- I've told people that I'm Native American.
They're like, "What is that?
What does that mean?"
It means I'm Indigenous.
I'm from here.
Like, I'm here. (laughs)
(upbeat pop music)
- [Interviewer] I am offended by Disney's "Pocahontas".
Three, two, one.
(tense music)
(text box popping)
- The movie came out when I was a child
and it was the first like, Native anything
that I'd seen, right?
I see the good in it, you know.
I could see Natives on the screen, but then you have songs
like, "Savages, savages," you know, "barely even human."
There's like, bullshit like that that's in there.
I liked it when I was a child, but as an adult, I don't.
No. (laughs)
- Yeah, I mean like, some of those songs are bangers, right?
Like "Colors of the Wind."
Like you can listen to that all day.
- Savages, savages.
- I mean, maybe not that one.
That one's definitely offensive.
I would jump over there for that.
It's tough because like, it gave us a place
to like have, something to speak against
or to say anything about.
So like, do I need to be mad about it?
That it actually gave us like some sort of onscreen,
even though it's a cartoon?
I don't know.
- I think it's great that we can talk about it now,
but the fact that it exists,
I think it's a dangerous depiction,
especially of Native women and a lot of our youth
have had to experience difficult things,
racist things because of that imagery.
- It further engraves those stereotypes
that somehow, Native women all dressed like, that sexy
like, way back then.
And like, my opinion of "Pocahontas" has evolved over time.
I would say six-year-old me would say strongly disagree
'cause I saw a Native woman
and it was a happy, romanticized,
you know, story of Pocahontas.
But as I've grown up, I've done more research on her story
and what's happened to her.
- [Interviewer] My community benefits from casinos.
Three, two, one.
(soft intense music)
(text box pops)
- Mine definitely does not.
There's no good advertising
because they don't have the funding or enough funding
to like, advertise it and market it really well.
So every time I'm there to get my favorite chicken fingers
and mashed potatoes, their own customer base
is their own people and so they're not really bringing in
revenue from tourism or anything like that
or just people driving down I-90.
- Yeah, I mean like the, the Chickasaw Nation,
like, we're able to provide all sorts of services
for our community because of profits from our casinos.
Like, just basic healthcare.
Like, we have that.
Like, school services, all these things
and it's very beneficial to my community.
- My tribe is new to gaming, but as far as I know,
Navajo Nation scholarships could increase
because of all of the gaming and that revenue,
but I haven't seen it.
Like the Navajo Nation scholarships
are not very much at all.
- I think that that's a huge stereotype
that a lot of people are always like,
oh, well, you guys have casinos.
Okay, yeah, my tribe has more than one casino,
but you don't see me rolling in money
and getting monthly cash payments.
Like, it's just a stereotype.
- There's also, you know, these negative aspects of it.
Like, you know, people come in on the Rez
and thinking that it's, you know, they're place to party
and, you know, do whatever they want.
One of my friends on Facebook posted something
about our casinos and how they're kind of contributing
to the missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis.
How that's a lot of women
come up missing at these locations.
- And they're hotspots for human trafficking.
- They are.
- Just to put it in perspective for people that don't know
what this issue is, in 2016,
5,712 women were reported missing and that's only 2016.
You know, they deemed this epidemic a genocide
and that there are just thousands and thousands of women
going missing and murdered.
And so this is something that, you know,
we need to find solutions for.
- [Interviewer] The general public is unaware
of the trauma in our communities.
Three, two, one.
(soft intense music)
(text box pops)
- Because they don't even know our history,
don't understand our trauma, and, you know,
my younger brother committed suicide when he was 17.
My little brother was one of eight Navajo boys
that committed suicide that summer in my area.
And, you know, when I talk about that, they're like,
"Oh, my God. Like, what can we do?"
- They don't even know that we exist at times.
We're so invisible.
You know, so like, we have to first show people
that we're still fucking here
and then we have to educate them on all the fucking trauma
that we've been through, all the, you know,
and that's the whole reason that we have like,
the highest statistics for like, suicide,
for new cases of HIV and AIDS, for, you know-
- Diabetes.
- Diabetes, all these different, you know, things
because of all these traumas
that we've had to go through as people.
- I don't know if anybody else has gotten this.
When you're asked like, "What are you? What are you?"
I was like, "Oh, I'm Native American."
I'm waiting for all those questions to happen.
Oh, do you do dream catchers?
Do you wear moccasins?
All these fun things.
But the one that really pisses me off
is, "So y'all have drinking problems, right?"
And I was like, oh, dude.
Like, I mean, it kills because you don't know why
we have drinking problems or some, unfortunately,
have that to carry.
- Well, the government made treaties with Indigenous people
and every single one of them has been broken.
You know, that's why for a long time,
a lot of our communities have been like, suffering
because of what the government has put us through
and relocated us to different parts of Turtle Island,
away from our original homelands where we were.
- Personal experience.
Like, when I tell someone I'm Chickasaw
and then tell them I'm from Oklahoma,
they're like, "Well, how'd your family get to Oklahoma?"
It's like, Trail of Tears, dog.
That's like.
Like, I understand why we don't talk about it,
but it's not good that we don't.
We gotta find like, a place to speak about it,
but in a way that like, doesn't create like, guilt
for like, just an individual
because like, that person has not done anything to me.
I'm not trying to make them feel guilty.
Oh, I just think they need to understand
that there was this trauma and there are reasons why
our communities are fractured because of this.
- [Interviewer] Blood quantum matters.
Three, two, one.
(soft intense music)
(text box pops)
- You know, during the 70s,
during the American Indian movement,
there was fighting between full bloods, half.
You know, and that created this divide of, you know,
who's more of the superior Native,
who's more of the full blood.
You know, if you can prove that you are Native,
whether you're one 16th, but you can prove it,
I'm totally for that.
I feel like blood quantum creates a divide
and it's further, you know, separating us
from our culture and from who we are.
- Another thing we have to look at, too,
is for folks who are multiple tribes, you know.
We live in an urban environment.
I know people who are like, five or six tribes.
They're not eligible for enrollment in any any one.
They're full blood Native.
They're from all these different tribes,
but they can't enroll in one
because they're not enough of that one particular tribe.
They still have all these connections to the community.
They have all these ties.
They do all these, but they're not enrolled.
You know, they don't have that connection on paper.
- You know, we can't help that we're mixed blood
because of our histories and what happened to us.
You know, our ancestors were raped.
They were taken from their tribes.
So we have a lot of people, a lot of Native people,
coming back today who want to be part of the community
and we should be accepting of that
and blood quantum shouldn't matter.
You know, that's who they are.
- Well, for myself, I'm full blood Tohono O'odham,
but I know that there are people that can say
that they are Native and they're not.
And that can be very hurtful to people
that need to get the same benefits.
In college, I was looking.
I got a list of all the people that were Native
in my college and I went and I found everybody.
And this one girl was like,
"Oh, yeah, I just said that so I could get in."
Because the school didn't ask for any, you know.
They were just like, oh, if you're Native, check this box.
So for me, I say that yeah, I somewhat agree
that it does matter.
- I mean, I see the benefits, too,
'cause sometimes, when you have to apply to something
like scholarships or certain things, you know,
they do want accurate records.
- Yeah, but like how much is enough blood?
Because like, I think if we're going to say
that blood quantums are important,
then how much is enough to be a Native person?
It's hard like, when people want you to prove
that you're Native all the time.
I am very mixed with like, so many different races,
but like, the one I grew up knowing about
and the one that I identified with was Chickasaw
because that was the dominant one in my household
and that was like, what we did.
But in a lot of communities, like people who are more Native
than I am or Indigenous than I am will be like,
"Well, you kind of can't speak to this
'cause you don't know what it feels like."
And it's like, yeah, I do
because I grew up with that exact same thing as you,
but I just don't look exactly like you.
The trauma's still there.
How do you justify that I am less
because of like, my blood is less?
- [Interviewer] I have felt ashamed of my identity.
Three, two, one.
(soft intense music)
(text box pops)
- I was adopted and so I feel like I'm somewhat agree
because growing up, I didn't know my identity.
I grew up in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood
and I stood out 'cause I'm dark-skinned, dark hair.
And people would be like, "What are you?"
There was a disconnect.
But as an adult, I don't feel that way at all.
Like, every day, I'm very proud.
I'm very excited and I'm happy to tell people
that I'm Tohono O'odham.
- I mean, I didn't feel ashamed until I was nine
growing up on the reservation in lower rural South Dakota
and surrounded by my family and culture
and we were just so close and that's what, you know,
our tribal communities bring to us.
But then my dad got a job out in Maine,
the most rural place you could go,
and that's where I started experiencing racism
and started seeing that I was different
and being called a prairie nigger,
having brass knuckles shoved in my face
because a hate crime was happening
because I was walking with a white student
who was walking me to my dad's office.
For a long time, I really hated who I was.
I was embarrassed to be brown.
Now, I fucking own it.
My experience is a little bit different.
I grew up in North Jersey, New York, Canada, all around
and I still never, ever felt like, racially profiled.
It wasn't until maybe high school when I moved back home,
a lot of the Iroquois kids, the Mohawk kids, you know,
they lived there their whole life.
I had moved around so much.
I think that's the only time I felt a little ashamed
is 'cause I didn't have any roots.
But other than that, I still felt welcomed.
I felt part of this group, part of that group.
- For me, getting more in touch with my culture,
learning about where I come from,
that's what really saved my life.
So, I feel like I've never been ashamed of it.
It just makes me more proud.
Being a queer Indigenous person, as well.
That's, you know, brought me out of a really dark place,
learning about what my role is in the community
as a two-spirit person.
I was a meth addict for a very long time as a child
from the time I was 14-years-old to the time I was 19.
Looking back to my upbringing and my culture and all that,
the things that gave me a sense of identity,
that's what brought me out of those dark places.
- [Interviewer] I believe the government owes us.
Three, two, one.
(soft intense music)
(text box pops)
- Yes, they do owe our people tons of things.
Can't even imagine like, the list I've got in my head.
But I think, too, we owe ourselves some stuff, too.
Reclamation, decolonization.
We need to love ourselves more.
- Yeah, I agree and that's why I'm don't say strongly agree
because yeah, we're stepping up
and we're more educated and stronger than ever.
But, you know, I do think that we deserve better healthcare.
We deserve better educational systems.
We deserve better textbooks in our schools.
- I'm not expecting anything as far as like being owed,
but what I would like, it doesn't cost any money,
is an apology.
It's an acknowledgement.
They've done that in other countries where they're like,
"Oh, we're sorry.
We came in and we massacred your Indigenous population,"
and they apologize for it.
And that much, I think that we're owed
and I think that that would help bring
a lot of healing amongst our people.
- I mean, I can only speak for like myself as an individual.
I can't speak for everybody or even a collective
because I'm only one person,
but like, an apology doesn't like, heal me anymore.
I mean, like, it's cool.
That would be good, but like, it doesn't make me
like, do anything different than I'm doing now.
I just, I don't think that feeling owed
gives us the same place of power
that knowing that like, no one owes mean anything.
I'm just gonna get it.
- Well, me just keeping it real.
Maybe that comes from a little bit of this.
You know, colorism is a real thing.
It happens and maybe you don't feel that
because of, you know, you have a different place
in this society than somebody else with a darker skin tone.
- Well, I mean, I'll address that.
In high school, I stopped going outside
because I would get too dark and I had long hair
and so I have felt that, so I know what you're saying,
but like, even during that time,
even when I would like, go to Walmart
and get followed around, even when I would get pulled over
four times a week for driving while Brown,
I still was in the same mindset of like,
I'm going to get it, regardless of what's in front of me.
So I mean, maybe that's just me a personality thing,
but like, as far as like, skin color goes, like, I felt it.
- I think though, or I'm looking at it from the perspective,
like, they don't owe me, but if they can acknowledge
and hold themselves accountable in what they have done
and what previous presidents have done,
previous governments, that creates a new path for change.
Because when you admit to something
and acknowledge that it's there, then that behavior changes.
I think we need investment in accountability
and I'm not even coming at it
from like, a monetary standpoint.
Like, oh, give us millions of dollars
and we'll call it even.
We need people to care
and, you know, we need accountability.
(group cheering and clapping)
- High five.
- Yes.
- Hi everyone.
Thanks for sticking around to the end.
Erin, I know that this is an episode
that was really near and dear to your heart.
Can you just tell us why you wanted to this episode?
- So I'm not Native American,
but I am Native Hawaiian and an an Indigenous person
and I do feel like the Indigenous people
are not in the media at all
or they're shown in a very inaccurate way.
And so I thought this was an opportunity to shed light
on a community that's often neglected
and where most people don't even know
these communities exist anymore.
- Well, hopefully you guys have found
that Spectrum is a good kind of window
into an entire community, entire group of thinking.
Let us know what you thought in the comments below.
Let us know if there was anything
that struck you in particular
or especially if you're part of one of these groups.
We would love to hear your opinions.
Make sure you follow us on Instagram, as well,
because that's where we're getting a lot of our prompts.
Like, subscribe, and we'll see you next time.
- Thanks, guys.
(gentle upbeat hip-hop music)