Rowing in Color Launches First Indigenous Boat

Lakota Longhorn (Photo by Ella Bramwell)

Saturday afternoon, 18-year-old Lakota Longhorn stood on the banks of the Charles River, preparing to make her Head of the Charles debut. Her expression was stoic and focused, marked by a bright red handprint – a symbol of solidarity with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement – which was also painted on her boat’s oars.

(Photo by Ella Bramwell)

Lakota is of Cheyenne River Sioux, Absentee Shawnee and Northern Arapaho descent. On Saturday, she raced in the Women’s Club Fours event with an all-Indigenous boat – believed to be the first in the regatta’s history. The responsibility of representing her community is not lost on Lakota, who travelled here from her hometown of Moore, Oklahoma.

“It’s important to me because, being Indigenous, for years and years we didn’t have that. It’s just been a predominantly white sport,” Lakota says. “A big part of it is letting people know, ‘Hey! We’re here.’”

Three others rowed alongside her, including Lakota’s 15-year-old sister, Nialisa. These athletes – women with roots in Indigenous communities in North and South America – are part of Rowing in Color, an organization designed to foster diversity within the sport.

(Photo by Ella Bramwell)

Rowing in Color began in January 2020 with a podcast launched by two rowing enthusiasts, Denise Aquino and Patricia Destine. Today, it’s a multi-platform initiative with over 30 active members and a community of 7000 members, which brings people of color from across the United States together through rowing and to compete at events like the Head of the Charles. It’s a community that Aquino, who has discovered rowing as a college student in 2006 and worked for rowing organizations in the past, wishes was available to her.

“I didn’t get seats at the table for myself, or even if I did have a seat, it was like I didn’t have a microphone: I wasn’t heard or honestly, I was just ignored,” Aquino said. “With Rowing in Color, both Patricia and I created our own table, made a lot of seats, and what you see at Head of the Charles is the result.”

Their boats aren’t winning yet, but Rowing in Color’s athletes aren’t discouraged. The Indigenous boat finished 44^th, but the Longhorn sisters feel that representing their community on such a big stage was why they were here.

“I know I was racing for something that was bigger than me,” Nialisa said. “This was to represent the first ever fully Indigenous women’s boat to ever come down the course, so I’m super proud.”