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18 Unique Stations from Border to Border
Special Editions | documentaries and special reports
Native Lights | stories of people within Minnesota’s Native communities
This week on Minnesota Native News, a groundbreaking, a grand opening and an update on wild rice. Red Lake Nation’s new housing project is underway near last year’s Wall of Forgotten Natives.
Headlines:
Marie: This week on Minnesota Native News, a groundbreaking, a grand opening and a mid-season update.
This is Minnesota Native News. I’m Marie Rock.
[Story #1 Mino-bimaadiziwin}
[Marie:]
Hundreds of people celebrated on the site of the last year’s homeless encampment in Minneapolis. They were celebrating a Native-led affordable housing project that broke ground over the weekend. Laurie Stern reports.
[1-2-3 yayayayay…] That’s the sound of two dozen shovels biting into the dirt to celebrate a milestone. Construction has begun for a 110-unit apartment building that will house low-income and formerly homeless people. The land is owned by Red Lake Nation, which is developing the project just blocks from the Native cultural corridor on Franklin Avenue. Sam Strong is secretary of Red Lake Nation.
Sam: a year and a half from now, we're going to have our drums out here. We're going to be teaching our kids to the language. We're going to be helping our people overcome the addiction struggles that they're dealing with. And we're going to, we're going to have a place to call home.
Red Lake is working with Minneapolis, state and federal officials to make sure the new permanent housing will serve community needs.
Sam:
when the system is broken, it must be fixed. And so we're working on fixing the system. And this development has really been a huge impetus for not only Red Lakers, but for all native people to say, wait a second. If we're the most underserved, under representative portion of the population, why are these laws that are meant to protect us, hurting us.
Plans for the project have been underway since 2015. It’s called Meenobeemadizzy-man, the good life. The new units should be ready in 2021.
[Story Two Migizi]
Marie: Native Minnesota and allies also turned out for the grand opening of Migizi (Mih-GIZZ-ee) Communications in its new space just off Lake Street near South High School. The 40-plus-year-old nonprofit trains Native youth to tell their own stories and stories of their communities. The spacious new location features a media studio, an art gallery and plenty of gathering space. Kelly: I am Kelly Drummer, executive director of Migizi Communitcations, Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan is here, Mayor Jacob Fry is here, we are thrilled to be in this new space with so many supporters. Bdishekwe: It's been so quiet til tonight. This is Bdishekwe {bah-DEESH-ee-kway} Means. She started at Migizi in high school and now is part of the staff.
Bdishekwe:
we have a green jobs program and we have cultural programs like sacred visions and we do homework help and things like that for the community. And so we're just, we're always working with youth and trying to build that next generation to make sure that, you know, one, they're getting livable wage jobs and that they're educated, um, and that they know how to navigate throughout our community.
[Story Three wild-rice harvest]
Marie: Now that we’re well into the wild rice season, we thought we’d check in with Jeff Savage, a lifelong harvester and member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Jeff: Now that I’m older I’m teaching my grandchildren, went out with my 14-year-old grandson this year.
Marie: Jeff said they had to go west to find good rice though. He says so far the harvest hasn’t been great on Leech Lake either, but it’s okay on White Earth.
Jeff Savage
As Anishinabe people it is our sacred responsibility to go where the food grows on the water and to be caretakers///And then we have these other issues like a mining waste, invasive species that are very serious disruptors to not only this//And then we have all of this we have to deal with and still try to keep the wild race for the future generations. So it’s not just a food product it’s also the way we identify ourselves.
Mainstream institutions have struggled to accurately and ethically tell the story of what happened to the Dakota People in 1862. As Laurie Stern reports, Minnesota’s History Theater is working on that with a Lakota playwright and the Dakota community.
Headlines:
Marie: This week on Minnesota Native News, a peek behind the curtain of a play that’s bound to change minds.
This is Minnesota Native News. I’m Marie Rock.
[Story #1 The Dakota Project]
Marie: Mainstream institutions have struggled to accurately and ethically tell the story of what happened to the Dakota People in 1862. As Laurie Stern reports, Minnesota’s History Theater is working on that now.
Laurie: The History Theater has a mission, and that is to tell the story of everyone who lives in Minnesota. But the theater has been stuck on what happened during the U.S. Dakota War of 1862. It’s a hard story to get right.
Larissa Fasthorse mitakuyapi. my name is Larissa Fasthorse. I'm from Sicangu Lakota nation. I am a playwright and I have been asked by history theater to create a play around the events of the Dakota people in Minnesota in 1862. Um, I've spent the past year talking to lots of Dakota people to ask them how they want that story to be told. And today's the first reading of my first version of trying to fulfill their wishes.
Larissa Fasthorse is not the first playwright to work on what the History Theater calls The Dakota Project. But she is doing something that makes it more likely her play will be produced. She asked Dakota community members whether the story should even be told, and she asked them how it should be told. That’s because she and the History Theater understand it’s not THEIR story to tell – it’s a story that belongs to the Dakota people who lived it. Now their descendants are helping to write the play. This summer Larissa Fasthorse and the History Theater asked indigenous actors to read what she has so far to an audience at the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
(play excerpt) What is it you enjoy so much about the white ceremony? The women sing together with the men all the time and it is so beautiful. You do not think our Dakota singing is beautiful? The missionary singing is in Dakota too – so beautiful like nothing I’ve ever heard before.
The play’s central characters are a Dakota mother and daughter who react differently to the turmoil around them. The play also features Taoyateduta (Little Crow) - the flawed Dakota leader who tries to negotiate with the government despite impossible odds. The script so far develops all its characters with empathy and humor. For instance, everyone has a laugh when the cast tries to pronounce the settlers’ names.
Mark. Just Mark, such sad little name. Here’s a good one, Lee, like they’re starting to say something but swallow it. HAHAHA.
After the reading, The History Theater and Larissa Fasthorse ask for feedback and suggestions. The audience responds, some with their own memories.
I remember conversations with my grandmother, her daughter, about some of the rites such as communion, the body and blood of Christ. It made her uncomfortable that Christians would eat their own savior like cannibals. You just see eat, spiritual worlds collide, that was very interesting to me.
This story really humanzed Dakota people and the struggle, broken treaties we all know about but America doesn’t really know, a beautifully portrayed story of the true history.
So people had to do what they had to do. That’s why we’re all here. Our ancestors did what they had to do so we would survive.
Larissa Fasthorse says she appreciates the feedback and looks forward to more. She and her team continue looking for descendants and gathering stories. She lives in Los Angeles now but will come back this winter for more workshops in Native communities in Minnesota.
MARIE:
If you have a story to share with the playwright, email artistic director Ron Peluso (Peh-LOOSE-oh) at rpeluso@Historytheatre.com. Theatre is with an r-e at the end. RPeluso at historytheatre dot com.
And… September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis speaks to the need and availability of culturally specific programming to reduce suicide rates.
This week… the McKnight Foundation’s 2019 Distinguished Artist Award goes to a Native artist for the first time.
And… September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis speaks to the need and availability of culturally specific programming to reduce suicide rates.
Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.
Headlines: This week… the McKnight Foundation’s 2019 Distinguished Artist Award goes to a Native artist for the first time.
And… September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis speaks to the need and availability of culturally specific programming to reduce suicide rates.
Here’s Reporter Leah Lemm with these stories.
STORY #1 - McKnight Foundation Names Painter Jim Denomie 2019 Distinguished Artist
REPORTER: The McKnight Foundation created the Distinguished Artist Award to honor a Minnesota artist who has made major contributions to the cultural life in the state. This year, the award goes to visual artist Jim Denomie.
JIM DENOMIE: My name is Jim Denomie. I am enrolled at Lac Courte Oreilles and northern Wisconsin and I live in Franconia, Minnesota and I'm a painter primarily. I play with printmaking, and found objects, sculpture, and photography.
REPORTER: I spent some time looking at Jim Denomie’s paintings. His work is active with bold and vibrant colors.
JIM DENOMIE: I paint about intuitive things, creative portraiture, erotic, spiritual landscapes. You know, what, whatever tell me can be whenever I can fit to my universe.
REPORTER: And sometimes, his work leads into politics and history. He’s received praise and criticism, including negative comments on social media, which even prompted a six-week break from Facebook. But he relates this work to journalism… or investigative reporting.
JIM DENOMIE: I've always said that I've tried to be as honest and fearless as I can when I comment about history and social events. I don't try to create controversy just to create a shock value for my work and my career. I just comment on what I see and what's important.
REPORTER: Jim Denomie reports that the 50 thousand Distinguished Artist Award money will go towards studio time, to taking some time off from his full-time construction job, and to purchase supplies.
STORY #2 - September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
REPORTER: Next up, September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the American Indian population experienced the highest suicide rate in Minnesota and had a rate nearly two times greater than the national rate when comparing suicide rates by race during the 2013-2017 period.
Bryce Premo is a Youth Worker with the Division of Indian Work’s Youth Leadership Development Program. Which as part of its programming, makes sure to have an active role in suicide prevention with the youth it serves.
Full disclosure: Bryce is my brother.
Bryce Premo: It's an afterschool program for literacy improvement, homework help, cultural lessons and also alcohol and drug prevention. So a part of that program, the alcohol and drug prevention is a really talking about coping skills, better habit forming, hobby farming, coping skills, and then also informing them of the side effects of alcohol and drug and tobacco use which can be depressive disorders and sometimes suicide. So they can really exacerbate these underlying mental, historical traumas.
REPORTER: And some of the culturally based healing methods that the Division of Indian Work embraces include stories and ceremony.
BRYCE PREMO: We're trying to really, you know, reach through to the kids through cultural, through the community, through their schooling, through their parents and then to them as well. So we really try to go through all the layers of their shelf, social, educational awareness.
REPORTER: Events are being held this month to raise awareness for suicide prevention. At the Division of Indian Work, Bryce Premo is giving a presentation called Safe Talk to help increase suicide awareness.
BRYCE PREMO: It’s through a program called Living Works and they're a worldwide organization to promote suicide awareness.
So on September the 19th, we'll be hosting a safe talk training for community members and basically that is to raise awareness for spotting the suicidal ideation. It's a culturally based presentation and it has different aspects for the first nations or indigenous culture.
REPORTER: For more information about the Safe Talk training on September 19th contact Bryce Premo at bpremo AT diw HYPHEN MN DOT ORG.
If you or someone you know needs help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-TALK, that’s 1-800-273-8255. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free, 24/7 service that can provide suicidal persons or those around them with support and a range of information.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.
This week on Minnesota Native News we hear how the White Earth and Leech Lake Bands of Ojibwe continue their efforts to straighten out a costly mistake involving the state Department of Human Services and billboards in Duluth raise support for missing and murdered indigenous women and people.
HEADLINES: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.
STORY #1 - DHS Overpayments (3:30)
The White Earth and Leech Lake Bands of Ojibwe continue their efforts to straighten out a costly mistake involving the state Department of Human Services.
Reporter Melissa Townsend has the latest on the story.
It was sometime last spring when state Department of Human Services officials realized the state had been overpaying the tribes for their Medically Assisted Treatment programs.
Those are the Suboxone or Bupenorphine programs at Leech Lake and White Earth.
D-H-S says the tribes are required to pay back 23-million dollars
That’s 11-million from White Earth and 12 million from Leech Lake.
DHS and Tribal officials met in June to discuss the problem.
And they met again in July.
In August, the news hit the headlines and a State Senate committee held a hearing on August 13th.
In that hearing - the issue became clearer — sort of.
STEVENS: Thank you Chairwoman Benson and Chairman Abler and community members… (:04)
Dani Stevens is the White Earth Interim Quality Assurance Coordinator. She described how the tribe billed the state for its Suboxone program.
STEVENS: If the patient qualifies for that consolidated funding at the high rate - which is our encounter rate - which goes up every year - but 2019 for example it’s 455 for that encounter rate. (:11)
That’s 455 dollars per visit.
STEVENS: Now if they’re on consolidated funding, don’t qualify for MA but qualify under housing or financial reasons, they’re at a low rate at 61.15. (:13)
That’s 61 dollars and 15 cents per visit.
STEVENS: And we also have people who don’t qualify at all and are over-income and we eat the cost. (:05)
Stevens is describing how the tribe charges different rates based on the patient’s eligibility.
But that’s not how the state talks about it. They say billing is based on the services provided.
DHS says the higher rate is for patients who get Bupenorphine and intensive treatment.
The lower rate is for patients who just take the medication home without seeing a counselor.
So why are there two different versions of how billing should happen? That’s the subject of investigation.
The state is looking into its own handling of the situation.
White Earth officials say they have suspended the Behavioral Health Director while they investigate.
And Leech Lake says they’ve already looked into it. And they’ve reportedly produced all the emails between tribal and DHS officials. They prove the tribe was following the billing instructions they got from the state.
Tribal officials say there will be a serious long term impact on tribal members if they have to find 23-million dollars to give back to the state.
Dani Stevens, White Earth Interim Quality Assurance Coordinator, talked about it at the hearing.
STEVENS: The impact will be far reaching, including loss of jobs, loss of housing, increase of security and safety concerns, increased health concerns and increased child welfare involvement. (:12)
It does seem there is a growing sense that D-H-S is also on the hook and should share the responsibility.
This is State Senator Scott Jensen at the August hearing:
JENSEN: So bottom line is we have a 455 dollar per day or a 61 per day and DHS hasn’t helped you understand which it should be so that you could be doing this without any impugning your integrity is that correct?
STEVENS: There are a lot of grey areas in regards to the manual and in regards to billing.
Leech Lake and White Earth tribal officials are asking for timely and comprehensive consultation to solve this problem.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
STORY #2 - 1 minute
There’s a new billboard on the corner of Superior and Garfield streets in Duluth.
It’s not an ad for anything — it’s a call to action.
The sign reads “Invisible No More” and says we’ve lost count of the missing and murdered indigenous women and people in Minnesota - and the country.
It’s part of a national billboard campaign by the Global Indigenous Council and Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council to draw attention to the problem.
DeDe Drift is one of the organizers behind the sign.
DEDE DRIFT: Our main purpose is to raise awareness of the need for data and statistics and numbers of missing and murdered indigenous people. (:11)
She also wants to show support for a state-wide task force to address the problem.
De De Drift and her friends Millie Richard [rish- ARD] and Renee Van Nett are organizing a prayer vigil on Sunday, September 15th at the billboard at 3pm.
DRIFT: It’s important that we all come together because we all need to support each other. (:06)
They are also collecting funds to keep the billboard up long term.
The Minnesota Indian Womens’ Resource Center recently teamed up with Hennepin County Library to host an Indigenous Comic Book Workshop in Minneapolis. Youth ages 12 and over came together to look at how Natives are portrayed in comic books and to create their own super-human heroes or villains. Reporter Melissa Townsend was at the workshop and has this report.
HOST INTRO: The Minnesota Indian Womens’ Resource Center recently teamed up with Hennepin County Library to host an Indigenous Comic Book Workshop in Minneapolis.
Youth ages 12 and over came together to look at how Natives are portrayed in comic books and to create their own super-human heroes or villains.
Reporter Melissa Townsend was at the workshop and has this report.
A good comic book character is unique, with a dramatic backstory and of course super human powers. So in the opening activity of this comic book writing workshop, all 15 or so youth here created their hero.
They named it Super Scumbiglio. Its pronouns are they and them. They have the body of a bumble bee, a cube shaped head with eyes on every side. Instead of legs - they have 7 and a half tentacles. Their arms are made of spaghetti and their hands are meatballs. What’s their superpower?
SARAH: Their meatball hands can change into different shapes, they can skip commercials and they have the power to control pasta. (:09)
Sarah Edstrom is a Sexual Assault Advocate at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center. She’s also co-leading this session. She gives me Super Scumbiglio’s backstory.
SARAH: We asked the origin story and they said - this character had really terrible health insurance. so they were attacked by a shark and when they went for surgery, their insurance would only cover them being remade with parts left over from other surgeries. So… (:20)
Sarah tells me this is a great example of how a lot of comic book stories deal with social and political issues.
SARAH: So we talked about characters who have experienced life in foster care, who have experienced physical and sexual abuse.
Sarah wanted to host this comic book workshop at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center because she wanted to see more Native superheroes.
Jack Kotz is a comics artist and he’s co-facilitating this workshop. He works with a comics collective called WorldMonster HQ. Jack has one goal.
KOTZ: Right now it’s more about how can we actually get more Native people creating and how can we get more Native super-hero teams. (:09)
Lincoln Matt is one of the artists here today.
MATT: I’ve always had this interest in comics ever since middle school. I used to make a lot of strip funnies. My dream is to get into the comic book industry.
Linc is Native but he’s not creating Native characters. He’s working on developing two kung fu characters.
MATT: It’s kind of weird. I want it to be like an homage to a bunch of old Kung Fu movies especially like Drunken Master and Big Trouble in Little China - classic, low budget but still you can see the passion going into that choreography and I want to try and translate that into illustration. (:25)
Gerry Zink is a serious comics fan. He’s 16 and he’s here to participate in the workshop. I sit down next to him in front of 6 piles of his very neatly stacked comic books.
MELISSA ON TAPE: You like reading comics - do you like writing comics as much?
ZINK: No I don’t. Not really. [LAUGHS] I currently have a facebook account where I write film reviews now. (:16)
Gerry and I talk for a while. It’s clear he is really an expert on comic books and movies. He says the best ones are the most complicated and immerse you in a different world.
GERRY: Love it specially when there’s tons of world building and tons of character to it. (:09)
Workshop facilitator Sarah Edstron says that’s what she wants to see in a good comic book character — someone who is complicated like real people….
SARAH: And if we’re looking at people as just their tragedy or just one part of their story, we’re not actually seeing them. Sometimes we’re good guys. Sometimes we’re bad guys. That’s who we all are. Everthing in our live made us who we are but we get to decide what we do with that.
This was the first Indigenous comic book illustration workshop Sarah has organized at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center. But she says it won’t be the last.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
Funder Credits
Extra:
SARAH: I didn’t realize we had this many geeks in our community!
MELISSA ON TAPE: Would you call yourself a comic book geek?
SARAH: [laughs] Um, A little bit.
Leech Lake Community members recently meet with E-P-A officials to discuss the path forward for cleaning up tribal land, contaminated decades ago by hazardous waste from paper company. Reporter Kayla Doula attended the public meeting to hear more about the plans and concerns from officials and local residents.
HOST (Marie): Leech Lake Community members recently meet with E-P-A officials to discuss the path forward for cleaning up tribal land, contaminated decades ago by hazardous waste from paper company. Reporter Kayla Doula attended the public meeting to hear more about the plans and concerns from official and local residents.
ELAINE FLEMING: I lived there, my family lived there. My friends lived there. Our people live there. That’s our story, that's our land. We have to keep it alive...we have to talk about it. We have to tell what happened to us.
REPORTER: That's Elaine Fleming. She’s a Leech Lake Tribal College Professor, author and historian speaking at a public meeting last month.
Fleming was talking about the St. Regis Paper company Superfund site — it’s a 125 acre site on the Leech Lake reservation.
About 75 people attended this community meeting put on by the U-S Environmental Protection Agency all about finalizing plans to clean-up the area they call “Operable Unit number 7” or O-U-7 of the superfund site.
Site OU7 refers to residential and habitable areas in the site, where soil was contaminated with hazardous waste. Currently that includes 5 homes and the Leech Lake Reservations Department of Resource Management Office and Fishery.
EPA OFFICIAL: My name is Herbito Leon, I’m community involvement coordinator with the US Environmental Protection agency and with me tonight is Leslie Patterson. She’s going to be presenting some details regarding the proposed plan for the cleanup of contaminated soil.
The Environmental Protection Agency declared the area a Superfund site in 1984.
But it took the agency almost TWO DECADES -nearly 20 years - to start the first clean up action.
The toxic chemicals in the area have been spilling into the soil and water ways that are important to the tribes sustainability.
Elaine Fleming is one of the many people representing residents who have been affected by the contamination.
She’s been fighting for proper clean up since the late 90’s.
I asked Elaine about her experiences living near the toxic site and how it has impacted her personally:
FLEMING: It’s been there for what about 61 years now, It opened up when I was going to kindergarten and I was sick all the time, and they diagnosed me with measles, scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, and I don't know what else but I was always sick. My youngest brother Michael Johnny got cancer. When you talk to people who live over there, they will talk about their experiences and about being sick.
REPORTER: Community members talked about these issues at this meeting.
SPEAKER 1: I’m 62 years old now and I have survived 3 rounds of cancer.
SPEAKER 2: We don’t deserve this. I’m begging you to get the soil out of here because it’s killing us.
Most of the residents who live in the area were unaware of the site’s history before moving in.
Others learned about it but couldn’t afford to leave the contaminated land.
At this community meeting, EPA officials presented 12 plans but only 2 were identified as realistic options.
The EPA’s proposed plan s15b, would create a containment site on the reservation for highly contaminated soil.
It would take around 3 years and cost 18.5 million.
Plan s15a is backed by a majority of the Cass Lake and Leech Lake residents.
It calls for all contaminated soil be trucked off the reservation to a treatment facility near St.Cloud, Minnesota.
It would take roughly 3 years and cost around 30 million dollars to complete.
The current owners of the site, International Paper, would foot the bill.
Plan s15a is backed by the majority of the Cass Lake and Leech Lake residents.
SPEAKER 3: I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask the residents to deal with another storage site. I think it’s unreasonable. There’s a storage site there now. I think the residents here deserve a 100% assurance that the contamination of soil and everything is going to be cleaned up and going to be removed from here
The EPA is still taking comments regarding the proposed plans online and through the mail.
A Final EPA report from the meeting is expected in late fall.
Further cleanup of non-residential sites will be addressed sometime in the future.
For more information on the St. Regis Superfund Site, check out the Leech Lake Department of Resource Management website
I’m Kayla Duoos with the DeBahJimon for MN Native News.
This week, we’ll hear more from our recently released podcast – Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine.
Throughout the first season, we’re joined by many people all over Minnesota and beyond, people who talk about finding their purpose in life, finding family, celebrating accomplishments, and working through hard times, and lots more.
Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.
Headlines: This week, we’ll hear more from our recently released podcast - Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine.
Marie: Throughout the first season, we’re joined by many people all over Minnesota and beyond, people who talk about finding their purpose in life, finding family, celebrating accomplishments, and working through hard times, and lots more. And throughout the five episodes, our hosts, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo share a bit of their experiences as well.
BRIAND Music
Marie: In episode 2 of Native Lights, Leah and Cole explore the topics of *Artistry and Identity.* The episode highlights the story of Briand Morrison, a jazz guitarist from Grand Portage.
He talks about his musical project that combines his training as a jazz guitarist… with his heritage. He calls his project: Anishinaabe Jazz.??Briand: I want to bring them together as a form of self discovery.
and some of the most affecting music that to me ever that I've heard is the Anishinaabe drum and the native drum. Um, anyway, so when I hear this music, it's just, I, you know, I just, my heart just sore. It's like I can hear, I can feel my whole body mind fill out. Like that's how I wanted, that's how I want music, my music to be. And I, when I play it, I want to feel that I want to feel my body fell out, my soul, you know, fill up
when I'm, when I'm doing with Anishinaabe jazz … I listen to music and I listen to the drum, listen to the singing, and, and then I try start to play along with them and then I go to myself and play something, carrying through the same emotional content.
Marie: Leah and Cole are both musicians as well and talk about what inspires their own music. Here’s a bit of what Cole says about his musical inspiration.
Podcast: (Cole)One of my biggest musical influences is Robbie Robertson of the band, and he's Mohawk native. And he brings in a lot of his native experiences into his songs. (Leah)Yes. I, I hear that in some of the, the music that you do, including, you know, some of the incidental music or music that we have for the Minnesota Native News.
MUSIC (COLE)
Marie: What is important to the hosts is that the stories come from a place of strength throughout the podcast. In episode 5 of the series, Leah and Cole focus on Media coverage in Indian Country, and how stories are presented to audiences.
Podcast: (Cole)Today we're hearing from amazing native individuals who are fighting to tell their story in a mainstream media landscape where native voices are seemingly misunderstood or ignored. And we definitely have some strong feelings about that subject (Leah )seemingly? Really. (Cole)Maybe I should just strike that from the script. (Leah)No, I would say ah, are, yeah. Misunderstood and ignored. And you know, that's, that's my belief, (Cole) you know, but when, when you hear from the community, it's definitely something that is an overwhelming feeling. (Leah) Or overwhelming fact. (Cole)Yes. Overwhelming fact. This invisibility basically. Right. Exactly.
Marie: Scholar and Historian Dr Kate Beane is featured on the podcast. She is a media-maker both in front and behind the microphone. Here, she reflects on the assumptions made by the media.
Dr Kate Beane: A lot of the time, I feel like if a news story breaks and it has to do with, they'll quote the people, they'll quote the history or um, anything with our community. There's this assumption that we won't speak up or there's this assumption that there's not anyone to talk to. And the fact is we have a really beautiful community of educated, bright people that can speak up for ourselves. In the past, there have been a lot of people who spoke up for us. There were a lot of people who wrote books about us. There were a lot of people that did things about us. And that time has come to an end.
Marie: You can listen to these stories and a lot more on Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine wherever you get your podcasts… or online at AMPERS DOT ORG.
Leah and Cole talk about what is was like when their own family fostered Native kids. They introduce us to people from every part of the foster care system. Also – a discussion on how the community can create safe spaces to deal with hard truths.
{Marie}: This week on Minnesota Native News, more from our new podcast, Native Lights.
This is Minnesota Native News. I’m Marie Rock.
[Story #1 Native Lights]
{Marie}:
The hosts of Native Lights are Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. They are proud members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, musicians, and reporters for Minnesota Native News. Episode Three of Native Lights is all about family. Leah and Cole talk about what is was like when their own family fostered Native kids. Here’s part of that conversation:
I don’t know how much you remember, Cole, you were a little bit younger. I was in I think ninth grade. I know we had several kids. I remember it was an American Indian foster care program. Do we know why they decided to do that? I asked dad, he said “ask your mom.” They together wanted to do something to give back and help the kids in foster care because this has been an issue forever. I thought it was cool, more kids to hang out with. It was almost like they fit into a space that we had.
{Marie}:
Also in Episode Three of the podcast, we meet people from every part of the foster care system. We meet an advocate for Native families who went through foster care herself and had to fight to get her own children back with her. We meet a Lakota woman who was adopted out, and didn’t meet her own family until she was 35. And we meet Jasmine Grika (GREEK-ah), a young advocate who spent years in the foster system.
My first home was non-native and it was really unfortunate because they get stipends for the children and they were using stipends for their own family not me. A lot of time I had to eat at my own table not the family table. And another time they were all going to the pool and I got my swimming suit and they said oh not you, you’re staying here. Leah (sign, holy smokes…)
{Marie}:
But Leah and Cole tell us that Jasmine’s story took a turn when she was adopted by a couple. Jasmine’s new mother had grown up in foster care too, but her roots were in White Earth. Together, she and Jasmine learned what it meant to be indigenous.
When you have an identity to claim and a culture to claim, you become more aware of who you are. Pretty much gave me what I needed to be successful. Cole: I thought it was really cool that they learned about it together. Leah: That was really cool.
{Marie}:
Episode Four is about how native people heal from trauma through cultural ways. We meet people who work with sex-trafficked girls and abused women. And we introduce two of those leaders to each other. Jenny Miller works with youth at the Minneapolis YMCA, and Anishinabe elder Eileen Hudon runs a healing drum circle, among other things. Eileen and Jenny share a remarkable personal history, as well as a lifelong commitment to help women and girls. Here’s part of their conversation. Eileen starts.
Eileen
so this, this is one of my thoughts. I think that the juvenile justice system is filled with compassionate people. I believe the institution is so tightly structured that they're not able to change their institution. One thing I love to see is the opportunity for them to do that because they totally get it.
Jenny: sometimes I feel that same way. Let me see how many young people I can help before the system catches me. You know? Because if you're going to issue out a bench warrant for a youth that's on run, chances are they're going to call us and you tell us that we can't work with them.
Eileen: That’s why we are providing sexual assault advocacy training to community women cause you're not going to be able to tell the grandma what she can and cannot do and helping her own grandchild or great grandchild. She can pretty much do what she wants.
Music sting.
{Marie}:
You can listen to “Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine”, wherever you get your podcasts… just search for Native Lights.
And do let us know what you think.
