Young & Indigenous

In the second part of the Walking with our Ancestors event, we highlight local Native artists. On this day various local artists came in to instruct the youth on language, beading, cedar weaving, wool weaving, and traditional medicines. We listen to them as they speak on their experiences both in life and with their practice, as well as the youth while they are soaking in all the knowledge. In the second part of the Walking with our Ancestors event, we highlight local Native artists. On this day various local artists came in to instruct the youth on language, beading, cedar weaving, wool weaving, and traditional medicines. We listen to them as they speak on their experiences both in life and with their practice, as well as the youth while they are soaking in all the knowledge. 

Walking with our Ancestors is an event we are documenting with the Lummi Summer Youth Program. Centered around youth prevention, this event is in collaboration with the Northwest Indian College and the purpose is to instill the importance of cultural identity. This is the first episode in a three-part series and in it we highlight Aunt Ernestine talking about her life living on Portage Island along with some interviews with the youth while they participate in the cultural practice of clam digging.This Podcast is brought to you by the Northwest Indian College Center for Health and the LIBC Native Connections Project, a grant funded by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration(SAMHSA) 5H79SM063454.Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and content expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), or the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

Welcome back to Young and Indigenous Season 2! We’re super excited to continue through our journey of storytelling and also to introduce two new members to the team. Santana and Haley join-in alongside Isabella and are eager to get this new phase of the podcast started. We can't wait for you to see what we have in store for the future!

As season one of Young and Indigenous wraps up, we come together to give thanks to everyone who has been involved in our podcast so far. Hy’shqe to each and every person who shared their words with us and stay tuned for the next phase of our work! Special thanks to Michelle and Kyla Polasky and Eliza Julius for their hard work and beautiful spirits. Your contributions will always shine in the podcast, and we wish you well in your future endeavors.

Chatting with S'Klallam and Lummi Tribal member, Elaine Grinnell, we are immersed and captivated by her singing and storytelling. She shares stories with important life lessons like the whale story but also the salmon story that teaches the origin of the salmon's hooked nose. These lessons, and many more, are shared along with the importance of bringing back the old ways, eating healthier foods and taking care of Mother Earth. She also speaks on another key principle, balance, balance in diet and balance in your life in general. You can check out Elaine’s Spotify channel for more stories!

Lummi Nation member Mark Julius joins us in this episode of Young and Indigenous. As we go through his inspiring life story, we talk about growing up in poverty alongside his 14 siblings and what it was like living and surviving on their own while still being kids and ending up playing and swimming in the Nooksack River at the end of each day. Having spent some time in the foster care system, he had many different experiences with many different families and we hear about some of the trials being in that kind of setting. Later in his life, he meets his wife and we hear about their love story. Mark had many successful business ventures that included fishing, retail in fireworks, toys and gifts, and car re-selling. Throughout his life, Mark has kept a close relationship with God and we get into the various miracles he’s witnessed and how he utilized his faith to help his community.

The pain of residential schools is still being felt today. I want to introduce our guests Suann Riddick and Fred Lane; in this podcast episode you will get to hear some of the research that Suann is doing on residential schools. What we went on through the boarding school era was tragic and Suann speaks to the stories of over 150,000 Indigenous children who were forced into these schools. Indigenous children were stripped of their language, culture, traditions, family heritage, elders, food sources, and homes. Everything was taken. When you hear about these things, challenge yourself to think about the trauma and sorrow that our people have endured and what we still deal with till this day. We are the natural preservers of these lands we share. We took care of these lands for thousands of years. When you see us remember what happened and that we are still here. The Annual Reports of Indian Commissioner of Indian affairs of the Indian agents in the 1890’s and explain exactly some of the conditions of these residential schools. It hurt me deeply to read. I feel the indigenous children’s hurt from the atrocities of events that happened. Some of these children were my relatives. My grandparents went through boarding school. So when you listen to these stories I hope you stop and think for a second that it was someone's grandchild, that was someone's child, that was someone's sibling, that was a human child, a part of someone's family, a part of culture and traditions. Hy’shqe (Thank you) to everyone who has participated in this podcast episode my hands go up to each and every one of you today for the knowledge stories and teaching you all have given me and our audience today by giving more background on the research you are doing in Residential schools so again thank you Suann for your time and thank you Fred for conducting this interview with her can’t wait to hear more. SuAnn Reddick Bio: I was born in California and moved to Oregon in 1970. After working in the landscape construction field, I entered the UO Landscape architecture program in 1984. I completed the bachelors and masters program in ‘88 and ‘90 and discovered my love for writing and history. My first publication was in the Oregon Historical Quarterly in 1990. After I became involved at Chemawa, I published a history of the evolution of the school in OHQ in 2000, and have also done a lot of research and published articles on the Medicine Creek Treaty and Fox Island Council. I am hoping to compose a detailed history of the acquisition and loss of the land at Chemawa from 1884 to the present and continue to advocate for the placement of campus land into trust for the permanent benefit of Indian education. I still live on acreage outside McMinnville with my dog and two cats, maintain my large yard and garden and continue to research the land at Chemawa and share whatever knowledge I have for many years with others. Fred Lane Bio: Sul ka dub (as known as Freddie Lane) was born and raised on the Lummi Reservation west of Bellingham WA. He is the eleventh of 12 children of Vernon & Nancy Lane. Fred's father Swe lus defied the United States government in the late 1960's when (as Chairman) Vernon led the tribe in building the Lummi Aquaculture without permits from the US Army Corp of Engineers paving the way for sovereignty and jurisdiction and self-determination across Indian Country. Freddie is a former councilman of the Lummi Indian Business Council and most recently was the Road Manager for the Red Road to DC, where the House of Tears Carvers gifted President Joe Biden a totem pole. He is currently hosting a series of online forums, most notably leading talks for the release of Lolita, the orca at the Miami SeaQuarium.

Young and Indigenous Presents Oomagelees Cynthia Wilson from Lummi- another one of our beloved elders. She is a Lummi Language teacher. She didn't just teach me language, though, she taught me how to sing, dance and make give away items for ceremonies. She taught us many things about our culture. I am thankful she did because I would have never known these valuable cultural traditions without her. We talk about the importance of Lummi Language in this episode while having a general conversation. She has been a teacher in our community since I started elementary school. I am 26 now so she has been teaching us for a long time. She speaks the language and returns it back to our community; again, I find this very important because our language was almost lost except for a few elders speaking and preserving it. She has gifted the language to so many children and I can't imagine how thankful our ancestors are for her contributions to our community. Hy’shqe and thank you for all that you do for us in our Lummi community- our hands go up to you \o/ I also want to bring light to the fact that her father was taken from his family as a child and placed in a residential school. Cynthia says that they would take the older child of siblings because they wouldn't want them to be teaching the culture to the younger ones. You will get to hear the story of how that happened and the reason for this. I want to bring awareness on the subject of the 215 children and how our people were a part of the residential school era as well. The things that happened need to be acknowledged because we didn't ask for it, it was forced on us.

In this podcast episode I’m sitting down with one of our dearest and beloved elders, Juanita Jefferson, who tells many stories from her time. Lummi Language is sacred to us and was almost lost back in the 1800’s when residential schools were brought upon us. The choice to speak our language was taken from us. Someone decided that we were too savage, that we needed to be put in school to learn not in our ways but theirs. In this interview, we get to hear the many things that she has done for our community and she speaks about other valued elders as well. These elders worked hard to create the different programs to provide for our people- things like education, healthcare, and jobs. These opportunities were needed for our people to survive in the ever changing external society. One of my favorite stories is about our late Chief Bill James; he was one of our main fluent Lummi language speakers and is also my uncle. Juanita talks about how a group of elders got together and started speaking Lummi after not being able to speak it for so long because they were too afraid of their own children getting killed or beaten for learning and speaking our own language. The elders were traumatized from the abuse they suffered being forced to relocate to residential schools, however they decided as adults to keep the language alive. Bill was just a child then and being that young and being surrounded by a group of elders that know our language fluently was special. He got to experience and learn from hearing the language which turned into him helping to preserve our language. He was so pure that he soaked all that knowledge back as he got older the very thing he did was give that language back to our people for our future generations to learn and preserve. Hy’shqe to the many elders who fought for our language to be here today and to our ancestors above who believed. They had HOPE. Hy’shqe to everyone who participated in this podcast episode.

Young and Indigenous presents Danita Washington explaining her experiences throughout her life on being a mother, big sister to her siblings, and also her nieces and nephews. She talks about how it was back in their day compared to how different it is today--so you get to hear a little bit about the way we used to do things. There are many old stories from her time that I love to hear, especially when she talks about my grandparents. Danita has always been a good person in my corner growing up. She is a good auntie and I am thankful for her teachings that she hands down. -- Bella This Podcast is brought to you by the Northwest Indian College Native Connections (TBH COVID-19), a grant funded by Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 1H79SM083488. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and content expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), or the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). In case of an emergency call 911 Lummi Behavioral Health 24/7 Crisis Line 1-360-594-1317 Lummi Victims of Crime Crisis Line 1-360-312-2015 National Suicide Pervention Line 1-800-273-8255 Mental Health 24 hour Crisis Line 1-800-584-3578 24 Hour Veterans Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255 Dial 1 The National Runaway Safeline 1-800-786-2929 The Trevor Project LGBTQ+ 24HR LINE 866-488-7386 Native Youth Crisis Hotline 1-877-209-1266 DSHS Report Abuse and Neglect 1-866-363-4276 Crisis Text Line - Text HOME to 741741

This episode will be the first of the Salmon People series where we share the voices of strong Indigenous youth who reflect on their cultural ties to salmon and vocalize why we must take action to save this crucial relative for the ecosystem and culture. Featured in this Episode are two youth from the Lummi Nation, Sadie Olsen and Jayden Phair Williams. You will also hear voices of Indigenous Leaders from the first Salmon People Project gathering held via zoom in March 2021. This Podcast shares salmon values, personal connections held with salmon, how important the salmon is to the environment and Native culture, and concludes with a call to action. We hope that after listening you will join us on a journey of giving a voice back to our sacred ancestor, the salmon. Noutsiam friends and family, Children of the Setting Sun Productions is embarking on a journey to unite tribal nations in order to save our most sacred ancestor, the salmon. The Young and the Indigenous team will follow CSSP to collaborate with Indigenous communities who identify as the Salmon People to create a podcast series with the youth from these tribes. We plan to have a podcast with youth from each tribe who are involved which are: Lummi, Yurok, Umatilla, Shuswap, Swinomish and Yakima Nation. In each episode we hope to encourage the youth to think about their personal or cultural connection to the salmon and what that means to their community as a whole. The larger focus is, “who are we without salmon?” We have to pose this daunting question as we address the rapid decline of this keystone species while also supporting the tribes who are fighting to keep their fish populations alive. This Podcast is brought to you by the Northwest Indian College Native Connections (TBH COVID-19), a grant funded by Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 1H79SM083488. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and content expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), or the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). www.thesalmonpeople.com

Oral tradition is a sacred practice within All of our culture, communities, And families. Along with the coordinated dance of simply talking and being heard, oral tradition helps people learn life lessons their own way. Join us in this episode as we listen to Chesa Chesquin (Gary Julius) a Coast Salish Artist and Storyteller of Lummi Nation. Listen closely as there are many lessons to learn in these short stories. We really hope you enjoy this sequel of our storytelling series!

Through time immemorial our people and ancestors have used the oral tradition of storytelling to pass down history, values, language, and culture to each generation. This has preserved our knowledge and kept our resiliency to carry on Shelangen- our way of life. We would like to thank Smak i’ ya’ Matt Warbus for continuing to teach the Lummi language and also pass down the importance of storytelling to the next generation, our future. You can hear his original flute music in this episode as well.

In this episode of Young and Indigenous you will be listening to an elder, Steve Point, share wisdom and guidance during his annual Healing Conference in the Sto:lo Nation of Canada and also the responses to his words from the Young and Indigenous team. His insight into wellness and deeply moving life stories are valuable teachings that can have positive impacts on the livelihood of anyone willing to listen. Steve addresses the importance of mental health and well-being in native communities who have long suffered intergenerational trauma.

Being Indigenous to a unique place provides a powerful source of identity for the original inhabitants of that land. To find common threads across a diverse group of Native American and First Nations peoples, we conducted numerous interviews on what it means to be indigenous. Beginning with our own reflections, we then turned to our friends and family and finally to the staff and students of the Northwest Indian College to gather further information. We found that although we all have different languages and cultural practices, indigenous people share a common connection to the earth because of our relationship to our true homelands. This sentiment is felt in the stories told by Lummi Tribal member, Timothy Ballew Jr., who generously shares his wisdom, teachings, and understanding of the Natural World. It’s important that we take the time to sit with our elders and learn from them.

In this first episode of the YAI podcast we talk about learning the language of our Native American culture: we are the Lummi people from the Pacific Northwest in Bellingham Washington. Growing up I didn’t get to be involved in my culture as much as I wanted to because different families had their own ways of doing things and mine didn’t practice culture as much as other families did. My brother Tyson Scarborough and my boyfriend Keith Jefferson are in the podcast and they are teaching me the language by showing me how to say my introduction in Lummi. I get called as a witness at gatherings sometimes so I thought it would be a good time for me to learn what my ancestors protected and saved for us. Some of them got killed for practicing the old ways and because of their sacrifice the culture and language are still here today--that’s why we are still here today. We are proud to have many Lummi artists contribute to our podcast. We have piano and beatboxing by Chance Mad-Aye, Native song by Keith Jefferson, original music from Michael George and the Westshore Canoe Family, Stick Game Song by Johnnie Bob, original flute song by Jonah Ballew, and a family song by Tonya Teton. Learning the ways of our people is important to us because we didn’t get to grow up learning a lot of them like we should have and I think our culture and language is so beautiful. As a people I think we shouldn’t be afraid to show the world what we are really all about. We are not in the 1800 or 1900s anymore and we should not be scared to show who we really are-- we should be fighting for it back no matter what. It’s time that we start showing who we are because we are not weak people. We are strong people. We are strong and we are asking now: is the world ready for that?