Ethnography with Indigenous Youth

Though I have not yet completed the Humanizing Research chapter "Activist Ethnography with Indigenous Youth" by McCarty, Wyman, and Nicholas I am struck by what they are exploring and my own experiences.
I was born and raised in the southwestern city of Durango right next to the Southern Ute Indian reservation in Ignacio (along with about 4 other reservations). Due to Durango's proximity to the reservation and the relative low economic status that was Ignacio many of the children from the reservation attended school with me. As a child I never really understood the tension that existed in the United States between Native Americans and what is easily defined as their Colonizers. So I did not get why as the years progressed those that I had been friends with in elementary school began to exclude themselves from all their other peers into a tight knit group. In fact, the majority of my peers did not understand why the Indian students did this either and rather than try to understand we ignored them, displayed obvious discomfort around them (for they were the obvious "other" to us) and titled them as stuck up, antisocial, and rude. As I have gotten older and thought on this more I begin to understand why they chose to isolate themselves but I can only make guesses. It is possible that it was a tool of self preservation and protection or an unspoken agreement to stick together. I do not know if any of them spoke their "heritage language" though I do remember learning that many of the tribes surrounding our area held onto their language by a string due to the elders (the only ones who knew the language) dying off and the youth no longer wanting to learn it. I recall the urgency of this problem even now and the unspoken message that if these languages died that was it.
More specifically I remember in elementary school we took a field trip to Ignacio to visit the KSUT station. The day that we were there the city had finally resolve to tear down the Indian Boarding School like the one Jonathan mentions on page 85. I remember vividly standing watching the wrecking ball decimate the prison-like concrete building with the images from the video that we had just been shown documenting the history of this building. A video that mirrored Jonathan's own descriptions of these places: "They [government officials] took the children away from their families at a young age, and they instilled this image that is still alive - this image of self-hate. To be ashamed of who you are ... Its all about survival since 1492 ... It's all about how far will you go to - to survive" (85). I felt overwhelmed while watching this building fall by emotions I did not understand then and are now too far removed from me to explore now. I do recall experiencing a misplaced feeling of regret (I did not understand) as I looked at the few metal framed beds that had been forgotten teetering on the edge of a broken floor and wondered at the angry words graffitied on the walls, regret at destroying something that I believed to be part of history but now understand to be a symbol of oppression and destruction of a fragile culture.
I now wonder as the oppression of Indian culture continues to this day how we as teachers can incorporate it into our classrooms? How can we bring these legends, songs, languages (many of which I grew up listening to myself) into the classroom not as remnants of ancient cultures but as parts of living cultures?