I'd be the only Brown person in my AP classes. I received the same grades [as my peers] and would always be counted out for not being smart. I’ve gotten to the point where I'm able to validate myself and I know what my capabilities are. But it’s tough when you have to be the one to keep telling yourself, ‘You can do this.’ I've been told many times not to do something, or that I won't be able to accomplish the things that I do. But I do it anyway. I need a little bit of cockiness to stay afloat. When you're positioned as a threat, that's when people feel the need to take you down. I've been able to turn to my communities, turn to family. I'm not going to back down, and it’s naive and foolish of anyone to think that I would.
How do you protect your mental and emotional health?
LJW: I have to take a step back sometimes and say no to different things. Giving myself the space to do that has been really helpful. I go on runs. I have a really good support network. I try to prioritize not overworking myself and try to pass the baton when I can.
What advice would you have for young people hoping to get involved in activism work?
LJW: When you plant genuine seeds, you will create genuine change. You will see ripples turn into waves when you do something for the right reason. What you focus on grows. Mentors are essential to movements. Youth action is really important, but I think intergenerational action is the most powerful kind. If you really care about something and the goal is to better your community, and you chase after that and that's your North Star, you cannot go wrong. Enjoy the journey.
What does being a Voice of Change honoree mean to you?
LJW: I'm standing on the shoulders of people who have been doing this work for decades. I know I'm able to do the work I'm doing now because my ancestors had me in my mind when they were doing their work. Being a voice of change is being a voice of many.
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