Wendsler Nosie Sr., broke his arm when he was 9, the sort of thing that happens to 9-year-old boys. He didn’t know it then, but the accident would help shape his life as a Native cultural rights activist.

“My mom took me to the hospital and they couldn’t fix it,” said Nosie, pointing to a spot high up near his shoulder. “They would have to send me to Phoenix for surgery.”

But before they made the 110-mile drive from their home in Peridot on the San Carlos Apache Reservation to Phoenix, Nosie’s mother, Elvera, wanted a second opinion.

“As soon as we came out of the hospital, we drove on a bumpy road through the river to a medicine man,” he said.

Nosie was taken to a holy ground, where the medicine man prayed. “He talked to my mother for a long time.” Elvera later sat the young boy down

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