“The crown always goes where it needs to go.” These words by Jessa Rae Growing Thunder, Miss Indian World 2012-2013, resonated with Tori when she was recently crowned. Tori (Yurok and Karuk Tribes), an American Indian College Fund scholar and University of California-Davis graduate, shared she had known about the Miss Indian World Pageant for some time but only decided to enter the five-day competition, which is held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this past January. She was crowned at the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow.
As Miss Indian World, Tori said she will serve as a role model, helping to demonstrate the beauty and diversity of Native cultures, and will represent the Gathering of Nations throughout the U.S., Canada, and internationally. On a more personal level, Tori hopes to bring awareness to the cultures of California tribes, the importance of language and cultural preservation, and the need for perseverance in protecting the environment.
Tori is no stranger to leading. As a UC-Davis graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Native American studies, she helped to form the school’s Native American and Indigenous Advisory Committee after an art exhibit on campus disrespected the local and student Native populations. She was voted onto the committee to serve as a representative and the co-chair to bring more visibility to Native students and cultures.
Her work with her own people, the Yurok Tribe, also allowed her to gain leadership and public speaking experience as she worked on projects in everything from food sovereignty to Native language acquisition.
Tori’s work with language is one of her main passions and has taken her across the globe to speak in places as far away as Australia about the importance of Indigenous language survival for California tribes. Language revitalization is one of the issues she’d like to advocate for during her tenure as Miss Indian World. In this, she says she is following in the footsteps of her predecessor, Tashina Red Hawk, who requested more funding for Native language revitalization from the U.S. Department of Interior. Tashina’s example is why Tori decided to pursue the title of Miss Indian World to bring more visibility to California Native tribes.
Tori’s tribal people, the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, were some of the last peoples to be contacted by colonizing forces. The remoteness of their lands, filled with redwoods and surrounded by mountains, may have delayed the negative effects of colonization, but the Yurok were still harmed and are today in the midst of the healing process.
Tori explained that at one point in time California hired militias to kill Native people and has never made amends for such atrocities. Yet non-Native residents of the state owe much to its Indigenous people, not only for the cultures they are willing to share but for the way they champion causes that affect everyone. For example, the Klamath River undamming project is the largest in world history and will help restore healthy flow conditions to benefit the entire watershed, notably the salmon runs which Native people and the river ecology have depended upon for providing nutrients to river health and food chains since the beginning of time. But it was a fight that spanned several generations, taking nearly a century to win.
Long-term struggles are no stranger to Tori, who likened them to the many generations of her own ancestors who fought for their people to gain federal recognition as tribes.
Tori hopes to use her Miss Indian World crown to channel that energy given by her ancestors, people, and environment to do more for her family, people, and all of Indian Country. Based on traditional teachings, she hopes her efforts will cause a ripple effect of positive change.
“Indigenous relationship to place can change the world. But it doesn’t happen in one generation, but over many.” As Miss Indian World, Tori will certainly be carrying forward the efforts of her ancestors and predecessors alike.