WEBVTT - Abby: A Indigenous Chicano’s Homecoming 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.480 I think it's important for people to know their roots 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:05.960 and to know the roots of others. It helps us 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:07.040 to know aboudy each other. 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:12.039 Welcome to when You're Invisible. My name is Maria Fernandavis, 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:14.640 but I know not everyone can roll there are, so 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.880 it's also fine to call me Maria. When You're Invisible 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.520 is my love letter to the working class and others 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.439 who are seemingly invisible in our society. I hope to 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.400 build a community here that will inspire you to have 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:31.080 generous conversations with others that are different from you, conversations 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.240 that might help you see life in an entirely different way. 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:42.360 And I had just never heard of Alcatraz, so I 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.800 started looking into it, and that's when the takeover was 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:46.839 going on, so I went up there. It was the 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.360 winter of nineteen seventy. I ended up going to Alcatraz 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:51.200 Island for a night. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:56.760 WHOA, this is Abby and yes he's talking about that. 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:02.279 Alcatraz the infamous jail and cal The jail closed in 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.800 nineteen sixty three, and Alcatraz Island was essentially just sitting 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:09.040 there abandoned. 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.720 Alcatraz had been closed down for a number of years 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:14.920 and was taken over by the American Indian Movement. 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.880 The Indian Pride movement was born in the summer of 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:24.839 nineteen sixty eight. It actually began in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Go Minnesota, Hey, 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:29.280 what's up? The Native American community activists came together to 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.080 fight back against a history of genocide and to change 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.679 the present where they were facing ongoing discrimination and issues 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:41.880 like high unemployment, slum housing, and racist treatment. Activists fought 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:46.280 for treaty rights, the reclamation of tribal land, and advocated 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.040 for Native folks in cities dealing with poverty. 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.360 The American Indian Movement they took it over in Alcatraz 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:57.000 under a federal law that said any surplus US federal 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:59.840 lands that are not being used shall be turned over 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:04.120 to Native people in the United States, and the Indians 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.800 took it over as a bargaining ship for better services, 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:09.680 better healthcare, better education. 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:14.520 Abby is an Indigenous Chicano Well Plascala Yaki. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.600 Our greeting is leos and chia maniawo get you malayas 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.480 That means the Creator be with you and have a 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:22.959 great day. 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:25.520 He was in college when he took part in this 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:30.120 historic act of resistance with dozens of fellow Indigenous people. 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.119 I met Floyd Westerman. Everybody knew him as Red Crow, 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.480 who was a singer, and he came and sang at 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:37.000 my college. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:41.280 Red Crow was a Sissiton, Dakota musician and actor. He 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.040 was a vocal advocate for Native American rights and was 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:45.799 involved in numerous protests. 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.120 Me and another friend introduce ourselves, and he told me 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.920 that you got to go to Alcatraz. That's what's happening. 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.400 And that's how Abby ended up on Alcatraz one cold 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:56.079 winter night. 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.240 At that moment in time, I felt bad that I 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:04.760 didn't know more of my culture because everybody seems so 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:06.000 at ease with their own. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.919 It was the first time he and many others had 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:10.600 experienced anything like this. 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.600 They had some music that night, some prayers. So I 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.639 came back with all these stories, meeting all these tribal 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.160 people from all over the country, and it just blew 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.040 open my mind. My Indian pride came back really strong 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:28.639 from there on ago. This is where it's happening. We're Native. Yeah, 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:29.680 I had come home. 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:33.280 I love how he says that that he had come home. 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.920 The ideas of homecoming and home building shined through my 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.880 entire interview with Abby In this particular moment, Abby comes 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.720 home to himself, especially in his identity as a native person. 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.560 Finding a home for yourself in community isn't something that 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.920 happens overnight. Abbie's story reminds me that this takes time, 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.120 yet it is possible. It's one of the reasons I 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.200 wanted to talk to him in the first place. Understanding 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:05.200 yourself and accepting things you know and don't know will 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:09.240 lead you to a sense of ease and awareness. And 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.680 it's not a point to be reached, but a constant exploration. 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.520 When I look at the world now, I see it 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.400 from all my experiences, and I'm thinking, do I give 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.800 this information too. I'm in a real retrospective kind of 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.360 place looking back and I see the things that I've done. 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.400 What's the biggest or favorite thing that you've passed along? 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.880 I think the biggest thing I've passed along is awareness 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:40.960 for your immediate surroundings. We've been ignoring ourselves, our own environment, 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.920 but also the people that live in those environments that 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.440 are not like us. Yeah, how do I become a 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.320 good human being and also be good to the natural world? 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.880 What's my relationship? That's awareness? 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.160 When we know who we are we can better understand 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.640 that the world around us and how we relate to others. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.920 This is a nugget I've taken away from many conversations 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:03.479 with Abby. 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.720 Is my destiny to be here today, even to be 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.839 with you today, is my destiny to share some of 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.880 the stories that I've had with you, share my knowledge, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:13.840 to share my stories. 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.560 I've been lucky to be on the receiving end of 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.880 Abby's wisdom for a while. I met him for the 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.080 first time when I was a recent grad freshly part 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.160 of the New York theater world. Since then, we've done 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.960 a couple plays together, including one where it was a 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:33.240 cast of two just us. We became friends, and despite 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.279 our more than forty year age difference, we've stayed in touch. 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.880 Abby is now in his seventies. He lives in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:45.799 and he has four kids, seven grandkids, and one great grandkid. 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.200 He's done a lot of incredible work in his life. 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:53.920 I mean some crazy incredible things. He's been a newscaster, 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.720 a firefighter, a professional musician, and he's worked for the 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.240 government for a long time. He acts and writes plays. 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.320 He also works with youth and indigenous youth, in particular 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.280 to teach them traditional environmental knowledge. What do you feel 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.120 like is at the core of everything you do. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.719 But it's always working with people that make me to change. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.800 So all the things that I've done, I've been in 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.840 a position to help make that direction happen and the changes. 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.000 I think of Abby's visit to Alcatraz as an awakening 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.120 in his life. It was the impetus for the activism 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.040 he went on to do, the adventures he's been on, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.200 and the wisdom he's gathered and shared with his family 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:39.680 and his community. For Abby, it all started by rooting 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:44.800 himself in his family history and his indigenous identity. That's 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.960 where we are going to start to where are your 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:48.600 parents from? 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:52.039 Mom and dad both born in San Diego and their 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:53.360 parents are from Mexico. 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:54.520 What parts of Mexico? 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.760 My grandmother, my dad's mom was born in Wuinawato Gebardi. 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.240 I have family. Thought, Oh wow, yeah, so that's my 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.800 dad's side, and then my mom was up in Yaqui 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:06.120 land in Sona. 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:11.000 That's incredible. Wait, so are you Yaqui on both sides? 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.240 Just my mom's side, just your mom's side. 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:13.640 Okay. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.640 Abby's grandparents are all from Mexico, but his mother's side 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:24.080 is indigenous. They're part of the Yaqui tribe. Indigenous people 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.360 in the Americas occupied the land for at least twenty 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:32.200 thousand years before settlers arrived. For the Yaqui and many 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.120 other tribes, it was the arrival of the Spanish that 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.880 altered their way of life and threatened their survival. 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:43.800 We saw the Spanish come in the fifteen hundreds, and 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.120 that's when it started. By the sixteen hundreds that they 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:51.679 were being colonized. By the seventeen hundreds of the religious side, 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.520 I think the Jesuits, I said die or be baptized, 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.800 and so they took baptism, but they kept their language. 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.600 And then the eighteen hundreds the Franciscans, who were a 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.880 little bit more meaner, and so they said you will 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.360 stop doing this, you will stop doing that. But they 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.240 managed to keep some of the Yaki traditions, spiritual traditions 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.640 and webbed inside the Catholic mass it's the only tribe 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:21.600 where indigenous spiritual activities are still part of the Catholic tradition. 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:22.360 Wow. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.640 The Pascwa dancers, they're a very sacred group of men 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:31.400 who trained from youngsters outer dance and the interpretations of 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.840 the dance is what it means. That's still part of 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:37.079 the Catholic tradition down in many of the Yachi churches. Wow. 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.600 The Yaki are known as the only unconquered Indians in America. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.079 Resistance runs deep in their history. 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.600 They never sent a contract or a peace treaty with 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.079 the Mexican government, and to this day they're still fighting 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:52.000 the Mexican government. 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.440 The effects of colonialism and poverty have, of course taken 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.080 a great toll. It's one of the reasons that in 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:03.199 the early nineteen hundreds many Yaki people decided to emigrate 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.480 the southwest of the US, and Arizona in particular became 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.360 a new home for the Yaki. And this was true 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:11.520 of Abby's family. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.160 I am originally born and raised in San Diego, California, 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:20.160 and my family is from southern Tucson, Arizona. As a child, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.520 I went back and forth to both places. So I 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:27.160 feel like Arizona is also home because it's a different 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.880 environment from San Diego. But that's where everybody moved. I 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.600 think during the depression they moved that way. 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.320 Those living in the States drew on their history of 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:41.440 resistance and actually became an important political force. Over the 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.880 course of decades, they rallied to have their presence recognized 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:50.679 by the American government with a reservation. Eventually, the Yaki 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:55.280 nation was established in Arizona in nineteen seventy eight. By 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.480 the late twentieth century, the Yaki numbered about twenty five 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:04.000 thousand in Mexico and three to five thousand in the US. 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.320 While he wasn't raised on the res Abby had relatives 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:11.239 who were, and he fostered a close relationship with his grandparents, 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.080 who imparted Yaki teachings. 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.800 I wish I could remember more stories from my grandparents. 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.280 They were always talking to My grandfather spoke a lot 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.760 and what I went out once in the County of 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.200 San Diego and he was gathering. He was Atkurandero, So 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.360 I mean he was a cure cured people, and he 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:32.600 used a lot of herbs and stuff that he found 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.280 and he knew where to go get them. And I 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.520 know now that when you gather medicine from the earth, 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.320 you give thanks, and so you have to pray before 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.160 you take it, and you don't take it all. You 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.840 take what you need. So he was actually saying his 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.720 prayers and talking and telling me that he was doing 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:50.440 what he's doing. I didn't understand what he was doing. 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.760 I was too young, So I watched him do that once, 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.800 go out and get some herbs by a creek, and 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.920 then I found out later on. It was called yedbade mansu. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:05.480 It's a plant that has spectacular healing powers it and 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:08.280 my mom used it, my grandmother used it. I used 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:10.480 to use it with my kids, and my daughter grew up, she's, dad, 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.200 do you have any of that voodoo plant? And I said, 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.880 go to antialysis house. She has it in the backyard 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:16.800 and tell her you want something. Yet it by that wants. 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:21.440 He just boiled it and it heals cuts, wounds internal external. 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.120 My favorite time was being out with my grandparents, just 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:27.840 out in the natural world. I loved it. That's incredible. 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.199 While he's always cherished his indigenous roots, his identity was 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.880 also from As the child of immigrants. He was not 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.760 only balancing his indigenous identity with his Mexican identity, but 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:44.640 he was also navigating his American one. When your identities 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:49.240 are at odds or in question, there's this feeling of 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.360 being in constant ebb and flow. You can feel ungrounded 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:58.040 at times. I know this from personal experience. Home becomes 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:04.559 something you yearn for, a sense of understanding or belonging physically, socially, 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:06.040 and internally. 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:11.360 Early on, my parents identified us as Mexican Americans, and 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:15.680 then my grandparents taught us our Indian ways, or taught me. Yeah, 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.120 for sure. It was interesting because I've always had this 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.319 duality in my mind. So when people ask you what 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.320 you were, they automatically said, oh, you're a Mexican. I 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.959 said no, I'm not, and so they yes, you are, 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:29.080 and I said no, I'm not. I was just a kid. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.040 So then to stop the fighting and bickering about who 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.000 I was, I would say, yeah, yeah. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.839 While you may see yourself as one thing, you are 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:42.480 very much influenced by your family and society. The outside 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:47.720 world's oppression and perception can jeopardize your safety and your dignity. 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:53.040 This affects people individually, but can also harm a whole population, 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.960 leading to widespread erasure and invisibility assimilation. 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:00.680 In the fifties, in San Diego it was still a 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.080 very kind of a backward town, and so if you 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.400 are Indian, you were treated worse than a dog. If 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.920 you're Mexican, not so bad, but still treated poorly. So 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:12.720 you tried to say, oh, no, no, no, y'all from 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.400 here we were, but people automatically assumed that you're from Mexico. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.800 And then we'd go to Mexico across the border and 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:24.760 they would call us Boschos because we were from California. Yeah, 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.600 so we couldn't take. We couldn't win. 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.760 There's no winning on both sides. Coming to terms with 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.480 who you are in your full history and heritage at 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.960 times comes with creating new terms in order to create 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:39.840 your own agency and space. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.040 So when I heard the word Chicano and I asked 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.400 about it, my dad goes, that's who we are, and 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.120 so then I took Chicano because it's something that we 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.400 made up that has some historical documentation to it. So 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:52.800 I grew up as a Chicano, knowing my Indian roots 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:56.880 right in my Indian side, very strongly identified with that 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:58.560 from a very young age. 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.800 I identify as Chicana to lots of Mexican Americans do, 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.000 but not all. For a lot of us, it means 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.280 the owning of this complex identity of accepting our mestizo 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:15.480 or mixed roots and also our americanness. Chicano culture has 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:19.280 taken on a life of its own. Oftentimes, the chicano 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.880 esthetic is the long nails, the winged eyeliner, the cool, 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:27.320 chunky jewelry, baggy clothes, and low rider culture and look 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.920 this identity looks like and means different things depending on 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.600 where you are and who you are. It's awesome that 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.840 it also has such a distinct and unique boy because 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.000 there's so much pride that people take in it. But today, 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.640 when you see Chicano's portrayed, you will often learn about 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.520 these front facing parts of the culture, and you don't 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.800 hear as much about the origins of the term and 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:54.800 its connection to indigenous identity. Abby loved this word because 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.440 it drew on its roots. But even though most Mexican 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:02.720 people are part indigenous, not everyone connects to that side 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.520 of them. You know, in my own family, we've been 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.440 slow to acknowledge that and to learn what our indigenous 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:13.040 Mexican lineage is. When I do see Mexican indigenous practices 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.920 make it into the mainstream, maybe it's using stage or bruchadia, 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.920 it's great, but it can also feel generalized. I love 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.120 that people want to claim this, but it can feel 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:29.400 one size fits all, rather than being rooted in specific histories, 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:36.480 traditions or tribes, and I find myself craving that information. Miyah, 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.600 it's no one's faults. I'm talking about this because I'm 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.520 wondering for myself, how do I want to move forward 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.720 with my identity and my practice. It's layered and complicated. 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.280 It may sound like I'm an authority on this, but no, 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:57.240 this is a conversation. I love the idea of creating 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.520 new traditions, but I also want to know what it 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:04.240 means for the wider population and culture. A lot of 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.160 this historical knowledge about our traditions has been lost over 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:10.200 time and erased systemically. 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.760 People didn't really care about the elders and what they 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:18.360 knew in the language. We lost our language tremendously. We 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.600 lost our language through assimilation and through If you went 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:23.480 to a boarding school, they beat it out. 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:27.360 Of you, and like quite literally too, not justmitally and mentally, 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:28.160 but physically. 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.800 Yeah, there are adults my age who are still traumatized 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:36.160 by that experience in the boarding schools, mostly run by 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:37.840 religious organizations. 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.640 Yeah, for a period of almost one hundred years, US 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.080 Native children were forcibly taken from their homes to quote 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.040 unquote schools where they were punished for speaking their native 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.760 language or showing signs of their culture in any way. 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:59.160 Many were abused physically, sexually, emotionally. Also, many children never 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.120 returned home and their fates have yet to be accounted 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.280 for by the US government. The idea was to kill 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:08.280 the Indian, save the man. 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.560 And it wasn't until I think the nineteen seventies that 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.560 my family finally woke up again. Right because the seventies 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.960 changed started the sixties. As we went into the seventies, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.240 that was a game changer. 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:23.440 Thank God for this game changing movement. The seventies is 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.600 when Indian pride was thriving and when Abby made his 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:30.879 way to Alcatraz. Even though Abby's grandparents planted a seat 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.960 inside him by teaching him yacky ways as a young boy. 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:38.199 There were so many factors preventing its growth, but eventually 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.720 it bleomed. When you ground yourself in your identity and 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:47.720 really embrace the world you come from culturally, racially, nationally, 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:52.920 your roots can reach deep and help keep you solid 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:56.680 even when the tough moments come. A feeling of home 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:02.280 and a strong sense of identity also become so important 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.800 in the face of erasure. When the wider world doesn't 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.240 want to see you. It becomes vital to create spaces 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:14.639 to see yourself and look. Identity isn't everything, but I 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.879 know for me it has helped to guide how I 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.000 see the world and it brought me self worth when 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:25.080 people threatened to make me feel otherwise. And that's what 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.199 the Indian Pride movement did for Abby. It was a 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:33.359 homecoming for so many people. When Abby experienced this, he 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.280 started thinking about the world in new ways. It encouraged 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.960 his path as an activist. That's coming after the break 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:55.280 an hour're back. Abby's trip to Alcatraz and his embrace 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.840 of the Indian Pride movement awakened not only a sense 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:03.840 of a warm, reliable home, it also offered a new 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.280 understanding of how his people viewed their collective role in 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:07.760 the world. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.040 Our indigenous ways teaches to be a better person than 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.879 that it can be. It's a respect that you have 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.560 for yourself and other human beings, but also for the 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.119 natural world too. Those are the things that reverberate in 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.919 my soul all the time. I thought, that's where I 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:25.520 could claim that came from. Yeah. Yeah. 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:29.040 His desire to make the world a better place also 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.680 resonated with the values he was raised with. Abby's family 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:38.800 is actually filled with genations of activists, which is what 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.960 I found insanely cool and such a privilege to come from. 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:48.360 He actually starts the story with his grandfather, my. 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:53.960 Grandfather, my mom's dad. He already had that sense of revolution. 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.120 He was a young man from the Mexican Revolution, and 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.439 he was a bugler. And if you know anything about 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.440 the war, whether it was a drama or a bugle, 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:07.119 the bugler sounded the decisions. Okay, certain sounds and go 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:12.040 forward or back up or retreat. And so the buglers, 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.520 just like in Vietnam, the radio guys for the first people, 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.280 they should try to shoot because you cut communication. So 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:21.560 he got shot in the face and came to recuperate 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:23.080 in the United States. 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.760 He moved to Arizona, where he met Abby's grandmother. They 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:31.240 were farm workers, and Abby's grandfather was always trying to 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:32.560 build power with others. 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:37.280 My grandmother would be carrying one child two in her 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.520 cotton sack, and she's picking cotton and she turns around. 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:44.800 And as my grandfather organizing people and talking politics and 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:46.160 philosophical things. 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:48.800 It was hard to get work though. So the whole 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.240 family moved from Arizona to California. 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:54.600 He was living in a town called Lemon Grove, which 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.400 is a part of the city of San Diego. And 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.440 in Lemon Grove they were picking lemons for ten cents 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:04.160 an hour. And see he organized the union called Obrerosi 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:08.399 Campesinos nineteen thirty five and they went on strike for 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.520 ten cents more an hour, and they won the strike. 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.800 Abbi's grandfather used his revolutionary heart to be a part 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.720 of the fight for the farm workers, but it wasn't 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.920 the only thing he got involved in. While laborers were 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:26.120 fighting for better wages and working conditions, Latinos and Natives 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:28.600 were also fighting against segregation. 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.120 The governor of California at the time was trying to 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:35.760 deal with education. They were building up the public schools, 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.280 but they didn't want Mexicans or Indians in their school 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.959 or Native people, so he deemed that we were a 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.200 federal issue, so we didn't have to go to their school. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.240 So they put all the Mexicans and natives that in 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.159 one building and they built a brand new school for 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:54.719 the white kids. And my grandfather sent his kids. He said, no, 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:55.679 you go to the new school. 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.919 The kids his grandfather is talking about are Abby's mom 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.800 and her st blings. This is not far from Abbey 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:04.520 or our recent history. 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.480 They turned them around. No, you're not coming to the school. 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:10.600 You're brown. You're brown, your white come in. So they 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.200 boycotted the school. They organized a boycott and shut down 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.800 the school. And that case when they went to court 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.960 in San Diego, my grandmother very had a lot of 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.000 pride and she was not embarrassed. But they were poor 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:26.199 and if I if you ever saw pictures of my 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.360 uncles when they're in their childhood, they got these rough 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:31.680 looking clothes. She made a lot of their own clothes, 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:36.000 but they had no shoes. So my grandfather went to 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.680 court with the attorney that he knew, and he said, 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.800 her son's gonna have to go testify how they treated them. 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:45.600 And my grandmother didn't want her kids to go in 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:48.040 court with their clothes that they had. And they knew 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:50.760 a family called the Alvarez family, and the kid had 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.840 shoes and a suit. So they put the Alpharez versus 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:57.560 the Board of Education and they went to court and 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:00.640 they won that it was unconstitutional for them to separate 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:04.680 these American citizens from going to school. And when the 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:09.240 Brown versus the Board of Education the National Trial for segregation. 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:14.720