Table 2.

Cultural Identity

Theme	Quotes
Not feeling connected to AI/AN culture	“Pow Wows are stupid.” (Youth)
Having pride in AI/AN culture	“It’s so multicultural in Oakland… and sometimes it makes it easier to find identity, but sometimes you find someone with the same ethnicity but trying to find the same Tribe is hard.” (Youth)
Improper or incomplete ethnic or cultural labeling by others	“I don’t see other people by their race, but I don’t see why they treat me like that, and half the time they call me Mexican – I don’t know how to speak Spanish but I’m Mexican [shrugs].” (Youth) “…my kids are here (living in an urban area) and that’s why they’re like, ‘no, no, no, I’m not Mexican, I’m Native.” (Parents) “In our neighborhood, we don’t have a lot of Native Americans, so they either get clumped into just what their color identifies them as. So they call him black. I mean they call him everything but Native. So, I think that’s really difficult for him in the identification.” (Parents)
Challenges with connecting with AI/AN culture in urban environment	“…unless you actually lived there (Indian reservation) and participated (in traditional activities), it’s still difficult. And then it (AI/AN culture) has to be taught in the home-in some cases, the parents have to be very strict about it. They have to tell you that’s mandatory-you have to speak your languages…we say it’s a spiritual language developed and evolved from Mother Earth, from the spiritual side of life, so it has whole different concepts that are unexplainable in the English language.” (CAB) “It’s different in the urban area. I came from a Res out there, and everything is sort of in tune, and it’s understandable. Here there are just noises and stuff, and it’s not the same, and nothing feels the same.” (Youth)

Note: CAB = The MICUNAY Community Advisory Board. This is the board of Native elders and community leaders we established to provide input on Native youth AOD use and feedback on the MICUNAY program content.