The story of where the "grace & Dignity Award" came from...

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as told by Ben H. Standifer, Jr., SXAA Executive Director

    While searching through old files on a land and water matter, I came across a stack of yellowed notes. The pages carried the weight of time. There were numbers, measurements, small sketches of canals and fields, hurried calculations, and faint doodles made in moments of deep thought. They felt alive, like echoes of long evenings when someone sat alone with responsibility pressing heavily on their heart.

Then, in the corner of one page, I saw it.

“Grace & Dignity for the O’odham.”

     Not written once, but traced again and again. Each time darker. Each time more certain. As if the hand that wrote it was reminding the spirit why the work mattered. I could not tell who wrote it—whether it was a board member, a staff member, or an executive director—but I could feel them. I could feel the moment. Perhaps they were tired. Perhaps they were frustrated. Perhaps they were facing resistance or doubt. Yet in that corner of the page, they anchored themselves to purpose.

     That phrase was not casual. It was prayer. It was instruction. It was promise.

     In our way as O’odham, we leave our spirit in our work. That person left theirs in those words. “Grace & Dignity for the O’odham” was a reminder that this fight was never only about land titles, water deliveries, or legal frameworks. It was about how our people would be treated. It was about ensuring that even in struggle, we walked with respect. Even in disagreement, we were not diminished. Even in loss, we were not broken.

     That phrase survived because it carried truth. It traveled forward in time to find us again.

And today, for the San Xavier Allottee Association, “Grace & Dignity for the O’odham” means:

 We fight firmly, but never without respect. Our voice is strong because it is rooted in dignity, not anger or desperation. 

 Land and water are not assets alone; they are sacred responsibilities. Grace honors the ancestors. Dignity protects the future. 

 Our people are not case numbers, parcels, or statistics. Every allottee represents a family, a story, and a legacy. 

 Dignity means we do not apologize for asserting our rights. Grace means we do it with humility and clarity. 

 Every board decision, every memo, every budget, every negotiation should reflect moral strength and ethical purpose. 

 Grace acknowledges the pain of broken promises. Dignity ensures that pain does not define us. 

 It reminds us that we work not for ourselves, but for all allottees, including those not yet born. 

 We carry our values forward even when working in modern systems of law, finance, and policy. 

That traced phrase honors those who worked quietly before us, often unseen, holding the line when resources were thin and recognition was scarce. 

Grace is about healing.
Dignity is about thriving.
Together, they define sovereignty of spirit. 

So when SXAA presents the Grace & Dignity Award, it is not just recognition of service. It is recognition of a way of being. It honors those who carry themselves with humility, who protect the people without compromising their values, and who remember that advocacy is sacred work.

That small corner of a forgotten page became a compass.

It still points us forward.