Joey Montoya: Urban Native Era
After the annual frenzy of Sundance has quieted down and Park City has returned to a quiet ski hamlet, a breath of change debuted. At this year’s Festival, the first Indigenous Lounge was opened with prayer and song, beginning two days of panels, screenings, and guest speakers. During the final weekend of Sundance, Salt Lily Magazine sat down with Joey Montoya, the founder of Urban Native Era, who attended Sundance to participate in the groundbreaking for the Indigenous Lounge. Based out of San Francisco, UNE showcases designs created by Indigenous peoples. With bold text adorning ball caps and enamel pins reminding you that “You are on Native Land,” their products and designs are sure to start a valuable dialogue.
Putting social change at the forefront of action is foundational to UNE. The brand, started in 2012 by Joey Montoya while a freshman in college serves as a platform to raise visibility and recognition of Indigenous peoples, both past and present. Montoya began the company with online content highlighting the “Idle No More” movement that began in Canada, with Indigenous peoples protesting the infringement of their water and land rights at the hands of the Canadian government. Feeling that people knew little of what was happening as this movement globalized in scale, Montoya posted photos and videos from “Ground Dance” rallies on FaceBook to raise greater awareness of this growing movement.
Montoya details his inspiration to create Urban Native Era: “At the time I was thinking about who I was because I grew up in the city, so that term “urban native” stuck to me. The era part came because I felt that that was a shift in the new era of indigenous folks fighting- I mean, we’ve always been fighting for our culture, for our land, but in different ways. It’s more of a younger generation starting to see a lot more resistance.”
Since its founding, Montoya reports positive interaction with the brand’s products and continually seeks to convey that their designs are for all to wear and enjoy. While visibility is paramount to the brand, Montoya highlights that “Indigenous folks don’t have to always be fighting and pushing our issues.” In short, it is not the exclusive job of Indigenous peoples to educate the public at large on the multifaceted issues faced by their communities across the world and throughout history. Through valuable conversations such as this, the importance of education can not be overstated.
While cognizant of not wanting to overstep cultural boundaries in educating oneself, Montoya elaborates that “the main thing is just listening to the issues….When you interact with someone in the community and get to know them you can make your help available without pushing boundaries...even in just learning about more activism and movements and stuff. Everyone is doing their job in this whole movement in pushing Indigenous folks to the forefront of visibility, and we’re all in this. No position or level of what you’re doing is greater than another, it’s all equal and on that equal line.”
When asked “What have you learned?” Montoya responds with the truth that is timeless in nature: “One thing I know is that education is key to a lot of things. With the things we do we make sure that we try to educate in some way…. I think education is really something that will push this whole different narrative of what people think of indigenous folks overall, and in figuring that out. There’s a lot of folks who are working on that point in really diving deep into education, and changing the curriculum for schools and stuff like that- so I think that’s a really important thing, and something you learn along the way.”
On the business side of his operations, he continues “I’ve learned a lot of things like I didn’t know how to run a business, I didn’t take any classes on running a business so (laughs) it’s been… yeah…. I think a lot of people feel like “oh, I have to have all these things lined up,” which, in a sense, you want to be prepared and prepping, but sometimes you spend years and years trying to build something, and then you don’t start it. For me, it’s more like “let’s get stuff going.” So yeah, there’s a lot of things I have learned, but I think education is the main thing, that we need people to be educated about Indigenous issues and about our people in general, and getting away from the stereotypes and all that kind of stuff.”
Stereotypes that negatively affect Indigenous communities across the world seem monolithic in nature, and the work in deconstructing negative stereotypes surrounding Indigenous peoples is making significant headway. On Indigenous empowerment, Montoya states “I think that me personally coming from a strong background of our Indigenous folks empowers you.” Seeing the work being done in the movement towards fighting back against negative stereotypes is another point of empowerment, and Montoya detailed the work of the Illuminative organization and the conglomerate of people moving the conversation forward, upholding that “invisibility now is racism in today’s age.” Their simple and concise Instagram bio says it all: “Urban Native Era® is more than just a brand.”
Moving forward in this new era at hand, 2020 is promising for UNE as Montoya details that, as a brand, they seek to engage with the public more in using products to educate and interact. Since its beginning, UNE has become more than an apparel brand and Montoya feels that people want something to be behind as more folks look to UNE for education and empowerment. When asked what change looks like for the company going forward, Montoya replies: “As a brand, we obviously want to continue to raise support of Indigenous issues, and really grow the brand to one that people will recognize and see. Right now we’re in this grassroots area which is nice and good, but also as a Native person you don’t want to be kept in a box, right? So I’m always trying to make it something everyone can wear... I think, like, breaking out of that and this into somewhat mainstream to get the point across and breakthrough so we can show that these things are happening in our communities… Our goal is to build a brand in that sense.”
The Urban Native Era spring collection is currently underway with their newest theme “For The Next Leaders,” and is available on their online shop. Always remember to educate yourself. Do your research: shop “Inspired Indigenous” and Indigenous/Native-owned products and designs, not “Indigenous/Native Inspired.”
