The Modern Native American Story | Eric Hernandez | TEDxUCIrvine

Thank you, the misconceptions and stereotypes about Native Am

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ans made it difficult for me to be proud of who I was, but I knew that if I didn't dance my hoop at my school's cultural festival in front of all my classmates, the legacy of my ancestors would be Have you ever felt like you had to hide a part of yourself because you were worried about being judged or misunderstood? That was a dilemma I faced when I was 14, when my ninth grade teacher went around the classroom desperately looking for volunteers for the upcoming cultural festival. Now as a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina I had something to share, especially because My Uncle Terry had just taught me a traditional healing ceremony called the hoop dance, but when my teacher's eyes landed on me, my heart began to race.

I was afraid of what my classmates would think of me claiming my Native heritage. I didn't think they would understand who I was or what I represented. I mean, what do you think of when you hear the term Native Am

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an? You imagine a half-naked TP with a living bow, a narrow hunting feather and Savage bangs. I knew that's what my friends saw. I mean, how could they not? Our hi

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books in Hollywood told us that's what a real Indian is. I was just a kid from San Dimas, California, whose mother turned out to be a full-blooded Lumbee mother, she was actually the first Native American to compete in the Miss America pageant, a Miss Utah contestant, yeah, number 28 minutes, but that didn't matter because I knew my friends still wouldn't do it.

They see me as a true Native American, so I didn't raise my hand that day in class to participate in that cultural festival. I remember sitting in my room that night looking in the mirror wondering if I should try to conform to these conventional expectations. Even though he was known as the kid at school, we always had the biggest smile on his face as he looked into my eyes that night. I started practicing my warrior face. I wanted to look healthy and move like my friends expected me to and you know. What confused me the most was that everything my Uncle Terry was teaching me through hoop dancing was about moving with grace and beauty, agility and dexterity.

The hoop dance was a healing ceremony, it was not meant to hurt, we believe. that every time we pass through your body you add time to your life and when I lift this second ring we see that a

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is being told, it is a story of you and me and our journey through the many stages of life and as we watch The Stance we see the different plants and animals and how they work in harmony with each other because they must work in harmony together to form this world in which we live. That night I realized that not only did I have an opportunity but I had an obligation to educate my classmates about the fact that Native Americans are not only a thing of the past, but that we are still here today and we are not exactly the same. who they think we are, so I proved it. the next day to school and it closed a little bigger than usual.

I remember one of my friends came up to me and said Eric, why are you wearing a jacket on the hottest day of the year? I told her not to worry, but the truth was that I had my handmade hoop dancing outfit under my clothes because it was the day of the cultural festival and when the lunch bell rang that marked the beginning of the Cultural Festival my heart It started to pick up speed again but this time it wasn't because of Fear or Shame it was because I realized how important it was right now to break those stereotypes and show all my peers what a

modern

Native American is like.

I found the nearest building, hid behind it and took off my huge cloaks. I knew I had to find Miss Johnson and I had to tell her I was going to dance. I finally found her. I gave him my CD and told him: When I look at you, press play. I approached the patio and attracted attention. Out of all my classmates, as I sat down my Hoops one by one, they all started looking at me. I look at him. I took a deep breath and gave Miss Johnson the signal. I'm fine, I hope you know which one I expect.

I know there's no one else I hope you know I hope you know there's no one else when I got to school the next day. I was only on campus for about five minutes when my best friend runs up to me and says Eric, have you seen this? He hands me the school newspaper and on the cover there is a photo of me in my earrings with the title The Lord of the Rings. Now they will have next year after that, they organized that same Festival, except this time, instead of it being just one day, they had to expand.

I made it a three-day event because there were many more students who wanted to volunteer and share their heritage, so I not only educated my classmates but also inspired them to share who they were. I continued to dance over the years and one day I received a very unexpected phone call from an entertainment company based in Montreal, Canada called Cirque du Soleil. They had created a show called Totem and asked me to be their main dancer. I couldn't refuse him, so I ran away. In the circus I performed more than 2,500 shows in 19 different countries together with 47 other artists who became my family behind the scenes, 17 different languages ​​were spoken between us and since we had to work together every night, we performed 10 shows a week and We had to accept each other's cultural differences while traveling through Germany we received the news about kovid, the show closed immediately and that was the end of my trip with my Cirque du Soleil family, but losing my job at Cirque du Soleil was one of the biggest challenges I have faced in my life but I refuse to be defeated.

I felt a purpose to continue sharing and now here I am today on the tedx stage sharing my story with you as we reflect on my journey. I challenge you to think. about the times you may have repressed Who you are embrace your identity embrace your heritage and embrace your passions because you can educate and you can inspire and you can make the world a better place so share your history and culture and together we can create a world where celebrates diversity and everyone feels empowered to share their unique experiences and perspectives because we all have something to share for me it's hoop dancing what is it for you thank you?