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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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This is Bria, a podcast team member for Two Young Voices,
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and it's been a while since we've made an episode,
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but I'm very excited to be here today with a Hello,
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Native law student from the University of Arizona. So I'm
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in a positive words of Divine now to introduce herself
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and tell us a little bit more about our collaboration today.
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I'm Divine and I'm a third year law student at
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the University of Arizona. This podcast is a part of
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my final project that I'm doing for my media law
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class system. I'm incredibly excited to have this opportunity to
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talk about this subject today. So today we're going to
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talk about the Indian Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty eight,
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also known as AKRA, and its impact on Indigenous journalism.
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This includes a brief explanation of AKRA and its impact
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on the freedom of speech and press, as well as
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the obstacles that Native American journalists and Native run news
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organizations face. And today we have a guest to join
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us on this journey today.
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Yeah, so this episode is a little bit different. Maybe
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wondering why I'm introed and Tina's not spoken, But today
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Tina's actually going to be our guest, and we wanted
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to include her for her perspective and background on this
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conversation because she's a long time advocate for Native voices.
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So I will past to Tina.
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Now that is my intro. Thank you about so much,
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and just excited that I, you know, to be a
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part of this conversation and this type of dialogue. And
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I want to thank Divine for reaching out to us
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and including us as part of her work as a student.
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All right, So to start off today, I wanted to
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give just a quick overview of AKRA. This is going
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to be a very focused topic about freedom of press
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and speech, and I know there's a lot to say
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about AKER in itself. So the Indian Civil Rights or AKRA,
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became federal law in nineteen sixty eight. It was passed
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by Congress as a result of hearings on the Authority
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of Native American Tribes which discovered abuses from tribal governments.
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Sections of the lamrror the United States Constitutions full of rights,
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and it offers some but not all of the same protections.
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And ACRA came about because it was Congress's attempt to
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balance the complicated issue of protecting the civil rights of
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American Indians while also recognizing the authority of tribal governments.
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And we also again want a preference that there could
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be more said about acre itself, but we want to
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keep this so focused conversation and maybe in the future
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we had more conversations about it, But go ahead to
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mind okay.
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So, like Breed wonderfully explained, Ikira was an act passed
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by Congress in nineteen sixty eight. This is one of
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the many acts passed during the time that led tribal
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nations and communities out of the determination era and into
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the self determination era. The termination era was an era
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between nineteen fifty three and nineteen sixty eight where federal
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governments attempted to terminate their federal obligations to tribes, as
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well as institute programs that terminated the official tribal statuses
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of some tribal nations. They created assimilation programs and extended
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the state's jurisdictions into tribal nations with public law to
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eighty with IKRA was a new era, the self determination
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era with Native American movements like the American Indian Movement
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or AIM began and several acts like IKRA and the
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Self Determination Act were passed. The essence of this era
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was tribal autonomy and sovereignty. This leads us to IKRO,
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which is similar to the Bill of Rights, which is
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why it's also called the Indian Bill of Rights. It
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afforded tribal nations and their members similar rights that we
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see in the Constitution. And to quote the first part,
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no Indian tribe, in exercising powers of self government, shall
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one make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise
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of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech or of
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the press, or the right of the people peacefully to
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assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances. This
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means that when a tribe tribal nation, in their power
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to self govern, their tribal members cannot inhibit the freedom
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of religion, speech, press, assembly, and redress of grievances like
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the ones we see in the United States Constitution. The
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portion we will focus on today is the first one,
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the freedom of press and the freedom of speech.
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So with that, we are going to start with our
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questions Satina and I know we've spoken about Tina's background
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a little bit, but for those who don't know, or
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maybe this will provide more contacts, we just want to
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start with, how did you start this podcast and what
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were your goals in doing so?
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How I started the podcast came in twenty sixteen, and
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it was during the presidential election, and at the time,
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there was just a lot of things happening, you know,
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being a community member from the Borderlands region here in
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southern Arizona, there was a lot happening and circulating around
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migration and immigration and tribal members, and there was just
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a lot of misinformation and labeling of tribal members that
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we were all involved in illegal activity. We were just
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in the media, even in local news online articles. There
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was just a lot being said in regards to this
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region and the international Boarder And at the time, I
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just felt that we needed a platform to reach outside
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of the boundaries of our tribal nation, and I discovered
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podcasting and utilized this platform to have conversations and share
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our truths and share our stories, share our perspectives about
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who we truly are as a people, and you know,
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the misconceptions and stereotypes of what people assumed that we were.
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And I feel like it's definitely done what I said
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out to do. It's done that, it's doing that, and
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I'm super happy and proud of that. And I'm just
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excited that we're at where we're at now considering where
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we started and why we started, and that's always going
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to be the foundation and the roots of this podcast,
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and I'm just really happy that it's just something that
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people a source resource that folks trust.
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So we asked you, how did you start your podcast?
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Were there any initial goals you had that you had
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in mind other than the ones you've already accomplished. Were
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there ones that you for sure really wanted to hit.
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The first thing was to get information out about the
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integrated fixed towers. Back then they were it was just
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being proposed, and so talking about the environmental impact statement
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and just really reaching out to the community to let
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folks know about this information. So that was the first
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initial goal. And then of course later on in the
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years as the podcast grew, I always had a dream
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that I wanted to have a podcast team, and I
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always told myself if I ever get any funding, this
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what I want to do. And in mid twenty twenty,
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during the pandemic, I got my first grant funding and
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in the grand it was ran in to hire a
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group of team members different roles and responsibilities, as well
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as creating a website. So developing a website, so those
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who are a part of my go so again utilizing
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this platform to quote, tell our own stories, build a podcast,
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dream team, develop a website, and not only engaging listeners
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through various conversations, but being a resource in the community
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as well as being an online resource for educational purposes.
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That's really awesome.
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So with that, we're kind of being a transition to
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why Aqua is important. We've heard how you've started this,
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what your goals were, and what you've accomplished, which I
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think is really amazing. The team you have crafted. I mean,
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Brie is here another Indigenous Team podcast member. Why is
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it grew important? Well, it affords tribal members with rights
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that have not necessarily been written in their own tribal constitutions.
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Some Native Americans have felt that it allowed the federal
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government to extend more of their jurisdiction into tribal land.
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For example, federal judges can overrule some tribal court decisions
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and some laws, but others have felt that it has
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given tribal citizens a way to hold tribal officials accountable
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when they abuse their authority, and in some ways it
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is a sword in a shield for Native Americans.
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Yes, I think that's such a great point. And so
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while IGOR guarantees freedom of speech and press, there are
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still many instances where tribal governments have used authority to
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limit or suppressed truthful media reporting that may bring to
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light issues within tribal governments. And I just wanted to
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think to Vine for bringing this topic to us, because
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I hadn't really heard much about it or dumped into
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the issue myself. But she recommended a documentary titled Bad Press.
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It's a twenty twenty three sentence winning documentary showing the
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effects of the Muscoge Nation's decision to repeal the Free
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Press Act just ahead of an election, which eliminated the
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only independent media outlet that had been reporting on tribal issues.
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The documentary FA follow journalist Angel Ellis as she fought
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against her tribal government's attempts to censor the media. Their
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travel government was using its control over the press to
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hide corruption, and this put the entire community at a
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disadvantage because they no longer had reliable information about what
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was really happening in their own government. And the film
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also highlights how indigenous nations have the sovereignty to create
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their own laws, yet many to support freedom of press
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due to historical trauma and pressure to present a favorable
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image of travel governments. And it was very shocking to
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me that in the documentary they mentioned that out of
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five hundred and seventy four fatually recognized tribes, Misgogie Nation
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was one of only five to establish a free and
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independent press. This was until the nation's leglary branch abruptly
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repealed it. Just some other important things to know. I
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think I could make a wholder episode just about what
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this documentary talks about and what it touches on, but
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I just wanted to inclut some it's from the documentary itself.
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Something I wanted to point out is that for tribes
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there can be an imbalance of power, and so when
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the governments are corrupt or doing things not in the
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best intentions for their people, sometimes the only defense that
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people have is to speak out and inform their people
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or communities about the issues within their government, and that
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is with freedom of press. And I think the documentary
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does a really great job of emphasizing the importance of
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freedom of press and journalism and especially truthful journalism, especially
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through voter censorship. And it also just reminds us that
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we need honest journalism, even though it may not always
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be in the best light, because it shows us that
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we're moving forward and we're addressing things that need to
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be worked on. And that's okay. I think one cult
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he is kind of funny in it. I'm not exactly
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sure what she said, but she said sometimes you need
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to put your dirty chonies out on the line and
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look the air out. I was like that. But yeah,
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really want to emphasize that the media play an indispensable
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role in how the community interacts with the government and
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how they view it, and especially during the election, by
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giving voters access information that will allow them to make
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informed decisions. Yeah, and just to end the constitutional amendment
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guaranteeing free press did pass, so that's really good. But yeah,
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if you haven't watched it, definitely do. And yeah, I'm
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in a perspective Divino.
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So this is an obstacle in a way for journalism
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that has led to organizations like A Flow's Fire, which
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is an independent Native news source. These issues have led
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to journalists being fired or even may lead to a
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fear of reporting important news information to their communities. As
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pre explained, the freedom of speech and press is important
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for tribal members to be informed on the government initiatives.
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That affect them.
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And I have a quote from Jodi Rave Spottedbear, who
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is the founder of A Flow's Fire, and she says,
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the first Amendment to who the US Constitution has served
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this nation well right now, no such constitutional press freedoms
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exists for most of Native America. I imagine the social
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and economic state of our tribal communities would be faring
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much better if we had an informed citizen jury. So
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it is important to make educated decisions when it comes
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to voting for laws that are passed on tribal lands
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and to vote for people who represent you. And to
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continue on this topic of independent news sources, we will
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continue this conversation with Tina. So have there been any
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challenges you've experienced when you've reported news as an Indigenous
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news reporter in the past, any obstacles in connection to
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ECUA or obstacles that tribal nations may have.
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Caused, do you know.
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To be honest, thankfully, there hasn't been much from tribal
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entities or even individuals or groups or organizations. No one
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has ever come forward and said, you know, you need
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to stop doing this, which has been really, really good,
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and I'm really grateful and thankful for that. There are
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times where I felt like I expected it and was
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wondering if I put this episode out, is this going
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to bring any backlash? And most of the time I
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know I'm taking a chance, but that's okay. I'm willing
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to risk and take those chances for freedom of speech