WEBVTT - Protecting the Sacred 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.200 Welcome to woke AF with me Danielle Moody. Last month, 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.840 I enjoyed an insightful conversation with Dunay activists Ali Young, 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:22.400 founder of Protect the Sacred, a group focused on protecting 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.640 elders within her community. With the recent public health news 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.520 of coronavirus surges and the Delta variant, I wanted to 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.120 bring you our full conversation to give you an idea 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.240 of the issues facing the Navajo Nation that are typically 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.879 ignored in the mainstream media. Of course, so you can 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.400 hear me tackle plenty of issues that don't get airtime 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.800 in the media by supporting me on Patreon at patreon 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.760 dot com slash woke AF. For now, though, I hope 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.760 you receive insight and information from my conversation with Ali Young. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.040 I want to start off with just can you explain 0:00:55.160 --> 0:01:01.560 to us how Protect the Sacred started and why sure? 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.280 Protect the Sacred started at in March last year, right 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:10.959 at the beginning of a pandemic late March. Actually, it 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.039 was right around the time that the Navajo Nation was 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:19.880 being hit very hard and I felt like I needed 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.440 to do something, and I was also being called upon 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.880 by some of my former colleagues at Shiprock, Indian Health 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:32.800 Service physicians and public health professionals who also knew that 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:36.320 we needed to be communicating to young people to relay 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.280 this message of staying home and what the CDC was 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:44.839 coming down with. So I worked with them to really 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:51.240 develop messaging that would that that was sort of digestible 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.919 because you know, you think about our communities, and especially 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.280 in Navajo Nation, we have a lot of elders who 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.440 don't always understand what's happening on the news because they 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:05.840 don't speak English fluently. So to be able to communicate 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.840 that important messaging to our youth who could then translate 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.359 it and pass it on to our elders who we 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.440 were trying to protect because of the ancestral knowledge and 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.880 the culture and the language that they that they hold 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.320 and that they're still passing down to many of our 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.000 young people was really at the core of our work. 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.920 You know what struck me when I was watching UM 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.239 I think it was an expose that was being done 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.800 on you and on Protect the Sacred I think it 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:37.600 was on NBC, And what struck me was this desire 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.800 to protect knowledge right and understanding that the wisdom and 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.640 knowledge that you were working to protect is encapsulated in 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:53.440 your elders. Which has struck me about the pandemic in general, 0:02:53.840 --> 0:03:01.280 is how disconnected American culture seems from actual community. Like 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:06.239 this virus right to me in a lot of ways, 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.120 was an exercise in how we care and have empathy 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:14.440 for each other. Right that it isn't the pull yourself 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.960 up from the bootstrap, you know, I'm in it for 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:21.600 myself type of person. And there was a selfishness that 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:27.520 was so very apparent and on display. You know, talk 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.760 to me about what it means to not just you know, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.560 shun or move away from your from your elders, which 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:42.960 we see a lot in in our society in multiple communities. 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.520 There isn't this care for the elders, right, Like, what 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:49.800 did we see on the news. It was just the 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:54.080 initial reports about COVID was who it was hitting, where 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.560 the elderly and young folks are just like, so that's 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.960 not me. I'm going to stay at the bars and 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.240 I'm going to stay at the clubs, and I'm gonna 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.120 you know, I'm in it for me. You know what 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.800 came up for you in terms of like kind of 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.520 seeing that very stark dichotomy in how we care for 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.880 one another. Yeah, well, I mean our work protect the 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.920 sacred is also a response to I think right around 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.400 that time in Texas, I was seeing reports about UM, 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:29.000 even the elders in Texas thing that they wanted to 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:34.480 sacrifice themselves for for the economy and in this country, 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.560 the sake of this country. And and then I you know, 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:42.359 to even see young people supporting UM that that notion 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:47.160 you know, to UM will sacrifice our elders because we 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.360 need to stay open and our businesses need to thrive. UM. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.000 And for me, I was like, absolutely not, That's not 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.479 the way that UM, at least for my community and 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.520 Native American culture. UM that we you know, we revere 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:06.040 our elders. And because we know that, UM, they hold 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.520 that incredible knowledge that is important to all of our communities, 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.160 not just Native communities, but you know, all of our 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:18.560 communities have, especially communities of color, have our our elders 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.240 are sacred in that way and UM. And so it 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.520 was heartbreaking to see that. But I knew what I 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:28.360 needed to do for my community because we were not 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.960 gonna stand by and let our elders pass. And unfortunately UM, 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.719 you know the majority of the I think the death 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:42.960 toll in Navajo Nation is probably approaching fifteen hundred people 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:49.120 now UM and over sixty percent of those deaths are 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.760 our elders sixty years and older UM. And there's a 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:57.840 there's a handful that um are our traditional healers, our 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.560 medicine men UM. And you know, as it is, you 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.560 know that population of our medicine man has been decimated. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:09.920 So we talk about the survival of our communities, in 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:19.159 especially Native communities, it's we credit our traditional ancestral ways 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.479 to why we're still here today. And so that that's 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.760 where it came from for me. And I think, UM, 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.479 when I when I talk to folks about what like 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.880 the success of that we're staying right now, especially in 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.400 Navajo Nation in terms of the vaccination rate, I talk 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:44.000 about the fact that we accomplished that because we know 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:48.279 the importance of community and in our connectedness and interdependence. 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:54.560 Those two words interconnectedness and interdependence. It seems so foreign 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.800 to how we have been operating. I mean, you know, 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:03.600 obviously COVID began under the Trump administration, and we saw 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:08.200 that there was no interdependence, there was no community, there 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.000 was you know this every everyone is out for themselves, 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:15.840 or that this is a hoax. You know. I want 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:23.480 to talk about the erasure of Native American culture, experience, 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:30.400 and even from the historical setting right to the current 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:38.000 day invisible invisibleness of the traumas and the issues that 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:45.840 Native American communities are facing. Rick Santorm who recently was 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:51.960 fired from CNN after excessive public pressure for his comments 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:56.560 about essentially his ancestors coming over on the Mayflower and 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:00.960 you know, nothing was here, right, Like there was no community, 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.880 no culture, no people, no economy, no nothing right. That 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:09.520 is literally what he said was disgusting. And I and I, well, 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:11.960 the first time that I watched the clip, because sadly 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:13.960 I watched it a couple of times. The first time 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.000 Ali I watched the clip and I just I mean, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.640 all I could do was shake my head and I 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.880 just am like, this is where these people think, like 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.160 that they brought everything with them. No one taught them anything, 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.760 No one was like, I don't it wasn't like arriving 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.319 on the moon, right. Well, tell me what came up 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:37.320 for you when you heard when you heard those those 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:45.960 comments that it was absolutely false, and you know it's 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:50.440 I was angry and my community was angry because for 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:55.280 far too long. We've been invisible in our own homelands 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:59.200 and our ancestral lands. You know this, UM, we were 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:04.640 the first people's of this country. And to hear remarks 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:09.920 that way, it's hurtful and it perpetuates that whitewash narrative 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:15.120 that is the reason for white supremacy. UM, that that 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:21.319 is the reason for Native erasure. And I think that UM. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.760 You know to this day that invisibility hurts even our 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.680 Native youth. It hurts UM. It hurts their mental health 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.040 and their well being. And that is why we fight 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:37.120 hard against things like Native mascots, UM, and that the 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:42.000 negative imagery of our people and stereotypes UM that play 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:49.240 into the way that we're can constantly disregarded and remain invisible. 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.440 And so the reason, I mean, that's why the whole 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:59.160 campaign was started against Rick Santorum with the hashtag removed Rick, 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.800 and and we just kept pushing and we weren't going 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.800 to give up because you know this, that was our 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:11.560 our moment to to UM to keep pushing forward and 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:16.120 to make sure that we we won, and we weren't 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:20.400 going to stop. And so it took UM. And when 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.800 it comes to Native communities, we're such a small population 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:29.880 that we know they think we don't matter. We're talking. 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:31.880 We're not going to hurt business, We're not going to 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.959 hurt their numbers. UM, and so that's when we call 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.160 on our allies. And that's that's what we had to do. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:40.240 We had to call on our allies and say stand 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:45.880 with us, especially allies who have UM big platforms and 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:50.680 that are highly influential, like our friend Mark Ruffalo and 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.400 Ed Helms and and the folks who've come to stand 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:58.360 with us in solidarity over and over again and UM 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.280 and I think we were able to. We UM created 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:06.560 an open letter to CNN and then had folks like 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.199 them sign on, and I think once Joaquin Phoenix also 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.959 signed on. And so once the media picked that up 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.640 and realized how how we were all coming together, I 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.199 think it definitely pushed the pressure on CNN. There is 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:28.640 a conversation with regard to our public education system and 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:30.920 how and I talk about this on Woke of all 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.559 the time, about I'm a former educator, and about how 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:39.439 our public education system perpetuates white supremacy through the erasure 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:45.120 of the impacts that multitudes of people, specifically for me, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:50.560 black Americans, have had on this country, and without which 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.280 we would not have one. Uh in terms of the 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:58.400 economic structure of America that was built off of slavery. Um, 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:05.319 how do you feel for you is missing? Because there 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.120 is so much I know that is missing in the 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:14.040 narrative right now about Native American culture that we should 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.400 also be elevating. As we're talking about things like the 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:23.200 sixteen nineteen project that we're seeing an extraordinary pushback against 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:27.480 in Republican legislatures around the country. What do you think 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:32.319 is missing in terms of an additive to the narrative 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:40.400 of the formation of America. I think the resiliency of 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.320 Native people's and I think that's something especially when we 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:50.640 talk about the pandemic and how tribal communities have been 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:55.200 hit hard and impacted. You know, it was great to 0:12:55.320 --> 0:13:01.520 see the media covering what we were experiencing through the 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:06.000 pandemic and um, what the pandemic has unveiled to the 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.200 rest of the country, like the broken infrastructure within our 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:14.920 tribal communities. That's important, But at the same time, mainstream 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.480 media tends to lean into poverty porn, especially when it 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:23.400 comes to Native communities, and so the thing for me 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.559 that is missing is also highlighting our resilience, how we've 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:32.640 been able to overcome being the hardest hit and now 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:36.480 at Navajo Nation, we're basically at heart immunity with the 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:43.000 vaccination rate and and just the success of our communities 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.480 being being able to take those resources UM, you know, 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:53.640 from the federal government, the vaccines and implementing UM just 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.800 a strategy within our own community, and how we've come 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.720 together to set up vaccination events and to volunteer. It 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.760 has come down to community. And I think that has 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.920 always been the reason that we've survived as Native peoples, 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.800 is that we rely on each other because the federal 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:14.600 government has never been there for Native communities. We have 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:18.160 treaties that have just been broken over and over, so 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.760 we've always had to rely on our on ourselves. And 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.200 I think that kind of resiliency needs to be talked 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:30.320 about more, especially when we talk about the pandemic, and 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:36.040 then when we're talking about the foundation of this country, 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:39.720 the fact that the Native peoples have contributed so much, 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.400 going back to those two words in our connectedness, in 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.440 our dependence, we've that that is who we are as 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.680 Native people, and we know the power in that, and 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:58.880 we even tried to have that sort of relationship with 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:06.680 the European invaders, settlers who came over, and we tried 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:11.440 to have that relationship with them, but you know, they 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:18.040 didn't understand that concept. They didn't understand, you know, our 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:22.680 way of life, and so it resulted in us being decimated. 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.479 But you know, because we we held onto those values 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.480 that are rooted in our in our connectedness, we've been 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:34.200 able to survive. You know. One of the stories that 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:38.040 I think, UM that did not receive the type of 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.000 attention that it should have in the twenty twenty election 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:47.160 was how Native communities came together in mass in places 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:51.520 like Arizona, right to help turn that state blue for 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.560 the very first time. Why do you think that it? 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.480 What was it about this moment? I mean, I know 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.320 for me, it's Trump right like and and it was 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.280 just like he is an authoritarian fascist and needs to 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.360 be stopped right like um, and and that is what 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.520 drove my narrative, drove my work. What was it about 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:20.640 this particular election that you think UM brought out historic 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:29.440 numbers in your community? Yeah, similarly has to do with 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:37.520 Trump's UM leadership. I say in quotes, because um, you know, 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:39.760 in the in the year, the four years that he 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:43.120 was in office. You think about UM, what happened in 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:49.480 our communities, UM because of his administration, the Dakota Access 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:54.600 Pipeline saw major setbacks UM that that we had won 0:16:55.040 --> 0:17:00.000 during you know, at the end of the Obama administration. UM. 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:03.640 Everything that has to do with the destruction of Mother Earth, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:11.160 especially in and around Native communities that UM that harm 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:16.960 us and UM in our health. And I think also UM, 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.200 I know that during the Trump administration even the mash 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.960 b Wampanoag tribe lost their reservation. So that was some 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.879 that was a huge red flag for Native communities UM 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:32.040 to say, if this can happen to them, this can 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:36.880 happen to any of our tribes or reservations. So we 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:41.199 need to UM. We can't. We can't let UM someone 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:45.119 like him who has no respect for Native people or 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:51.040 Native communities. You know, he's publicly UM filed lawsuits against 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.239 UM some of the tribes up in Connecticut and New 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:58.840 York because of UM, because of the casinos that he 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:03.040 was trying to establish, UM and call and saying that 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.160 you know, those those people didn't look Indian, so then 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.920 they shouldn't get the tax breaks that they were receiving. 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.280 Because and we received those because of our the land 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:18.240 that was stolen from us through through our treaties. So 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:22.359 when you don't understand that kind of that that true 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.720 basic history of the relationship that Native people have to 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.800 the federal government, then you should not be um the 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.600 president of the United States. And so for us, that 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:36.840 was really what it was about, and we came out 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:40.119 in record numbers to make sure to ensure that we 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.639 were electing officials that would sincerely bring us to the 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:48.960 table and bring us into conversations that impacted policies or 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:54.000 that that created policies that impacted our communities. As a 0:18:54.000 --> 0:19:03.399 black woman, I am always applauding black women, black people 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:08.920 who are credited with first right, whether that be President Obama, 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.480 whether it be our Vice president Kamala Harris. For the 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.320 first time ever, we have a Secretary of the Interior 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.040 that is actually Native and at go go figure right, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.959 it only took what hundreds of years for us to 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:26.080 get to this place. And while I celebrate these moments, 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.159 it also makes me enraged that we are at a 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:33.199 place where we're still getting to these first What is it? 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.520 What did it mean to you and how do you 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:41.840 feel about that appointment? And recognition is it Is it 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.200 a both and where it's just like yeay, let's celebrate 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:51.040 and also really, you know, like we're just getting here. Yes, 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:59.479 both and absolutely proud of Secretary Holland, and in Indian 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:04.280 Country has been behind her since her first political moves 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.639 in New Mexico, and as an Indigenous woman who is 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:13.639 from New Mexico as well, I am beyond excited to 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.760 see someone who looks like me in one of the 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:22.800 highest political offices in the country. And and it's also 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:28.560 infuriating because people don't know really what the Department of 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:32.399 the Interior is yet. It's managing our public lands and 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.600 national parks, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.800 of Indian Education also fall under the Department of the Interior. 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:44.919 And so for me, I'm like it, how did it 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:47.879 not make sense for a Native person to run the 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:53.840 Department of the Interior considering the respect and relationship that 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:58.240 we have for Mother Earth. And so when we're when 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:05.120 we're thinking about our natural resources, our waters, and our lands, 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.320 of course we're going to do all we can to 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:12.159 protect Mother Earth. And so a Native person who knows 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.800 that deep relationship and has that deep relationship should be 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:21.119 overseeing that. And then when it comes to tribal communities, 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:26.600 why isn't a native person overseeing again those policies that 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:32.600 directly impact us as directly impact our communities. But I'm 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:36.000 I'm beyond excited. I can't say what I'm writing. I 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:39.040 can say that I'm writing something about dev Holland right now, 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:44.080 I can't say what I've been spending the past several 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:50.280 days writing about her. So you know, all I'll say 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:55.719 is I say this in the piece, but she is. 0:21:55.760 --> 0:22:01.520 She's shattered the colonizer's glass ceiling, and for me, that's 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:06.080 another level. Um. You know, we talk about so many 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:11.639 women shattering glass ceilings, um, but to shatter the colonizer's 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:16.160 glass ceiling is you know, takes her badassory to another level. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:20.120 Because she comes from a community that is not even 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:25.520 supposed to be here today. That's extraordinary. Um. Ali, I 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:28.720 just thank you so much for the work that you 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:33.640 do for the community, the interconnectedness that you are building, 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:37.360 and the attention and spotlight that you are bringing um 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:40.560 to your community, because I do you know, as as 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:45.560 part of a community that is villainized, the Black community 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:50.280 that is villainized and criminalized, and over surveiled. It's like 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:54.320 we have too much negative attention, whereas you have no 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:58.000 attention at all, um and and you know, and it's 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:02.440 and it's like, what does it mean to be seen? Right? 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:04.960 What is it? What does it mean to show up 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:07.440 in a way that you are forcing people to look 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:10.080 at you and come back to the narratives and the 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:16.280 stereotypes that they've created. What's next for protecting the sacred? Well, 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.159 we just went through a whole strategic planning process and 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:23.800 kind of narrowing in our focus on Native youth. So 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:27.440 we will be we're having a Native Youth summit that's 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:31.119 coming up the summer, and then later this year we're 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:36.720 planning a BIPOC Youth summit that's focused on Indigenous issues. 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:41.199 So we want to get the conversation started around allyship 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:45.600 and the importance of collaboration amongst our cross collaboration amongst 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:48.720 all of our communities of color, because you know, as 0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:51.920 adults were still figuring out what that means. And so 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:56.400 it's it's, um, we should be teaching our children, our 0:23:56.480 --> 0:24:01.920 children that that way of leader ship, and so that's 0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:07.320 what we're really focusing on, is empowering Native youth and 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:14.399 also just continuing to amplify Indigenous voices and storytelling and 0:24:14.520 --> 0:24:18.840 hoping that you know, sometime in the near future we 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:23.800 are normalized in mainstream media. Well, Ali, I hope that 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:26.840 you come back and you join us on woke to 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:30.480 share more of the work that you're doing and just 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:33.760 you know, help to open our eyes and kind of 0:24:34.600 --> 0:24:39.320 break the gas light that has been happening through you know, 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:41.600 out centuries here so that we can all have a 0:24:41.640 --> 0:24:45.600 better understanding and build better community together. I appreciate you. 0:24:45.960 --> 0:24:53.480 Thank you so much for having me. I appreciated talking 0:24:53.520 --> 0:24:57.600 with Ali about the interconnectedness and interdependence that are required 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:00.240 from a community in which people are expected to take 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:02.360 care of each other. I think that there is much 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:04.760 for those of us outside of Navajo Nation to take 0:25:04.800 --> 0:25:07.879 away from those two words. As COVID rates continue to 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:11.359 surge and we experience another summer dealing with the devastating 0:25:11.359 --> 0:25:14.720 effects of climate change. I always tell you how important 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:16.800 it is to take care of yourself, but it is 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:19.119 just as important that we take care of one another. 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:21.879 That is it for me today on woke. Af to 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:24.400 hear more from me, please do head over to Patreon 0:25:24.520 --> 0:25:27.920 and consider supporting me at Patreon dot com slash woke 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:32.600 AF to support independent media boosting diverse voices and perspectives. 0:25:32.640 --> 0:25:35.119 Power to the people and to all the people. Power, 0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:37.480 Get woke and stay woke as fuck.