The Lakota Daughters

so this area was very well known by our ancestors they came to listen to the camp they had places where they always returned to the buffalo they followed the stars and we followed the buffalo my grandmothers told me about the Lakota way of life the Dakota woman has to be very strong, I'm pretty sure he cries, but it's always hidden because he has to show that strength to the family so they can develop that strength too, so that's his role in the Lakota way of life. My grandfather chose this area because of the stream. and the water the canyons and the trees my name is leona one feather and I live in monditney and this is where I grew up get out of there my grandmother bought this caravan it's been here for 40 years and we haven't had running water because probably when the caravan It changed, God, it was so long ago, like 30 years ago, my mom, my dad and I, that was our bed, I finally got over them, but it was so cold in the winter that I would have to sleep between them, yeah, you broke.

That was your birthday gift. I just got social security and since I got these kids to actually get help for them, they gave me $308 in food stamps for three of them. Their mom is in jail right now, so our kids are getting into trouble. whether it's drugs or drink or whatever, now the burden of our tribe's children falls on those grandmothers, put this back and come in and behave, we're talking, you're not listening, for our entire tribe, there's only like 2,000 positions of jobs, it all depends on the federal contracts that our tribe gets and we don't have a private sector, so we don't have the money to restart businesses, we still have good land, you know, and that bothers a lot of people.

Because we are surrounded by racism, we didn't want to be Americans, we wanted to just be our own people, growing up in a home where the language is predominantly Lakota. I didn't know how to read the kota, but I learned that we have our creation stories and how we develop over time, so we have a completely different process that Americans have not been able to understand why we think differently in our culture. girls are more emotionally protected we live in a merit system so that a girl can do things that are really brave or participated in battle and saved children and lives or did something really heroic, she will have the same respect and honor as a man, two, one, take it to the door, take it. at the door my parents I love them, but sometimes they are a little strict with me, they fight, they just argue a little, that's why I don't go out with them, oh yes, we have puppies. we have puppies I go to different places mainly I go to my grandmother's house she took care of me for two years here you go, you can get the puppy back she has like um I forgot what those things were where you used to take a child from your parents my grandmother took, I had an uncle who took care of me, they buried him near the Red Cloud school, yes, I only go to see him from time to time, but I didn't really see him because it's difficult for me, he won.

I didn't make it, I didn't really go to school because I had a runny nose, so what I did in the morning was just eat oatmeal and then take another nap and play on my phone. Ah, what's one more? What's three more? Not bad. What is three plus two? The only thing I usually do is clean. I clean well, not really, but I usually help my grandfather do things. Okay, what you said, right, right, say yes. Loss of identity here due to forced assimilation. Everything the government did a good job on. we are using some kind of cultural module called self hate where they shamed us who you were foreigner are you listening to the Thunder Valley CDC Radio Hour welcome to the Thunder Valley CDC Radio Hour we would just like Do you know what you are doing here in Pine Ridge today?

We are working with Native American nations in the US to establish what we call girls' societies, which are safe, neighborhood-based places where girls can go to have fun but also talk about issues and be able to look for opportunities. I'm Kelly Hallman I'm a citizen of the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation I'm a member of the visiting community Is that what I am or am I the founder and executive director of the Indigenous Teen Girls Empowerment Network Do I need to see? Is this where we will meet tomorrow? Yes, so this is the space where you will meet tomorrow.

It's really a cool facility. There is none like it in the Ogallala Coaching Nation. We called on tribal organizations to learn planning tools. to establish a girls' society thanks to all of you you probably came here for a reason there is something on your mind about what is happening with girls in your community it is more about the general social and emotional support that girls need I speak for our reserve because This is where I've been, we don't support each other and it's time to let it all go because we have to support each other and we have to bring that together for our

daughters

and our future, that's why I feel these programs are very important to teach. our young women to be proud of themselves, who they are and how to protect and understand the sacredness of their being and what that means.

We do not want to prepare them to be victims of those statistics that we have as parents. selling their babies caretakers selling their babies we got dealers in parmalee they say here you go come get high come get high here you go oh now you owe me 500 bucks so guess what I'm going to get your ass up to wrap it up and you . I'm going to work for four or five days before I bring you home. I have worked with four girls mainly who were victims and the trafficking was quick and they were brought home. What our people struggle with is addiction and that's why They are struggling with addiction to alcohol or a drug like methamphetamine, marijuana or opiates, how do we teach them at a young age to know who they are and to be strong and it doesn't matter if Are your friends doing it or whatever are they strong? just say no, how many of us adults know the phone numbers for the suicide hotline, our dv helplines? family or within the circle of our friends, what made those babies so far down here without hope?

That's the purpose of Imagine programming is to empower those girls. We have a strong belief that women are sacred women who are the backbone of our society so I believe that having a strong girls' society and strong femininity will help our communities grow and prosper in the conditions that we have. My name is Amy Pond. I'm from Pineridge, South Dakota. I was born and raised there, which is a village in the middle. from the reservation wait wait wait wait this is my home my family is here I was a little lucky I guess in that respect my parents were employed my parents were married when I was young my dad decided to stop drinking so I Good At first he had a kind of advantage.

He wanted to go to school somewhere else. I wanted to get off the reservation for a while just to see things. I learned as much as I could, so I finished my master's program and then started looking for a job. here at home and I want that to be the norm for girls. Curbside weight planning tools are kind of a way to get you started and keep you going with the historical oppression that Native Americans have experienced here in the US. Family structures often break down and so sometimes they are the Adolescents in the home are the ones who really support both their mothers and grandmothers and the younger children, so girls have much more at stake than boys in terms of risk of pregnancy and dropping out of school. from school in terms of having to take on the responsibilities of running a family traditionally in native communities there were societies to achieve different things there was a war society there was often an agricultural society a hunting society there was a coming of age society ceremonies, matrilineal traditions in many native cultures meant that there were societies of women to do things, when to plant crops, when to have festivals according to the moon and the sun.

Gender is really a centerpiece of who we are as Natives. You know, women have particular strengths. and men have particular strengths, we have roles that we play and that is how we have survived. Hello, when I was a child, we moved a lot because my father had a mobile job and so it was always important to remember where I am. of who I was and who I was, in a way I want to stay closer to home and see what role I could play in Indian country oh oh our thunder before the storm my colonial name is clyde belfort and I am one of the founders of the American Indian movement I come here every year to celebrate this great victory that took place here and I was one of the main people who brought people here to the wounded knee in 1973.

We had a lot of women and the women were strong, many of us women. When we were young we were very interested in the American Indian movement. I'm sure you know I have a pretty thick file with the FBI. When we came here, there was going to be a peaceful occupation and liberation of this community the next morning, when I woke up and they gave me binoculars and around this hill, around us, those armored personnel carriers we were surrounded by all the federal agencies, the military, the bia police are really cruel, this government has done everything, it has stripped us of our language our culture our tradition that our land and our water and they thought we would give up so we put our minds together and said no we will go nowhere this is our land let's rise up let's show our indian people how to rise again and be warriors we will take them down get your dark way warrior women hey yeah oh we're hoping that in all nine districts there will be a girls' society , it's open to all girls, there are fun things that girls will do sewing, beading, play hand games and other things like that, so you will also learn skills like how to prepare for college, how to get scholarships.

I'll be happy to answer any questions, but otherwise I'll hand it over to Amy. to give you more details on exactly what they're doing here um so there's a question it depends on where you go it depends we could talk about that at girls society next week another really important part of this is we want to make sure that the girls can learn about our culture, that they can learn about the ceremonies, maybe we can take them sweating or something. We would like to take them on excursions to sacred places, but how? This really works through mentoring, so we will have older girls, girls my age, older women, younger women who will lead these girl groups, they will be in all the communities, as Kelly said, they will be in the same place, at the same time every day. day of the week so that girls have a place to go where they feel safe and where they feel like they can talk about girly things with other girls and women.

I couldn't imagine being anywhere else or doing anything other than feeling like a sacrifice for being here, no, not at all, quite the opposite, many times our girls and our people in general are ignored and underestimated, underrepresented and just need to have a voice stronger, so fill this out, you could take it with you and then we could get started. one like at school and they, the girls, could go ahead and complete it, yeah, and give it back to me. I don't want their names or anything, we talk a lot about liberation, self-determination, we want to start in pine.

Ridge, I'm just looking for more mentors, we talk about sovereignty and self-reliance, we want people to feel like we're not stuck and there's hope, like doing activities and stuff, yeah, it's like a talking circle and there. There will be some fun activities and hopefully field trips, things like that, yeah, every week, once a week, yeah, yeah, I want to be a doctor because I like helping people feel better when they're sick and stuff, It doesn't matter. I live with you. I would. I would like to go live in a big city like New York or somewhere I want to be.

I'd probably like going to college. Have a good university. Good grades. Get my master's degree and have a good life. I want to go to high school and finish finish high school I want to go to college and after that I want to like it um I want to go to the air force I want to be like my aunt because she was in the air force for three or five years and then she made it sound cool, but then it was a bit, she said it was a bit difficult to fly because there are a lot of buttons, but I can think that I could get it in my head because I'm very strong, so I can do it. and then I also have a good house and a good life and sometimes I take care of my grandfather, yes, it's okay, foreigner, I feed you