In a rare moment of cultural self-awareness, Lubbock has discovered that Native people are, in fact, still here. Cyndi Slaughter, who founded Native American People of the Plains and Beyond, has spent years trying to educate West Texans that Indigenous culture didn’t just evaporate the moment Columbus tripped over the shoreline. Her nonprofit is now planning a full-scale powwow for 2026—the first one in Lubbock since 2012—which, in local terms, means it’s practically a renaissance.
Texas switched from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day back in 2021, which Slaughter describes as “long overdue.” Considering Texas usually moves slower on social progress than a tractor in low gear, she’s not wrong. Her mission now is visibility: teaching people that Native communities aren’t historical decorations and that the “dress-up-like-a-Pilgrim-and-Indian” classroom pageant probably isn’t cutting-edge education.
Alongside her is 77-year-old Ken LeBlanc of Post, whose wife rediscovered she was Comanche through old family stories, proving ancestry tests aren’t the only way people reconnect with identity. He now makes beaded necklaces and carries a ceremonial pipe—one Europeans repeatedly disrespected, because of course they did. He and Slaughter both emphasize the same point: Native life isn’t a museum exhibit. It’s alive, local, and constantly ignored.
Despite making up just over 1% of Lubbock County, Indigenous Texans continue to influence the region’s culture, ecology, and history—mostly while being overlooked by a state that loves to forget anything uncomfortable. But Slaughter hopes that the 2026 powwow sparks curiosity, connection, and maybe—just maybe—a shred of respect from the people who live on land once entirely Comanche.
Will Lubbock actually show up to learn, or will folks just ask if there’ll be fry bread and a photo-op? Only time—and the 2026 powwow—will tell.
