Victor Rocha feels he has found his place in the world, using his cyber drum
to tap out news of the world and his community. It's an occupation and a
responsibility he said he feels fortunate to have.
"Fortunate. You'll hear me say that word a lot, because I am," he said.
Rocha is the webmaster for the Web site of the Pechanga band of Luiseno Indians, Pechanga.net, where visitors can get "Indian gaming news and much more." What began as a news digest to disseminate information to tribes about gambling ballot measures has become a key source for anyone interested in "Native American issues, gaming issues and Indian gaming issues."
Rocha, a registered member of the band, is a cousin of Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro.
The site includes a range of choices, including a chat room, guest book, gambling links and an American Indian Web site for children. Internet surfers who select "Victor's Web Links" will find unexpected subjects like vintage guitars, a Bill Gates Web site, "Gilligan's Island's" Dawn Wells' Web site and a One-Stop Government Web site.
E-mail comes in from around the world. Rocha said he recently received a message from India seeking advice.
"They just see Indian and they don't go beyond that," he said. "This guy wrote to me asking for advice because his wife wasn't being obedient and it was embarrassing him in front of his family."
Rocha, 39, was raised in Colton, the second oldest of seven siblings in a blended family. He said his childhood was hard, a typical urban Indian kid growing up without any kind of roots.
"I had a dysfunctional family and I did everything I could to stay alive, until I was 30," he said. "I attended public school, but I was fortunate. I was a bookworm, so I got an education in spite of my public school education. My teachers recognized that I had something extra, and encouraged it."
Fresh out of high school, Rocha got a job in a San Bernardino record store where he found mentors who broadened his perspective. He began pursuing a musical career, playing and recording. He moved east in 1987, living his music dream for a time in New Jersey and New York, but he returned to California in 1990. As a cure for his rootless feeling, he began getting in touch with his tribe. His grandmother had moved back to the reservation from the city in the late '80s, he said, and she helped him learn more about his ancestors.
"I didn't feel grounded until the tribe accepted me," he said. As he got more involved with the tribe, he felt more grounded by the love he said they gave him.
"They gave me some roots," he said. " And ever since then, I've felt like I had to give something back, and that's why I have the Web site."
Rocha had learned some computer skills in junior college, he said. He bought his computer three years ago, took it into his loft, sat down and installed it, and he's been there ever since, he said.
"It (the Web site) was created with the best of intentions, to help my tribe," he said. "Then I found out that I can also help other tribes."
The most recent outreach to another tribe came through a convergence of events, beginning with a trip to Washington, D.C., where he watched the presidential inauguration parade with a group which included an aide to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (R-W.Va.) . About a week later, as Rocha was compiling his news digest, he came across an article about a town in West Virginia which is trying to reclaim the remains from 600 American Indian graves. The bodies are stored in plastic bags at Ohio State University, and residents want them returned to sacred tribal ground. Rocha e-mailed the story to his contact in Rockefeller's office, and staff there will be making inquiries into the matter.
"My ability to get things done has to do with my ability to see how things are connected, and how they can be, and how they should be," he said. "That is what I was born to do and I feel that I am helping in the sense of a civil rights worker, moving people forward,"
Rocha is emphatically not a morning person, and a typical day for him starts when he wakes at 10 a.m. He immediately turns on his computer and begins multi-tasking. He loads his Web site, checks his e-mail, culls for relevant news articles, makes phone calls and checks his visitors book, working until 4 p.m. He then might nap until 6, have dinner and maybe a little TV; but by 9 p.m. he's back in the loft where he'll work to compile the news in time for his East Coast readers to get it before going to work.
"I'm riding on top of this big behemoth juggernaut called the Internet," he said. "And I'm hanging on, and I'm having the time of my life."
More important, he said, he now gets paid for doing it. At start-up, he worked without pay. Now he sells some advertising.
"I'm making a living, which is important in this society. You can't just be a gadfly. I pay my taxes just like anybody else."
Contact staff writer Agnes Diggs at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or adiggs@nctimes.com .
2/18/01