This episode features Lourdes Escalante, Executive Director of https://indigenousalliance.org/ (Indigenous Alliance Without Borders), who is heavily involved in the Tucson community and is a member of the Yoeme (Pascua Yaqui) tribe. The episode starts...

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Season 9

This episode features Lourdes Escalante, Executive Director of Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras (Indigenous Alliance Without Borders), who is heavily involved in the Tucson community and is a member of the Yoeme (Pascua Yaqui) tribe. The episode starts off with a content warning to address the discussions that include accounts of domestic violence and death which could be traumatic and potentially triggering to some listeners. This thoughtful in-depth conversation addresses the culture of silence, lateral violence, femicide/feminicidio, toxic masculinity, and other factors that contribute to Missing and Murdered Indigneous Relations. Lourdes also gave an overview of the data and statistics from the Arizona Statewide Study in Partnership with HB2570 Legislative Study Committee. The conversation leads into spreading awareness about MMIR and best practices to begin to heal as a community, while supporting those directly impacted who have lost a loved one.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking etc. please see the helpful links below.

Helpful resources:
Emerge Center Against Domestic Violence
Missing and Murdered Indigenous People
Tohono O'odham Nation Komckud Ki: Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention Program
Voices Unheard
Southwest Indigenous Women's Coalition
Stalking

Related stories:
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Cases That Deserve More Attention
Feminicidio Close to Home: Remembering Dr. Raquel Padilla Ramos

WEBVTT

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For full disclosure. The information discussed in this podcast is

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based on the views and experiences of the guests and

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the hosts. The content here is for general educational purposes only.

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The content in this episode contain discussions of accounts of

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domestic violence and even death, which could be traumatic and

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potentially triggering to some listeners. We care about your wellbeing,

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so take time before delving into this episode to light

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some sugly take a break, and if you need support,

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we will include resource links in the episode description. Please

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take care while listening. This is Tina Andrew here with

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you all them Young Voice this podcast. We are now

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in episode forty five, and if you've been listening closely

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to the past episodes, we finished off season eight and

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we talked about what is season nine going to look

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like or sound like, and we did say, you know,

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it's kind to get pretty heavy because we wanted to

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focus on certain stories surrounding missing and murdered indigenous people's

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indigenous relations. We kick started the season nine with Raymond

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Mattia Senior Bot and we're going to continue following history

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as well and continue to support the family, but we

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also wanted to just continue the conversation you know it's

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important to keep these conversations going so that folks can

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continue to learn, especially when it's so close to home.

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And here we are in southern Arizona, whether it's on

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the Thauna Autam Nation or right here in Strukstron. I

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have a very special guest with us today who's been

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involved in the work of m I are.

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Leo sent Mannavo Ineos Escalante deac Ne Ujuli di deak. Hello.

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My name is Lord Escalante. I'm also known as Ujuli

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in my community, which is translated to precious. Professionally, I'm

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the current executive director of the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders

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also known as the Al Sin Fronterras. I am also

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a member of the Honor Collective, which Honor stands for

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Healing our Nations, offering Resilience. I have done some of

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this work related to missing and murdered Indigenous peoples or

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missing and murdered Indigenous relatives since about two thousand nineteen.

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You know, I've known and been following your work for

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some time, and I've gotten to know you a little

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bit more and more the more we do work together

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and to learn of your involvement in this type of work.

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Can you share a little bit of the history of

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missing and murdered Indigenous How did we get here?

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It starts with colonization, with the dehumanization of indigenous peoples

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upon arrival with Christopher Columbus, for example, that's when it started.

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That's when things were being documented, and that's when the

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land was also being affected, because we believe that the

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women are connected to the land, and if you are

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raping the land, if you are extorting the land, exploiting it,

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you also exploit the women as a result. With that

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in mind, m MIIW m MIP MMR, the roots go

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as far as back as colonization because it's still seen.

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The effects of it are still seen and there are

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efforts of decolonizing and reindigenizing, but that can't be done

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if the women aren't addressed. And if the women and

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their families, whether that's two spirit folks, bisexual, you know, LGBTQ,

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two s, two spirit folks are also directly impacted in

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a positive way because they're also victimized as well. They're

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also part of those statistics. It all started off with MMIW,

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which is missing and murder Indigenous women, but then we

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started collecting data, and then you hear from other tribes.

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You know an elder male passed away or an elder

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male is now missing. Over time, it's grown from MMIW

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the women part, and now it's seen more as missing

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and murdered Indigenous peoples or the way honor collective, the

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way we use it. We say MMR because missing and

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murder indigenous relations puts a responsibility on us. And once

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we say this is our relation, it's showing the interconnectivity

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between all of us and how we need to look

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out for that uncle, how we need to look out

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for that cousin. It makes things more relational. It goes

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beyond personifying the people, because we are the kind of

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peoples who are always in community and we need to

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do something about our relatives who are being impacted by

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MMIW or MMR.

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Over the years, I've learned a lot about the movement

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and supporting it in all the ways that I can

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listening to countless stories, and I can't help but think.

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When I'm driving through the streets late at night or

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any time of day, I can't help but think and

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wonder about other people locally right here in the Tucson area.

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Getting back to your work Lord of this, Can you

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explain the work that you do and how it relates

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to the movement of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls people,

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so that that is.

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A layered answer because it's a journey. The work that

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I started off with was back in two twenty nineteen,

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early twenty nineteen, there was an event that was being

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coordinated with a bunch of Indigenous folks that were brought

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in and the event was called Take Back the Night.

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That specific event, there was a lot of internal stuff

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that happened with the coordination of that event. What came

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out of it was a very intentional mmiw m MIR

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event that happened at San Javier. It happened at the

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Sanhavier co Op and as a result, a lot of

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the people involved, such as Melody Lopez, Leilani Clark, Summer Aguilera,

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and a few other Indigenous women. You know, we didn't

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want to stop there. I wasn't a part of the

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founding of Honor Collective, but Honor Collective was birthed out

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of Take Back the Night, out of being in community

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with each other because a lot of us women notice

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that we need healing around mmiw MMR and how do

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we do that That in and of itself was a journey.

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So as far as kind of these tools that we

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all started picking up along the way, we started sharing

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with each other. And one of the things that helped

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us bind each other in community were the four rs.

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So the four rs are respect, reciprocity, relationship, and responsibility.

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So when you think of those four rs, it makes

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you think about how you relate to other people. Am

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I respecting this person? Am I giving them reciprocity where

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reciprocity is deserved? Am I treating them responsibly? Am I

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fostering this relationship? Am I considering it a relationship? From there,

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the Honor Collective has existed since then, and they do

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bring a lot of different modalities of healing in community

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as well. And it just doesn't stop there, right Because

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your question was you know the work I do. Another

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layer is what's happened to me since then? That take

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back the night event. It happened in April of twenty nineteen.

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Later that year, in September, I was getting some clothes

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ready for you know, the hand me downs for my

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oldest son. I was getting his clothes ready for my nephew,

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who one of my first cousins had recently adopted. I

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had the bag of clothes in my closet ready to go.

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I was going to coordinate, you know, meeting her on

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the res at the New boss Qua Reservation. And on

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September twenty sixth, that's when I found out he was murdered.

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He wasn't just murdered by anybody. He was murdered by

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his stepdad. He was drowned. And whatever was going through

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stepdad's head it had to do with religion, It had

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to do with trying to cleanse the child.

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Right.

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That's when I started realizing that the statistics do exist.

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Knowing that Tucson is the fourth highest city in the

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United States FORIW or MMR. It was heavy realizing that

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I'm impacted by those statistics. And when you look at

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the data that has been gathered related to m MIIW,

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because people are like, well, who's causing it? Right? Who

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are the perpetrators that are kidnapping our people, who are

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the people that are harming our peace people? And then

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who are the people that are eventually killing our people?

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Right?

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But the key word is harm. There is harm being done.

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And at what point do we realize that some patterns

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of behavior are harmful. With that in mind. Once this

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study from ASU came out in twenty twenty, which was

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a year after my nephew was murdered, airs in a

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state university came out with a reducing Missing and Murder

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Indigenous Women and Girls. It's a state white study for Arizona,

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and it really broke it down, you know, as to

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who are the perpetrators. As much as people want to

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claim that it's non Indigenous peoples that are perpetrators, it's

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also in the community. It's also problematic people in the

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community who are upholding those behaviors, the toxic behaviors, the

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domestic violence, the issues with normalizing abuse in the household,

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and with honor collective, it's like, how do what do

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we do with that? Because that's also looking at ourselves

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and that's looking at how we were raised and realizing

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some of these things aren't normal and how are we

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going to unlearn that? Because unlearning behaviors is very hard

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most of the time. With these behaviors, you have to

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look at yourself and you have to see how you

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have perpetuated them. That's the multi layer response to that question, because,

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like I said, it's been a journey and it's crazy

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connecting all of these things together. It's important for me

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on this journey to do that self reflection because with

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unlearning behaviors, you have to really look at yourself and

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how you connect with people. Then once you start implementing

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the four ours, the respect, relationship, reciprocity, and responsibility, then

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you can start healing other people, right, because hurt people

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hurt people, but then there's also healed people can heal people.

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Yeah, you're right, These same situations are from our own

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community members, people that we know, people that we're probably

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close with. Unfortunately, those things do happen, and that's hard

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to acknowledge sometimes, but it's the truth. It's part of

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these things and why they've happened. And thank you for

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being open and sharing about how that connection, that personal

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connection and what made you think about getting more involved.

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When we talk about the movement and how when it

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first started or how long it has been around, there

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have been different things that have come about of it

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that has helped to symbolize or recognize MMIW. What's the

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importance of the red dress and the red hand for

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those who may not be familiar because even in on

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the res they'll ask what does this mean? I wasn't

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sure about what this red dress means.

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The Red Dress Project it goes far back to a

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metist artist based out of Canada and their name is

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Janie Black and what they did it was kind of

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like an artwork display and it was a direct representation

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of the clothing that these people wore. It was called

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the Red Dress Project. I can read this part. It

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positions the Indigenous female body as a target of colonial

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violence while reclaiming space for an Indigenous female presence honor. Collective,

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we've used this to help spread awareness. It speaked to

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us in all collective because from my point of view,

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because I'm Yaki, I'm a Yaki woman, the way our

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culture sees the color red is it helps the spirits

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see you. And it sounds like a lot of other

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tribes share that same belief. Whereas when you see the

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red dress that's commemorating the person that was murdered or

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the person that's missing. It's definitely a tool to help

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raise awareness. Although a lot of people kind of question it.

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It's also going back to what I just read. It

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positions the Indigenous female body as a target of colonial violence.

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While reclaiming space for an indigenous female presence, because that

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female presence has been directly impacted. That's why MMIW exists. Also,

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going back to Yaki culture, the color red on our flag,

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our tribal flag, it's a representation also of the lives

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that have been lost historically with the Yaki people when

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we were dealing with our her own genocide under the

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Portfitgio Diaz dictatorship. He had the plan of killing off

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the women and children, and that's why many Yankee families

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fled and they ended up living here in the southern

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Arizona area. So MMIW isn't foreign to us, but we

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don't talk about it enough because those are our ancestors

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and the women have been disempowered in a very very

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specific and strategic way. MMIW does exist, or MMR does

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exist on both sides of the border as well. In Mexico,

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it's called femicide or femicidio. It's the strategic killing of

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the woman. And another personal example, and this I want

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to say, this also happened in twenty nineteen. There was

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this lady. She was a historian. Her name was doctor

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Raquel Badri Ramos. She had a partner who was a

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Yankee man, and she was murdered on November seventh of

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twenty nineteen. Madraque is specific background. She was an anthropologist

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and a historian, specifically an ethno historian of the Yankee

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people of so not a Mexico She did deal with

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intimate partner abuse. That's what led to her murder, essentially,

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because her work wasn't easy, it was stressful. She helped

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advocate for a lot of what the Yankee tribe needed

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in Mexico, and she did defend, you know, the indigenous

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ways of life very unapologetically and very fiercely. In November

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when she was murdered. Essentially, she she had this way

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of coping with her stress, which was running. There's a

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lot of autum runners, you know, there's a lot of

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Yankee runners. That's how we traditionally cope with stress. You know,

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running is healing. Running is something we used to relieve

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our stress. So that's what Raquel did. Her partner didn't

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want her to go running, and he shot her point

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blank in the face. This is another statistic that happened

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in twenty nineteen, and that happened amongst the Yaqui folks

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in Mexico. So coping with this, first my nephew and

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then doctor Ramos Rakos, it really opened my eyes to

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what are we going to do about this? How are

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these behaviors going to change? Because part of what people

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are figuring out in Mexico is it's a feminist side.

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That's what they call it. They don't call it and

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thenw but it is a strategic way and it's a

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mentality of misogyny. It's a hate towards women that has

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created this violence that ended the life of racket. People

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need to realize that you need to unlearn your own

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internalized misogyny. You need to unlearn your internalized lateral violence

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as well. And just to explain those a little bit

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more because I have learned so much about it, about

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lateral violence and how misogyny can really exist in our

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communities as indigenous peoples. But lateral violence, it's its own

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form of bullying and it's done within your community or

258
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it's also seen in the workplace. But lateral violence, it's strategic.

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It's like organized harmful behaviors. The key word is harmful.

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Is what I'm doing to this other person, this cousin,

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this sister in my trying to harm them. So it's

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organized harmful behaviors that we do to each other, knowing

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already that we're already an oppressed group as indigenous peoples

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historically oppressed, knowing that we create this harm within each other.

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It's like that crabs in a bucket mentality. You put

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crabs in a bucket and once one of them starts

267
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kind of improving their life and try to get out

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the rest of them bring them back down. That's the

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comic book way of seeing lateral violence and in their

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like microaggressions and it's like always making fun of somebody.

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It's a very harmful behavior and it's little sometimes it

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could be little, but those little things do snowball into

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something and it does affect people's mental health. Knowing what

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00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:29.599
lateral violence is and then understanding, you know, misogyny is

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an internalized hate towards women, towards making fun of their

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body parts, how they look, how they smell, all of that.

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That's also a form of misogyny because we are not

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00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.920
looking at the bigger picture that the feminine body embodies

279
00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.240
all of this. Were an ever changing species in the

280
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you know, in the human race, where women who go

281
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through our moon cycles. You know, we go through our menopause,

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We go through all these changes, We change in size

283
00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:00.559
all the time. And to me make fun of that

284
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and to make fun of our big emotions and our

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00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:08.880
ever changing hormones, that is misogyny because we don't take

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the time to understand that we are beings who embody

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all of these different things. Unlike men, Men are a

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little more simpler. They don't carry as many hormones as

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we do. Their bodies aren't changing like us. So, knowing

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lateral violence, knowing misogyny, what are the opposites? What is

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00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.519
the opposite of that? There's lateral kindness and how can

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you practice lateral kindness? And if you think of the

293
00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:43.480
four rs I mentioned earlier, the relationship, reciprocity, responsibility, and respect,

294
00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:48.079
those are the first stepping stones to practice lateral kindness

295
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.279
with each other. And it also helps you taper off

296
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that internalized misogyny because now, as an indigenous person, as

297
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a person who wants to be a healthy relative with

298
00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:03.720
each other, then you can start unlearning your internalized misogyny

299
00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.279
as well, and you can form more healthier bonds. Right,

300
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:09.119
you can form a healthier community.

301
00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:12.799
Thank you so much, I mean, it's just like, the

302
00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:17.960
more we can inform the community on different terminologies or

303
00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:21.680
different ways of thinking or things to consider that can

304
00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:27.319
contribute to these types of situations, these you know, unfortunate situations,

305
00:21:28.039 --> 00:21:32.119
I think the better community can be. So thank you

306
00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:36.839
for sharing that information. And I also within the Autumn community.

307
00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:40.480
Some years back, I can't remember what year, but during

308
00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:44.519
our rodeo Unfair the THECA Tournament, there was a whole

309
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:49.839
display of missing a murder Indigenous women and girls. It

310
00:21:50.039 --> 00:21:54.039
was sad to see how many were there, and I'm

311
00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:56.519
sure that's not even all of them, but that was

312
00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:59.440
just like a handful of their pictures to see them,

313
00:21:59.839 --> 00:22:03.039
to know who they were, their names, where they were from,

314
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:06.559
and on that display, I knew two of them. One

315
00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:12.440
of them was my nephew's grandmother, who unfortunately was killed,

316
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:15.839
and another one was a close friend. We went to

317
00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:20.240
college together. She was doing so well. Her name is

318
00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:25.839
Kimberly Myers Bought and we did some great things in college.

319
00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.799
You know, we were a part of student Senate, we

320
00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:35.359
were part of creating change, bringing aces Chapter to DOCC

321
00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:39.000
and it's still in existence today. But it's just sad

322
00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:42.599
to know that she's no longer here because you know,

323
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:48.200
in life, she backtracked and she went back to her

324
00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:51.880
old ways of like drinking and drugs and well I'm

325
00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:56.640
not sure about the drugs, but drinking if anything. And

326
00:22:58.119 --> 00:23:02.039
she got her life taken by a group of people

327
00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:04.920
who are part of a gang who rolled up on

328
00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.759
her in their vehicle and shot her in the face.

329
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And she had children, she left behind children. So yeah,

330
00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:18.920
it's just important to talk about ways where we can

331
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define what like getting to the root of those issues

332
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and those problems, and also looking within our own communities

333
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to create a healthy community. And I like what you

334
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said there being a healthy relative toward others. So thank

335
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:37.000
you for explaining that. I know you touched a little

336
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bit about this, but can you talk about more of

337
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like what are some of the statistics.

338
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So I do want to read this quote first because

339
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it helps set the tone for the statistics and it

340
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helps bring it into context. And this quote is directly

341
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from the report I mentioned earlier. It's titled Reducing Missing

342
00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:04.359
and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. It is the asu

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Arizona State University Statewide Study in partnership with the HB

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two five seventy Legislative Study Committee. So this quote, it says,

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our matriarchs in our communities are disempowered. They are the

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voices and the community builders in our community. They oftentimes

347
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are voiceless because the community that are expected to speak

348
00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:32.039
for the community are the men. Those are the voices

349
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:39.000
that are not speaking. How do we encourage them to speak? Right? So,

350
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going back to this report, there's a ton of statistics

351
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and one that I can never stop saying out loud

352
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is Tucson is number four. We are the number four

353
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city in the United States that has significant numbers, you know,

354
00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:02.000
in missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. There's let me see

355
00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:05.799
this is this is going to get heavy because there's

356
00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:10.759
statistics related to is it urban? And people do ask

357
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:14.359
this and during presentations like does it happen on the reservation?

358
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:17.839
Does it happen off the reservation? I can give you

359
00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:22.839
these statistics. For example, fifty seven percent of these incidents

360
00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:27.960
in Arizona are urban, twenty three percent are rural. And

361
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:31.279
rural can look like it can look kind of different

362
00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:34.640
every now and then, and then there are statistics that

363
00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:37.240
tell you, you know, how they were murdered. Was it

364
00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:42.240
by a knife of firearm or any other weapon. According

365
00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:45.119
to this study, twenty six percent are done by knives,

366
00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:48.079
and it looks like thirty three percent is done by

367
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:53.039
firearms and then sixteen percent is other weapons. But that's

368
00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:57.160
the physical murder, right, But what about the spiritual murder

369
00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:01.680
before the life is taken? How are the behaviors being documented?

370
00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:07.720
Because when we are spiraling and we go back into

371
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:12.720
our former harmful behaviors, whether that harmful behavior is to yourself,

372
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:16.559
whether that's drinking or doing substances, or getting depressed or

373
00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:20.279
cutting yourself or you're harming other people, that means your

374
00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:24.559
spirit is already struggling. Right. There is a direct correlation

375
00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:29.920
between that. That's spiritual suffering and then the actual abduction

376
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:36.359
or the missing part or getting murdered, those are directly connected.

377
00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:42.839
So this specific study from ASU, it's pretty upfront about

378
00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:45.480
the actual murders and all of that, but it doesn't

379
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:50.480
necessarily talk beyond that, right, because there are community members

380
00:26:50.519 --> 00:26:55.119
that have told me countless times over the years they're jaded, right,

381
00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.720
and they say, well, you don't start caring about Indigenous

382
00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:02.000
women until we're killed or until we're missing. When are

383
00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:04.640
you going to start caring about us? And it's true.

384
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.279
This is why I go back to with honor collective

385
00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.480
what we do in the community and how we're also

386
00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:17.839
healing ourselves and we're owning up to I'm speaking for myself,

387
00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:20.359
you know, owning up to these behaviors that have caused harm,

388
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:26.000
because our behaviors don't only impact other people, but it

389
00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:30.400
could impact their spirits. Going back to my friend doctor

390
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:35.160
Adraka Badia Ramos in relation to her femicide, knowing how

391
00:27:35.240 --> 00:27:38.599
much was her spirit already impacted leading up to her

392
00:27:38.680 --> 00:27:42.519
being killed. Her spirit was directly impacted by the intimate

393
00:27:42.599 --> 00:27:47.480
partner violence. At what point were men supposed to speak

394
00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:51.599
up and hold her her partner accountable? Who was a

395
00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:55.160
Yankee man? And then this is full circle going back

396
00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:59.319
to the quote I just read, because women are already

397
00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:03.960
feeling dismp powered, our voices are already silenced, and we

398
00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:06.640
are meant to be the community builders in our community.

399
00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:10.400
As a result, we do feel voiceless. And the ones

400
00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:12.720
that are supposed to speak for us are the men.

401
00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:16.319
What are they doing? This isn't to hate on men,

402
00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:19.839
but it's also we need to stop and think, as

403
00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:22.359
a woman, how do we hold our men accountable in

404
00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:25.920
the first place, or do we enable their behaviors and

405
00:28:26.200 --> 00:28:28.839
put them on a pedestal where they can do no

406
00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:34.480
harm right, And unfortunately, that is another form of internalized

407
00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:39.400
misogyny because we're not holding our sons, our nephews, our

408
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:44.079
brothers accountable for the harms that they do towards their women,

409
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:47.039
towards the women that they choose to be around, and

410
00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:50.359
towards the women that love them, that want them in

411
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.759
their lives. But how are they being loved properly? And

412
00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.000
that is something that I grew up with being a

413
00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:02.480
survivor of sexual assault, of child sexual assault, My voice

414
00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:06.720
was already diminished. It was silenced, and it wasn't until

415
00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:08.720
I was in my thirties that's when I started speaking

416
00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:12.960
up about it because I started learning how to navigate

417
00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:16.960
these conversations without so much anger. And it's natural to

418
00:29:17.079 --> 00:29:20.200
feel that anger as a woman and it's fine to

419
00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:23.920
express it. And a lot of us women are silenced

420
00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:29.160
because we make men feel uncomfortable when we voice our rage,

421
00:29:29.799 --> 00:29:33.960
our anger, our disappointment. And men need to stop and

422
00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:37.680
realize that they need to hold space for us. They

423
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:41.319
need to listen to us, acknowledge us, and validate us.

424
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.200
Because traditionally, a lot of the men are the ones

425
00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:48.480
that speak for the community in the first place. How

426
00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:52.000
can you heal your community if you're ignoring our voices,

427
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:55.880
if you're telling us that we're too much, if you're

428
00:29:55.960 --> 00:30:00.400
telling us that we're troublemakers, if you're telling us that

429
00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:03.119
we deserve to just be in the kitchen cooking for

430
00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:06.880
you and serving you. That doesn't address the abuse, that

431
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:11.160
doesn't address the misogyny, and that doesn't address the toxic

432
00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:16.680
masculinity that exists in the communities. And those hard conversations

433
00:30:16.759 --> 00:30:19.960
need to be had. It's very uncomfortable for a lot

434
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:23.839
of men who were raised in households where they can

435
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:27.839
do no wrong, where they are seen as men who

436
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:34.559
are coddled, who are made excuses for. You know, these mothers,

437
00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:37.359
these aunties make excuses like, oh, he was just having

438
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:40.319
a bad day. But that's not right to commit domestic

439
00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:44.920
violence against your partner, right, don't make excuses for him.

440
00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:49.440
Hold him accountable. And unfortunately, that's a hard conversation a

441
00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:51.759
lot of us and older women need to have with

442
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:55.240
our men, because these men get away with these things.

443
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.680
And it's not just indigenous men. You know, the toxic

444
00:30:58.759 --> 00:31:04.880
masculinity exists everywhere. It is a byproduct of colonialism and

445
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:08.599
those attitudes of we must own women, we must hate women,

446
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:11.680
we must control women, we must make sure these women

447
00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:15.079
look like X, Y and Z for our comfort. And

448
00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:19.480
there's a lot of movement in relation to unsettling that

449
00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:24.240
subtler behavior, right, that colonial settler behavior. It's the women's

450
00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:27.839
voices that need to speak up. And that's why, for myself,

451
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:30.519
I wanted to do this interview because it's been a

452
00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:34.440
journey and I see the patterns. I see where movement

453
00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:37.160
can be made and people can heal.

454
00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:41.599
Thank you so much for sharing that, and I think, yeah,

455
00:31:41.640 --> 00:31:44.480
you're right, those types of things I'm sure many people

456
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:48.440
think about, but it's never really said out loud, it's

457
00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:54.680
never really really brought up in the household. But yeah,

458
00:31:54.839 --> 00:31:57.480
it's important. And thank you so much for bringing that

459
00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:01.039
up and talking about it, because it is so true.

460
00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:05.200
It is absolutely true, and I've heard I've heard many

461
00:32:05.319 --> 00:32:08.920
stories similar to just all the things that you've mentioned

462
00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:11.440
and brought up about it, and yeah, it is. It

463
00:32:11.559 --> 00:32:16.279
can be discomforting, it can be uncomfortable, but they're important

464
00:32:16.359 --> 00:32:21.480
conversations to have in the households or wherever in the community.

465
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:25.400
And thank you so much for sharing on the statistics.

466
00:32:25.480 --> 00:32:31.079
And that's why I wanted to focus on specifically locally here,

467
00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:35.319
so that people can just be more aware and you know,

468
00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:39.240
they can wake up and realize like where they're at,

469
00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:43.319
where they're living, and the impacts and how close to

470
00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:47.039
home it really really is, and to just take into

471
00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:50.920
consideration to be more careful, to be more aware, to

472
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.880
look out for one another more often, to check in

473
00:32:54.039 --> 00:32:57.559
with one another as well, sharing your whereabouts with other

474
00:32:58.279 --> 00:33:03.000
folks as well, checking in with our own relatives, our

475
00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:06.720
friends who may be on the streets, you know, checking

476
00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:12.000
in with them and making sure they're okay. Yeah, So

477
00:33:12.279 --> 00:33:17.480
thank you for sharing that. So what are some of

478
00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:21.400
the top contributing factors to this situation?

479
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:27.839
One of the top contributing factors is the culture of silence.

480
00:33:28.839 --> 00:33:34.559
Silencing women's voices is disempowering them. It is taking away

481
00:33:34.599 --> 00:33:39.200
their agency. It is also gaslighting them. It is telling

482
00:33:39.319 --> 00:33:43.640
them that what they went through should be normalized, that

483
00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:48.680
it's okay, Silencing even the voices of young boys who

484
00:33:48.759 --> 00:33:54.079
were molested, Silencing the voices of elders who are being

485
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:59.839
abused by their family, Silencing the voices of rape victims

486
00:34:00.519 --> 00:34:03.680
and saying, oh, he would never do that. Going back

487
00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:07.200
to this quote from the report, the last part of

488
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:11.280
this quote says, to empower these women means creating safer

489
00:34:11.400 --> 00:34:15.760
communities and enabling that safety means allowing them to speak,

490
00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:21.119
allowing us to express as ugly and as uncomfortable it looks.

491
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:25.000
And I'm sure you've heard, like on social media this

492
00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:29.639
analogy that's been going around the US, and that's women

493
00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:33.119
choosing to be out in the woods with the bear

494
00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:37.639
over a man. That's a lot to unpack because being

495
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:41.079
alone in the woods with the bear. Women are choosing

496
00:34:41.159 --> 00:34:44.000
that because it's more believable to tell everybody that you

497
00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:46.679
were attacked by a bear instead of a man. And

498
00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:49.920
the reason why it's harder to believe that you were

499
00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:52.039
attacked by a man is because there's always going to

500
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:54.639
be somebody that says, oh, he would never do that.

501
00:34:55.039 --> 00:34:58.519
He volunteers here, or he does this with his family.

502
00:34:58.760 --> 00:35:02.440
He's a great he's a great uncle. You know, he

503
00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:07.320
does ceremony, he's a roadman. People always bring these things up,

504
00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:11.079
and that is a that is a perpetuation and continuation

505
00:35:11.239 --> 00:35:15.719
of the silence culture, and by some people also claiming

506
00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:20.159
that the Poscal Yaki tribe of Arizona does not have

507
00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:25.440
any MMIW m MIR statistics. That is also silencing us

508
00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:28.559
women who see it. I just gave you two examples.

509
00:35:29.559 --> 00:35:32.360
If you look at the Yaki nation on both sides

510
00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:35.599
of the border, it exists on both sides of the border.

511
00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:41.360
My nephew, Guyan Baumeya, was murdered on the reservation by

512
00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:45.119
another community member. He was non Yaki, the perpetrator, the

513
00:35:45.239 --> 00:35:49.760
murderer is non Yaki, but this little boy still belonged

514
00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:53.840
to us, to our community. There was another account about

515
00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:57.440
a couple months ago, this young girl was dragged by

516
00:35:57.480 --> 00:36:00.599
a truck on the New Poscal reservation and she was killed.

517
00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:05.079
She needs to be considered in these statistics of missing

518
00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:09.519
and murdered Indigenous relations because it's not your cliche example

519
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:13.559
of MMIW. But what can we do to prevent these

520
00:36:13.639 --> 00:36:17.239
things as a community. There's other statistics. There's a lot

521
00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:20.920
of statistics relating to Pasco Yankee tribe of Arizona. We

522
00:36:21.079 --> 00:36:25.400
do have community in the Yankee tribe that say, oh no,

523
00:36:25.639 --> 00:36:29.159
MMIW doesn't exist. Now you really need to stand back,

524
00:36:29.199 --> 00:36:31.400
and you really got to think about it because by

525
00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:35.039
saying that, you're also silencing those of us who are

526
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:38.599
speaking out against it, who are trying to solve this problem,

527
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:41.360
and who are trying to be a better relative with you.

528
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:44.559
So for me, that is a big factor is the

529
00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:49.280
silence culture. And I would recommend you know, community, like

530
00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:52.239
you know, listen to us. Listen to us when we

531
00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:55.360
start telling you that we have dealt with domestic violence,

532
00:36:56.159 --> 00:36:59.880
that we are survivors of childhood rape, that we did

533
00:37:00.199 --> 00:37:05.079
get victimized by this family member. Listen to us, because

534
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:10.320
if you're not listening to us, that's when we feel invalidated, disempowered,

535
00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:15.559
and statistically, that's when drinking starts, that's when drug abuse starts,

536
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:20.280
That's when risky behaviors start because we are not feeling

537
00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:24.960
supported or some women they decide to go into sex trafficking.

538
00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:30.519
And statistically, at the casinos, sex trafficking does exist. It exists.

539
00:37:31.239 --> 00:37:34.239
Going back to not listening to us, not creating a

540
00:37:34.280 --> 00:37:36.960
safe space for us to speak, it will continue this

541
00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:41.119
vicious cycle and then the numbers of mmiw M MIR

542
00:37:41.239 --> 00:37:42.360
are going to increase.

543
00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:47.119
Yeah, I've heard you talk about that before, about how

544
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:51.199
you know different ways or examples of like missing and murdered,

545
00:37:51.719 --> 00:37:55.880
And you've mentioned before that, yeah, sex trafficking is also

546
00:37:56.039 --> 00:38:01.119
a part of missing and murdered because many also that

547
00:38:01.320 --> 00:38:07.320
does tend to happen in that type of situation. And yeah,

548
00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:11.400
it exists right in our front doors, right here in

549
00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:14.199
front doors, back doors on the side, all around us

550
00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:18.360
here in Tucson locally as well. And you know, even

551
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:22.480
for myself, I know those things. I know that information exists.

552
00:38:22.519 --> 00:38:25.519
I know that it's close to home, so, you know,

553
00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:28.760
even for myself, when I'm out by myself, if I'm

554
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.960
out shopping, I always check the backseat before I get

555
00:38:33.079 --> 00:38:35.760
in my car if it's at night time. You know,

556
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:37.840
I always make sure, you know, when you open your

557
00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:41.320
car door and your indoor lights come on before like

558
00:38:41.480 --> 00:38:45.039
getting in, just just double checking, you know, making always

559
00:38:45.079 --> 00:38:48.519
looking at my surroundings because I am aware and I

560
00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:52.199
know that these things do happen. So the more you're

561
00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:55.880
aware you are, the more careful you can be as

562
00:38:55.960 --> 00:38:58.599
well in just keeping an eye out on yourself and

563
00:38:58.679 --> 00:39:02.159
your surroundings. Especially because I have a lot of friends

564
00:39:02.679 --> 00:39:05.760
who you know, we don't have kids yet, we're just

565
00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:09.840
grown women living our lives and doing work in the community,

566
00:39:10.039 --> 00:39:11.800
and we want to go have a day out, so

567
00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:14.480
we're out alone a lot too, So it's just just

568
00:39:14.760 --> 00:39:20.159
taking those extra precautions while you're out and about doing

569
00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:22.480
your thing and taking care of whatever you need to

570
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:25.400
take care of those things just to kind of consider

571
00:39:26.519 --> 00:39:29.559
and just knowing the facts as well. And thank you

572
00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:32.880
for burning the sweet grass that we have going on

573
00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:36.400
especially you know, yeah, we are talking about some heavy topics,

574
00:39:36.480 --> 00:39:43.199
so burning burning something that will help us to heal,

575
00:39:43.760 --> 00:39:47.519
cleanse the area, cleanse the room. Thank you for doing that.

576
00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:53.320
And what are some actions folks are taking for change?

577
00:39:53.480 --> 00:39:55.159
I know for me, I shared with you that we

578
00:39:55.320 --> 00:40:00.239
recently went to an event at the new Pasqua at

579
00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:03.920
their new health center, I believe, and it was just

580
00:40:04.039 --> 00:40:08.360
really cool to see what the folks there how they're

581
00:40:08.440 --> 00:40:10.760
addressing this. And it was good because a lot of

582
00:40:10.920 --> 00:40:15.519
community members actually spoke up, asking questions and confronting the

583
00:40:15.599 --> 00:40:18.719
leadership that we're there about how they felt about certain things.

584
00:40:19.320 --> 00:40:22.000
But it was you know, how they're taking action and

585
00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:25.360
raising that awareness, putting up billboards throughout the city of

586
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:32.639
Tucson bus stops, bus stop benches, and putting on actual

587
00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:36.920
like the sun Trend buses as well. So maybe you've

588
00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:40.760
seen it in the area. But yeah, that's just kind

589
00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:44.159
of an example of how some people are taking action

590
00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:48.480
and spreading awareness. But what are some of those actions

591
00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:49.360
for change?

592
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:54.760
Yes, I can speak on behalf of my journey first,

593
00:40:55.440 --> 00:41:00.440
and that for example, is picking and choosing how I

594
00:41:00.519 --> 00:41:04.960
want to bring awareness and figuring out my triggers. Right

595
00:41:05.199 --> 00:41:09.320
because knowing that this culture of silence is very much alive,

596
00:41:09.639 --> 00:41:13.480
it's thriving, you know, it's like okay and the misogyny

597
00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:18.159
it exists, it is perpetuated on social media. Women are

598
00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:23.480
very much that topic of objectification and we're the topic

599
00:41:23.760 --> 00:41:28.119
of mental illness or we're crazy, and you know, as

600
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:31.840
a result, we're silence for me. Over time, over the

601
00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:37.360
past few years, I created this Empowerment Project and this

602
00:41:37.719 --> 00:41:41.679
was birthed out of these conversations, these hard conversations and

603
00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:46.079
honor collective because it's so easy to call people out right,

604
00:41:46.639 --> 00:41:50.159
so easy to spread that energy. But how do you

605
00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:53.440
call people in and how do you change that narrative?

606
00:41:54.039 --> 00:41:58.840
Because you can spew all this negative, negative, negative, but

607
00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:02.559
what can you do to reverse that and to normalize

608
00:42:02.679 --> 00:42:07.760
healthier behaviors. So one little tiny project I started is

609
00:42:07.960 --> 00:42:13.159
called Project semalu lugut and sem lu lugut. It means

610
00:42:13.239 --> 00:42:16.639
hummingbird in the Yaki language. Whenever you see a hummingbird

611
00:42:16.840 --> 00:42:19.039
out in you know, out in the public, out in

612
00:42:19.199 --> 00:42:22.320
the open, what are your feelings? Right? You feel excited?

613
00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:24.800
You're like, oh, that gets right there, Like it makes

614
00:42:24.840 --> 00:42:29.360
you feel happy instantly. So this project on my social

615
00:42:29.440 --> 00:42:32.719
media platform is meant to spark that. It's meant to

616
00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:36.679
spark that excitement, the positivity and not the negative. It's

617
00:42:36.719 --> 00:42:40.280
supposed to help inspire people, help them think, and it's

618
00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:45.880
supposed to bring healing. Part of it has been sharing, Okay.

619
00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:50.400
One example is I made this meme with a background

620
00:42:50.440 --> 00:42:55.880
image by another Yankee community member, Selena Martinez. In the meme,

621
00:42:56.360 --> 00:43:00.480
it says, ceremony isn't the only time you are supposed

622
00:43:00.519 --> 00:43:03.679
to carry yourself in a sacred way. It is supposed

623
00:43:03.679 --> 00:43:05.880
to remind you that you are sacred and to carry

624
00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:09.599
yourself in that way every day. So that's one positive

625
00:43:09.639 --> 00:43:13.320
affirmation that I put together just to share on social media,

626
00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:16.440
so that that way you know, it's not just negative.

627
00:43:16.840 --> 00:43:22.000
And there's another example that I have where I used

628
00:43:22.440 --> 00:43:26.719
another content creator's language, but I made it applicable to

629
00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:29.960
Yaki people's and let me pull that one up. I

630
00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:32.159
forgot the name of that content creator though, like it

631
00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:35.719
was something that was shared some time ago. One of

632
00:43:35.800 --> 00:43:39.320
them is one of these affirmations is you are not

633
00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:42.800
any less Yaki because you are not fluent in the

634
00:43:42.920 --> 00:43:47.440
Yaki language, so that's a positive affirmation. Or you are

635
00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:50.679
not any less Yaki because you live off the reservation.

636
00:43:51.639 --> 00:43:55.280
Another one is you are not any less Yaki because

637
00:43:55.360 --> 00:43:59.880
you are mixed race. That's been part of my process.

638
00:44:00.440 --> 00:44:03.960
It's related to m miiw right because I'm trying to

639
00:44:04.039 --> 00:44:08.519
reverse these behaviors. That way people can feel empowered and

640
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:12.119
feel that they are not less than in the community.

641
00:44:12.440 --> 00:44:15.199
And it's to uplift the spirit and to grow the spirit.

642
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:22.119
Other awareness efforts that I've helped to make change is

643
00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:26.599
I've helped with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People's five

644
00:44:26.760 --> 00:44:30.039
k run walk with in Digit well Being and if

645
00:44:30.079 --> 00:44:33.039
you look up in Digit Wellbeing they are on Facebook

646
00:44:33.159 --> 00:44:36.800
and on Instagram. We help coordinate this run in community

647
00:44:36.880 --> 00:44:40.960
with each other and other partnerships, and we help bring awareness.

648
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:45.360
You know, like I mentioned earlier, running running is good

649
00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:49.679
to us. It helps us boost that serotonin in our bodies.

650
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:53.440
For a lot of cultures, it helps us meditate. I've

651
00:44:53.559 --> 00:44:57.039
helped with coordinating that run for the past four years.

652
00:44:57.559 --> 00:45:01.159
It's been quite some time. And other actions that I

653
00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:04.079
help with to take change is you know, I try

654
00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:07.079
to support Honor Collective as much as I can. My

655
00:45:07.239 --> 00:45:10.840
capacity is always changing, being that I completed my first

656
00:45:10.960 --> 00:45:14.800
year as executive director with the AAC Infrontidas, but I

657
00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:17.800
try my best to at least support Honor Collective in

658
00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:22.639
their efforts because they do partner with Comchiki on the Altamnation,

659
00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:29.440
so they do that and and AC Infrondetas I posed

660
00:45:29.519 --> 00:45:35.840
that question right, women are silenced, women are victimized, Women

661
00:45:35.920 --> 00:45:39.920
are being impacted. The misogyny is impacting women. What are

662
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:42.159
we going to do about the men? Where are they

663
00:45:42.239 --> 00:45:46.719
in this equation? There is obviously some kind of imbalance

664
00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:52.840
with their own empowerment and masculinity and their disempowerment in

665
00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:59.679
displaying healthy masculinity. Right, what is healthy masculinity? Because society

666
00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:07.599
teaches unhealthy, toxic masculine behaviors. The Alianza, we are hoping

667
00:46:07.800 --> 00:46:13.760
to start an indigenous centered healthy masculinity curriculum this year

668
00:46:14.519 --> 00:46:17.960
and that is meant for men, Indigenous men and Chicano

669
00:46:18.039 --> 00:46:22.840
men who want to show up healthy for their family,

670
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:26.880
who want to show up healthy for their partner, who

671
00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:29.960
want to show up healthy for their kids. Because when

672
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:33.400
it comes to little boys, little girls, they see what

673
00:46:33.559 --> 00:46:36.440
these men are doing and they see what these men

674
00:46:36.519 --> 00:46:40.760
aren't doing. So that's another effort that we're making that way,

675
00:46:41.320 --> 00:46:43.719
and it's not just for us, but that way the

676
00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:45.880
men of the Allianza I can show up in a

677
00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:49.960
healthy way in community, and that way it's prevention, right,

678
00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:53.360
it's prevention of domestic violence, and it's prevention of MMIW.

679
00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:57.519
Because we've spent all these years bringing awareness, bringing awareness,

680
00:46:57.559 --> 00:46:59.840
bringing awareness, but what are we going to do about

681
00:46:59.840 --> 00:47:02.639
them men? And we do have men that show up

682
00:47:02.960 --> 00:47:05.480
that want to be of service, that see the bigger picture.

683
00:47:06.079 --> 00:47:10.960
So in a way, bringing this curriculum, this healthy masculinity

684
00:47:11.079 --> 00:47:14.880
curriculum is going to help amplify them, help empower them

685
00:47:14.960 --> 00:47:18.480
in a healthy way. Because we are always in community

686
00:47:18.679 --> 00:47:21.800
out here in South Tucson and Yaqui and than Atam

687
00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:25.960
nation because we as the Alianza, we have Indigenous People's

688
00:47:26.039 --> 00:47:28.800
Day and that's a big event. We invite everybody and

689
00:47:28.920 --> 00:47:30.719
how is How are the men in the Aliansa going

690
00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:33.599
to show up for the community on that day? How

691
00:47:33.679 --> 00:47:35.440
are the men of the Alianza going to show up

692
00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:39.000
for this MMP run that we help collaborate with every year,

693
00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:41.360
and how are they also going to show up in

694
00:47:41.440 --> 00:47:46.119
their community and in their families because the behaviors need

695
00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:51.079
to be changed and unlearned and healed on all levels.

696
00:47:51.639 --> 00:47:54.920
Because the men are always here, They're always willing to serve,

697
00:47:54.960 --> 00:47:58.719
they're always willing to help us. So that's another way

698
00:47:59.159 --> 00:48:02.559
that we're trying to make change in the audiance.

699
00:48:03.719 --> 00:48:07.239
Thank you so much. So with that being said, what

700
00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:10.559
are ways people can help raise awareness or contribute and

701
00:48:10.639 --> 00:48:16.000
support the movement of missing and murdered Indigenous relations.

702
00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:22.679
Going back to the curriculum, the Indigenous Men's Healthy Masculinity Curriculum,

703
00:48:23.119 --> 00:48:28.000
I think helping fund programs like those because it's prevention

704
00:48:28.519 --> 00:48:32.920
of domestic violence, its prevention of these unhealthy behaviors. It

705
00:48:33.079 --> 00:48:37.079
also helps bring in young boys. Part of this curriculum,

706
00:48:37.519 --> 00:48:40.320
the adult men will be taken at first, but the

707
00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:44.760
intention is for it to then go teach young middle

708
00:48:44.840 --> 00:48:48.440
and high school boys and going back to the men

709
00:48:48.559 --> 00:48:52.159
that are going to be participating in this curriculum, how

710
00:48:52.239 --> 00:48:55.480
many men go out of their way to volunteer. A

711
00:48:55.559 --> 00:48:58.719
lot of men they work out in the heat, they

712
00:48:58.880 --> 00:49:02.199
work in the service industry, or they work in some

713
00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:06.039
kind of trade. It's valuable work. But at the same time,

714
00:49:06.239 --> 00:49:08.880
are they going to have the energy are they going

715
00:49:08.960 --> 00:49:12.079
to be willing to use their time to participate in

716
00:49:12.639 --> 00:49:16.719
this curriculum. So for me, the way I see it is,

717
00:49:17.239 --> 00:49:20.599
you know, men are providers. Men are natural providers. They

718
00:49:20.639 --> 00:49:24.320
are protectors, and we need to feed them. They deserve

719
00:49:24.400 --> 00:49:26.519
to at least be fed. It would be nice if

720
00:49:26.519 --> 00:49:29.159
we can offer a stipend for their time because we

721
00:49:29.320 --> 00:49:32.840
are taking them away from their families. Usually these men

722
00:49:32.880 --> 00:49:37.400
are also caretakers for their elderly mom, their elderly grandma,

723
00:49:37.760 --> 00:49:42.000
whoever it's. You know, incentivizing them helps a lot because

724
00:49:42.360 --> 00:49:47.440
this is also going to be uncomfortable, emotional unloading for them.

725
00:49:48.199 --> 00:49:53.480
People can help contribute by either offering a meal, offering

726
00:49:53.559 --> 00:49:56.000
some kind of donation because we are able to do

727
00:49:56.199 --> 00:50:00.199
like that tax deductible kind of donation through our fiscal spon. Sir,

728
00:50:00.639 --> 00:50:04.760
also have those hard conversations at home, because the more

729
00:50:04.920 --> 00:50:09.639
you start talking about it about people's victimization, about your

730
00:50:09.679 --> 00:50:14.559
own victimization, about your experiences and how you felt uncomfortable

731
00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:19.840
and how you felt unsafe, and how your experiences need

732
00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:23.360
to be validated. Keep speaking out and keep speaking up

733
00:50:23.400 --> 00:50:26.199
about it, because that's the only way we're going to

734
00:50:26.440 --> 00:50:31.159
start healing and moving past these harms, and that's the

735
00:50:31.239 --> 00:50:34.360
only way we can grow as healthy relatives in community.

736
00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:37.719
Those are my two cents about how to raise awareness

737
00:50:37.760 --> 00:50:39.119
and how to contribute and support.

738
00:50:39.880 --> 00:50:42.440
As we're going to be closing out this interview, I

739
00:50:42.559 --> 00:50:44.159
want to thank you so much, Lord of this for

740
00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:48.440
taking the time and really going in depth conversation about

741
00:50:48.480 --> 00:50:53.559
the different questions and examples and statistics all surrounding the

742
00:50:53.679 --> 00:50:58.639
topic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, people relations.

743
00:50:59.519 --> 00:51:01.559
And thank you so much for the work that you do,

744
00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:04.880
for the time that you take to be involved and

745
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:10.400
to spread this awareness and create opportunity for a community

746
00:51:10.559 --> 00:51:14.519
to come together. So thank you for the work and

747
00:51:14.599 --> 00:51:19.079
the part that you do in all this. With that

748
00:51:19.199 --> 00:51:23.480
being said, is there any least comments shout out things

749
00:51:23.559 --> 00:51:27.400
that you want to add as we end this conversation.

750
00:51:29.280 --> 00:51:33.679
My shout out is to the women and the men

751
00:51:33.840 --> 00:51:36.679
who need to speak up more there are men who

752
00:51:36.760 --> 00:51:41.960
are silenced because of the culture the way. Oh you know,

753
00:51:42.079 --> 00:51:45.280
it wasn't that bad. Oh you're just being this way,

754
00:51:45.519 --> 00:51:48.360
you know, for the men that we really need to

755
00:51:48.400 --> 00:51:53.920
hold those conversations with them and their victimizition and validate

756
00:51:54.000 --> 00:51:57.000
what they've been through so we can heal. But most importantly,

757
00:51:57.639 --> 00:52:01.519
I do this work about raising aware and healing from

758
00:52:01.880 --> 00:52:06.440
MMR because I'm raising two boys. I'm raising two sons.

759
00:52:06.480 --> 00:52:08.039
I have a twelve year old and a two and

760
00:52:08.079 --> 00:52:10.679
a half year old soon to be three. But I

761
00:52:10.920 --> 00:52:14.360
want them to show up in this world in a

762
00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:17.840
healthier way so that women can feel safe with them

763
00:52:18.239 --> 00:52:21.719
and so that they could leave that legacy of being

764
00:52:21.800 --> 00:52:24.800
a healthy male in the community is even if it's

765
00:52:24.880 --> 00:52:27.199
just the Yacke community, you know, like you got to

766
00:52:27.199 --> 00:52:30.480
start somewhere. So that's my shout out for my boys,

767
00:52:31.039 --> 00:52:32.760
you know, because they're one day they're going to listen

768
00:52:32.840 --> 00:52:36.119
to this, and I hope that they could appreciate the

769
00:52:36.239 --> 00:52:40.280
work that myself and many other Indigenous women have done.

770
00:52:40.719 --> 00:52:43.800
Who see my boys, like the women from Honor Collective,

771
00:52:43.880 --> 00:52:47.320
the women from the Audianza, we're all in community. So

772
00:52:47.639 --> 00:52:48.519
that's my shout out.

773
00:52:49.519 --> 00:52:52.320
Well, thank you so much for being a guest on

774
00:52:52.480 --> 00:52:56.000
the podcast, and thank you to the listener for listening in.

775
00:52:56.320 --> 00:53:00.360
I'm sure you learn plenty and for all of those

776
00:53:00.559 --> 00:53:04.719
who want to learn more, be sure to check out

777
00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:08.199
the description will have links that you can check out

778
00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:13.280
and learn more about this topic specifically. And thank you

779
00:53:13.400 --> 00:53:15.880
so much you are listening to the on Autum Young

780
00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:16.400
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