WEBVTT - 1. Solomon’s Sword 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:04.480 This episode is supported by the FX original series Reservation 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:08.560 Dogs from Sterlin Harjo and Taiko Yitt. This first of 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.280 its kind indigenous creative team tells a story that invites 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:17.840 audiences into a surprisingly familiar and funny world. Reservation Dogs 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:24.000 All episodes now streaming exclusively FX on Hulu. Just a 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.360 note before we get started. The stories we're sharing this 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:31.760 season touch on different kinds of trauma. Please take care 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:41.599 of yourself while you listen. On a warm day in 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.840 May of twenty sixteen, I gassed up my pickup truck 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.879 and hit the highway. I was driving north towards a 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:54.200 military base in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. On the base was an 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:58.400 important historical site, or at least what was left of it. 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:07.559 The Carlisle Indian Industrial School Carlyle opened in eighteen seventy nine. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.120 On a cold night that fall, one hundred and forty 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:15.279 seven Native children got off a train. The youngest ones 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:21.120 were six. They were met by military staff who cut 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:26.240 their hair, changed their clothes, changed their names to Luther, 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:31.399 Joseph or Mary, and led them to the military barracks 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:39.120 that were now home. Carlile was a dangerous place to 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:44.120 be a child, Physical and sexual abuse was widespread and 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:48.720 well documented. The military gave the school such little money, 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:55.000 children didn't always have medical care or food. During the summers, 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.920 they were rented out as domestic servants or for farm labor. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:06.760 Carlisle is still an active military base. On that warm 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.720 day in May, I pulled up to the security checkpoint 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.680 and could see the group I was meeting standing in 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:17.160 a circle. The guard looked at my driver's license with 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.760 a mirror on a little stick. He checked under my 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:28.720 car and then waved me through. I walked up to 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.520 the circle. We stood in a small section of grass 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.919 between the commissary parking lot and the road. From far away, 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.120 it looked like the edge of a strip mall, like 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.480 an afterthought. But up close you could see that behind 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.320 a black wrought iron fence lies what's left of the 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:58.400 Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Today. It's a cemetery. It was 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.520 Memorial Day weekend and we were there to decorate the 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:07.360 graves of the children who died at Carlisle. We brought 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:12.760 tobacco ties, plastic flowers, and little toys and left them 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:17.160 on the headstones of the children who never came home. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:27.320 Unlike Carlile, most of these so called schools, didn't mark 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:33.240 their graves, and last summer in Canada, people started finding 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:39.960 the bodies, the bodies of hundreds and then thousands of children. 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:45.560 In response, the US has launched an investigation into how 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:50.240 many babies are buried in our soil. For most of 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:55.960 the little ones who didn't survive these horrific places, we 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:03.200 still haven't found their bodies. Any other school that killed 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:09.000 its children would not be considered a success, but Carlile 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:14.280 was replicated. The Bureau of Indian Affairs opened twenty six 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:20.760 boarding schools, and churches opened hundreds more. Death didn't get 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.640 in the way of Carlile's mission because the mission wasn't education, 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:31.719 it was genocide. Carlyle was the brainchild of a white 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:37.480 man named Richard Henry Pratt. His idea was this, if 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:41.320 you took Native children and cut them off from their families, 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.839 their culture, and their tribe, they wouldn't be native anymore. 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.440 And if you did that to enough Native children, there 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:55.200 wouldn't be Native people anymore. By the end of the 0:04:55.240 --> 0:05:00.800 eighteen hundreds, the US wasn't done acquiring Native land. It 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.360 had just come up with a new way to do it. 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:09.479 Instead of using war, this time, it used coercion in 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:15.159 the pressure campaign, Native kids were bargaining chips. In one letter, 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:19.159 Pratt wrote, the children would be hostages for the good 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:24.719 behavior of their people, and it worked. While Native children 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:29.680 were held hostage and boarding schools, the US seized more Land, 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:38.320 an area the size of Montana at the time. The 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.800 schools weren't talked about as a land grab or a 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:48.320 tool of genocide. They were charity to solicit donations. One 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.719 Catholic mission wrote that Indian children were in grave danger 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.520 and good Christians who came to the rescue would not 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.760 only save those children, but reap their own life rewards 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:06.240 with God. Pratt even talked about himself as a benevolent man. 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:12.880 He was saving those children. Throughout history, the people harming 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:19.640 Native Americans have been motivated by two things, greed and charity. 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.760 The greedy simply want what Native people have, but the 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:30.480 charitable believe they know what Native people need better than 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:36.160 Native people ourselves. You might think that the greedy and 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:41.000 the charitable couldn't work together, but when you study history, 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:46.880 you find that they always do. It's almost as if 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:51.760 they need each other. The greedy have the resources and 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:56.479 power to get things done, and the charitable. Will the 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:15.440 charitable help excuse unspeakable harm? You're listening to This Land, 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.080 a podcast about the present day struggle for Native rights 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:23.800 from Cricket Media. I'm your host, Rebecca Nagel Goheen Dawadon 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:30.320 dalecayet Gela, citizen of Cherokee Nation. This season, we're following 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.360 how a string of custody battles over Native children turned 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:39.320 into a federal lawsuit, threatening everything from tribal sovereignty to 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:49.000 civil rights. Native elders started decorating the graves at Carlisle 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:53.760 in nineteen seventy three. They've gone back every Memorial Day 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:58.960 weekend since. At the time, Carlisle had closed, but other 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.360 boarding schools were still open. But by the nineteen seventies, 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:08.280 Native Americans were facing another crisis. About a third of 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.000 Native children had been removed from their homes and tribes, 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:17.239 mostly by state child welfare agencies. Before tribes could recover 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:23.520 from the boarding school era, another generation was taken. In response, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.640 Congress passed a law called the Indian Child Welfare Act 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:32.440 or IQUA for short. IQUA was created to keep Native 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:36.280 kids with their families and tribes. The law has been 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:41.559 around for decades, but recently, a small group of people 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.560 started saying that IQUA was a bad law, that it 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:49.560 shouldn't exist, and they started a campaign to get rid 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:50.520 of it. 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.600 A decade's old law to stop the separation of American, 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.559 Indian and Alaska Native children has been struck down as unconstitutional. 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.720 The group says that they know what's best for Native 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.840 children and that contrary to the position of basically every 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:11.800 tribe and native organization, IQUA actually harms Native kids. 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.360 The decision in Texas centered on a non Native couple 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.640 who sued the state to adopt an American Indian toddler. 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:24.280 And, like so many people who came before, their effort 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:32.679 to save Native children just happens to serve another agenda. 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.319 Last season, I had a story to share with you. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:43.720 This season, I have a story to uncover. Stay with us. 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.720 For the past four years, I've been following one court case. 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.760 It's become a sort of obsession. The case isn't a 0:09:55.840 --> 0:10:01.600 murder or even a crime. It's a lawsuit, big, sprawling 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:06.439 federal lawsuit. Like all lawsuits, It has an official name, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:11.000 Rakkeen v. Holland, but most people just call it the 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:16.520 Brakkeen's case. The Rakin's case is complicated. On one side, 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.600 there are foster families and states saying the Indian Child 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:25.480 Welfare Act is unconstitutional, and on the other side are 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:31.600 tribes in the US federal government defending the law. But 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.240 the whole thing starts with the story of this one 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.960 couple in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas, Chad and 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:43.120 Jennifer Bracken. Jennifer is a successful antesesiologist and Chad is 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.120 a stay at home dad. They are both Christian and 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:50.200 they believe people with a lot of money, people like them, 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.880 are supposed to use that money to serve God to 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.600 help others. A few years ago, they started looking around 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:02.000 for what to do, and after reading books, asking church leaders, 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:08.439 and praying, they decided to become foster parents. Brakeeen v. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.920 Holland would not exist without Chad and Jennifer Bracken. They 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.400 started it, and I wanted to know why. How did 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.640 they go from wanting to help others to wanting to 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.200 get rid of iqua? Was it even their idea? The 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.640 Brakeens declined to speak with us for this podcast. We 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.240 reached out through their lawyers, We contacted them directly, I 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.440 attended court hearings when I was in the area. I 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:38.040 even drove to their house, thinking maybe I could convince 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:43.800 them in person. Jennifer politely declined, so we reached out 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.920 to people who knew them. 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:48.640 Jennifer and I grew up going to church camp together, 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:51.359 and then we also attended the same college. 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.439 This is Christina Jones. She's just a. 0:11:54.520 --> 0:12:00.680 Great person, full of integrity, very driven, high justice. I mean, 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.280 just character, loyal, dependable. You would trust her. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.400 By the time the Brakeens started thinking about it, Corey 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.400 and Christina had been fostering for years. Here's Corey. 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.440 When they got into the foster care and adoption world, 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.240 she reached out to Christina, and Christina's been sort of 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.880 a I think, a helpful resource for her through their journey. 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.440 Corey and Christina used to attend a Church of Christ, 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.440 like the Brakeens do now. According to Corey, within that 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.600 faith community, there is a big emphasis on adoption. 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.880 You commonly hear passages like James one twenty seven quoted 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:42.959 that pure religion is to care for orphans and widows 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:48.680 in their distress. Especially in church cultures, foster care can 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.839 really be built up as the ultimate expression of faith, 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.040 and so if you're not fostering. If you're not adopting, 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:59.920 if you're not involved somehow, then you're actually not living 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:04.800 the fullest expression of your faith possible. And people may 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.640 not come out and say it directly like that, but 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:09.760 it certainly implied in a lot of circles. 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.679 At the same time I was trying to get the 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.480 Brakkeens to do an interview, I was just googling them, 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.679 and one day I found something that felt big. It 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:26.480 was a public blog written by Jennifer Bracken. In between 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:31.720 posts about family reunions and Disney World, Jennifer described that long, 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:36.040 complicated journey from becoming a foster parent to launching a 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:41.439 federal lawsuit with a surprising level of detail. So that's 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:45.040 how we're going to tell one side of this complex story, 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:50.320 in Jennifer's own words, read by an actor. Here's one 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.960 post from about six months before they got their first placement. 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.640 This was all such a sweet idea until we discussed 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.600 it together and decide I this was really what God 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.000 was calling us to do. Then all of a sudden, 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.880 it was real. The struggles were real, the neglected kids 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.160 were real, and the long road to the new perfect 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:19.600 family became real. After we started telling our families and friends. 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:24.960 My fears became real. What in the world are you doing? 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.520 Everything is perfect? Why mess up a good thing? 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:33.040 To Jennifer, becoming a foster parent was a sacrifice. In 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.600 the blog, she compared it to going on a mission 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.520 trip and living with that electricity. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.480 It would not be an offering to God if it 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:42.000 didn't cost us something. 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.960 Their first foster placement did not go well. On the blog, 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.600 Jennifer said the three year old boy was difficult and 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:55.840 even suffocating. She was overwhelmed by all the therapy appointments, 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.920 the messes he made in her house, and the strain 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:04.480 on her other two boys. After five months, Jennifer and 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:09.720 Chad asked Child Welfare to take the boy back. When 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:13.400 they got a call for another placement, Jennifer wrote she 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:17.800 thought it would be easier because the second foster child 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:19.080 was a baby. 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:24.080 Ironically, Chad didn't want to take the placement because we 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.320 were told from day one we would not be adopting him, 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:31.240 and I kind of agreed with that, But having had 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.960 such a rough time through our first placement, I thought 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.240 a baby for three months would be a nice way 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:38.400 to get our feet wet again. 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:42.800 So we took the placement. Jennifer was right. The baby 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:44.080 was so much easier. 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:48.040 Other than a difficult bedtime last night. He's spoiled us. 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.320 He's been easy to love. He's a precious one. A 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.880 big part of that is that he's a baby, not 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.440 a three year old, but I find that much easier 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:00.480 to do as an emotion and a lover. 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.480 In court documents, this child is referred to by his 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:11.680 initials ALM. We'll call him Antonio. It's hard to verify 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:16.840 Jennifer's blog because in Texas, child welfare cases are confidential. 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.760 It's one of the things that's really frustrating about this lawsuit. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.320 So much hinges on the details of the underlying custody cases, 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:29.400 but those details are locked away in a black box, 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.880 and as a reporter, all I wanted for months was 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:37.400 to open it. But we do know from the blog 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.240 that the Brakeens knew why they couldn't adopt Antonio. 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.880 His ethnicity and the laws of this land at one 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.400 time meant to protect but likely antiquated at this point, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.920 will likely prevent us from adopting him. 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.120 We won't get our hopes up. That law Jennifer mentioned 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:01.680 was the Indian child Welfare act. Antonio is Native American, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:06.560 his mom is Navajo and his dad is Cherokee. IQUA, 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.080 as I mentioned before, was created to stop the systemic 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:14.399 removal of Native children from their families and tribes. The 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.640 law is a little complicated because it does more than 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.320 one thing. I think of it like a set of guardrails. 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.800 IQUA is there to make sure Native kids get through 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:30.800 foster care and adoption safely. First, it requires child welfare 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:35.119 agencies to make active efforts to reunify the child with 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:39.320 their parents. Second, the law allows tribes to advocate in 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.600 cases that involve their children or move the case to 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:47.200 tribal court. And lastly, if a child can't be reunified 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.760 with their parents, IQUA sets out placement preferences for where 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:54.400 that child should go next. The preferences go like this. 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.240 First are members of the child's family, the members of 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.239 their tribe, and then other Native homes, which means the 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.960 Brakenes should come after all those other options. And that's 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.560 the part of the law they don't like because it 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:14.360 puts them last in line. Jennifer tried not to get 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.840 her hopes up, but then she got attached. 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:24.600 It's sad, really, the law is going to take him 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:27.600 from the only family he knows for over half of 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.520 his life by the time he goes home. If it's 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.359 going to be this way, then now is the time 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.960 to do it. Now when he likes to cuddle at night, 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.879 Now when he's gaining his independence but always stays close, 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.520 Now is the time to bond with him, and we 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.960 are doing it. But it should be someone else. But 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:52.359 he's stuck in the system. So we wait, We wait 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.399 and wait and wait, and sometimes this is what foster 0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:01.600 care is. He's loved and safe with us until the 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:02.520 day he goes home. 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.720 To be clear, the system Jennifer was waiting on here 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:14.879 wasn't Iqua. It was foster care. That's because Antonio's parents 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.840 had a year to work on their case plan, so 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:22.600 during that year, Antonio wasn't available to be adopted by anyone. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.719 I talked to a social worker at the agency that 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.800 licensed the Brackens. She told me fostering can be a 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:35.080 long and tedious process, but it is also very defined. 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.560 This is Jalen Smiley from k Family Services. 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:45.760 So when we are providing information to families in the 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:50.199 early stages of the process, we're definitely stressing that this 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:55.119 is not a traditional adoption experience, because we don't know 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:57.840 what's going to happen with that case or what relatives 0:19:57.880 --> 0:19:59.920 will come forward, so we can never make a prom 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.720 must set on the day that a child is placed 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.840 with a family that they will remain with that family forever. 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.560 In the majority of child welfare cases, the foster child 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.480 is not adopted by the foster family. At the end 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:19.080 of that year, Antonio's mom and dad lost their parental rights. 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:24.000 Two months later, Navajo Nation found a home a Navajo 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:28.359 couple living on the reservation in New Mexico wanted to 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:34.080 adopt Antonio. This placement complied with IQUA. That summer, the 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:38.200 Brakins drove to al Paso so Antonio could meet them. 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:43.440 According to Navajo Nation, the couple was really excited about 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.560 the adoption. They even had a baby shower. But two 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.440 days before the trip, the Brakeens went to court. 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.359 We intervened. He has been with us over a year 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:58.600 and he was not yet two. We felt it was 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.840 in baby Brothers' best interest to stay right where he was, 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:06.000 the place where he knew he belonged. Since he could 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.800 not speak for himself, we spoke for him. 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.120 Jennifer and Chad Brakin did not think Antonio should go 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:15.879 and live with a family he had only met for 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:20.320 a few hours just because they were Navajo. They said 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:24.000 the culture he might gain didn't outweigh the trauma of 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:28.360 taking him from their home. But here's what I struggle with. 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:33.680 How can the Brakkins weigh the value of Navajo culture when, 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.680 like most Americans, they don't know much about it. 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:42.400 Ayat a Pianolagana bashishin. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:51.359 Tohsoi densha. This is Amber Kennisbakrati, a delegate on the 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:52.920 Navajo Nation Council. 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:59.600 So as I began this conversation and introduced myself, I 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:05.479 reckoned my family ties. You introduce yourself by clans and 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:09.159 then you know how you are instantly related to one another. 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:13.480 Most child welfare policy in this country is structured around 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.359 the idea of a nuclear family, as in mom, dad 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:21.640 and their kids. But Navajo families, because they are integrated 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:24.080 into those clans, are different. 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:28.120 Literally, when you see like a tree and the roots 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:32.720 that are sprouting on the bottom, and how they interconnect 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:37.360 and intertwine and are there to support one another, that's 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:43.760 that's the family structure. So it's not one or two 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:48.400 individuals it's this whole system, right, it's this whole system. 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.320 Navajo Nation is not just a people, it's a place, 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:56.400 a place where the Navajo have lived since the beginning 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:57.119 of time. 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:01.800 There's songs and prayers that were seen when we see 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:08.000 our mountains, because that is where our umbilical cords are 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:13.159 are connected to the land, to this place that was 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:19.280 placed here for us, specifically for us, and so the land. 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:23.320 Is like our womb. 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.760 But in the eighteen sixties, the US Army cut that 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:39.080 umbilical cord. Using starvation and murder. The army forced Navajo 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:43.600 people into concentration camps and then on a four hundred 0:23:43.640 --> 0:23:46.840 mile death march away from their homelands. 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:51.600 Not only was a time of great sorrow, but it 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:59.720 also then was a time where families were separated and 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:06.760 almost like our hearts and souls were taken from us. 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:09.720 Navajo Nation is one of the few tribes in the 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:14.520 US that, after removal, was able to negotiate their return. 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:19.480 And so when the elders and the leaders were able 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:23.600 to negotiate Napcos to return back to our homeland, there's 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:27.000 songs and there's prayers that we seing like when we 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:32.239 passed the Rio Grand River because we recognize those that 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:37.119 we lost. So that's how, in my mind, how I 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:43.760 see us being taken and being extremely fortunate to come 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:51.040 back home and have the ability to continue to care 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:54.919 for our earth and to be here with our mountains 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:58.000 who when we walk amongst them, they. 0:24:57.920 --> 0:24:58.680 Know who we are. 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:04.199 Counsel Woman Krotate wants Navajo children to have that, to 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:07.480 live on the land that knows them, to be part 0:25:07.600 --> 0:25:11.119 of that root structure, and to be firmly planted in 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:12.040 who they are. 0:25:13.800 --> 0:25:20.680 It is important for our children's spiritual, mental, physical well 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:26.280 being to know who they are, their special purpose. 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:30.000 In the world, and that this is theirs. This is 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:34.200 a space and a place in a people who claim 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:37.200 them and who will protect them. 0:25:37.960 --> 0:25:42.000 According to the United Nations, taking the children of an 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:45.840 ethnic group is still a form of genocide. 0:25:46.560 --> 0:25:49.399 A child missing is a sorrow in my heart because 0:25:49.440 --> 0:25:53.840 I know we cannot continue to heal when we have 0:25:54.040 --> 0:25:57.879 our children taking away from us. We cannot be whole 0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:00.280 when we don't have our babies. 0:26:02.600 --> 0:26:06.600 Both choices removing a child from a foster home and 0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:11.040 removing a child from his tribe are a disruption, and 0:26:11.160 --> 0:26:15.960 which disruption feels bigger is all about perspective. If you 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:20.760 zoom in, placing Antonio with that Navajole family breaks his 0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:24.320 attachment with the Brakeens who'd raised him for a year. 0:26:25.240 --> 0:26:29.160 And if you zoom out, placing Antonio with the Brakeens 0:26:29.280 --> 0:26:34.879 breaks something I don't even have words for. I just 0:26:34.960 --> 0:26:39.879 think about the land between those sacred mountains, where Antonio's 0:26:39.880 --> 0:26:44.960 family has lived since the beginning of time. The importance 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:48.879 of identity came up in our conversations with Jennifer's old 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:53.800 friends Christina and Corey Jones, too. It wasn't something they 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:57.679 understood at first. Corey just thought his big house and 0:26:57.760 --> 0:27:00.840 all the opportunities that came with it gave his foster 0:27:00.960 --> 0:27:03.959 kids a better life, and one day he said as 0:27:04.040 --> 0:27:05.240 much to a social worker. 0:27:06.000 --> 0:27:08.760 He dropped his pen, looked me dead in the eye 0:27:08.760 --> 0:27:11.480 and said, being poor doesn't make you a bad parent, 0:27:12.840 --> 0:27:17.679 And I just quit talking and was like okay, and 0:27:17.760 --> 0:27:20.280 that man, that just sort of rattled. 0:27:20.040 --> 0:27:21.800 Through my bones For a while. 0:27:22.760 --> 0:27:26.320 I didn't understand what is meant by good for the kids, 0:27:27.200 --> 0:27:31.800 because I think if a child has opportunities for what 0:27:32.240 --> 0:27:34.600 would widely be considered as a good school or a 0:27:34.640 --> 0:27:37.960 safe neighborhood, that that's good for a kid, but not 0:27:38.000 --> 0:27:40.159 if the kid doesn't feel at home there, and not 0:27:40.280 --> 0:27:43.000 if they don't feel like their identity is connected with 0:27:43.080 --> 0:27:43.600 that place. 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:47.920 Corey kept having moments like that one where the reality 0:27:48.040 --> 0:27:51.760 of foster care hit him like a ton of bricks 0:27:52.640 --> 0:27:55.800 and it changed the way he and his wife Christina 0:27:56.200 --> 0:27:59.760 saw things. It even changed the way they saw themselves. 0:28:00.600 --> 0:28:03.800 And so, yeah, we've done a lot of soul searching 0:28:04.040 --> 0:28:06.280 and of I guess, for lack of better term, repenting, 0:28:07.040 --> 0:28:11.000 for just how we perceive people in general, and especially 0:28:11.040 --> 0:28:13.840 people who are poor. I mean, if we're honest, and 0:28:13.880 --> 0:28:16.080 I think especially those of us who come from like 0:28:16.240 --> 0:28:20.879 white conservative Christian backgrounds, we can certainly come at it 0:28:20.920 --> 0:28:24.440 with the white savior complex and we believe we're not 0:28:24.680 --> 0:28:29.000 just helping kids, but we're also, you know, saving souls 0:28:29.280 --> 0:28:32.800 and we're going to ride in on the white horse 0:28:32.880 --> 0:28:35.680 and save the day for these children. But I think 0:28:35.680 --> 0:28:37.320 it's something that foster parents are going to have to 0:28:37.320 --> 0:28:40.280 confront as well and check our own hearts and ask 0:28:40.960 --> 0:28:43.120 why we're really doing this, Like are we doing this 0:28:43.160 --> 0:28:45.080 to make ourselves feel better? Are we doing this because 0:28:45.080 --> 0:28:47.560 we think this is this is how we finally make 0:28:47.600 --> 0:28:50.400 it into heaven by doing this really cool, noble thing. 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:55.280 As the custody battle heated up, the bra Keen's got 0:28:55.320 --> 0:29:00.720 some help from an unusual place. That story. After the break, 0:29:12.320 --> 0:29:17.080 that petition the Brakines filed to adopt Antonio was denied 0:29:17.720 --> 0:29:22.040 and Antonio was scheduled to be moved. Here is Jennifer's blog, 0:29:22.080 --> 0:29:23.800 again read by an actor. 0:29:24.640 --> 0:29:27.560 We wanted to appeal. We felt we should have won. 0:29:28.200 --> 0:29:31.480 Not to mention, we felt this would do real emotional 0:29:31.560 --> 0:29:34.920 harm to him. But the cost of the appeal was 0:29:35.360 --> 0:29:36.800