Meet Owen Naqica, a 17-year-old proud to call Sacramento home
Through the end of September, we’re celebrating the people who, every day, make life in the Sacramento region meaningful and interesting. Through 12 stories, a collection of short profiles, you’ll “Meet your neighbors.” Read more here.
For Owen Naqica, there isn’t another place like Sacramento.
Maybe because he has lived here all his life — all 17 years of it. He is the first to concede he still has a lot of the world to see.
But, he swears, there is just something special about the city he has always called home.
“People here smile more at each other,” he says.
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The son of Fijian immigrants and the older brother to a now high school freshman, Naqica holds family close to heart. Family, to him, also includes neighbors, especially those in his South Sacramento community.
He grew up calling those living next door aunty, uncle and cousin, even though they were not related. His family traded persimmons for oranges through their backyard fence.
Yet the same city that inspired him to be neighborly also, in his own words, radicalized him.
Naqica was 9 when police shot and killed Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old Black man, in 2018. His pastor talked about it in church. Naqica joined protests as an elementary school student.
His takeaway: “Our voices actually mattered.”
And that is part of why he hasn’t waited. He hasn’t waited to get involved. He hasn’t waited to be old enough or for someone to tell him it’s his turn.
He wasn’t waiting the first time he took a seat on the Sacramento City Unified school board.
“We need a plan for students to be involved in the process.”
He sat down with questions.
“Is this the best that we can do with our budget? Can we do better?”
All were questions and comments Naqica levied as the newly elected student representative, in his first evening on the job. His remarks blended seamlessly into discussion with officials decades his senior.
During a routine agenda item, Naqica seconded a motion made by another board member.
“Is he allowed to second?” the board president asked. The district’s lawyer confirmed.
“Fantastic.”
