Podcasts about Suquamish

Our Guest this week, Heather Purser, made headlines back in 2011 when she single handedly passed same-sex marriage in the Suquamish tribe in Seattle, Washington. Today, Heather is a Suquamish lesbian activist and commercial diver! She shares her story of accepting her own identity, finding her childhood crush, and making space for herself within her community. Thank you for listening to Cruising Podcast! -Reviews help other listeners find Cruising! If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave us a 5-star review! -For more Cruising adventures, follow us @cruisingpod on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -Special thanks to this episode's sponsor, Olivia Travel -Discover Olivia at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Olivia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and save $100 on your next trip when you use promo code CRUISING -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support Cruising here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Cruising is an independent podcast. That means we're entirely funded by sponsors and listeners like you! -Cruising is reported and produced by a small but mighty team of three: Sarah Gabrielli (host/story producer/audio engineer), Rachel Karp (story producer/social media manager), and Jen McGinity (line producer/resident road-trip driver). Theme song is by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joey Freeman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Cover art is by Nikki Ligos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Name, Same Podcast ! Well...Daniel and Will got a bit too busy, but we're back for our third season. Thank you for downloading the Outdoor Therapy Centre Podcast with the super fun Becky Robbins!About BeckyBecky Robbins lives in Western Washington, a fourth generation resident and descendant of settlers who came to this land, land that belongs to and has been tended by the Coast Salish, Duwamish, Suquamish, and Tulalip tribal people. Becky is both a steward and lover of this land. She loves her work as an ecotherapist, naturalist, outdoor adventurer and educator. Becky spends equal time in the mystical and practical worlds, with earth-based spirituality and shamanism to scientific research-based practices in her work and personal life. Becky has a passion for people and learning, as well as collaborating with colleagues!You can find Becky on Instagram @beautyeverywherepnw and her website https://innerphoenix.netBecky owns a private therapy practice where she sees individual adult clients of all ages. She offers both continuing education classes for therapists and education for the general public on nature and spiritual topics applied to our steps and growth along life's journey. And she volunteers as a steward for local parks and through the Mountaineers (http://www.mountaineers.org) by leading hikes, nature and mindfulness walks, backpacking trips, and other fun adventures.

We're in the midst of 1856. This is the year lung sickness took hold of the country, and it's effect was to push some people of the land over the edge. Nongqawuse living in Gxarha had prophesized about salvation which was at hand. The former Anglican now born-again Xhosa Mhlakaza had thrown himself into the messianic messaging business. You heard last episode about the causes of the Xhosa Cattle Killing, now we're going to deal with how it spread. The amaXhosa were not alone. Around the world, frontier battles had lit up the globe, the pressure of these new arrivals on indigenous people had burst into flames. In Seattle, U.S. Marines had been dispatched by ship in January 1856 to suppress a Native American uprising. The First People's were resisting pressure to cede land - they were being herded into reservations and opposed the plan. Just to set the tone, a few days before the attack on Seattle, Washington Governor Isaac Stevens had declared a "war of extermination" upon the Native American Indians. Seattle was a small, four-year-old settlement in the Washington Territory that had recently named itself after Chief Seattle - a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish peoples of central Puget Sound. In Utah, the Tintic war had broken out in the same month between the Mormons and Ute people - it ended when the Federal Government took the Ute's land but intermittent clashes and tension continued. This went on all the way to the Second World War in the twentieth century, with the Ute's demanding compensation. In India, the Nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled to Metiabruz and his state was annexed by the British East India Company. Following our story about Surveyors in South Africa, it is interesting to note that in March 1856 The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India officially gave 'Peak XV' the height of 29 thousand and 2 feet. We know Peak XV now as Mount Everest and its actually 29 000 and 31 feet. Also in March 1856, the Great Powers signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War. Soon thousands of British German Legion veterans of the Crimean war would arrive in South Africa. In May 1856, Queen Victoria handed Norfolk Island to the people of Pitcairn Island — famous for being descendents of the Mutiny on the Bounty. The Pitcairners land on Norfolk Island promptly extend their Pitcairn social revolution idea - to continue with women's suffrage. David Livingstone arrived in Quelimane on the Indian Ocean having taken two years to travel from Luanda in Angola on the Atlantic Ocean across Africa. And in South Africa, since April, amaXhosa had been killing their cattle upon hearing of the Prophet Nongqwase of Gxarha, whose pronouncements were now being managed by Mhlakaza her uncle. King Sarhili had visited the mysterious River and pronounced his support for her visions which spoke of salvation through cleansing of goods and cattle. Killing cattle and throwing away goods, she warned of witchcraft destroying the Xhosa, she had been spoken to by two men in a bush. Nongqawuse and her little ally, Nombanda, were visited by Xhosa from far and wide to hear her story directly. The most privileged visitors were taken to the River and the Ocean, but most of these men and women heard nothing - no voices although Nongqawuse continued to relay the two stranger's messages to those present. A minority began to claim they heard the voices. Rumours of the happenings spread like wild fire and the official sanction of King Sarhili Ka-Hintsa of the amaGcaleka removed the last doubts from many who desperately wanted this prophecy to have power. And yet most of the amaXhosa chiefs intitially opposed the prophecies, but were ground down mentally, dragged into the worse form of cattle killing by the commoners. The believers began the comprehensive work of destruction. This back and forth went on until what is known as the First Disappointment.

We're in the midst of 1856. This is the year lung sickness took hold of the country, and it's effect was to push some people of the land over the edge. Nongqawuse living in Gxarha had prophesized about salvation which was at hand. The former Anglican now born-again Xhosa Mhlakaza had thrown himself into the messianic messaging business. You heard last episode about the causes of the Xhosa Cattle Killing, now we're going to deal with how it spread. The amaXhosa were not alone. Around the world, frontier battles had lit up the globe, the pressure of these new arrivals on indigenous people had burst into flames. In Seattle, U.S. Marines had been dispatched by ship in January 1856 to suppress a Native American uprising. The First People's were resisting pressure to cede land - they were being herded into reservations and opposed the plan. Just to set the tone, a few days before the attack on Seattle, Washington Governor Isaac Stevens had declared a "war of extermination" upon the Native American Indians. Seattle was a small, four-year-old settlement in the Washington Territory that had recently named itself after Chief Seattle - a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish peoples of central Puget Sound. In Utah, the Tintic war had broken out in the same month between the Mormons and Ute people - it ended when the Federal Government took the Ute's land but intermittent clashes and tension continued. This went on all the way to the Second World War in the twentieth century, with the Ute's demanding compensation. In India, the Nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled to Metiabruz and his state was annexed by the British East India Company. Following our story about Surveyors in South Africa, it is interesting to note that in March 1856 The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India officially gave 'Peak XV' the height of 29 thousand and 2 feet. We know Peak XV now as Mount Everest and its actually 29 000 and 31 feet. Also in March 1856, the Great Powers signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War. Soon thousands of British German Legion veterans of the Crimean war would arrive in South Africa. In May 1856, Queen Victoria handed Norfolk Island to the people of Pitcairn Island — famous for being descendents of the Mutiny on the Bounty. The Pitcairners land on Norfolk Island promptly extend their Pitcairn social revolution idea - to continue with women's suffrage. David Livingstone arrived in Quelimane on the Indian Ocean having taken two years to travel from Luanda in Angola on the Atlantic Ocean across Africa. And in South Africa, since April, amaXhosa had been killing their cattle upon hearing of the Prophet Nongqwase of Gxarha, whose pronouncements were now being managed by Mhlakaza her uncle. King Sarhili had visited the mysterious River and pronounced his support for her visions which spoke of salvation through cleansing of goods and cattle. Killing cattle and throwing away goods, she warned of witchcraft destroying the Xhosa, she had been spoken to by two men in a bush. Nongqawuse and her little ally, Nombanda, were visited by Xhosa from far and wide to hear her story directly. The most privileged visitors were taken to the River and the Ocean, but most of these men and women heard nothing - no voices although Nongqawuse continued to relay the two stranger's messages to those present. A minority began to claim they heard the voices. Rumours of the happenings spread like wild fire and the official sanction of King Sarhili Ka-Hintsa of the amaGcaleka removed the last doubts from many who desperately wanted this prophecy to have power. And yet most of the amaXhosa chiefs intitially opposed the prophecies, but were ground down mentally, dragged into the worse form of cattle killing by the commoners. The believers began the comprehensive work of destruction. This back and forth went on until what is known as the First Disappointment.

  Contributors are listed here: Danielle S. Castillejo (Rueb), Cyon Edgerton, Rachael Reese, Chasity Malatesta, Debby Haase, Kim Frasier, Briana Cardenas, Holly Christy, Clare Menard, Marjorie Long, Cristi McCorkle, Terri Schumaker, Diana Frazier, Eliza Cortes Bast, Tracy Johnson, Sarah Van Gelder, Marwan, and more Welcome to the Arise Podcast, conversations on faith, race, justice, gender, and spirituality. You'll notice there's going to be some updated changes and different voices on the podcast this season. It's season five. It's October 1st, 2024. I haven't recorded a podcast since June of 2023, and at that time, if you've been following along in my town in Kitsap County, we were working through what would prove to be an extensive and prove to be an extensive fight for justice in our school district. And at this time, we have made some very significant shifts. I want to get into this episode to kind of catch you up on where I'm at, where the podcast is at, and hopefully as you listen to myself and some different voices on these upcoming podcasts, you understand that we have this fundamental common theme amongst us, which is our humanity. And when we drop down into that humanity, because our work, our lives, our families, there's all these poles and all these different ways for us to separate ourselves from our humanness and be busy or accomplish this or accomplish that.(00:01:52):And I know because I'm in there too, we actually separate ourselves from our neighbor. And so I'm hoping as we engage tough topics of politics and we get into the sticky points of it, that there's a sense that, yeah, I don't agree with that person or I agree with that person, but there is a sense that there is shared humanity. And so as we talk about these different subjects, I wanted to emphasize that first, an article was released in the fall last year saying in September of 2023 saying that there was, the school district's investigation had concluded and they had deemed that there was no racism in the North Kitsap School district. As you can imagine, a report like that on the front page of the paper, after all we'd been through after sitting through numerous hours of meetings listening to families and their experiences was disheartening.(00:02:45):We came to find out that some of the families felt or experienced what they deemed to be threatening tones from the investigators or understood that they could possibly be under penalty of perjury depending on what they answered. And I'm not saying that this was always the case, but the threat was on the table. And when you're dealing with working with majority world peoples who are marginalized in the United States, that threat can be very real. And the impact of it is very great. So I began to understand that this investigation wasn't actually looking for the truth and how to solve the problem. It was actually looking for a way of complete and utter defense against what these families had reported their students had experienced. It's a very different thing. And I think there were rumors like were these families going to sue the district, bring a lawsuit to the district?(00:03:41):And we've seen in neighboring school districts, just in recent times, lawsuits have been filed for much less. I mean, we had 90 original complaints. We have more people that had come forward as time had moved on. And yet there was never a move to actually file a lawsuit. We didn't file a lawsuit. We continued to move forward with our lives and think about our students. I think at some point in last fall of 2023, there was just a sense of deep despair like we put in years of effort. And the result was this report that basically attempted to delegitimize all the stories of all these families. It was horrible and heartbreaking and followed the fall. And in the late winter there was going to be a vote for this school bond. And as the yes for the bond campaign rolled out, led by a committee of yes folks, which included some Paul's Bowl rotary members and then the superintendent, it became clear to different community members that there were a lot of questions still to be asked, a lot of information we wanted to have and a lot of things that just felt like they were missing.(00:04:57):I'm not saying they were all missing, but there were pieces and details that appeared to be missing. And when we asked the questions similar to what happened with the complaints, we didn't get answers. The answers were couched in long paragraphs or explanations, and the architects seemed like they didn't have access to the buildings. Again, we didn't know all the details of what happened. And this is just a general recap. You can look at the ensuing political drama online. If you Google superintendent signs and polls Bowl, Washington, P-O-U-L-S-B-O Washington, you will find articles on NBC to Fox News to video clips, all of the above. There were signs all over our county, as I'm sure in your different counties or if you live in Kitsap, you've seen them political signs, vote yes on the bond, vote no on the bond, et cetera. And it appeared that signs were going missing.(00:06:02):And in one case, the signs were going missing often in one particular location and a pair of folks who are not married who became allied because they were both against the bond and had been putting up no on bond signs, decided to put up a wildlife cam and we're able to capture a person destroying the signs on video. And again, Google sbo, Google signs, Google Superintendent look for February 20, 24 articles and you'll see the ensuing reports of what happened. This became a chance for us actually to revisit our story because there's a theme of dishonesty from the top leadership. There was a theme of hiding. There's a theme of not giving all the information a theme of there's any extent we can go to that bumps up against the law. By the way, I think it's against the law to destroy political signs. So there's just this theme that you could break the law and get away with it.(00:07:08):We've seen in the top politics of our country down to the low level politics of our country. And what was our community going to do with all of this? We rallied together. For the first time in many years, there were literally hundreds of people on a zoom call for a school board meeting. News agencies showed up again, and sadly, our district was in the news for something else negative related to the top leadership. And it was very sad. The process. The superintendent was put on leave and resigned in June, but stopped working essentially closely with the school board. I think it was in March or April of 2024. I just remember that when the harm stops, when someone harmful is told by law enforcement or the law or someone else in a higher power to stop harming it, it's a relief. But also that's the time when all of the residual trauma sets in the trauma that you've been going through to be in proximity to someone in leadership and you're literally powerless to address it.(00:08:19):And I guess I bring this up to say that as we think about politics nationally, locally, whether it's a school board member or a president, I remember feeling challenged When I live in a small town, paulville was a small town. It is not like Seattle size. It's like got rural folks. There's folks that commute into the city of Seattle. We're, we're a mix of all different kinds of socioeconomic backgrounds. Our school district is now 38% Spanish speaking this year. There is a genuine mix. So when you're out and about in this small container, Kitsap's also very small too. It's rural, it's small. We're kind of contained on our own peninsula. When you're in this environment, the chances that you're going to see someone that you're know are really high, it's not like if you hate someone about, you're not going to run into Donald Trump here.(00:09:11):You're not going to run in here, run into Kamala Harris here. It's not like you're running into those folks, but you might run into your representative. You might run into the school board member from this district or another district. And how are you going to see that person that actually you not only disagree with, but you felt has been unjust to you? Costs a lot. I mean, money's one thing, but time, effort, family, reputation, allies, there is so much time involved and the way forward. You think it's clear when you're fighting on behalf of kids, you're advocating on behalf of kids. That feels really good. But the process to work through that advocacy often doesn't feel that great. You have to become allies with people you don't agree with. And so I think that just brings me back to where do we find our common humanity?(00:10:06):Where do we find space to occupy a same piece of land or a same meeting or a similar, we have similar causes, but maybe there's deep hurt between us and maybe that hurt is to the point where we're not going to ever talk to that person again, and how do we still see them as human? How do we still see them as valuable in this world? How do we still gain compassion? Those are things I ask myself and I don't have the answers. So I've included a number of folks asking a similar questions about humanness, about politics, about where they locate themselves in their various positions, their race, ethnicity, et cetera, and how do they come at this? And I hope you enjoy the following conversations because I conversations or talks from these people, commentary from these people as we hear all different perspectives. Now you may hear someone and be like, I can get down with that. I agree with that. And then there's another person you might be like, no way, no effing way. And so I encourage you to listen, stay curious with yourself and have talks with your family about how you're going to engage this political season.Speaker 2 (00:11:26):Danielle asked me how I see being human in the age of politics, and I'm struggling answering this because A, I am not a politician or have really any experience as a politician. I have experience as a community based organizer. So I am speaking on this on the outside of things. And then also I'm a white woman able bo, heterosexual woman. And the politics and the systems of power were built for me as a white person to thrive. And so I just want to locate myself in that because my view is of a privileged view. White folks can step in and out of politics without it really harming us. And that's a problem, obviously, and it distorts our view of politics.(00:12:55):But with this question, I have become more and more angry and upset with politics, policies, systems of power, the more that I unlearn and learn about my internal white supremacy culture and ways of being. And as the genocide in Palestine and other countries continue, I don't think the political structures are here for us. They're not people centered, they're not community centered. I think all politics are really about power. And so as an outsider, as not a politician and as a white woman, so those are flawed views. I'm coming from a flawed view. I see how politics change people or they make bad people even worse. I know local white folks that are in it for power and just continue on searching for more and more power. And I've witnessed community organizers join politics to really try to change the systems. But I don't think politics or the system was made to help humans. I don't think the system is for humans. And it hurts people, it divides people. I don't really know how to answer this question because I don't think politics and humanists can actually go together, not the way that they're set up now.Speaker 3 (00:15:09):These questions are so beautiful and just so right on time for this time, we're in right before an election where there's so much stress. My name is Sara Van Gelder and I am a friend of Danielle's and a resident of Kitsap County for many years have I was one of the founders of YES magazine. I also founded a group called People's Hub, which teaches community folks how to do local organizing, actually peer to peer teaching. I didn't do the teaching, but connected people together to teach each other and been associated as a ally of the Suquamish tribe at various times in my life, but I did not ever speak for them.(00:15:54):So my own humanity in the context of this political moment, I like to stay in a place of fierce love and do when I can. I can't say I'm always there. I'm often triggered. I often go into a place of feeling really fearful and anxious about what's going on in the world and more particularly the polarization and the rise of which what I don't like to call, but I think is actually a form of fascism. And when I talk about fierce, it means being willing to say the truth as I see it, but also love, which is that that is the motivator. I don't like seeing people get hurt and I'm willing to stand up and be one of the people to say what I see, but not in a way that is intended to degrade anybody. I am a mother, I'm a grandmother, I'm a daughter, I'm a sister. And being connected to people through love and that sense of willingness to protect one another, that's at the core. So even if I disagree with you, I'm not going to wish you harm.Speaker 1 (00:17:12):Wow. Wow. Even if I disagree with you, I'm not going to wish you harm. And I think what I've heard just particularly lately around the talk of immigration, let's say for an example, is the talk about immigration in the context of a particular city. For instance, they've used Springfield, Ohio over and over. It's come up many times and the demonization, the dehumanization of those immigrants, the miscategorizing of their status, it seems like some of this can get point hyper-focused on one particular example to make a political point or to drive fear home across different context, different communities. So when you think about that, do you wish those people harm that are making those accusations? How do you engage a tough subject like that?Speaker 3 (00:18:15):Yeah, it's a really hard one, and I could tell you what I aspire to do and what I actually do a lot of times is avoid people who have that level of disagreement with, because I'm not sure I have enough in common to even have a good conversation. So I don't feel like I'm as good at this as I'd like to be. But what I try to do is to first off, to recognize that when we're in the fight or flight sort of reptilian brain, when we're super triggered, we have the least capacity to do good work of any kind. So I try to get out of that mindset, and in part I do that by trying to listen, by trying to be an active listener and try to listen not just for the positions. The positions are ones that will likely trigger me, but to listen for what's beneath the positions, what is somebody yearning for?(00:19:10):What is it that they're really longing for beneath those positions that I find so harmful and so triggering. So in many cases, I think what people are looking for in this immigration debate is a sense of belonging. They want to believe that their community is a place where they belong and somehow believe that having other people who are from different cultures move in reduces the chances that they'll be able to belong. So what would it mean if they could feel like they belonged along with the Haitians in their community that it didn't have to be an either or is there a way to have that kind of conversation that what if we all belong(00:19:54):In that respect? The thing that I am sometimes most tempted to do, which is to cancel someone, if you will, that actually feeds into that dynamic of not belonging because I'm telling that person also, you don't belong in my life. You don't belong in my community. So it's not easy to do, but I do feel like we have a better chance of doing that locally than we have doing it nationally because locally we do have so many things we have in common. We all want to drink clean water, we want clean air. We want places our kids can go to school where they will belong and they will feel good. So if we can switch the conversation over to those deeper questions, and I think one thing I've learned from hanging out with indigenous folks is the way in which they think about the seven generations and how much more expansive of you that can give to you when you think that way.(00:20:54):Because instead of thinking about again, that immediate threat, that immediate personal sense of anxiety, you start thinking, well, what's going to work for my kids and my grandkids? I don't want them to be experiencing this. Well, that means something about having to learn how to get along with other people, and we want our kids to get along with each other. We want them to have friends and family, and when they marry into a different culture, we want to feel good about our in-laws. I mean, we want our neighborhood to be a place where our kids can run around and play outside. I mean, there's so many things that once you start expanding the scope to other generations, it makes it so clear that we don't want that kind of society that's full of hate and anxiety.Speaker 1 (00:21:44):Wow, seven generations. It is true. I do a lot of reading and I think about res, are you familiar with Resa and my grandmother's hands? And he talks about that the shifts we want to make in society, the shifts towards being more in our actual physical bodies and present with one another and the reps that it takes, the way we're disrupting it now to make a dent in the 400 plus year history of slavery and the act of embodying ourselves from the harm that has been done is going to take five to seven generations. It's not that he's not for change now. He absolutely is. And just having that long term, almost like marathon view perspective on what change has either for ourselves that can give ourselves grace and that we can also give others in our proximity grace, while also not engaging in active harm. I think there's an important part there. Does that make sense?Speaker 3 (00:22:51):Oh, it makes so much sense. And it's like that long-term view doesn't suggest we can put off working. It only even happens in the long term if we start today, we take the first steps today. So yes, absolutely makes sense. I'm not sure I'm patient enough to wait for all those generations, but I want to be keeping them in my mind and heart when I act. How is this going to contribute to their possibilities? So part of that is by thinking about these questions of belonging, but it's also questions of exclusion more structurally. I think the fact that our society has such deep exclusion economically of so many people, there's so many people across the board who feel so precarious in their lives. I think that sets us up for that kind of scapegoating because ideally what we'd be saying is, if you can't afford to go to college, if you can't afford a medical bill, if you can't afford a place to rent, there's a problem with our economy.(00:23:56):Let's look at that problem with our economy and do something about it. And I believe people have gotten so disempowered. So feeling that that's beyond them to do that. Then the next thing that the demagogues will do is say, well, let's look for a scapegoat then. Let's look for a scapegoat of somebody who's less powerful than you and let's blame them because that'll give you a temporary sense of having power. And that's how, I mean it's not unique to our situation. It's how fascism so often unfolds and how historically groups have been scapegoated. And I think we need to turn our attention back to what is the real cause of our anxiety. And I think the real cause of our anxiety is economic and political disfranchisement. Once we can actually tackle those topics, we can see how much more we can do when we work together across all isms and make things happen for a world in which everyone has a place.Speaker 1 (00:24:55):So then if you know people in your sphere, let's say, and don't name them here, that border on the narrative that says, if you disenfranchise someone less powerful than you, that will bring you some relief. If you have people like that in your life, Sarah, how do you approach them? How do you engage with them if you're willing to share any personal experience?Speaker 3 (00:25:28):Yeah, so my biggest personal experience with that was working as an activist alongside the Suquamish tribe when a lot of their immediate neighbors were trying to keep them from building housing, keep them from building relationships with other governments and actually took them to court trying to actually end their sovereign right to be a tribe. So that was my most direct involvement and that was 20 years ago. So it seems like ancient history, but I learned a lot from that, including from working with tribal elders who provided a lot of leadership for us and how we should work. And one of the things that I've learned from that and also from being a Quaker, is that the notion of how you talk to people in a nonviolent way, and a lot of that starts with using I statements. So when people in my neighborhood would say really disparaging things about the tribe, I would respond with, I feel this. I believe the tribe has sovereign rights. I believe they have always been here and have the right to govern themselves and build homes for their members. And it's harder, it's not as triggering when somebody says, I instead of starts with a word(00:26:58):When somebody says, you immediately have this responsive defensiveness because it's unclear what's going to come next and whether you're going to have to defend yourself when you say I, you're standing in your own power and your own belief system and you're offering that to someone else with the hope that they might empathize and perhaps even perhaps be convinced by part of what you have to say. But in the meantime, you haven't triggered a worsening of relationships. And one of the things I really didn't want to do was create anything that would further the violence, verbal most cases, violence against the tribe, sort of getting people even further triggered. So it was just really important to always be looking for ways to be very clear and uncompromising on really important values, but be willing to compromise on ones that were not important. So for example, when we were working on getting the land return to the tribe that had been a state park, we asked people what's important to you about how this park functions in the future? Because the tribe can take that into account they, but the idea that it is their land, the home of chief Seattles, that was not something we could compromise on.Speaker 1 (00:28:17):I love that using I statements intentionally checking in with yourself so you're not engaging in behaviors that trigger another person further into more defensive mode. Sarah, what are some resources or recommendations you could leave with me or us? When you think about engaging people and staying very present, it's a very human stance to say, I think I believe this versus an accusatory tone like you are this, you are that.Speaker 3 (00:28:50):I think the nonviolent communication that Marshall Rosenberg developed is very powerful. He has a very specific technique for having those kinds of conversations that are very focused on that notion about the I statement and also reflecting back what you hear from other people, but then being willing to use statements about what I need because saying that puts me in a position of being vulnerable, right? Saying I actually need something from you. You obviously have the choice of whether you're going to give it to me or not, but I need to be in a place where I can feel safe when we have these conversations. I need to feel like I live in a community where people are so then the other person has that choice, but you're letting them know and you're again standing in your own power as somebody who's self-aware enough, it also invites them to be self-aware of what they need.Speaker 1 (00:29:46):I love that. Yeah, keep going.Speaker 3 (00:29:50):I think there are other resources out there. I'm just not calling 'em to mind right now, but I think nonviolent communications is a really good one.Speaker 1 (00:29:58):And locally, since you talked locally, what are maybe one or two things locally that you regularly engage in to kind of keep up your awareness to keep yourself in a compassionate mode? How do you do that for youSpeaker 3 (00:30:16):Being out in nature? Okay,Speaker 1 (00:30:19):Tell me about that.Speaker 3 (00:30:22):Oh, in Japan, they call it forest bathing, but it's just a fancy term for being in some places it's really natural. There's beautiful walks. We're very fortunate here in the northwest that there are so many beautiful places we can walk. And when you're surrounded by preferably really intact ecosystems where you can feel the interactions going on among the critters and the plants and just let that wash over you because part of that as well, it kind of helps take some of the pressure off. It sort of releases some of us being kind of entangled in our own ego and lets us just have greater awareness that we're actually entangled in this much larger universe. It's much, much older and we'll go on way after we're gone and extends to so many different ways of being from a bird to a tree, to a plate of grass, and we're all related.Speaker 4 (00:31:33):Hey, this is Kim. So just a brief background. I am a 41-year-old biracial woman. I am a mom, a nurse, a child of an immigrant, and I identify as a Christian American. Thanks Danielle for asking me to chime in. I just wanted to touch base on this current political climate. I would say as a liberal woman, I really enjoy diversity and hearing and seeing different perspectives and engaging in meaningful conversation. Unfortunately, I feel like right now we are so polarized as a country and it's not like the air quote, good old days where you could vote for a politician that you felt like really represented your ideals and kind of financially what you value, policies, et cetera. Now I feel like it has become really a competition and an election of human rights, and I think for me, that's kind of where I draw my own personal boundary.(00:32:40):I think it's important to share different perspectives, and I think I do have a unique perspective and I enjoy hearing others' perspectives as well, but for me, I do draw the line at human rights. So I have learned over the years to just not engage when it comes to issues of individuals being able to choose what to do with their body, women in particular, it's terrifying to me as a nurse and a woman and a mother of a daughter who could potentially be in a situation at some point and not be allowed to make choices about her own body with a doctor. Also as the child of an immigrant, I was raised by a white mother, Irish German Catholic, and my father is an immigrant that has been here since 19 76, 77. He is from Trinidad and Tobago. He's actually served in the military and I have a hard time with vilifying people of color trying to come to this country and make a better life for themselves and for their future and their future generations, which is exactly what my dad was doing. So to me, it's a no-brainer, right? Not to tell anybody what to do or how to vote, but I think that it's really hard right now to hold space for individuals who may be attacking my rights as a woman, my ability as a nurse to be able to care for patients and really what this country was supposedly built on, which is being a melting pot and allowing any and everyone here to be able to pursue the American dream and make a life for themselves and their loved ones.Speaker 5 (00:34:34):As soon as the topic turns to politics, I feel myself cringe, and then I want to internally retreat a bit. Looking back over the past eight plus years, I realize I have been feeling like this for a long time. My body holds memories of heated, uncomfortable confrontive distancing and sometimes horrifying conversations with friends and at times, even with family, I'm tired as most people tired from the collective traumas. We have all lived through political, racial, and pandemic related. Eight years ago, I think I worked to try and remain objective. I told myself that my job was just to hear the other person with curiosity, but doing that was not enough to help me stay well in the midst of what I truly could not then and cannot still control. I've come to realize that I have to stay connected to my own feelings, to my own limitations.(00:35:37):I have to make space to feel my disappointment, my disgust, my fear, my sadness, my powerlessness, my ache, even my longing still when it comes to the realm of politics, I have to make room for my own humanity and then I have to be willing to share that, not simply be a listening ear for others. What's been most difficult for me as politics has driven division and disconnection is the loss of healthy dialogue and conversation. It feels to me like relational loss is there where it doesn't seem like it always has to be. I am passionate about the table, about creating and cultivating space at a table for all the voices and for all of the stories to belong. I still believe in this, and when I'm connected to my own humanity, it makes me far more open to the humanity of another, knowing my own stories that are being stirred up and activated by injustice, by what I perceive to be irresponsible politicians and policies that don't make sense to me and at times scare me when I'm in the presence of those who hold very different political views from me.(00:37:02):I have to actively choose to not just tolerate listening to them, but instead to try and listen for something more. I try to listen for the fear that often fuels their positions. The fear is always storied and the stories offer taste of their humanity and oftentimes their experience of suffering, which always offers the opportunity for empathy. I can't do it all the time. Some situations don't afford the time for curiosity and sharing. When that happens, I need space afterwards, space to release what I don't need or want to hold that I heard space to feel my own humanity again, and then space to choose to remember the humanity of the other person, and that is all an active practice. I think that othering people into political camps and categories is easily available and every time it happens, we lose more and more of our collective humanity and we feed the machine of hate that profits from our conversational and emotional laziness.Speaker 6 (00:38:11):I can't say it's always easy, that's for sure. What I try to do is see another person, whether it's around the political views or other things that I may not agree with somebody about or I might even actually see them as a quote enemy, is for one thing, I drop into my heart and get out of my head about ideas, views, and just try to be present in my heart as much as possible with as little judgment as possible and recognize the essence of the other person, the essence that's inside all the beliefs and the views, and recognizing also that we all have some sort of wounding from our lives, maybe our lineages, our generations, maybe even past lives and or trauma, and that that can obscure the essence of who we are, and I try to really remember that essence in another person.(00:39:34):And in relation, how do you see your own humanity? The other question you ask, how do you see your own humanity in the context of political dialogue? I have to say that's not really a question I thought about. I thought about how to see the humanity in others, so I really appreciate this question. I think if I start othering the other, if I get into too much judgment, I feel like I lose my own sense of humanity or at least the type of human I hope and wish to be. What helps me to I guess, discern when I'm in my own humanity, when I'm in the best of places, I guess I don't know how else to word that is I tune into my values. What do I value most and am I living by those values in the way that I want to be human In this world, for example, for me, integrity is super important as well as respect and compassion.(00:40:44):I'm not saying I'm always in this place, but these values that I aspire to live by help bring me into my own humanity and almost like check, checking in, tuning in checkpoints in a way, when I speak about compassion, sometimes people, all of what I'm saying, I want to, even though I'm maybe trying to see the essence of someone, I do try to discern that if there's being harm done, I'm not okaying any harm at all. And when I try to live by compassion, I feel like that's when I can really see the humanity in others and compassion for myself. I view compassion as a very active verb, a little bit different than empathy. Just that compassion is seeing the suffering, but wanting to do something about it and doing something for me. Compassion includes action, and sometimes that action is helping to disrupt or interrupt harm that's happening, and that's how I can show up in my humanity for others is the best I can do is acting as well as being that balance both, andSpeaker 7 (00:42:23):I'm Diana, she her and I didn't use to see myself in politics the way that I do now. It took decades for me to really start to get a grasp about who I actually am and how the ways I view politics, the ways I vote, who I support, how it actually affects me, and I spent a lot of years voting for things that hurt me without even realizing I was doing that because I was following the messaging and believing it. Ultimately that being a good fill in the blanks meant voting for fill in the blanks or being a good fill in the blanks meant donating to or supporting or whatever, fill in the blanks. And I hurt myself by doing that because I wasn't listening to my own knowing or my own intuition or looking in the mirror at who am I? What kind of world do I want to live in? I didn't ask myself those questions. I did what I thought I was supposed to do to fall in line, and there were people in my life during that who spoke truth, and it was true because it was individual to them. It was, here's what I know about me and here's what this policy means for me. And I didn't get it. I certainly didn't get it.(00:44:09):I judged it inside my own head, and yet those people who spoke their own individual truth are the people who were able to shed light through the cracks in my facade. And years later, I remember some of the things that people said or that they posted or whatever because those were the light that I saw through the cracks and it was so memorable, even though at the time I might have been irritated by it, it was memorable because I loved and respected these people and so their words didn't matter to me, even though at the time I very much disagreed and I hope that I will be allowed to be the light in some people's cracks because I know for a fact there's so many people like me who haven't actually looked at who they are, what they want, what kind of world do they want to live in if they separate themselves from the ideology of where they work or where they go to church or their family of origin or what their spouse is telling them, no honey, who are you? What do you want? And when people can be brave enough to do that, its everything up.Speaker 8 (00:45:46):My name is Marwan Cameron, and I was asked to answer a couple questions here, and the first question was, how do you see your own humanity in the context of political dialogue? And I had to think about this question. Our humanity is front and center when we talk about politics primarily because the issues that affect us, meaning the black community are often sidelined or ignored. I'll share some examples of that. Democrats and Republicans both speak about healthcare, the economy crime, but when they have centered those conversations around the realities they face, when do you actually see that take reparations. For example, we hear a lot about tax cuts or healthcare reform, but nothing about reparations for chattel slavery, for foundational black Americans which are owed to black people for centuries of exploitation. You can even look at our prison system where men are going to prison without HIV and very low percentages and then coming out several times higher when they are released from jail and prison, and I'll get into some of those stats. Also.(00:47:15):When we look at black men that are falsely accused of sexual assault, unfortunately we go back to Emmett Till and we never really talk about the contemporary men. I have a list of a hundred black men that have been falsely accused in the last five years alone. Albert Owens 2023, Christian Cooper, 2020, Joshua Wood, Maurice Hastings, Jonathan Irons, 2000, Anthony Broadwater, 2021, Mark Allen, 2022, Franklin, west 2020, Michael Robertson, Shaw, Taylor, Dion, Pearson 2021, Stanley Race 2019 Rashan Weaver 2020. Henry Lee McCollum, 2020. David Johnson, Jamel Jackson, Charles Franklin, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Corey Wise, you, Celine, Aron McCray, Brian Banks, which is a pretty famous name, Wilbert Jones. That's just 20 names in the last five years of a list of a hundred that I have that have been falsely accused of sexual assault, these aren't things that we talk about. Question two, how do you make space for folks in your proximity who did not share your political views as a heterosexual black male in this country, you really have no choice but to make space for others' Political views as in question number one, we are really only allowed to speak about injustices or political needs in the framework of the black community as a whole.(00:49:25):Matter what side you find yourself on, whether you're a Republican, we're oftentimes they straight up say, we're not acknowledging what your needs are. We're not going to do anything about your needs. You can come over here and vote with us if you want. As Trump said, what have you got to lose? What have Democrats done for you? Or you can look at the democratic side where in the last three elections, it's been existential against Donald Trump. And when Donald Trump won and then lost and is running again, we still haven't seen things like the repeal of qualified immunity, things like atoning for the most heinous crimes that the United States has committed in chattel slavery against black men. I've made space. We have made space as black men in regards to those who do not share our political views. Black men have fought in every war for the United States of America. We have stood up, stood behind, been sacrificed for the good of almost every cause, and we're told not yet. It's not the right time. We too need, have needs, and it becomes a zero sum game.Speaker 9 (00:51:19):Growing up, we had Sunday dinners at my grandparents. Conversation was always lively with my family, talking loudly, fast, and often right over each other. We talked about everything, what was happening around us, our community, what was in the paper and on the news that evening. We didn't always agree. In fact, I think my grandparents debated opposite sides. Just for fun, I fondly remember my grandmother saying, your grandpa and I are canceling each other's votes at the polls. They would both smile and sometimes laugh. Considering my upbringing, I was surprised to hear my instructor at cosmetology school lay down the law. Politics and religion were never to be discussed, not in school, and certainly not if we wanted to be successful professionally. I learned to smile and nod. I strive to find common ground with the opinion of guests. I was raised not to look for any offense with ideas that contrasted my own.(00:52:16):It takes both a left and a right wing to make the eagle fly and what a boring world this would be in if we all agreed. But then Trump happened up until he achieved power. Generally speaking, whether the law or policy was written by conservatives, liberals, moderates, there was a basis of bettering the American way of life. To be clear, this wasn't always the advancement of protection we agreed with, but we could see the logic of it. For the most part, Trump's leadership consists of a hatred for people who are not like him. Early on in his campaign, he told Americans to police their neighbors if they were of a specific religion he has built upon dehumanization and vilification every day sense. My mother lived in Germany for a few years and a town not far from Dau. It was the early 1960s and not yet recovered from World War ii.(00:53:21):This quaint little town overlooks the Bavarian Alps with architects right out of a storybook and a stunning view of Munich. It was evidence that the residents of this charming quiet village were aware that 800,000 people came in and no one left. History books paint the picture that everyone was scared of speaking up for fear they would be next. But with critical thinking, we know many of those approved. They've been listening to the nonsense of their leaders, their beliefs that Jews, the disabled homosexuals, immigrants were a burden on the healthcare system, education system, taking their German jobs, businesses, and homes. They were demonized so strongly, so powerfully. They were no longer human, no longer their neighbors, doctors, teachers, bakers seamstresses their talents, their skills and their very humanity no longer existed. We know this to be true, but what we don't talk about is the slope that good people slid down that enabled this to take place in the coffee shops, birthday parties, sitting with friends, playing cards, Sunday family dinners, these words came up.(00:54:43):Hitler's rhetoric spread and thoughtful kind people did not correct their friends, family, guests and clients. There were Nazis and sympathizers, but there were good people that saw through Hitler's dumpster fire of lies. These are the people I wonder if they ever slept well again. Could they ever look at themselves with honor and integrity? Trump proudly uses this method. He has people willing to do his bidding. He has sympathizers, but what he doesn't have is my silence, my obedience. My voice is the born power. I have to stand strong and correct the lies he tells and the people in my circle repeat. I will lose clients and friends taking this action, and that's a price I'm willing to pay, but I'm not willing to live out the rest of my days knowing that I didn't do everything in my power to stop in.Speaker 10 (00:55:49):How do you make space for folks in your proximity who don't share your political views? I am lucky that I live next to my parents and that my mother-in-law lives in a small home on our property. For years, there was a constant strife between my parents, myself, husband, and my mother-in-law due to political and religious beliefs, uncomfortable dinners, having to watch what you say, an aura of judgment that would seem to permeate family gatherings. They were quite the norm. And each time that they would leave, I would feel a sense of relief. Sometimes someone would decide not to come or just tell us that they needed a break. This would create less tension, but I worry that someone would feel left out or that they would feel judged if they weren't present. And actually that would happen more often or not, especially in my time of anger before and during Covid.(00:56:40):As mentioned before, when I decided that I needed to focus on my own sense of happiness and live up to my values and beliefs, I decided that my home would become a politics, religion free zone. I wanted my home to be a safe for everyone. And this was a tough transition. And what was most difficult was creating boundaries for our parents, having the hard conversations about why we're asking people to withhold their opinions on politics and religion and to focus on grandkids sports and family celebrations, et cetera. For the first few months, I was constantly reminding everyone of the rule, but eventually we all seemed to settle in and even catch ourselves when we deviated from how sex expectations, dinners and events became more pleasant. And when our guests would leave, I didn't have to decompress or worry about how to fix an issue or soothe someone's feelings.(00:57:27):This one simple step has been a game changer, and it's not always perfect, and sometimes people will slip up, but instead of taking on the issue, we will move the conversation to another topic. Some would say that we need to talk about the issues and debate their merits so that we can grow and come together. But no, after finding my purpose, I don't believe that being right is more important than someone else's feelings. I want everyone who sits at my table and breaks spread with me to feel loved and valued. It's not perfect because we're human, but we're trying one dinner at a timeSpeaker 11 (00:58:03):To how do I hold my own humanity? In the context of political dialogue, one of the first things that comes to mind for me is, at least in political conversations, what defines my humanity? When I think about politics, much of our politics is really about power and privilege, of which I happen to have both. And so when I'm thinking about politics, I'm thinking about my social location as a able-bodied, middle class, heterosexual Christian White woman, I carry privilege in almost every aspect of that identity, at least here in the United States. And so when I'm thinking about humanity and political dialogue, our political system has historically always been and continues to be set up to serve people with my type of humanity very well. The thing that I'm constantly trying to keep in my mind is what about the humanity of my brothers and sisters experiencing oppression, marginalization when it comes to my voice and my vote in political situations, I have over the years had to learn to think less about how can I use my vote and my voice to engage in politics in a way that benefits me because I'm already benefiting from our system.(00:59:42):Our system is set up to benefit people like me who carry great levels of social privilege. What I really want to know as I'm trying to use my voice and my vote wisely now, is how do I leverage both of those things, my voice, my vote, as well as my power and privilege to engage in political dialogue in ways that fix broken systems. So I am oftentimes not actually voting or advocating for the things that would benefit me the most or necessarily align perfectly with my theological or political ideals. I'm looking at where are the most broken places in our system? Where is our government currently oppressing individuals the most? And how can my vote and my voice be used to leverage our politics in such a way that those broken systems begin to get fixed and healed over time so that those whose humanity looks different than mine are receiving the same amount of privilege of assistance of power that they should be.(01:00:57):And when it comes to dealing with those that I'm in proximity with who have very different political ideologies than myself, of which I will say in my current context, there are quite a few. I am constantly having to remind myself to focus on core values, values over stances that our conversations and our engagement with one another centers not so much around opinions about specific political stances or issues as much as the core values that we share. If my core value is for equality and equity, if my core value is that we're caring for the poor and the marginalized, then regardless of what stances I might have on certain issues, my voice and my vote represents those core values. And I've found that even when certain stances might be different, when we dig into the core values that are at the root of our decision-making, there's oftentimes a lot more common ground than I ever expect there to be.Speaker 12 (01:02:06):This recording is for the fabulous Danielle Castillo. I think what I am seeing right now as I think about how to welcome people's humanity and politics are a few key things that are both shocking and I would say disappointing in a day and age where we seem to want to tolerate people not being locked into binary spaces, we have relegated differences and opinion and viewpoints into a bipartisan politic. And what that does is that means that there are people who are in and who are out. And we've had to embrace things that we both love and hate if we ascribe to any one of those bipartisan objectives. And so we've had to in some ways, in our own humanity, violate pieces of ourselves to say, well, I align this part one way, but even though I categorically reject their views on this another way. And then regardless of whatever spectrum you're on inside of that political continuum, and it's hard because at that point, if we say in a lot of other spaces that there's space for nuance and there's space for gray, then why here do we land in those spaces?(01:03:16):And so that would be the first that it is an either or, and we seem to be comfortable, most comfortable that way. And then to demonize and villainize somebody who's in the either or space, instead of allowing for the gray, you're either all for me or all against me, and you can't live somewhere in the middle. The second thing that would be shocking and disappointing for me is the way that we've been able to start arranging the things that we can tolerate. And so I can say, well, I love this candidate because I love these three things and I agree with them and I hate these four things, but they're not that bad. And you love this candidate, you love the other candidate for these three things, but you hate them for those four things. And the fact that you don't hate 'em enough over those four things means that you're a terrible person.(01:04:02):And I find that just so interesting and so sad that we've been able to say, well, the four things I can stomach that I don't like are somehow more or less worse than the four things you feel like you could tolerate or not tolerate. And so my list of sins or offenses that are easily navigable, somehow I get to become the moral compass over what should be enough or not enough to disqualify somebody for public service. I think at the end of the day, what makes us hard is that we see people in the middle as somehow exhibiting some sort of cowardice. And I think we're pushing people to violate their own humanity and say, as my experience changes and as the neighborhood changes and the people around me change, and my own philosophy changes that I can't stand in a faithful middle and say, well, I agree with some of this, but I don't agree with some of that.(01:04:54):And we've called those people cowards instead of principled moderates, and we've shamed them into saying, well, you have to choose something. And I think that is so unkind. And I think really at the end of the day, we are asking people to violate their own humanity and their own understanding of who they are and their own sense of who they are as a person by saying that they have to agree one way if they want to be a human or be a woman or be a person of color or be a person of faith. And I think it's both sides. I think every side is complicit. At the end of the day, what is really hard is that I think most people want to vote for the person that is going to lead well, and they want that person to be a good person. They want them to be an upright person.(01:05:37):They want them to be an authentic person, the same person behind closed doors as they are in the public face. And I would say, I don't think that's most people who choose politicking as a vocation, I believe that so much of their job is diplomacy and having to be a lot of faces in a lot of places. And so asking for that kind of authenticity and consistency in a social media world is almost asking the impossible. I don't think it totally is impossible, but I think it's exceptionally hard. Many of the things that we want to ascribe to one individual and how they uphold or represent their own party are carefully crafted narratives by a team of people who are professional politicians and marketers, and to ask them to give you an authentic person, their job is to not give you an authentic person. Their job is to give you an avatar that you feel you can most connect with so you can make the decision they want you to make.(01:06:33):And that is really for me, the reality of what we're up against right now is that we want to say we're voting for ideologies, and in reality we're voting for a carefully crafted narrative that is crafted by people who want you to believe a particular way. And I know that feels kind of negative, and that makes me so sad to even voice that out loud and to vocalize that out loud. But I would say that I hope in some way that we experience real freedom and real understanding of what it means to be a global citizen and to be a citizen of this country, is that we understand that. And the complexity of who I am as a person and how I interact with other people and how they understand their own complexity and their own humanity means that I can believe a lot of things that belong in a lot of different camps.(01:07:19):And that's okay. That's what honestly, being intrinsically American means, but also just to understand our own humanity in the global context is there are things that I will feel one way about and they squarely belong in one camp, but there are other things I believe that belong in another camp. And both of those things can be true for me without somebody demanding that I carry some sort of alliance or allegiance to one person. I think that's so gross and so foul at the end of the day. I think what makes America so interesting and so fascinating, but I also think so beautiful and so compelling and so desiring for people who are coming into our borders, is that there is this understanding that I can stand squarely as an individual person and be able to express myself as who I am as an individual and also belong to a collective that makes space for that.(01:08:14):And that is intrinsically what it means to be America. I'm free to be us, but I'm also free to be me. And so I think politics pushes us into a narrative that is against intrinsically who we say we are, and that really is the basis of freedom. And so that's what I would feel about that. Now, this is an added bonus, and I know you didn't ask for this, Danielle, but I'm going to give it to you anyways because I firmly believe this. I think it is more dehumanizing, and I think it is so incredibly sad that we don't allow for people to be principled moderates. That we are sanctifying the ability to castrate people's ability to be able to stand in the middle. And we vilify them as being weak or vilify them as being cowards because their understanding of what is actually evil is.(01:09:09):It's a broad spectrum. And to say that there is good everywhere, it is true to say there is evil everywhere is true. And how people interface with both of those things is true. And so I hate that we have become okay at using our theology and using our social media platforms and using our politicking as throwing stones for people who say, I want to hold a faithful middle. And that faithful middle means that I can believe a multitude of things and that I stand in the own gray and the nuance of who I am and how I understand my neighbors and what that looks like. And we know that some of those people are standing with compassion and with courage. And to call those people cowards, I think is the most ignorant, I'm trying to find the kindest way to say this, right? So I think it is just absolutely ignorant.(01:10:00):And then we've used quotes out of context and scriptures out of context to tell those people that somehow they're bad and evil people. And it's just not true that they're honestly sometimes the bridge builders and the unifier in places where they are trying to be peacemakers and they're trying to be people of peace. They're trying to be people of belonging and welcome. And so they're holding a faithful middle to say, my heart is going to take enough of a beating where people may misunderstand me, but I'm going to make it big enough and available enough where everybody can come sit under my tent. And I think that's brave work. I think that is courageous work, and I think that is humbling work that we could learn more from instead of castigating really more than anything else. So those are my 2 cents, honestly, more than anything else.(01:10:51):The last 2 cents I could probably give you that I think is so shameful is I am tired of any political party that tells me that they are doing more for working class Americans or doing more for poor people, and yet they're spending 2 billion to fly somebody around and send me junk mail to my home. I would much rather you stop buying ad space and then you actually go and serve the poor and somebody takes a picture of you doing that on accident. And I actually get to see that and go, oh my gosh, they're actually serving the poor. Do not tell me you're serving the poor or serving working class Americans and you haven't talked to one or seen one in a very long time. And my God, you have not lived in our shoes. You have not lived on our pay scales. You have not come in and volunteered regularly, and you only show up when there's a camera crew doing that.(01:11:34):That is so gross to me, and I hate that you send me mail about it and spend 2 billion fundraising for things like that. And yet that money could go to the poor and that money could go to programs. If there's one thing that makes me want to soapbox so bad, it is that more than anything else, I don't want to hear what your fundraising dollars have done to actually help your campaign. And that thing becomes a total waste when you lose. And that money doesn't go into the pockets of people. That money goes into the pockets of advertisers and radio stations and TV stations and social media influencers and all sorts of nonsense and actually doesn't go into the pockets and the hands of people who are feeding the poor that is garbage. So I feel very strongly about that, but I dunno if this is what you need, but that's how I make space. I make space for people who live at Principled Middle because I think blessed are the peacemakers and I want them to feel safe with me.Speaker 13 (01:12:26):Good morning. My name is Luis Cast. How do I see my own humanity in this political context? Well, it's simple as that. I'm a human being. I'm not a pawn or a little peace on a game. I'm a human being born and raised in Mexico, but I live here in the United States over half of my life now, and I'm a human being. And no matter what the promises they give me or what they're going to do in government, I'm still just a human being that wants the best for me and my family. And that's what they need to address the human being in us regarding not regarding color or race or where they come from. Treat us a as human beings. And the other question, how do I make space for folks who do not share my political view?(01:13:46):Well, again, it's just simple. I was taught that love whoever disagree with you or even your enemy. But to be honest, that's the hardest thing to do. People that don't agree with you or you don't agree with them, and sometimes they even hurt you. But I try to do my best, honestly, just to listen and sometimes put myself in their shoes because everybody has been brought up differently in families, cultures, regions of the country from the south, from New England, they call in the west in California. So we all have different views. So I just don't have an ear and sometimes an opinion, but mostly an ear so they can really listen to what they, I believe, where they come from, where they come from. So that is what I try to do. No, perfect, but that's what I try to do.Speaker 14 (01:14:59):Hi, my name is Claire. I am a white, cisgender, heterosexual woman. I live in Paulsboro, Washington. So the first question is how do I see my humanity in the context of this current political moment? And I'd start off by saying I come from a pretty privileged place, like my own personal humanity isn't very threatened just because I'm white, I'm straight, and yeah, my own family background. I have a lot of support and I'm not ever threatened with becoming homeless or something if I can't pay my bills. But still things are really scary for so many people right now. So I definitely feel that all the time. And I would say that it's just a really disheartening time. A lot of the, I mean, pretty much all politicians, I'd say are very untrustworthy at a local and national level. And I think we're all seeing that, especially in the context of what's happening in Gaza.(01:16:26):For the last over a year now, all these politicians that felt like they were progressive and would speak out when heinous things happened, most of them have gone silent or completely denied what's happening in Gaza, or just said really brief empty words, always proceeded by talking about Israeli hostages. So yeah, it's been terrifying because we realize the extent of politicians care for the general public and for the global wellbeing of humanity. And it only stretches so far because first and foremost, they're concerned about their own and standing in the political world because we've seen a lot of people lose their reelections for standing up for Palestinians.(01:17:38):And I think what's really disheartening is seeing it at a local level. In some ways, we expect national politicians to be pretty sleazy and skirt around really big, terrible, important issues. But seeing it at a local level has been really terrifying because I mean, they said it was then a couple decades ago, like 30, 40 years ago, there's more crises going on. And that really, for me, I've always thought, well, this is how it's always been. There's just the media reports on more stuff. We have social media, we can't hide a lot of things. So I don't know if that's true or not, but I mean, it probably is. We're in a time of climate crisis too, so it makes sense that things are just, they're not slowing down.(01:18:49):I don't know where I was going with that, but yeah, I guess I would just say humanity. It feels threatened on so many levels for my queer friends, for my friends of color, for any women or female identifying people just on so many levels, it just feels like our rights are being threatened and everything feels tenuous. If Trump wins, what the hell is going to happen to this country? And if Kamala wins, what the hell is going to change? I don't believe in politicians. They're not going to save us. That's how it feels. We have to save each other that are diehard Trumpers or something. I'd say all those people are my relatives that live in Wisconsin or a couple of coworkers, and we don't talk about politics, but on a deeper level, I try to remember that it's hard, right? Because hard, it's hard not to hate people for what they believe. I guess that's a horrible thing to say, isn't it? But I see the consequences of people who vote for Trump and put him in office the first time, their direct consequences because they voted for Trump and because of their beliefs and because of what they repost online. That just has bred so much hatred, and it's led to people being terrified for their lives and people losing their lives. There's so much propaganda being shoved down people's throats, the people that have Fox News plane 24 7.(01:21:06):I don't know the last time I watched Fox News, but I've overheard it. That stuff is crazy. They're being fed lie after lie after lie. So yeah, it's like people are also a product of their culture and it's hard to fight against your culture. So I try to give people some grace with that, but I also don't know how they can't see their own beliefs as harmful and full of hatred. I really don't understand. So yeah, it's hard. It's hard to remember people's humanity, but I have obviously my own blind spots and my own ways that I'm super ignorant and willfully ignorant in the things I look away from and the things like I'm resistant to learning because it's inconvenient or uncomfortable for me. So I try to hold that space for people too, because we're all learning. Yeah, it's a process of trying to remember people's humanity. And I think, yeah, but it just feels like when people support someone that spews so much hatred, it's really hard not to pin that blame on them as well, because they're also at fault for putting people like that in power. So I don't know. Yeah, it's a tough one.Speaker 15 (01:22:55):I feel like as somebody with various subordinated identities, whether that's being queer, being Latina, having a disability, being a woman, all of those things are increasingly politicized. And so for me, I find that political discourse specifically is often really dehumanizing and even performative on the other end of the spectrum. So our two major parties, Republican and Democrat with Republican, it's we well known that those political parties as they exist currently are working to strip away rights from people in all of those identity and affinity groups. While the Democrats, which I won't even say left, because current Democrats are right of center, when you look at a global pe

The River Rambler is back from its September hiatus and I'm joined by Luke Kelley and Greg Fitz of Trout Unlimited. We start by talking about habitat restoration on the Olympic Penninsula, TU's cold water connection campaign, the importance and restoration of old growth log jams in rivers. We also discuss Luke's childhood spent fishing, smelly teen bedrooms, moving to Seattle and working with the Suquamish, and more.Trout Unlimited's "Restoring Rainforest Rivers" -www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gBRhRDk4ms 

For this week's edition of All Over The Map, KIRO Newsradio visited the grave of Chief Sealth at Suquamish Memorial Cemetery and spoke with Suquamish Tribal Chair Leonard Forsman live during "Seattle’s Morning News."

Margaret Brennan on the latest happening in Gaza and Ukraine // Paul Holden on this weekend's Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show // Feliks Banel with "All Over The Map" - LIVE remote in Suquamish at the grave site of Chief Seattle // Paul Holden with a weekend roundup of all the fun events happening around the Sound // Daily Dose of Kindness: A sanitation worker in South Carolina connects with his community // Gee Scott on why Seattle-ites don't get as much plastic surgery as elsewhere in the US // The Rick Rizzs Show: M's continue to dominate the division, thanks to an incredible pitching staff

Explicit Aloha Podcast Episode 161 ”Why Are We Here Tonight?” 0:00 Mad Chiller Shoutout @madchillersheadstash 0:49 Holy Crap Macc & Blaisdell @miss.ipo @ekona.io @rocko_modern_life808 @noah_cronin @theryankeomaka @firefarmsmaui @allenstone @sevensunsband @bampproject 5:52 @pfunklove Maui story/ @playkimie 8:06 Everyone Wants Pics With  @allenstone 9:05 Suquamish & Holoholo Fest & @kaiksbear 40th Birthday!!! 13:00 God Bless You All/Pau --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/explicitalohapodcast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/explicitalohapodcast/support

Making the most of doing business on a global scale means understanding the competitive advantages tribes bring to the table. Tribes' unique sovereignty status and tax exemptions appeal to a number of international business ventures. And markets overseas offer the potential for a bigger and broader customer base. The key is knowing the right fit. Wednesday on a special edition of Native America Calling live from #RES2024, we'll hear from expert international business leaders about the right time to reach out to markets beyond the usual borders. GUESTS Chris James (Cherokee), president and CEO of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development Chairman Leonard Forsman (Suquamish) Wayne Garnons-Williams (Plains Cree from Treaty 6, Moosomin First Nation), Chair of International Inter-tribal Trade and Investment Organization Dr. Jim Collard (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Citizen Potawatomi Nation director of Planning and Economic Development Dijana Mitrovic, U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Specialist and CEO and founder of DM Global Consulting

It would be hard to find a legal victory any more important than the ruling named after federal judge George Hugo Boldt in 1974. It was the turning point for the fight led by Nisqually activist Billy Frank, Jr., initially affirming the treaty fishing rights for 20 tribes in western Washington State. But it provided the basis for a far-reaching transformation of Indian Law and natural resource management. GUESTS State Rep. Debra Lekanoff (Lingít/D-WA40) Ed Johnstone (Quinault), chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Nancy Shippentower (Puyallup), activist and chair of the Salmon Defense Fund Rob Purser (Suquamish), tribal fisherman and Suquamish Tribe fisheries director

Today we welcome artist Craig Jacobbrown.  Check out: The Maskery Craig Jacobrown's expertise as a mask designer and puppeteer is informed by his work as a sculptor, with works of wood and bronze in many private and public collections. Craig has studied European, Balinese, Turkish and NW Coast indigenous mask dance, puppet and theater styles. He has been teaching, performing and conducting theatre workshops in schools, colleges and theatres for over thirty years. He trained in the Lecoq method of using mask and movement augmented with ceremonial and spiritual dimensions in Bali and the Northwest Coast performance, art and culture communities . He also holds a BA in anthropology and a MA in teaching.   Hamumu Arts Collective  Founded in 2008 by George Melas Taylor and Craig Jacobrown that is managed and run by a non-profit organization comprised of a majority of Northwest Native First Nations artists and educators. The Collective was formed to integrate strong traditional NW Native story, song, dance, sculptural and two dimensional forms with the aesthetic and technical production values of modern mask and puppet theater. George is the director and lead singer of the ‘Lelala Dance Society', a family of traditional singers and dancers of the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) Nation. 'Lelala' means 'traveling from here to there' in the Kwakwala language and reflects the fact that George and his dancers have traveled to over a dozen countries as cultural arts ambassadors sharing their deep connection to the NW ecology. George has been in charge of assembling a talented group of NW Native culture keepers in Washington State  and British Columbia to collaborate closely with talented NW Native artists to  produce several performance tours and films. Craig was raised in Washington State where he trained and worked as a performer and puppet maker in European, Turkish and Balinese mask and puppetry styles. He completed an apprenticeship with internationally known NW Coast Native caver Duane Pasco, and another with dancer and cultural expert Chief Henry Seaweed of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation. Craig owns and operates an arts business called The Maskery, producing masks for sale and mask theater performances across the US and in many parts of the world. Craig holds a Masters in Teaching for the Native American Learner and acted as the staff to produce the 'Ancient Art of Conflict Resolution' curriculum materials. Joe Ives is an internationally renown artist and the lead designer in a well respected Port Gamble S'Klallam family of artists. He has also designed many masks that illustrate the stories he likes to tell. Joe has heard many stories from his grandmother and other first Nations elders. Joe joined the Hamumu Arts Collective to promote the rich stories, values, arts and culture of his Northwest Native S'Klallam community. Joe designed and invited James Smith, a Suquamish tribal member and Craig Jacobrown to create this array of Salmon Story masks and puppets to be used in the films 'Natural Gifts' and 'Gift of Salmon'. The 'Ives' style is internationally recognized and particularly well known throughout Washington State. Joe Ives carvings are on display throughout State Indian reservations, tribal casinos and private collections.   The B.I.STANDER Podcast is a conversational podcast unique to Bainbridge Island and Seattle Washington, that covers the Arts, Society & Culture told through Human Interest stories. The intent is to introduce interesting people, ideas, and conversations. We are not perfect and that's OK! Thank you for your support! The B.I.Stander Podcast is a listener supported show, please consider subscribing.   BE A FRIEND OF PODCASTVILLE AND TELL A FRIEND  The BISTANDER Podcast! Blue Canary Auto NOW ALSO in Bremerton! Sound Reprographics Song "Fly on the Wall by LeRoy Bell and available at:  Tower Records! Additional sound effects by: https://www.zapsplat.com/ Support the Show on PATREON "Be a friend, tell a friend!"  

To be chosen for a National Heritage Fellowship is to be recognized as a kind of national treasure. The award is given by the National Endowment for the Arts, or NEA, and celebrates traditional and folk arts. Previous winners include folk and blues singers, woodworkers and potters. Last week, Ed Carriere, a Suquamish elder and master basketmaker, in Indianola, on the Kitsap Peninsula, was honored along with other fellowship recipients in Washington DC. He also participated in a panel on Native art making as part of the event.

 Link to Solutions article: HEREhttps://www.kitsapsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2023/03/10/parent-group-offers-steps-toward-safety-inclusion-in-schools/69987422007/ Latino parent group presents steps toward safety, inclusion in schoolsDanielle S. CastillejoGuest columnOn February 7 community members gathered at a town hall meeting in Poulsbo to support the Latino Parent Group's request to the North Kitsap School District (NKSD) to investigate ongoing allegations of discrimination against students. At least 125 people attended, including Kitsap ERACE Coalition, the NAACP, Suquamish Tribal Elder Barbara Lawrence, Kitsap SURJ, local business owners, teachers, Poulsbo City Council, Kitsap Public Health, Kitsap Black Student Union, Kitsap Strong, Living Life Leadership, Poulsbo for All, Kitsap Mental Health Services representatives, Central Kitsap school administrators, Bainbridge Island school administrators, Bainbridge Island's mayor and Cultural Council, and many Latino families.We are grateful we are not alone. And we express our gratitude to the North Kitsap School District for processing some 85 emailed complaints and hiring an investigator to explore and resolve these concerns.In Kitsap County, we must urgently consider practical solutions for addressing racism in education, its effects on our youth's learning and mental health. Unaddressed racial trauma in our schools creates barriers to education, work, and mental and physical health. Our youth — all youth — are searching for ways to cope with the effects of racism, the pandemic and violence.Therefore, we must also urgently pursue healing. The North Kitsap Latino community offers the school district community-based practical solutions for forming partnerships with immigrants of other national origins, African Americans, Asian American/Pacific Islanders, and Indigenous students. Working together, we give all of our children a more inclusive society.In the words of Cesar Chavez: “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”The problems the Latino community face are deeply rooted in Kitsap County's historical racism, discrimination, and resulting harm to others who are perceived as “different.” Latino families share an important indigeneity connection with the Suquamish and Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribes, on whose ancestral lands we are guests. We are deeply grateful for these Tribes' work and advocacy to achieve justice and healing on behalf of, not only themselves, but also many other Kitsap County communities, including ours.As committed investors in our county economically and socially, we are also deeply committed stakeholders in the education of our children. Empowering our Latino community and other communities of Color, which bear the impact of racism and discrimination, builds bridges and creates movement toward truth, healing, and reconciliation.In a story published by the Kitsap Sun last November on this issue, NKSD stated, "Students and families should feel welcome and have a sense of belonging in our schools. When there are barriers to this, it is on us to have the courageous conversations to make meaningful changes."To advance these aspirational goals, we have asked the NK School District for two things: Equal access to education for English language learners and a culture of belonging that includes educating and providing learning on nondiscrimination.We have also provided specific practical solutions:1.  An equity concern form to be provided in both English and Spanish. It may be completed by students, staff, parents or community members to report district or school equity concerns, as well as give positive feedback to the district.2. Critical communication such as student updates, school announcements, emergency messages, and counseling services will be made available in the top three languages other than English. Additionally, qualified interpreters will be made available for parents to communicate with administrators and educators at all school events.3. English-language acquisition and student supports:- English language learners will receive language support regularly, for a minimum 4 days a week, at 20 minutes a day. These students will be placed in classrooms with teachers trained in evidence-based teaching strategies while supported by administrators in their classroom needs.- The district ensures all students have access to understanding their class content and materials, in classes, such as English, math, science, music, and all electives. - English language learning will include support for speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.4. Professional development will be provided for administrators, teachers, para-professionals and any staff working with children and youth, covering these specific topics: the impact of racial trauma, understanding student needs, how to support students, mental health resources, equality, and equity.5. Paid community liaisons to provide direct support to families through advocacy, creating safety and belonging, and addressing mental health needs. Each of the following will have a liaison: African American, Asian American Pacific Islander, Latino and Indigenous communities.6. The Latino community will collaborate with the district and other community liaisons to gather and elevate the voice of their community needs to explore partnership opportunities. Then, within this partnership, they will form 2-, 3- and 5-year plans to ensure students of color and their parents are supported in their educational needs.7. An education equity council will review the equity concern forms, discuss solutions to equity concerns, implement solutions, advise the school administration and school board, and develop pathways to understanding on behalf of students and the district. These practical solutions undergird our children's education. Along with creating a sense of belonging, the solutions build important frameworks for trust among the district, the Latino community and other communities of color. When the Kitsap County Health Department declared racism a public health crisis in 2021, the county recognized our situation. Loneliness and a lack of belonging are common threads for children of all national origins and races in this post pandemic world. Our urgent desire for unity, coupled with practical solutions, supports this community in a world that is increasingly fragmented. Kitsap County students are asking our generation to provide safety, learning opportunities, and model inclusion, not racism. Let us follow their lead and work together. Danielle S. Castillejo writes on behalf of the North Kitsap School District Latino Parent Group and Kitsap Advocating for Immigrant Rights and Equality.

    Danielle (00:00:37):Welcome to the Arise Podcast, conversations on faith, race, healing, and justice. And I wanna welcome you to this panel conversation. I'm about to have, uh, just stunning women doing wonderful work in this community and in the areas of justice in government. Listen in,Kali (00:01:07):All right. I am Kali Jensen. I am a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Washington. Grew up in Washington. Um, I am obvious I'm a white American. I am German, native American, and French Canadian. And, and yeah, coming to you on the land of the Suquamish as we enter today.(00:01:33):My name is Jessica Guidry. I'm the Equity Program manager at the Kids at Public Health District. I also like Kaylee, um, joined this meeting from the land of the Suquamish. I actually live, um, and what was, which is still the, the Port Madison Reservation. So closer to Indianola. Um, and I, I guess ethnic ethnically I am, um, Asian, English, scotch Irish, and maybe some other British isles there. But, uh, um, I actually grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, and I've been in the US though for a long time. And I was born in the States(00:02:08):Next, um, Maria Fergus. I'm the community en Engagement specialist at, uh, Kita Public Health District. I've been in this role for, um, a little bit over a month. And one of the reasons why I applied for this job is because I, uh, I know that last year the Kita Public Health District declared racism at public health crisis. Um, and I wanted to be part of what they were doing. I, my pronouns are her, and she, I was born in Mexico, but I grew up in California. English is my second language, and I've been in Washington state for about seven years and working with our communities, um, our Spanish speaking communities as a volunteer for different organizations since the end of 2015.Well, good morning everyone. Um, I stepped away cause you know what I was doing, but, um, , uh, just bring, kinda bring me up to speed. We just doing our introductions.Just so you are, where you're located, um, what you're up to, and, um, yeah. And then we'll jump in.(00:03:34):Okay. Well, good morning everyone. Good afternoon now. Um, my name is Karen Vargas and, um, I am on Bainbridge Island, um, working with our kids across Kitsap County. I am, um, one of, uh, the co-founders, um, for Latch, uh, living Life Leadership and Kitsap Black Student Union. Um, we have been working over 30 plus years with our school districts, um, with our multicultural advisory council here on Bainbridge Island, working on equity issues, uh, really since I, um, moved here from the East Coast. So, um, what we're working on now with Kitsap Race Coalition is to, um, to have our, our county have a commission on Truth and Reconciliation that would, uh, actually deal with some of the issues that we see manifesting here in our county, um, with our bipo communities and with our students of color, uh, within the school districts and in the community.Um, and, and hoping that we, we would be able to, um, move our communities forward in a healthier way, to be able to address some of the, the issues that have been, um, you know, uh, showing up, whether it's in our churches or whether it's in our, our communities or on our jobs or, or in our school districts, even in our health districts. You know, how do we move forward when there has been, um, these type of, of issues that continue to manifest, you know? And I think that when we can move forward doing intervention and prevention, um, to address these issues, it would help us to reconcile them more in, in a healthy way. Um, and so, um, that's kind of the work that we've been working on. And so,Danielle (00:05:49):Thanks. Um, well, welcome everybody. I, I know we kind of all have connected and collaborated around, um, what is happening in Kitsap County. And perhaps if you're listening, you're not in Kitsap County, but you are in a county or a, a town or a section of a town, even a larger town. We, we all have these, like, there's like the 30,000 foot view of like the larger area where we're at. And we have these smaller cultural microcosms I think that happen in the areas where we actually physically root our bodies in housing and, um, business and life and school and our raise our children. And so we're coming to you from one location. Um, it's not, it's not gonna be the same as every location, but hopefully what we talk about can be something that we can, we can learn from you if you reach out and we hope you can learn just from us as we have a conversation.But Kaylee and I, like, we've been really close since the pandemic. She helped me survive the pandemic. She had her office next to mine and we would yell at each other down the hall or, um, check in, especially when all of our clients were online. And we had started these groups. One of the first groups we ever started, um, I think it was like the second or third group right after the murder of George, George Floyd, to engage white people that identify as white or in a white body, um, and what that means to their racial identity. And so Kaylee and I started these groups and we jumped in cuz I said, Hey Kaylee, do you wanna do this? And she's like, yeah, sure. And we jumped in, we're like, whoa, we don't know if we know what we're doing. And then pretty soon we're like, actually, I think we don't know what we're doing, but we do know what we're doing in some ways.So offering good care, listening, um, reflecting stories, being witness to stories, engaging, uh, the traumas that have been that turn into weapons against bodies of color. So those, some of the ways Kayleigh and I have talked about things and, you know, we both Kayleigh and I both have students in the local school system and have had kids that are, uh, part of marginalized communities or adjacent to marginalized communities. And it's, we've also noticed the mental health of our students and our families and, you know, become more and more passionate about it because obviously why it might not be obvious, but it's something we deal with in our everyday real life and, and we care deeply for, I think I can say that on behalf of both of us. But Kayleigh, you can speak for yourself obviously, but that's how I come to the conversation as a, a Mexican woman in the town of Poulsbo, Washington on Suquamish land, married to an immigrant, and, um, we speak Spanish and English at home. And so just, you know, just curious to hear, you know, how that intersects with your different areas of work and, and your passions here in Kitsap County.Kali (00:08:59):Well, I guess I can go first just cuz Danielle was just talking a lot about me, . Uh, but yes, uh, Danielle did invite me into starting groups and I went with her with fear and trembling. Um, had done some work on my own, around my own racism for a while. My graduate program, this at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology really, um, helped me to begin that work at a deeper level. And so then I did some work on my own, but had a real awareness when I started groups around racism that I definitely have racism still a part of my world as I grew up in a very white, uh, community and Spokane. And, um, as we began those groups, we did predominantly reach out to other white people or people in white passing bodies and, um, have found some like goodness in diving deeper into people's stories around racism.And that's kind of where we started, um, wondering with people around like, when did you notice your own racial identity? When, when did you become aware of racism? Um, kind of going all the way back to the beginning to help people make connections to like, what is still going on inside their bodies when they try to have these hard conversations with people in the community. Um, so I have learned a lot. I still have a lot to learn. Um, and along with what Danielle said, I also am a mental health therapist and work with a lot of teenagers in our community here in Kitsap County from different school districts. Plus like she said, I have some teenage children. All of my children are white, um, and, and have diverse friend groups. But I have become increasingly, well, I've always been concerned about the issues of racism in our community.I, I remember as a young little girl calling it out in my own parents, and that didn't always go well. Um, but then it was very under the surface as a white person, uh, you didn't see it as overtly as it has become now in 2020 since the election of Donald Trump, the, like, overt, blatant racism has, uh, been shocking. And yet it's always been there. So, um, but as I work with my own children and then work with students in my practice, I'm just, I am deeply concerned about the mental health of our kids. I think it's hard enough as an adult to go through these past few years, but I am concerned about our teens and what they are facing, um, of all races. I I think even my white daughter is very disturbed by the racial slurs that she constantly hear in the hallway and doesn't really know how to even go about addressing it or feel safe enough to even say anything. Um, so that's part of why I'm here today. And, um, had the privilege of going to a meeting, uh, last weekend with Kitsap Race. And so, yeah, I, I just, I hope for continued leadership amongst adults to like help our students and help our communities, even our adults in our communities, especially. I have a passion for the white people in our community. I help them be able to take steps forwards to be able to sit in these conversations and, and be productive and not as harmful. So that's how I enter this work.Speaker 5 (00:12:34):So I entered this work, um, because I grew up in California and it was very diverse. Um, and when I moved up here to Washington, uh, there just wasn't as much diversity, especially in the PAL area. And my daughter, um, who was a sophomore at the time, was invited to join the North Kids Up Equity Council. And so I started participating in that and started hearing stories, and I started working with the parents and children that are Spanish speaking. And, well, I kept hearing more stories and, uh, realized that I needed to be a little bit more proactive. And so I, I joined, um, stand up for racial justice search and I attended some other meetings, got some training, realized that I have a lot of internalized racism and racist behaviors myself and what ency ideology that, uh, I hadn't been aware of. Um, that was part of my thinking.And so, um, over time I continued to stay involved. At the beginning of this year, I heard about the student direct equity campaign under a base and became a adult, um, volunteer to support the, the students that were in the campaign and have been doing that since then. Um, also participated in the race forward, uh, healing together, meeting that we had this last, um, two weekends ago with, uh, with the race and try and stay as active as I can in the community to to hear, um, hear the stories. So I, I know what's going on and just stay updated and what's going on in my community.Jessica (00:14:41):Years, you know, the health district was, you were very, you were very light can Oh, okay. Is this better? Yeah, sorry about that. That, um, so how I got started in this work, so for 13 and a half years at the, you know, at the health district, I was their public health emergency preparedness and response program manager. And to be honest, I didn't really address equity head-on, um, in the emergency management field. Um, we, instead of using the term, you know, equity injustice, we used terms like access and functional needs, which to me doesn't really get to the core of the issue, but that was kind of the verbiage. But first it was vulnerable population then at risk and things like that. But it wasn't until, you know, the pandemic, um, that my role was able to switch a little. Um, I supervised initially our Covid vaccine equity liaison, and that was the first time at the health district that we had somebody with the word equity in their title.And she was specifically hired, her name was, but this was the first time we hired someone to specifically look at differences and, and how we can address those differences and outcomes and access. And, and so it was really exciting to have Holly on board. And as Holly was doing outreach with the community, um, and she built this Vaccine Equity collaborative, she started hearing from folks, you know, you know, this is great that the health district, you know, wants to address equity and vaccine, but what are you going to do about racism? And before the pandemic? Well, um, you know, we, we've talked about it and in public health circles, racism as a public health issue was kind of c was circulating, right? But I think it wasn't until the pandemic when we saw the differences in, um, who was getting hospitalized.You know, the covid who was getting sick because of covid and who, um, didn't get vaccinated because of access issues to stress of government and, you know, rightful distress of government, um, where all this came about. So when Holly heard this feedback and heard, you know, are, you know, is, is public health going to claim, um, racism as a public health crisis? You know, she came to me and some other folks and asked about this and we said, you know, yes, let's talk about this as an agency. And our leadership was very supportive and wanted to know more about declaring racism as a public health crisis. So, you know, at that point I was more of a cheerleader more than anything else. You know, I was involved in some groups kite race or you know, that, um, which Aku helped found, um, you know, equity, um, race and community engagement coalition kind of, you know, here and there.But when the Public Health Board declared racism a public health crisis, that was in response to community demand or a request, if you will. Um, and I could talk more about how that process came about, but as a result of that resolution, the health district actually allocated resources to equity. Before equity was more of, you know, if, if certain programs were, sorry, I use the word program. If certain teams within the health district were passionate about equity, they would incorporate it, but it was not, um, universal within the health district. And we didn't have like a, a, a shared terminology, things like that, or shared expectation even that we would address equity. Um, but with the, the, the resolution, it has several commitments in it. And one of them has to do with actually having staff. And this is really important because other resolutions across the country don't have commitments.They don't allocate resources. And just telling a government agency, oh yes, you'll handle equity without putting a budget line item means that it'll be kind of an afterthought, right? Or it's kind of like another layer among other layers. So this resolution said that, you know, you'll hire a community liaison and what our leadership ended up doing is say, no, this needs to be a separate program. We're going to hire a program manager first. So that was really important with that resolution. Another thing, another component of that resolution is that the health district will have, and I think the, um, certain training, and I believe the topics were, um, cultural competency, anti-racism and health literacy plus other topics. But those are the three topics, if I remember correctly, that were called out in the resolution. And the, and then one of the other commitments was that we would co-create solutions to systemic inequities with our community partners.And the reason why I said this is pretty huge for us is because, you know, often we look at health topics like health, excuse me, like healthy eating, active living, smoking cessation, or food safety, but actually dealing with poverty, racism, you know, I don't think we've, no, no, I might not be being, I might be unfair about this, but I don't think we've necessarily ha handled its head on, right? We've maybe gone to some housing meetings, but really more like in our limited public health capacity. So to me, this co-creation of solutions with community partners is huge. And I, and I do believe that often in government, we think we know best, right? And so we're like, oh, well, we're gonna do our research and we're gonna find best practices. But instead, you know, our community often has the answers to our, to our, to the issues that we have.It's just bringing them to the table, giving them equal voice and you know, honestly compensating them and treating them like consultants and, you know, a as equals, not just, oh, we're gonna, you know, get community input and then we're done, kind of thing. But that, that continued partnership. So anyway, um, so when this resolution passed, um, then my position was, was created. I applied for it and I was very lucky to get it. Um, and I, I started in this position full-time about last October or so, the resolution declaring racism of public health crisis start, um, it, that, that passed in May, 2021. So it's been about a almost a year and a half now. And to my knowledge, we're still the only governmental entity in Kitsap that's really addressed this and has staffing for it. Now, this might change because I, I, I'm not saying that the health district started anything, and I think really it's more the advocacy of folks like [inaudible] and, and Kitsap Race and all these other organizations that are pushing government.But I think we, we may start to see city governments actually investing in hiring and equity, uh, either race equity or all equity consultants or, or, um, staff member to really push that issue forward in their org organization. Um, so in this past year, um, there have been a couple things that I've been working on. So one is looking at our internal structure and our internal culture. Um, we don't talk about, you know, a year ago we didn't talk about equity as much. Um, so it was doing, you know, as, as designing employee training, meeting with all our different, prog all of our different teams. So talk about equity because, uh, oh, is Jessica, you know, the politically correct police, is she going to white shame me? So it's really the, the first year I had to really build those relationships. And luckily, because I've been at the health district so darn long, people knew, oh, you know, they, they were familiar with me.They, they knew that I wasn't just gonna shut them down. And then, and, and just being present, and as I talked with different teams, I realized, you know, they, they do have equity mindsets, but they just don't call it equity. But we have some teams who are really focused on poverty, but they might have actually had the conversation about how does racism affect poverty? How is that a driver for poverty? So, you know, anyway, so, so with this, so we have this internal bucket of work. So looking at training and, and right now our, our first training with the employees is gonna deal with identity and power. We're calling it positionality training. And the idea is that our, our training has to deal with the individual, the organization, the community, and the society. So that's, so we're building a training program based on that. We did do an internal equity assessment to figure out what we can do better.And, and I don't if I had to do about this Maria, but honestly, one of the biggest takeaways from that assessment was our staff doesn't know how we react to community input related to our priorities. So that needs to change, you know, either it's, it's a lack of awareness in our agency, or maybe we don't do it enough. So there, there's that piece. And then with, with community partnerships, you know, really trying to look at how we engage with community and how we see them as partners differently. Um, so the fact, like one thing I I also encourage, like me and Marina do, is just to be at community events without an agenda. It's not a grant deliverable. And actually, Aku really, um, helped bring this light for me. And I, and I should have realized this years ago, but you know, when, when Holly, the Vaccine Equity Collaborative, um, excuse me, the Vaccine Equity Liaison.So her position was eliminated due to, you know, that, that that phase of work was done. But I think what was missed was the community impact, because she built such amazing relationships in the thick of the pandemic where people were really looking for someone to trust in government. And I remember in Aku, I I, I think about this a lot, um, when we had our, her, um, goodbye party, I had one person, a community leader who was angry about it. Yes. And rightfully so. And, and you know, one of the things I've had to learn about in, in this position is not to be defensive and not to be like, well, our leadership didn't see enough work for a person. And just to be like, you know what? It is okay to be angry. I'm angry. I don't want her to leave. This was not my decision.I was not consulted about this. And, and, and that's, and, and, and I think what, what I'm, what I'm hoping to build and, and, and, and get some feed, you know, and, and, and, and build my own muscle and getting community feedback without having to be like, well, our agency policy exist. So at that meeting, not only was I not chewed out, I should say, but, um, I had someone speak very passionate to me, and he's said, Jessica, this is not about you. I'm like, no, I, I see that. And I said, you know, so acknowledging that hurt and letting my agency know also, hey, it hurts when your, when your main contact an organization leaves, you can't just replace that. So there's that piece. But then even a Kue telling me, you know, Jessica, you know, with, and, and I'm paraphrasing cuz a a kue says so much more eloquently than I do, you know, in government you have these grant deliverables and you go to community and you ask community to help and community will do the labor for you, you know, doing outreach, looking for places, for example, to do vaccine clinics and other stuff.But then when your grant deliverables are done and the grant funding's over, you leave. So that really stuck with me. And, um, one of the great things about how our equity program is funded is not funded by grants. And so one of the big things, you know, for us to build relationships is to go to meetings that are not just grant driven. Um, just to listen. So for example, Marie and I are gonna be going to the com, the, the community and police policing together, you know, the PACT meeting that, um, uh, pastor Richmond Johnson and, and, uh, partnering for Youth Achievement and others are having this, this, this, um, this week. I don't know if the health district has ever participated in that, but in order for us to know what's important to the community, we actually have to be there in meetings. So that's, and, and I'm so sorry to be taking up so much time, but this is trying some of the ways I'm trying to change how we do things at the health district.The funny thing is, and I get asked, well, Jessica, can you send this to so-and-so? And it's like, you know, yes, but do you know how much we invest in going to meetings and building those relationships? But we're, we're seeing re returns. But another thing that we're doing is we are launching what we call the Health Equity Collaborative. So I mentioned that during the pandemic we had the Vaccine Equity Collaborative. It was very limited though. Cause it was just looking at vaccine with the Health Equity Collaborative, there is no deadline for this because health inequities exist and they will continue to exist until we really address those hard issues. Right. So I'm really excited about the Self Equity collaborative because the collaborative will decide what topic we talk about. And that's that piece I was talking about, about co-creating solutions. Um, it's not the Health District saying, oh, we need to focus on someone that's public healthy.No, we're gonna, um, in, in January come together, you know, we'll look at data, we'll, we'll listen to stories, we'll listen to input from the collaborative members and then figure out we wanna address. And then, you know, I I, I've also committed to Maria in my time to actually address and, and support the work that the collaborative will eventually think of. Um, but what's different about that collaborative also is that we're paying people who participate and are not being paid there by their organizations. That is not something that we typically do in government. But, um, some of you may know that the Public Health Board expanded last year. No, actually it was earlier this year, excuse me, due to a state law that passed last year. And we now have non-elected members, which is huge because across the country you saw politics getting involved in public health.Now we have, um, now we actually have five, I think, new members. And it's amazing. So we now have a member, so we have a member on, on our board from each of our neighboring tribes. We only had to have one per law, but our board decided that they wanted to have a spot for the Suquamish tribe and the Port Gamble ALM tribe. I just found out today that our Port Gamble ALM tribe position is filled. And the person's gonna be Jolene Sullivan, who's a health services director with the Port Gamble Skm tribe from the Squamish tribe. And, and, and she's sorry. And Jolene is a tribal member of the Port Gamble Skm tribe, with the Squamish tribe. We're gonna have the health services director there. His name is, um, Steven Kutz, and he's a member of the Cowlitz Tribe. So he is originally from, you know, southwest Washington.And then we have, um, Drayton Jackson and who's really ex and that's really exciting. He's on our board. We also have Dr, um, Michael Watson. He's with, uh, Virginia Mason, Franciscan Health. And then we have, um, Dr. Um, Taras, oh my gosh. Kirk sells who's, I believe, a public health research researcher. So we have this expanded board, and our board members who are not elected are also being compensated. So we followed off that model because, you know, sometimes it's kind of a wait and see. But that was precedent setting for us. And I think because we are compensating our board members, were non-elected, we have this, I was able to, to, to propose to our leadership, Hey, if we're gonna be doing this health equity collaborative, we need to pay our, you know, our, our folks who are not being paid by their organizations. There's national precedent for this.You're seeing that more national, you know, nationally with governments paying their consultants, right? We pay our d e i consultants, we pay strategic planning consultants. You know, Akua is a huge, um, community consultant and we need to start paying folks like that. But like her, like, you know, um, all the other folks are giving us input. So anyways, so we have this collaborative, we had our first meeting earlier this month, and we're having our, our visioning meeting in January. And Aya, I remember, you know, earlier this year you talked about how as a community we need to have this visioning process. And one piece of feedback I got from the collaborative meeting that we had earlier this month was, well, Jessica, we need to also include Citi and county officials. Cuz the only government officials at that meeting we're public health folks. So in the future, you know, also bringing other governmental folks.So there, there's a, there's a lot going on. Um, and, and I think another thing, and, and I promise I'll, I'll stop is, um, is elevating the concerns of our community within the health district. So, for example, and I really wanna give Maria credit for this because of her passion on working with youth. I, I, you know, I, I, I don't mentor youth. I have my two kiddos, and that's kind of the, the, the extent of, of, of my impact on youth. But, um, you know, it was through conversations with her, you know, meeting you Danielle, and, and hearing about other community meetings, you know, concerned about mental health, especially of our Bipo youth. Um, you know, elevating that to our leadership, letting our leadership know, hey, this is an a concern. And what's exciting is, um, when I mentioned this to our community health director, Yolanda Fox, she's like, well, you know, this other department, you know, our chronic disease prevention team, they may have funds to help with these kind of initiatives.So it's also networking within my own agency and Maria and my agency to see who can help with these, with these issues and figuring out, okay, well how can this also fit? Because the health district is also doing strategic planning, um, starting early next year. We're also participating in Kitsap community resources, um, community needs assessment. Ray and I both have been note takers and, um, contributors to their focus groups, for example. But then also I've been doing some keen form of interviews for Virginia Mason, Franciscan Health, um, community assessment. So we're hearing from community leaders, but then also going to community meetings about their needs. And we're trying to elevate that as well to our, to our leadership. And that's, so there's a lot going on from the health district, I think. Kuya, you're up.Akuyea (00:30:32):Yes. Oh my God. Go Jessica, go run, girl, run you and Maria, this is how we elevate, this is how we transform. This is how we begin to shift the paradigm for the opportunity to be heard. Oh, cross, we are gonna level the playing field for leveling. When I say level, I mean our young people, our parents, our community, our school districts, our, you know, health districts, our government. How do we do this collective work? Especially when you're dealing with historical institutionalized racism that we know is a crisis across the line. I don't care. It's a, not just in the health district, it's in our community, it's in our school, it's in our families, it's in our history. It's in the d n a of this country. So how do we begin to address that and move that where we can begin to reconcile, we know the history is there for us to sit here and, and, and act as if that this has not been a problem in an issue in our nation for hundreds.And it is not just that, it's in our nation, it our, our institutions. Were built on it. We, we, we have these systemic pieces that we have to deal with. That's why it was important when we started Kitsap e rates that we said, we gotta look at our schools, we gotta look at our health districts. We gotta look at our city government. We gotta look at our faith-based organizations, which Danielle, you know, that it exists within all of these institutions. We gotta look at our businesses that say, and I said, you know, when you come in and, and you try to do this type of work, and especially these organizations have in their mission statement that we're undoing racism, or we got, we're gonna be looking at equity, inclusion, diversity, multicultural. And they say that this is all within their mission and they check the box, but there's no accountability.There is no moving these, these issues to a place. If it's not in there, where is their, uh, district improvement plan? If it's not written in there, where is there, where is it in their budget? It's not in there. It, it doesn't exist. It's just they check the box to say they're doing this, but they're not the, the, the, the organization is not being held accountable for what they say is in their goals. Cuz they wrote 'em in their goals. They, they, they, they've got it language in their goals, but then how do you begin to hold them accountable to say they are? And so I was so, I was like, yes, Jessica, because if it's not in the budget, if they're not intentional, if they're not moving equity and inclusion and diversity forward in these institutionalized policy practice and procedures, then it, it really, you know, it doesn't exist.You know, it is that thing that's out there in la la land. So when you file, how do we begin to, to look at that, the training? Where is the training? Because you gotta shift the mindset. You've gotta begin to transform how people are going to step into this work of equity and inclusion. And you gotta give them tools. You gotta be able to say, look, you need training. What is cultural competency training? What is the gear training? What are these trainings that are available? Where is the training from the People's Institute? Where is the training for? Because actually, if you look in our history, we've got a lot of history that have the Freedom schools and all of them, they were doing this work back in the day, but there was a shift back in the day where they stopped when they started killing off the leaders and started, you know, manipulating city governments and working in legislation and all of these things.You know, we, there was a halt during that period, period when they were doing all the civil rights and trying, you'd think of it, all those leaders that they, they really assassinated that was moving race equity and, and inclusion forward. You know, our presidents, our our black leaders, all of those leaders that they were taking out, you know, look at that history, look at what was being done in legislature, what was being done, set in place. So we have to look at the systems that continue to hold these inequities in place so that we can't move forward. And then there was a point in time, you know, during, um, this last couple of years that just really highlighted all the inequities, all the disparities, all of the, the racist, you know, uh, uh, practices and policies that was in place that really hindered us. And we said we needed to look at these things.Um, you know, with the killing of George Floyd and the murders that was going on with the pandemic, the pandemic really set it off because we could see if it was actual, we could see how disconnected and how, how all of these disparities were, were being, you know, manifest showing. They would just, they were just in your face. How you gonna not address stuff that's in your face and then all of the racial, you know, um, one of the things that we started when I think it was even before Pandemic, before George Floyd was all of the, um, things that was being manifested during the, the, uh, during the presidency of, of our wonderful President , we won't say his name, we won't say his name, you know, and that's the thing. We won't say his name, but we know who, who, who that was, that perpetuated a lot of racial tension in our nation and begin to cultivate it, to begin to really nurture all of that unhealthy, you know, behavior and mindset.And, and, and when, when we look at the history and we understand that racism has always been a crisis in our nation. And if we just looked at it and looked at the concerns of racial diverse communities and understand that it, it hasn't, it, it has never been a healthy, uh, history, but when we tuck it away and sweep it under the ground as if it doesn't exist, we do ourself a harm. And then when we look at how education plays a role, when we look at how health plays a role, you know, health and education are interdisciplinaries, and if we not looking at how all of these systems are connected that continue to perpetuate all of these internalized structures that perpetuate these disparities, then I think we're not doing, uh, a good job at being able to undo the institutionalized pieces of, of racism and how we we begin to, to break down those barriers and begin to level the playing field and begin to get services, you know, and begin to get opportunities and the financing.You know, um, racism has played a key in poverty. It's play a key role in health disparities. It's played a key role in education. If you guys think about it, you know, back in the day when they were building all these institutions, you know, um, we weren't a la even allowed to read or write in the sixties when they wanted, you know, when they were talking all about let's integrate these schools and everything, oh, you know, look at the racial tension there was just from us to be able to go to school with one another. And that's not been that long. That's been in our lifetime, it hasn't been hundreds of years ago. Oh, little Rock nine and all of that unrest and all that has not civil rights and all that. That's, that's not been long at all. We've not come that far. And there was a halt to all of that work on undoing all of those institution life pieces. And, and when, and I can say it, when, when those assassinations begin to happen, there was a shift where everybody was pulling back from trying to do that work, but yet it didn't go away. It still needs to be done. So as we move forward, we talk about how do we, how do we begin to look at models and, and the work, the foundation of that work that was laid prior to us, even now, if you go back in, in the sixties, you'll see boy, they had it going on.Those models, those sit-ins and all those things that they were doing to change policy, to change institutional practices. You know, there's no need for us to reinvent the wheel. We've just gotta begin to, to pick up the work and, and start doing the work again. There was a definite fear that came, uh, into our communities and our nations when they begin to kill our leaders for standing for what was right. The murders of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, and all of them, you know, you look back at that time, the, those ones that, even the Black Panthers, they exterminated those young people and they, and, and they put 'em in jail.There was two options. You, they were either exterminated or they were incarcerated, but they were definitely gonna dismantle those disruptors that was calling for equity. So, yeah. And, and when you have all kinds of hate mail and hate literature that's being flooded across our nation. Um, and I could tell you, um, back in 2018 when, when we started the Race equity Network, it was because there was hate literature being flooded across Kitsap County. Our churches was being people who are being attacked, racially slurred, and all kinds of things happening in the community. That community members went to our city council and said, what y'all gonna do about this stuff? Y'all see it's all coming up. You mean the government? Y'all gonna do nothing. Not gonna say nothing. What's up? So they decided they were going to, to at least have a race equity advisory council to the city council members that would deal with all these disparities and all these racial incidents that was popping off.But then, you know, they get in there and they wanna be political and tie their hands and say what they can and can't do, and don't even wanna take the training. I mean, by now, that was 2018, here we are going into 2023, our pobo still ain't got one South kit still ain't got one. We still don't got our commission on troop and reconciling. We, it's, it's still being pushed back. The pushback on moving equity, race equity forward, it's still, that's live and well. And for us to understand what we really are up against, you have to transform minds. And one of the things with, you know, with the education system banning books and all of these things, I said, what is that all about? You better know what that's all about. You have to have a greater understanding. Because my, my thinking is, if we don't even wanna be truthful about our history and teach true history and teach our young people in the schools, I said, that's dangerous ground. We're walk, walking on.But that's something that needs to be looked at very carefully because it starts in the educational system. If you're not even gonna teach to it, if you are not even going to give our young people true information, you know, when you're talking about, oh, these books can't be read, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. A red flag should be going up for all of us in our communities and all of us in the nation. What is that? Yeah, you better find out what's the, at the root of all of that. So we do have a lot of work to do. Did this, this, I mean, the work is plenties, the laborers are few.And then how do we that are doing the work, how do we come together and work in a collective collaborative way that can help us move these things forward in, in, uh, a healthy way? Many hands make light work. Many of us, you know, yes. My my area of of concentration might be education. Mine might be health, mine might be city government. Mine might be the, the faith community. Mine might be just community members. But what happens when we begin to cultivate unified work to address these issues across those barriers? Because we all have the same goal, but look at how we work in silos. What can we do to break down barriers and really build community between the community of those that are doing the work?You know, do we lay aside our own agendas? Just like Jessica was saying, we just wanna go to li How do we come alongside and support? How do we come alongside and just listen? How do we come in and hear what the community needs are and all of those things. But sometime we gotta set our own egos aside for the greater work because the work is bigger than we are. You know, it took back in the day, when I think about all of those civil rights leaders and, and it, and, and believe you me, the environment was more hostile to make that change back then. You know, you, you had people gunning, people holding people. Come on now the history's there, but yet we wanna erase some of that history and to say, no, this is the only part we wanna teach of that, that history. You know, we talk about our, our native, uh, and our indigenous communities that was here. And understand, and I'll keep saying it, as long as I have breath in my body, I come from a stolen people brought to a stolen land where they exterminated the indigenous tribes that was here to be able to capitalize on their land and everything else. And that history, you know, it's like, oh, we don't wanna talk about that.But when you don't address the atrocities that have happened, it will keep coming up because you never went back and never healed that land. You never healed all of that, uh, trauma and all those things. You know, one of the things that I always look at, I do look at, I do look at what happened over in Germany. That entire nation had to deal with the atrocities that Hitler committed. And it wasn't until they had to deal with their own atrocities that healing began to, to, to move those communities forward in a way where they could, you'll never be able to erase what happened. But they have to be able to heal those family, heal, move towards healing, move towards reconciling those things. But when you just step over all the atrocities you've committed and, and, and say, oh, oh, they ain't this and that ain't that. That is a shipwreck. That's a a, that's a recipe for destruction.And so how do we begin to do the work of healing? Because the health district, and I say this to Jessica and to the health district, y'all are supposed to be in the healing business. I mean, that's what you say. And then I say to the education people, y'all supposed to be in education. What are y'all doing? Health, health and education for some and not for all. And justice. Justice for who? Justice for some are justice for whom. See, we got to get, we, we have to understand that we have to begin to shift the mindsets of those that can't see these things.You know, we have to begin to say, how do we take the scales off of people's eyes so they can see clearly that these are things that we, we definitely have to, to work towards? How do we unstop the ears so that they can hear the voices and hear, um, the things that need to be heard? Because some people, you know, some, and I can say this cause one of my young people said to me, she said, you know, what do you do with people that just wanna fight? They don't, they, they're not trying to heal. They're not trying to, they just wanna fight.I said, so how do you become peacemakers in the fight? How do you, how do we step into that role that we can at least be able to, to speak words that can, um, prick hearts and minds and transform, uh, the communities that we're serving? Because we're all serving, we're all serving our communities in a way, you know? And I, you know, it, it, it's hard when you always gotta walk through dodoo. I don't know. You know, I'm just throwing it out there like that. You know, when you gotta crawl through feces every day, that's, you know, those that are in plumbing and stuff like that. I don't know how they do it, but is it needed? Definitely.So we, we do, we, we, we can look at that. We can do some collective visioning that can help our communities to move forward in a way that can really meet the needs. You know, because I, I always have said our county isn't so large that we can address this issue and that we can do this work and we can do this work. Well, we're not a King County, we're not a Pierce County. We're a Kitsap County. And collectively, we should be able to move things forward in a healthier way. That guess what could be a model, not just for our state, but for the nation. Uh, you know, a little Kitsap County has changed the way that they address inequities. The way that they, with racism, the way that they deal with disparities, the way that they deal with all of these unhealthy things that continue to hinder us all. I don't care what color you are. Hate comes in all colors. Mm-hmm. , white, black, yellow, green, whatever way. But if we can deal with some of those issues, the bitterness and those roots of bitterness, why are our communities so bitter? What's going on that we can't come together and talk about it? If you are mad, I'm, I'm cool with you being mad, but can we talk about it? Can, can we reason together in the multitude of council, there can be some safety. If we come in, in a collective way and deal with it, there can be some safety in that.Danielle (00:54:27):The, uh, I was just, and I see your hand, Jessica, I, I was like thinking so much. And Maria, I know you were there with me of our meeting last week with these families that, you know, they came out almost 50 families, you know, 50 people show up to a meeting Thanksgiving week.Maria (00:54:47):And, and I thought, there's so much hope. And just showing up and, and in the showing up, you know, the meeting was advertised. I saw some for like six 15, some for six 30. I got there at six because my phone rang and someone said, Hey, where are you? I said, well, I'm not there yet. They said, well, hurry up. We're here,Oh, it's like six o'clock. So I pulled up, you know, and I got there and the principal was opening the door. And I had emailed early in the day and I said, well, you know, I don't know who's gonna show up because this thing went out over Instagram. It went out, you know, word of mouth.Danielle (00:55:29):And when people got there, y you know, they, the setup was to share stories and then to work towards solutions. But you could see when the invitation was to work towards solutions, people just stayed quiet. Cuz they were like, no, we have more stories to share. And, and let me tell you, we we had to cut it off at like eight 15. Eight. Yeah. Because people were not done and not everybody got a chance to share there. But I think about those families ended, and Maria, you can speak to this too, like, they were like, when is the next meeting? And we had, you know, one of the main leaders from the Latina community was, was speaking and saying like, Hey, like we have problem, you know, we've had problems with the African American community and we, where are they? Like, we know they're suffering.Like, she didn't say it like that, but basically like, we are not the only people of color here that are experiencing this. So, um, that gave me a lot of hope. The ability to show up and the stories they shared, I think are compounded, like what you say, the history, when you name the history, I'm like, oh crap, we're repeating all of this right now in live time. Like, it's happened yesterday. It happened, probably happened today, probably happened tomorrow. Like, we actually haven't, like slowed it down. It doesn't feel like, but Maria, Jessica, like, feel free to jump in. That's kind of where I was at.Jessica (00:56:59):So Danielle, I guess I wanted to jump in. I guess a couple things, especially, you know, after hearing, you know, Aku talk, you know, one of the things I think government should be doing is, you know, addressing, you know, inequities head on. And, um, some of you might follow, uh, the health district on, on social media. But, um, two weeks ago, um, the health district did a Facebook post recognizing transgender Awareness week. Now, this is the first time the health district has ever done a post like that. And you wouldn't believe, well, actually you would believe the amount of hate that we got. But I have to tell you though, before we declared racism a public health crisis and really got deep into this work, I don't know if we would've ever done a post like that. Um, but you know, it was a conversation between the equity program and our communications program.Our, our communications folks were all on board. They even bumped this, this idea for this post up to our administrator who was supportive of it. He goes, Hey, just make sure that you include our mission statement that, you know, our job is to promote the health of all people in Kitsap County. And, and I was really proud of the agency because I, you know, as government, sometimes we have to be careful about how we speak and sometimes it's hard to be the first. But to be honest, I didn't see any other governmental entity. And you all can check, please check me on this. But I didn't see any other governmental entity make that comment, you know, make that statement that we support our lgbtq plus and our transgender neighbors, loved ones, community members. Um, and so this was a small thing, but this is where, you know, um, you know, there, there are these huge changes that we need to make as a culture, right?And, and, and government structures. But even if it's just the acknowledgement of the suffering of people and the fact that we are, we see them, we honor them, and we're there with them is huge. Um, and, and, you know, and I give kudos to, to, to to you Danielle and, and Aku. Cause I know y'all have been having these community conversations. So having, giving people a space to share their truth and their experiences is huge. And when you can bring government officials there to hear it, because often, and, and I, and I'm speaking broadly, I mean, I I I've been in government for almost 15 years, so I, not an expert, but I've been in it long enough. You know, we tend to like the quantitative data, right? The numbers. And I think as an public health in general, there's been this big movement about, and I'm gonna use my my nerd term, but disaggregating data.So looking at the numbers, but saying, oh, well, let's see, can we break this down? What is our Asian community experiencing? Or Pacific Islander? And that gives some depth to it. But then also realizing that there are sub-communities within this community. And, you know, um, Maria and I were talking about, um, VN Voices of the Pacific Island network. They had an event earlier this year, and they had some data that showed that not all Pacific Islanders have the same educational experiences and this educational outcomes. So on, on the one hand, you know, government, we love numbers. Well, we need to dig deeper into those numbers, right? Break things down and really figure out what our community's experiencing. And sometimes in public health, we're like, oh, if the community's too small, then the analysis might not be enough. Who cares? Just still bring that data up.And that's where you compliment it with the stories, right? The qualitative data. And this is something where I think when you think of governments as white supremacists, right? You know, there's this need for productivity. And you have to, for every media you go to, you have to show what specific outcomes you have. Well, that's also something I'm hoping to change slowly at the, at the agency too. But, um, but also with data and, and the, the importance of storytelling and catching these stories and elevating them. And one of the things that, um, and you know, Kang Marie can talk about this. When we had our first health equity collaborative meeting, I got a question by a community member who was skeptical, right? Because their experience was when they've worked with government, they have gotten roadblock after roadblock after roadblock. And having to be honest and be like, look, here's what I can do as a manager of a program of two people.But at that meeting, we had a, the health officer there, and he is one of our highest officials at the health district. He's like our Spock, um, if you're a Star Trek nerd, but, um, which Memorial Star Wars. But, um, you know, our chief science officer was there. My supervisor who was a director was there. So, I mean, one thing I'm also hoping with, with these collaborative meetings, if, if they're meeting community meetings, also just throw that out there where you think having the health district be present is important and you want somebody with a director or administrator in their title. That's also something that, um, you know, I can also, I can also help facilitate. But something also, Danielle or maybe actually, um, Kayleigh, to your point, you know, we talk about this work, but how do we support each other? So we support each other in terms of, um, you know, bring cross-disciplinary, but then also really elevating the fact that we need that self-care and that connection and the fact that this is such heavy work.Um, you know, Maria and I have mentioned, we, we, we've helped with some of these, uh, focus groups for the kids at community resources. The stories are, are just heartbreaking. Um, and whether it's our youth and how they experience bullying, our elders who are experiencing lack of care, you know, lack of resources, and they just need some additional help. And you don't have that necessarily multi-generational household like you did before. So they don't have the supports that they had in the past. There's so much going on. But I think also all of us doing this kind of work, taking care of each other as well, and then also letting people know it's, it's okay to not be okay. Um, so anyway, I just, I just wanted to throw that out there too.Maria (01:02:33):So I've been pondering Akuyea, uh, question towards the end and she said, how do we do this work? How do we, um, collaborate and, um, bring about solutions? And something that, uh, Jessica mentioned fairly early on when she spoke, she said, the importance of letting go of ego, right? Leaving our ego at the door and, uh, working collaborative with one each other o one another as we do this work. And then the second thing is listening. And that's the one thing I've really learned as, um, uh, community engagement specialists, uh, working with Jessica, is that when I bring concerns to her or other community members, bring concerns to her, she listens, and then she acts, she does, whether it's something that, it's a long-term thing that will take a while to address or something that we can address quickly. Uh, she keeps this wonderful worksheets and she keeps track of where she's at on different projects. And so I think being able to be transparent, because since she shares that information, she shared some of that information at the health equity, um, collaborative meeting that we had. Um, I think that's how we build trust with our community members, that when they come, uh, to our organization, that we will not just listen, but we will act now. It might not be immediate, but we will be taken action. Um, and so, um, that's something that I've learned just in my one month at the public health district with Jessica.Jump in. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you for that. One of the things that, you know, I was talking with one of my, um, equity sisters, Carrie Augusta, and as we were reading through the newspaper and stuff, you know, she said, you know, we need to be looking at patterns of oppression. Are we doing that in a collective way? Just looking at the patterns, those patterns keep manifesting. It doesn't matter if it's manifesting with the African American community, the Hispanic community, the Pacific Islander community, whatever community is, are we looking, are we looking at those patterns of oppression? That's key for us to move forward as we do the work. Because in order for us to address, uh, and undo some of these things, we gotta identify 'em. We've gotta take time to sit down and identify these patterns that keep, you know, go. You know, that just like when we were, were dealing with, you know, with, uh, the racism on Bainbridge Island, you know, uh, it manifests itself back in the nineties and then again in the two early 2000. But I said, look at the, they go on ground for a little while and then they come back out.But look at the patterns of how they begin to, to do that work, uh, of, of, um, you know, racism. Look at the pattern of it. Look at how it shows up. Look at how it, it manifests itself in our institutions, in our workplaces, you know, in those areas that we are in on a daily basis. Don't matter in the schools. Look, they've been dealing with racism in the schools forever. Ever since Little Rock nine, they've been dealing with racism in the schools. And that was because why? Because racism was alive and well, and LA racism is still alive and well. So how do we begin to move these things and begin to address these things in a way that's gonna shift the policy and procedures? It should not be allowed in the institutional, shouldn't be allowed in the schools, shouldn't be allowed in our city governments, if you're serving all of us, if you are serving every one of those students, why are we dealing with what's happening at North Kitsap School District? And, and there's some questions I think that we need to be asking to administration and to those superintendents and to those staff members, because they're the ones that hold those practices in place, whether they're just or unjust. Who are the gatekeepers?Yeah. You gotta see who's gatekeeping and who's gatekeeping what, and, and really doing the, that type of visioning to be able to address these disparities or, or address the racism or address all of these inequities. Because if you got a principal that's gate keeping it, why do you think it keeps coming up?Danielle (01:08:20):Because it's us who hold these things in, in place. Human beings hold these practices in place. None of us get away. All of us are accountable. Mm-hmm. , it's, it's not just, that's when that one, that one, no, it's us. It's all of us who hold these practices and these policies in place. It's whether you will or whether you won't.So tho those are the things I think when we can get down to those foundational principles on how to address, and really, are we asking the right questions? Because they'll have us running off on a, a wild goose chase on something that, that , I'm just saying that don't even that, that is totally gonna miss the mark. You know, because if we, if we just keep pruning this thing, pruning it, pruning it, and never getting down to the root of it, we ain't plucking up nothing. We, we, we, all we doing is making it flourish and thrive. Because why do we prune? We prune things so it can come back healthier and stronger. I'm just, I'm just using these parables so we can see what we doing. Are we just pruning this thing? Are we getting to the root of it so we can pluck it up? Because if we're not, I think we're missing, we need to go back and revision and revisit and re-question and ask those. What's the, because you all know what's the root causeWhat's the root cause to the disparities that's happening, Jessica, in your departments or at the health district? What's the root cause when you are up in these schools and these things keep on, um, coming up and manifesting? What's the root causeDanielle (01:10:43):Go back. Do, do that questioning, just ponder. Just look at it. But let's, let's get our chart out. Let's see what's happening, and then, then we can have a real good conversation about next steps and how we can move forward and what we gonna do.Danielle (01:11:07):Kaylee, I saw your hand raised. Um, and, and I just wanted to say, like briefly after that meeting, I had a post up on Instagram, uh, highlighting the article, and I had over 400 likes, but 300 of them were from local students. And I had over a hundred private messages to me, and I screenshot them. And, and it wasn't just Latino students, it was black students, it was white students, it was, you know, L G B T Q community. Like they're ba I, what I understood from that is like, come on, get to work. Like, and I've, I've sent the screenshots, you know, to Maria and a few to Kali and some toku, you know, um, because they're important. The messages they give were important. Um, but yeah. Kaylee, jump in.Kalie (01:12:00):Yeah, I just, I mean, I love the questions that are being asked and Aku, some of your metaphors are like so amazingly helpful. Um, the pruning, uh, like I, yes, like I, I think that that is part of it is not getting to the root. And I think one of the things that Danielle and I have been trying to work on in our groups is also what you mentioned Maria, is like, we have to be able to listen to each other. And I think like from a mental health standpoint and the impact of racism, like there is so much shame, so people cannot listen. I mean, especially speaking from a white person, my own racism, having to work through that and, and then when I, like me as a white person in these conversations, right? So many people cannot hear like, we're never getting down to that.And like that is part of what I think we're trying to address in those small group settings is like, how to teach people to dig down deep and actually, like, what is happening in your body in these conversations. And I think, like, I feel like this like top like both and like the accountability you're talking about a kue, like, has to be, because some people will never, ever be able to get to what is deep down and actually deal with it. And if there isn't accountability, I don't, we're not, we're not gonna cut any of that rot out . But I think like, yeah, like trying to continue to figure out how to get down to that root and deal with people's shame and the fear that like racism has taught you so that you can actually listen so that we can actually collaborate. Um, and I mean, I obviously am speaking to my white, uh, community members that it's like, that is our work as white people that we have to work down to, like what prevents us from listening and hearing and changing and holding other white people accountable. Um, so that's where that was taking me.Jessica (01:14:07):So Kue, you asked about, you know, the root cause of inequities. And I don't necessarily have the answer, but I wanna to share. Um, I, I've seen a growing conversation, um, kinda in public health circles about power as a social determinant of health. So when public health people use the term social determinants of health, they're looking at what social factors affect health. Um, there are different models out there, but most public health experts agree that more affects health besides what you eat and how much you exercise. It's the social and cultural factors. It's, it's, it's, um, the economy, it's your built environment like, you know, access to sidewalks, parks and things like that, racism, discrimination, so many things impact health. And what i, I appreciate about power as a factor in health is because that's where you see governments needing to stop holding onto power so much, right?And so there are some, um, agencies that are starting to dismantle that a bit. So I, I wanna elevate, for example, um, our, our colleagues in, so our public health colleagues in Tacoma Pierce County. So they have a budgeting process where they allow the community to help them set budget priorities. We're not there yet as a health district, I hope someday to actually advocate for that as well. But it's looking at how do we share power with our community and how do we also foster community building as well? So like, in, and, and you know, you'll probably know the Square than I do, but just as, as, as an observer, I've noticed like an increase in the number of nonprofits and people wanting to do really amazing work. Um, you know, um, helping other people. But there's that lack of capacity. Oh, you know, people might start nonprofit, but they might not have all the training that they need.Um, so as, as a community looking at power and how do we shift that and doing a power analysis, and I, I think you've talked to me about this, you know, really looking at who holds power in Kitsap County and how do we work together to, to to share that power. Um, so, so there, there, there's that piece. But then also, um, you know, Kuya talked about training, right? And so for me, a lo

Well, Chief Seattle helped his white friends get settled in the city named after him, he got a good reservation for his Suquamish side of his family, but not so much for the Duwamish side. But it was Chief Leschi of the Nisqually who got all the blame for the Battle of Seattle and other murders. Gov'r Stevens made sure he hanged for it long after the war was over. If you live anywhere in the "New World" of old, aka Western Hemisphere, you might have a similar story of fucked up fuckery against your Native Folk. Consult your local library. #howthewestwasfucked #htwwf #americanhistory #oldwest #wildwest #seattle #leschi #battleofseattle #fishinabarrel T-Shirts by How the West was Fucked Podcast | TeePublic

Today the kids FINALLY dig in on an arthouse horror classic, Andrzej Żuławski's Possession. But first! Tár, Queen of the Damned, Buffy and Angel, the Twin Peaks/Twilight universe of Suquamish, WA. Alone in the Dark, Happy Birthday to Me, and My Bloody Valentine. From wiki: "Possession is a 1981 psychological horror drama film directed by Andrzej Żuławski, and written by Żuławski and Frederic Tuten. The plot obliquely follows the relationship between an international spy (Sam Neill) and his wife (Isabelle Adjani), who begins exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking for a divorce."Next week: The Invitation (2015)Website: http://www.bloodhauspod.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/BloodhausPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloodhauspod/Email: bloodhauspod@gmail.com Drusilla's art: https://www.sisterhydedesign.com/Drusilla's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hydesister/Drusilla's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/drew_phillips/ Joshua's website: https://www.joshuaconkel.com/Joshua's Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoshuaConkel Joshua's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshua_conkel/Joshua's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/joshuaconkel

HEADPHONES RECOMMENDED FOR BEST EXPERIENCE!! A florist. A last straw. A painful silence. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: anxiety, mentions of alcohol, swearing/cursing, manipulation, implied violence, screaming/yelling, death, mental health, loud noises, paranoia, hospitals Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Brunhild Cry MJ as Connor Montes Felyx Pozorski as Bartholowmew ‘'Sal'' Lein Jace Pelletier as Alexandrea Mallory Reilly Deegan as Devyn Fraser Beth Barrett as Ollie Jones Daniel Freiburg as Zacharias Beckett Mars Boucher-Apel as The florist Iliad Ether as The waiter Jasper T as Isa Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Cry MJ with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. Thank you for listening to our season two finale! We will return with season three soon. The podcast mentioned in this episode is Neighbourly If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails Sound attributions: AMB MID SIZE CHINESE RESTAURANT - 20 PEOPLE by tferrino , Writing by HogantheLogan , Walking On A Wooden Floor by ralph.whitehead , Phone Dial and call.wav by MainstreamMex , Ambience city_MS.wav by addiofbaddi , Soft Wind by florianreichelt , FootSteps-SolidSurface.wav by Dr. Macak , Ambience - morning - window - city - calm - pigeon.wav by ValentinPetiteau , Phone Vibrate.aif by Housed1J , Door Open Close by amholma , Knock_the_door.wav by anagar , Footsteps in Nature by flex0rnaut , City Street Ambience.wav by Fester993 , Turning Pages and Flipping through Pages by El_Wilk , ice_in_glass.aiff by athenspublic , Heartbeats 61.wav by patobottos , quiet_mexican_park.wav by tatianafeudal , Suburban hospital ambience - Moscow region, mostly old ladies & gents calmly talking and walking around, door closes, general noises OMNI mics.wav by gladkiy

A confession. A hearing aid. A game. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: swearing/cursing, mentions of alcohol, implied use of cigarettes Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Cry MJ, Monte Clarke and Jace Pelletier with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop as well as the aboriginal land of the Kaurna people. The podcast mentioned in this episode is Delivery Pod If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails Sound attributions: Ambience city_MS.wav by addiofbaddi , cat;meow;throaty.wav by Abir19 , Cat meow by TRNGLE , Dog Breathing.wav by cloe.king , Dog walks on wooden floor by Elenalostale , Ambience - morning - window - city - calm - pigeon.wav by ValentinPetiteau , Morning Spring Ambience - Early April .m4a by Noted451 , Door Open Close by amholma , Walking On A Wooden Floor by ralph.whitehead , Knock_the_door.wav by anagar

A living memory. An unwelcome joke. A flirt. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: mentions of death, swearing/cursing, alcohol, feeling overwhelmed, meltdowns/break downs, manipulation Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Maeve Fern as Claudine @lavenderliege Cam Ryan P as Destasia Freya Meldrum as Oleander Avery Thompson as Cassius Kit as Conan Phobos as Selain Vincent Meier as Anthony Byron J Fitterly as Oscar Rafael Leroy as Chrissy Oscar ‘'Tumbleweed Tom'' Ramos as Dante Kat Lazarus as Dahlia Rachel Schumacher as Peyton Landau Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Jace Pelletier, Daniel Freiburg, Cry MJ and Felyx Pozorski with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. The podcast mentioned in this episode is The Night Post If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails Sound attributions: Urban Colorado Ambience by xef6, smoking4.wav by lmr9, Ambience city_MS.wav by addiofbaddi, soda bottle open by supersnd , Wooden Door Open2 by theshaggyfreak , Walking On A Wooden Floor by ralph.whitehead , Creeking chair by Hencocor

The payment is for spilling sewage into tribal fishing areas. The spills have happened nearly a dozen times since 2015.

An awkward date. A friendship on loose threads. A determined owner. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: cursing/swearing, alcohol, choking, mentions of death, implied violence Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Want to apply to become part of the editing team? Click this link: https://forms.gle/JBqgLRcim61fWB4R7 Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Luka Miller as Nick Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Cry MJ, Sebastian Valenzuela and Daniel Freiburg with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. The podcast mentioned in this episode is The Darkcast If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails Sound attributions: coffee shop ambience by waweee , katzenmix.wav by ChaliceWell , Cat meow by TRNGLE , Ambience city_MS.wav by addiofbaddi , Phone Dial and call.wav by MainstreamMex , Clothing Noise by joerschsb , Melon Stabs (Clean) by TheFilmLook , distant storm 3.WAV by Soojay , Night village edge with away storm.wav by Guz99 , Phone Dial and call.wav by MainstreamMex , Phone Vibrate.aif by Housed1J , Walking On A Wooden Floor by ralph.whitehead , Door Open Close by amholma , Knock_the_door.wav by anagar

A sister. An uprooted past. A voice through the darkness. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: mentions of death and mourning, anxiety, panic attacks, manipulation, swearing/cursing, Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Want to apply to become part of the editing team? Click this link: https://forms.gle/JBqgLRcim61fWB4R7 Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Luka Miller as Nick Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Caspian Palemoon, Sebastian Valenzuela, Daniel Freiburg, and Jace Pelletier, with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. The podcast mentioned in this episode is Believer If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails

Featuring Lydia Sigo (Suquamish), geoduck diver

Gasworks Park in Seattle is a great park for a lot of people. It's also a historic Coast Salish fishing site, and the first stop on this audio tour that immerses us in the stories and languages of the Salish Sea area. What does it mean to live in a place for thousands of thousands of years? Did you know that there are geoduck clams older than Washington State? Indigenous Coast Salish peoples continue to steward this land and preserve its language, despite settler colonialism, industrialization and gentrification. Listen to connect to the Salish Sea area, as a step towards creating healthier human relationships with this changing ecosystem.  “As young as I can remember, it has been the beach and the water that my existence has been drawn to.” “Treaties are guaranteed by the Constitution, yet they are broken every day by environmental degradation.” “I think I can feel where water is. I use it to orient myself. Once I feel where is water, I can then figure out where I am.”“It's such a soft feeling.”“You know the history of the Ship Canal, don't you?”“The river and salt water have been important to our people since the beginning of time.” Part story, part sound collage, this piece is scored entirely with the sounds of the waters and animals who live in and around the Salish Sea. Voices featured are: Ken Workman (Duwamish), Warren King George (Muckleshoot), Michelle Myles (Tulalip), Archie Cantrell (Puyallup), LaDean Johnson (Skokomish), Owen Oliver (Quinault / Isleta Pueblo), Lydia Sigo (Suquamish), Randi Purser (Suquamish), RYAN! Feddersen (FLOW artist, Confederated Tribes of the Colville - Okanogan / Arrow Lakes), and Eric Autry (Seattle Public Utilities), Joseph Sisneros (UW) and Jeanne Hyde (The Whale Museum). Created by audio artists Jenny Asarnow and Rachel Lam (Anigiduwagi enrolled Cherokee Nation), this audio experience is intended to be listened to on site or anywhere you listen to podcasts.To listen on site, start at Gasworks Park. Follow the route along N Northlake Way and the Burke Gilman trail to the entrance of the Ship Canal at the Fremont Bridge; and then return the way you came.  Commissioned with SPU 1% for Art Funds.Administered by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture.City of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, Mayor.

Featuring Randi Purser (Suquamish), tribal elder

An obsession. An old love. A jealous heart. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: mentions of death, arguing, swearing/cursing, alcohol, struggles with adhd Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Want to apply to become part of the editing team? Click this link: https://forms.gle/JBqgLRcim61fWB4R7 Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Luka Miller as Nick Freya Meldrum as Maya Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Caspian Palemoon and Jace Pelletier with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. The podcast mentioned in this episode is The Pasithea Powder If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails

A discovery. A never ending spiral. A new friend. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: spiralling mental health, depression, mental illness, mentions of death, manipulation, swearing/cursing Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Luka Miller as Nick Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Caspian Palemoon and Jace Pelletier with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. The podcast mentioned in this episode is If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails

A curious trio. A crush. A cold building. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: swearing/cursing, death, implied violence, isolation, mild mention of police Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Rachel Schumacher as Peyton ‘'Paris'' Landau LmRoxas as Sydney ‘'London'' Ortiz Brookelynn Andler as Ruby ‘'Rome'' Andler Scripts written by Jace Pelletier and Cry MJ with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Cry MJ with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop.

A first time. A friendly face. A family. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: anxiety, swearing/cursing Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Felyx Pozorski as Sal Lein Daniel Freiburg as Zach Beckett Emile October as Farrah Lein Sebastian Valenzuela as Esther Lein Morgan Champine as Isaiah Lein Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Cry MJ with music composed by Jace Pelletier. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. Sound Attributions: Clock ticks close to mic.wav by BonnyOrbit, Nashville Streets.m4a by Koenig_Media, searching through pockets and patting self down.wav by sidequesting, Carpet Dress Shoes by jeroberts92, Door_Open.wav by Tabook, Door_toOutside_Main_Open_Close.wav by LamaMakesMusic

A ghost of the past. A slip of the tongue. An end. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: swearing/cursing, arguing, melt downs, mentions of death and mourning, anxiety, yelling Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Cam Ryan P as Destasia Freya Meldrum as Oleander Avery Thompson as Cassius Kit as Conan Phobos as Selain Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Caspian Palemoon and Jace Pelletier with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails Sound attributions: Freesound - "Glass breaking" by DelonOW

A birthday. A pocket watch. A warning… from yourself? Wait, what? Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: alcohol, being sick/ill, swearing/cursing, anxiety, yelling, paranoia Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Luka Miller as Nick Anderson Vincent Meier as Anthony Leibermann Byron J Fitterly as Oscar Rafael Leroy as Chrissy Garcia-Rose Oscar ‘'Tumbleweed Tom'' Ramos as Dante Valiente Kat Lazarus as Dahlia Naftali Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Caspian Palemoon and Jace Pelletier with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. The podcast mentioned in this episode is Francis Forever, a mystery and adventure podcast following Francis Webb and their relationship with death, immortality, humanity, and themself. If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails Sound attributions: Freesound - "Drinkbottle, metalic, steel, unscrew, screw, Open_96Khz_Mono_ZoomH4n_NT5-002.wav" by MattRuthSound

EP 5 - GEMINI TWINS A fake. A paranoid soul. A fading hope. Welcome to Seven of Hearts Content Warnings: mentions of death, mild paranoia, arguing, swearing/cursing Transcript can be found here Want to hear more from us? Check out all the ways you can here Cast: Caspian Palemoon as Carmin Cry MJ as Connor Felyx Pozorski as Sal Jace Pelletier as Alex Reilly Deegan as Devyn Beth Barrett as Ollie Daniel Freiburg as Zach Scripts written by Jace Pelletier with transcripts edited by Cry MJ. This episode was edited by Caspian Palemoon and Jace Pelletier with music composed by Jace Pelletier and Sebastian Valenzuela. Cover art by Beth Barrett. We acknowledge that parts of Seven of Hearts are recorded and edited on Native land: Abenaki, Wabanaki Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Suquamish, Duwamish, Stillaguamish, Coast Salish, Chinook, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Tillamook, Walla Walla, Northern Paiutes, Clackamas and Clatsop. The podcast mentioned in this episode is The Attic Monologues, a queer urban fantasy/horror podcast following uni students Nyx Ryland and Bella Crow. If you relate to anything in this episode, don't be afraid to reach out for help: The Trevor Project Mermaids International Helplines International Helplines, Text and Emails

Of the Suquamish Nation, Calina Lawrence was born and raised within her ancestral culture at a time during the reawakening of the teachings of the canoe and the Coast Salish way of life in the Pacific Northwest.  Her vocal journey began at a young age when she was first introduced to the songs of the canoe, the land, and the Lushootseed language. While lending her voice to the preservation of Suquamish traditions, she also grew to love many contemporary genres such as bluegrass, soul, hip hop and Spoken Word Poetry which would eventually lead her on her journey to respectfully expressing a fusion of it all. Many of the people who raised her emphasized the importance of spreading awareness about the social and environmental injustices that have impacted the quality of lives on tribal reservations and within urban Native communities.. She embraced the awareness of inter-generational trauma combined equally with the examples of her people's generosity and resiliency, so liberation work now shapes the lens in which the young artist sees the world. At age 23, Lawrence graduated with Honors from the University of San Francisco ('16) attaining her BA in Performing Arts & Social Justice; a Music concentration. Since graduation, this Independent Indigenous vocalist, aspiring emcee and producer self-released her debut album EPICENTER August, 2018.  Her most significant Single to-date released in August of 2019 entitled “ʔəshəliʔ ti txʷəlšucid” one translation being “Lushootseed Is Alive” It is her first self-produced/hip-hop inspired/Salish fusion and in her words “has been my largest accomplishment to-date, to have access to the language of my ancestors and have the ability to incorporate what I can into my every day life, including my career.” The song is written and performed entirely in the Lushootseed Language. It features several members of her Suquamish community while the Music Video was brought to life by Kanion Productions, a crew completely comprised of Indigenous creatives. Lawrence continues traveling across nations as a full-time musician while based out of Coast Salish territory; her home, Suquamish. https://www.calinalawrence.com/ Paige Pettibon is an artist based in Tacoma, Washington. Her medium focus is acrylic painting, but has extended to fiber art, beadwork, digital design, and other media.  Paige is Black, White, and Salish (from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes). Paige is influenced by her multicultural background. She identifies as a community artist. She continues to grow within the Indigenous community by learning the Lushootseed language, tribal songs, arts, dances, and traditions. https://www.paigepettibon.com/

Today on the show Seattle mayoral candidate Colleen Echohawk joins Crystal to talk about her plans to tackle the homelessness crisis within 14 months, how she will reform public safety, and why indigenous perspectives and leadership are so important in our country. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's guest, Colleen Echohawk, at @ccechohawk. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources “The COVID pandemic split the King County homeless system in two. A year later, the differences remain stark” by Sydney Brownstone: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/the-pandemic-split-the-homeless-system-in-two-a-year-later-the-differences-remain-stark/ “COVID-19 and the overwhelming demand for basic needs” by Andrea Caupain Sanderson: https://crosscut.com/opinion/2021/02/covid-19-and-overwhelming-demand-basic-needs “How Compassion Seattle could shape the mayoral race” by Joni Balter: https://crosscut.com/opinion/2021/05/how-compassion-seattle-could-shape-mayoral-race “Echohawk Emergency Housing Action Plan” from the Echohawk campaign: https://www.echohawkforseattle.com/emergency-housing2 Community Police Commission Recommendations tracker: https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/current-issues/recommendations-tracker “Where Seattle is on police reforms, one year after protests” by David Kroman: https://crosscut.com/politics/2021/05/where-seattle-police-reforms-one-year-after-protests “Afternoon Fizz: ‘A Dictator Posturing As a Mayor,' Another Preventable Disease Outbreak, and CPC Challenges Cops' Crowd Control Plans” from Publicola: https://publicola.com/2021/04/22/afternoon-fizz-a-dictator-posturing-as-a-mayor-another-preventable-disease-outbreak-and-cpc-challenges-cops-crowd-control-plans/#more-17527   Transcript Crystal Fincher: [00:00:00] Welcome to Hacks and Wonks. I'm your host, Crystal Fincher. On this show, we talk to political hacks and policy wonks to gather insight into local politics and policy through the lens of those doing the work and provide behind-the-scenes perspectives on politics in our state. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes.  Today we are so excited to have joining us, candidate for Seattle mayor, Colleen Echohawk. Thank you so much for being here. Colleen Echohawk: [00:00:59] Thank you. I'm so glad to be with you today, Crystal. Crystal Fincher: [00:01:01] Yeah. Okay, so I'm excited. What actually caused you to want to join this mayor's race at this time? Colleen Echohawk: [00:01:10] Well, thank you for asking the question because if you had told me like a year ago that I would be doing this, I would be surprised. I think that there's two things that really propelled me into this race. Number one is I work with our homeless community, I've supported our homeless community for many years now - believe in them deeply. And I am just so frustrated about what has happened. We've had almost six years of a state of emergency and the crisis has only gotten worse. There were moments through the pandemic - the second thing that just really pushed it - where our homeless community, our larger community, was just in pain and in agony because we were shutting down libraries, we were shutting down community centers, we were shutting down my own Day Center. Then we were telling people, "You have to wash your hands. That is sanitation. That's how you're going to keep COVID away." And then our homeless community was just left out in the rain to just have to poop on the sidewalk because there is no bathrooms. And it just got to a point where I just felt like - if I have some skill in this role, and I do, and if I can bring that to the mayor's office and offer that kind of leadership to actually solve this problem on behalf of the 12,000 plus people who are experiencing homelessness, then I should step up. There's just a real crisis of Black, indigenous, and people of color communities are vastly overrepresented and we haven't had enough leadership that represents our community. So that was the other part of just-- I was raised to step up to situations and that's what I'm doing. Crystal Fincher: [00:03:00] Well, you certainly bring up a lot of correct and valid issues that - man, this pandemic really did lay bare the inequities that already existed and then made them worse - and specifically with our unhoused community. There's an initiative right now, Compassionate Seattle that - frequently, initiatives are responses to a failure of leadership and as you said, we've had this crisis for quite some time. This initiative is now up. We've talked about it before on the show. I guess I'm wondering, one, do you support Compassionate Seattle? And if not, how does your vision differ? Colleen Echohawk: [00:03:39] Yeah. Well, I think that what we're seeing, and you've talked about this already, is that this is what happens when you declare an emergency and the problem only gets worse for the next five years. We have people trying to fill the vacuum that was created by years of inaction at City Hall. I, in some ways, and, well, in many ways, I appreciate that someone is trying to get something done. I appreciate that. That is a good thing. I think something that's really hard for me with Compassion Seattle is that people that I have worked with for years and years, people who are national leaders around homelessness, they helped really craft this. I saw the very first draft, and then I saw the last draft. We all can see the last draft, and it's night and day from what it looked like. But I think there's some very significant problems. The number one thing is that the funding - that is not at all adequate funding just to solve this crisis that we're in, so that's the number one thing. The second thing is it's weird to change the City Charter. I don't think that's a good way to do governance - it's like amending the Constitution. I just don't think that's the right way of doing it. And then, third and probably the most important piece, is that they did not spend enough time working with our Lived Experience Coalition. There were a couple of people who had lived experience of homelessness, who did give their opinions and were part of the final design, but I think that we have a very strong Lived Experience Coalition. I think they should have a say in this.  So, I am struggling with it because of all those factors. I don't think I will personally vote for it. But I am supportive that people want to do something and have pushed this forward - and we'll see what happens. I think that there is a lot of opposition - even on the right - to it, which is fascinating. But what I hear and I see from Compassion Seattle is that people are frustrated and angry that we have not done this work in the way that we should, and they want to get something done. Crystal Fincher: [00:06:00] Okay, so what I heard from you wasn't quite a No - you're struggling with it, and you've certainly identified some of the issues that a lot of people have with it. I guess one of the opportunities that you have is - if you're elected mayor, that you get to fill that leadership vacuum that created this initiative anyway. So why not just vote no and then do what you should be doing in the first place? Colleen Echohawk: [00:06:23] Well, I just said that I'm not going to vote Yes on it. I think that the hard thing for me, like I mentioned earlier, and we actually talked about this before starting - is I have some really good people, friends, who were a part of it and I see why it's so hard. But I think the funding mechanism is the main reason that I'm not going to vote for it. I think we have to have more robust funding mechanisms. In our plan, that we have on our website, and invite people to take a look at it - in fact, we're going to drop some really nuts and bolts things today - goes far beyond what the Compassionate Seattle initiative has. We're calling it 22 steps to get all the people that are outside into housing in 14 months. I think that having 1,000-2,000 emergency housing units is not enough. These are human beings, these are children, these are elders. We have to have initiative right now - treat this truly like the emergency that it is - and get people inside. And that's what I'll do if elected mayor. Crystal Fincher: [00:07:35] What are some of those steps? What are some of the specifics that people can see you take - that demonstrate you're treating it like the crisis that it is - and that actually work to solve the problem and you're laying out in 14 months? That's ambitious. Colleen Echohawk: [00:07:48] Yeah. Well, it's ambitious and it comes from years of experience of working with our homeless community. The number one thing, the moment that I am elected, we will use the transition period to identify hotels, identify unused land, identify - if it's tiny homes or whatever - find those spaces immediately so that the moment we get into office, we can just hit the ground running on getting this work done. We know that we're going to have to have an all-of-the-above approach on the emergency housing. And I do want to say something quickly - one of the answers and the biggest answer to homelessness is permanent housing. That's just the reality. We have to have that in our minds and recognizing that as a goal. But while we're doing that, we also have to have the emergency housing that gets up and running. And so, we will use all-of-the-above approach, find the land so we can move all the RVs onto that land, and offer really good services.  We have a plan for a 100 outreach workers to build those relationships. The outreach workers we help to hire from the Lived Experience Coalition and other folks with lived experience, and build those relationships. We saw, through the pandemic, the program Just Cares. I was honored to participate in that program. We were able to build those relationships in those encampments, move the entire encampment into a hotel. And they went willingly - we weren't sweeping people. They were just going because it was a better option. And so- Crystal Fincher: [00:09:37] Well, that's a good point. Colleen Echohawk: [00:09:37] Yeah. Crystal Fincher: [00:09:38] Do you ever see a reason to sweep people? Colleen Echohawk: [00:09:41] No. No. I think that with good engagement - with talented and good outreach - you don't have to sweep. You can go out there and build that relationship and get folks into housing and security. These are human beings. Let's not forget that. That's the other thing that I think - the reason I'll be a good mayor is that these are not numbers to me. These are people that I know, and love, and appreciate - and I'm willing to get out there and take the responsibility to find the kind of housing that's going to work for them. This is an opportunity for Seattle - we either can create the right leadership in the mayor's office or not. We have to do something. These folks deserve for someone to fight for them, and I will be that person to fight for them. Crystal Fincher: [00:10:39] When you talk about - certainly, permanent housing is the ultimate solution to homelessness - we also have an affordability crisis. How do you address that? What's the answer? Colleen Echohawk: [00:10:53] Yeah. We are quickly moving towards - only the very, very rich can enjoy this city. Honestly, that really bothers me. This is a Native city, this is a Coast Salish city. We have legislation in 1865 that said Native people cannot be in the city limits. We pushed out our Muckleshoot community, whose land we're on right now - the City of Seattle is. And so, we have to find ways to stop the gentrification and to bring back our community into Seattle. We need to really understand the affordability crisis, and that's going to be rezoning. There's just no way around it. We, in our campaign, are talking about the middle. What does that look like? How can we get there? There are ways that we can do the rezoning work with the neighborhoods, with public space designers, and make sure that we are doing it in a good way. But we cannot continue as we are. Crystal Fincher: [00:12:04] What is that way? We hear about NIMBYism. We hear people vehemently opposed to changing the culture of the neighborhood and wanting things to maintain exactly the way that they are. And people - they're afraid of their property values and all of that - so what is the answer? How do you see you can come to - what is that middle ground? Colleen Echohawk: [00:12:29] Yeah. You're hitting the proverbial nail on the head. I think a big part of what we are missing is vision. That has been something that was frustrating for me from our current mayor and the previous mayor as well - not communicating effectively about what this city should look like, and even not communicating what the plan is around homelessness or whatever issue that we're dealing with. As mayor of the City, I will be communicating - I will let people know what the plans are, and I also hope to really help people understand a vision for equity and racial justice in our city.  We have to realize - I drove through Ballard the other day. There's Black Lives Matter signs in so many houses all through Ballard. If you believe that Black Lives Matter, then you believe Black people deserve great housing in our city. If you believe Black Lives Matter, then you believe that that kid in the South End who has high rates of asthma and going back and forth into the emergency room all the time because of the air quality, you believe that we have to make changes and implement our climate policies. I am going to help our region - help Seattle - understand what it truly means when we grab onto these slogans. That will be my vision. That will be what I will be very clear about from the get-go and through this campaign. And so, we have to just understand, and if we really want to be a progressive city and live out these values, then we're going to have to change. Crystal Fincher: [00:14:26] You talk about that - so many people do have those signs in there. I've talked about before - allyship is a verb - and does raise the question, "Are you acting like those Black lives matter or is that just a convenient sign to have in the yard?" I do think that that value is shown through zoning. I also think that value is shown through how we keep each other safe, and protect our neighbors, and relate to each other. That certainly has to do with the conversation around policing and public safety here. You were appointed by the former mayor to the Community Police Commission. Just looking at the work that you've done there and the insight that you have - what do you think was positive - from what you did from the Community Police Commission? Where do you think we need to go, specifically policy-wise, with policing in Seattle? Colleen Echohawk: [00:15:21] Well, I love that you said the positive part of it. That's important. I want to recognize that. There are some incredibly dedicated people in the Community Police Commission - Reverend Walden. There's just a tremendous amount of people who have ensured that our police accountability that is in place right now through the consent decree - that it happened. We have certainly had rousing meetings. If you've never gone to a Community Police Commission meeting, they're lively - let's say that - because the issue is so close to home. As leader of the Chief Seattle Club, we serve the family of John T. Williams. It is very close - many of the people that I know and love walked alongside John T. Williams all the time, and they are petrified and afraid of Seattle Police Department. We have many people, and I don't know if folks recognize this - in our homeless community - sadly, we have physical and sexual assaults that happen. They will not report. They do not want to talk to Seattle Police Department and they continue to have to deal with so much trauma that we can't actually wrap our arms around because of the fear of Seattle Police Department. And so, the work there has to change. I'm also really proud of the Seattle Community Police Commission - that we stood against the 2018 contract. I personally went with members of the Commission to the mayor's office and we pleaded with her to not move forward with this contract. And now we can see, over the summer, the terrible outcome of that. I have competitors - opponents - in this race who voted for that contract. As we move forward in police accountability, we need to have a leader who is going to be courageous and take a stand. That's going to be with-- the two most important things we're going to see come out in the new mayor's office is hiring the chief of police and, of course, the contract. Both of those places will require community-led focus and work with the Community Police Commission. One of the things that has been hard as a Community Police Commissioner - is that we often are ignored by the mayor's office - time after time after time. In fact, there's now a dashboard on the Community Police Commission website that shows all the times that we've been ignored. I am committed to that commission. I'm committed to actually, having been there, increasing the power and authority of that commission. And not just the commission - I want to be working with the community as well. The commission can only represent so much. But we are committed, and you can see this in our plan on the website, to bi-monthly meetings with community around policing and making sure that we are understanding where we're headed as a city. Crystal Fincher: [00:18:48] Well, and you mentioned the two big things - they're huge - in terms of the Seattle Police Officers Guild contract, in addition to hiring a new police chief. With that contract, I mean, that dictates so much - even beyond the police chief's control. I guess the first question is, would you need the 2017 ordinance to be included in that contract? If it didn't include those elements, would you sign that contract? What are the bright lines for you when it comes to that negotiating and what you need to see from that contract - to make sure that it's going to serve the residents - all of the residents of Seattle? Colleen Echohawk: [00:19:25] I think that the crowd control issue is something that is on top of mind for our residents in Seattle. Demilitarizing the police. Those are the things, to me, that are top priorities when it comes to the contract. We cannot relent. We have to have better outcomes when we - we will have other protests. That is clear. We're going to have more protests. I am behind that. I know it can help, that it can make change. But we have to make sure that crowd control - what happened over the summer - never happens again. And so, those are two places in the contract that are going to be key for me. The other thing, and the state legislature has pushed some of this far, and hopefully we can go even further in future legislative sessions - but we have to hire a chief of police that will truly hold our police department accountable. And what I mean by that is that right now, when a chief... Which by the way, chief... That, to me- Crystal Fincher: [00:20:45] Yeah. You know what? Yep. Colleen Echohawk: [00:20:47] ... it's weird. It's weird. I think Toronto has changed that from a word that has been co-opted from the Native community. It's a very weird thing, but it is what it is. Crystal Fincher: [00:21:02] We could do a whole show. There is so much language that even just internally, in my business, that we've talked about, that is so common in business language and common language, that is just co-opted there. Colleen Echohawk: [00:21:15] It is. Crystal Fincher: [00:21:16] It really is discomforting. Colleen Echohawk: [00:21:20] It is discomforting. It's not something that is helpful in our work towards equity. But anyways, it is what it is. The chief of police will need to be holding folks accountable - that means disciplining and not being afraid of disciplining. That means when we fire someone, and then it goes to the arbitration board, and they come back and they say, "You know what? You have to keep this person in the department." Our plan says that person never goes near public. And I can tell you from personal experience about that - is that I have seen with my own eyes a Seattle police officer follow a native homeless man who is - he jaywalked in Pioneer Square. Everyone jaywalks in Pioneer Square. He's jaywalking and eventually they take him to the ground and I saw it, I put in my protest at Office of Police Accountability. They said, "No, sorry. The officer was fine. He was doing his job." But what was weird to me is that later on I had someone in our organization, another staff member say, "Hey, Colleen, look at this video." It was a YouTube video - that same exact officer and that same exact man - going at it again and taking him down to the ground again. I cannot believe that that was not intentional - that jaywalking, with the same guy, same officer. And so, when we know that an officer has been disciplined for something like that, that officer doesn't get back on the street. I'm going to hire a chief of police that will say, "You know what, I'm going to follow the direction of the mayor. We're not going to have bad cops out there on the street. We just cannot do it." That's something that is doable right now, right? Because the contract is the contract - I believe in arbitration, we've got to support our unions. But we can actually do something to keep bad cops off the street. And that's one of the key components of our plan. I feel it so deeply - I've experienced it myself and we have to do better. We have to change. Crystal Fincher: [00:23:33] So I just wanted to clarify - do you support the 2017 Police Accountability Ordinance and including that as a minimum or requirement in a new police contract? Colleen Echohawk: [00:23:46] Yeah. Absolutely, and I appreciate you saying a minimum because there are things about the 2017 accountability that we need to take further. I mentioned in our earlier conversation that I've put in my own complaints to the Office of Police Accountability, and I did not get responses that were adequate. So we need to change some of those things there. I think that the next contract - we should make it even stronger, have more accountability. Also, one thing that I really care tremendously about is that we find ways to ensure that the Community Police Commission has a stronger voice. That's something I would also be advocating for in the contract that's coming up. Crystal Fincher: [00:24:30] Well, we are also still in the middle of a pandemic. Colleen Echohawk: [00:24:32] Yeah. Crystal Fincher: [00:24:34] We can see the end, hopefully - and Seattle's doing a job that's better than most in terms of vaccination rates. Still, definitely, improvement can be made. But there's still a lot of people struggling. There's still a lot of people out of work. We saw where a lot of the haves didn't really feel much pain throughout the pandemic. But, man, the have-nots have been hurting, are hurting worse, and they're still hurting. People in Seattle, from service workers to artists, are still out of work. A lot of our small businesses are still trying to figure out a way to stay afloat, if they haven't already been forced to close. What do you see as the path forward? I guess, starting with, do you support the JumpStart Tax? Colleen Echohawk: [00:25:24] Absolutely. Yes. We have to have further revenue and we have to do better of ensuring that our communities - I come from the Native community - the Black community, the other people color communities, that we are accessing these resources that are coming out of City Hall. The Office of Economic Development - they had grants. But those grants - I'm dying to do an audit on those. I am almost sure that our small businesses who are BIPOC did not have fair access to those. I asked - I get my nails done, and I went and was talking to my friend who owns the business. She's Vietnamese, English is the second language - she's an incredible, incredible human. I said, "Well, did you get a grant?" And she said, "Nope." I said, "Did you get PPP?" "No." I think that as mayor, because I come from a place of working for some of the most vulnerable people in our community - that's my lens. Those are the people that I'm going to be thinking about and wanting to hear their voices, wanting to see their leadership, and make sure that that person out there in this nail salon and suffering through this crisis. I'm so glad that her business is up and running, but it is still - there's a lot of people who were getting their nails done who aren't back.  So that, to me, is of utmost importance. I am eager to get in there and be supporting communities of color. The other thing I'll add, just around the pandemic, is health equity. One of the things that just really pushed me into doing this, as well - is understanding how COVID impacted communities of color - understanding that as a Native woman, I was much more likely to be hospitalized If I contracted COVID, much more likely to die of COVID. That was something that was just so hard for us when we were working with our homeless community, who are Native - was we had people out there who their first language was their Native language, and there's not many people like that anymore. We had people who know the culture in a way that no one else knows because there's so few of us left. Keeping those elders alive was such a big priority for me during this pandemic. So health equity will be of utmost importance. I've been meeting regularly with Black birth workers and talking to them about what our plans could be in the mayor's office, and we'll continue to flesh out those policies. But I can tell you that health equity will be a lens for me. One of the folks that are endorsing me, that I'm very proud of, is Dr. Ben Danielson. I will be asking for his advice and mentorship through this process of what we should be doing to understand the health impact, and the long-term health impacts of COVID on our community, and especially some of our communities that were hit the hardest by it. Crystal Fincher: [00:28:53] Well, there are a few Seattleites with more credibility when it comes to health equity and just overall community health than Dr. Ben Danielson. So it would be great to know that he would be an advisor to the mayor's office. I guess, looking at that - what do we need to do, moving forward, in terms of - you talked about disparate impacts to BIPOC people in communities. Pollution - lots of times people think of climate change - in addition, pollution, are two big issues facing all of our community, but particularly the BIPOC community. How can you impact that? What plans do you have as mayor to reduce pollution and the effects of that - that are literally taking years off of the life of residents here in the City? It's very different, depending on what your zip code is. What can you tangibly achieve? Colleen Echohawk: [00:29:57] Yeah. There's a lot out there that is super exciting. We're working around food access and food sovereignty systems, working with the Muckleshoot tribe. We have Valerie Segrest who's supporting our campaign and is helping lead some of that policy. Public transportation is a big part of what we need to do in order to change our outcomes around carbon emissions. 60% of our carbon emissions right now are coming from cars. So I am a huge proponent of more transportation making Seattle truly workable. Right now it's too hard to connect to things. In 2018, my family and I were able to go to Japan. That city - man, it just - that country, Tokyo specifically, works. You can just be on public transportation. And so, we have to have vision for that. But beyond all that, there's a lot of policies out there - we're pushing out our own policies, everyone on the campaign trail right now is pushing out policies. But we've had policy after policy after policy - and every year, our carbon emissions get worse. I'm curious what 2020 will look like because of COVID. But there's a disconnect, and what we have to realize is that we need courageous leadership. We need someone who is going to say, "We are going to get there. We are going to become denser." That's the other issue - we have policy, we know what the policies are - but will we have the courage to change, is something that I am thinking about all the time. My whole career has been about making change. My whole career has been about standing up and saying, "Hold on a second. How can that be, and how can we ensure that our communities of color, our Native communities are going to thrive in these situations?" And so, I will bring that same lens to the mayor's office. It is time for us to get serious about climate change. And the other thing I'll add to that is - I'm really excited about working with our tribes who have a government-to-government relationship with the city of Seattle, which is Suquamish and Muckleshoot. I like to say that we'll know that we have turned the corner on climate change when you look at a Puget Sound and it's abundant, full of orcas - because then we know that our salmon are in clean water and they are thriving. And then we know that our kid out in the South End is breathing clean air - and it is a part of a whole system. That's where I want us to get to. That's my vision. We have to be able to make those changes, and have the vision for it, and make it happen. Crystal Fincher: [00:32:58] You mentioned that the proportion of pollution that is directly attributable to cars and vehicles - at least one of your opponents is highly in support of free transit for all. Do you also support that? Colleen Echohawk: [00:33:15] Yeah. I'm worried about the funding. But absolutely, I think that there is such - it would make the difference. I think that people would get out there and get on public transportation if it was free, but I don't know exactly how we're going to pay for that. But we do have - we have a friend in the White House, at last. And looking at those federal dollars is something that I will be aggressive about. I have a pretty good track record of raising money. My agency at Chief Seattle Club - we're raising tons and tons of money. I have gotten very good at doing that - and I will do that at the federal level, I'll do that at the local level - and get those dollars in. I'm sorry, I got a little sidetracked about raising money there because I get excited about that. But yes, free transit is a really, really great idea. But as the CEO of the City, the mayor of the City, you've got to know where the dollars are coming from, and that's the only concern. I would love to see that. And we already are doing some good things there. The ORCA LIFT program is really powerful, it's doing good things. And I think finding ways to make sure that that is more accessible to our community should be a priority of our mayor. Crystal Fincher: [00:34:39] So you wouldn't stand in the way of the policy, but finding funding for it may not be a priority of a Echohawk administration. Colleen Echohawk: [00:34:48] My first priority of an Echohawk administration is to solve the crisis of homelessness. Having 5,000-6,000 people sleeping outside - I feel like it's immoral in a city like Seattle. And so that will be my first priority. That's where any funding that we have out there - it's got to go towards that. And then, once we get that settled, we have a 14-month plan for getting folks who are living outside inside. Then I'll be looking at other priorities like free transit, because it is a beautiful idea and I would love to see that happen. Crystal Fincher: [00:35:26] So in a sea of candidates who are saying that addressing the homelessness crisis is also a priority, what will - from a voter's perspective, from a resident's perspective - how will an Echohawk administration be visibly, tangibly different than all of your competitors? Colleen Echohawk: [00:35:45] Well, I think number one is that I have a proven track record of solving homelessness. In the past seven years at Chief Seattle Club, we've housed 681 people. We're building $180 million of affordable housing. I'm the only candidate that's built affordable housing. It's also the main reason I'm jumping into this race. I am not going to be a career politician. I am jumping in this race because I am frustrated, I care about our homeless community, I care about our larger community, and I have the skills to get it done. I think that is something that truly sets me apart. No one else has ever been successful at actually housing people, and I care about them. I was taught to jump in when there is people who are hurting. I grew up with parents who literally would pick up hitchhikers off the side of the road, and then they would live in our house if they were homeless. That is where I come from. And so, that's what I'll bring to the mayor's office. Crystal Fincher: [00:36:57] I mean, and you say you don't want to be a career politician, so do you have a term limit in mind? I always wonder that when people say that. Is there a maximum term that separates you from being a politician to a career politician? Colleen Echohawk: [00:37:10] I don't know. This is hard. Everyone was like, "Colleen, campaigning is hard. Being in this world is hard," and it is. And so, I don't know how much of this I want to do. I think that if we're successful in our first year, which I think we will - in our first four years, which I think we will be. I think that the City of Seattle needs to have a two-term mayor. We haven't had one in a really, really long time, and we need some consistency. It's part of the reason that our climate policy hasn't gotten to where we want it to get. So that could be it.  But I don't have any ambitions to be a Governor or a Senator, or - I like Seattle. When I was thinking about doing this, I had an opportunity come up in DC. And I was talking about my sister who lives in DC - she's like, "Colleen, why would you do that? You love Seattle. That's your place." And I was like, "Okay." That was helpful for me. Seattle's my place. I look forward to - I have a lot of other things I want to do in my lifetime. But if I can support our community now, I really believe that you should do that.  Well, and the other thing that's exciting for me is that - to be the first woman mayor, indigenous mayor of a major city is really cool for me. I have a daughter who has the most incredible leadership skills. When she was three, she told me she wanted to be the leader who's in charge of the other leaders. I love that. I'll never forget it. I mean, she should be President of the United States someday. If she can see that her mom, a Native woman, was able to be the mayor of a major city in this country, and is willing to take on the hard parts of it - because it is hard. She's saying to me sometimes like, "Wait, you're not getting done with work until like 8:30?" or whatever. But I want her to see that Native leadership and indigenous perspective's important for our country, and I love that part of it. It's something that we need. I want my daughter to see that you can do it, and that you should do it - if you have a call for leadership and you have a call to serve the community, so that part is pretty cool. Crystal Fincher: [00:39:49] Well, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today and have this conversation, and look forward to seeing how the race unfolds. Colleen Echohawk: [00:39:56] Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Crystal Fincher: [00:39:59] Thank you for listening to Hacks and Wonks. Our chief audio engineer at KVRU is Maurice Jones Jr. The producer of Hacks and Wonks is Lisl Stadler. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I, and now you can follow Hacks and Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type in "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar, be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. You can also get a full text transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced during the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

WATV launched Bay Area Bookseller Voices this past spring, a new series of virtual events in which we partnered with our beloved booksellers to curate readings with authors of their choosing. In this episode, we had the honor of collaborating with the historic City Lights Bookstore of San Francisco to celebrate local luminary Alli Warren and the release of her new collection, Little Hill. Warren was joined by special guest Cedar Sigo, who was raised on the Suquamish reservation near Seattle, Washington, and is the author of over 7 books of poetry, including the soon to be published Guard The Mysteries.

Folge 24_21 – Rede von 1866 aus der Zeitung "Seattle Sunday" Urfassung der Rede des 1866 verstorbenen Häuplings der Suquamish und Duwamish-Indianer Seattle von 1854. Verfaßt von dem Ohrenzeugen Dr. Henry A. Smith, erstmals veröffentlicht am 29.10.1887 in der Zeitung 'Seattle Sunday'. Unser MP3 zum Download: https://wy2ade.podcaster.de/download/a-nw-f24-iIndianer_Seattle.mp3 Dieser Beitrag auf: - Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/de/show/941632 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1RtcBWindWOVG5XRlj4Lk3 - Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podcast-fuer-deutschland/altes-und-neues-wissen-grosser-geister - FMPlayer: https://de.player.fm/series/altes-und-neues-wissen-grosser-geister - iTunes: https://apple.co/2VmwO9f Bitte verbreiten Danke Um uns zu Unterstützen können sie etwas über diesen link https://amzn.to/3bzMQDZ bestellen oder Spenden sie etwas für das Hosting: paypal.me/Ingokrueger p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }a:link { so-language: zxx } Folge direkt herunterladen

Suquamish musician Calina Lawrence and KEXP DJ Gabriel Teodros co-curate and co-host this Indigenous Peoples Day special for 2020, sharing both some of the latest new music they are feeling along with stories and songs by Indigenous musicians that helped raise them up. Featured in the mix is new music from Xiuhtezcatl, A Tribe Called Red, DJ Shub feat. pHoenix Pagliacci and more. 1. Archie Cantrell - ʔuʔušəbicid čəd 2. Ill-ēsha - Como la Chicha (feat. Fabian Arias & Dakota Camacho) 3. Dioganhdih - Native New Yorker 4. Maya Burke - Darling Girl 5. Lynne Ferguson - Little Red Dun 6. Calina Lawrence - Generations (feat. Lil Deya) 7. Of Mexican Descent - All Turn Native 8. Los Rakas - Sueño Americano 9. Xiuhtezcatl - El Cielo 10. Ricky Reed - Catch You (feat. Lido Pimienta) 11. A Tribe Called Red - Land Back (feat. Boogey The Beat & Northern Voice) 12. DJ Shub - The Social (feat. pHoenix Pagliacci) Gabriel Teodros is the host of Early on KEXP, every weekday from 5-7am PT on KEXP.org, the KEXP app or 90.3 FM in Seattle. Listen to Gabriel and Calina's conversation from last year about the power of language, featured on KEXP's Sound & Vision. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet traveler, friend and former colleague Robin Little Wing Sigo, a member of the Suquamish Tribe. Her community is located near Seattle, in fact the city itself was named after famous Suquamish leader Chief Seattle. Robin is Director of the Suquamish Foundation, sits on Tribal Council, and travels frequently to represent her community. Robin talks about her childhood, what led her into political work and travel, about the annual Tribal Canoe Journeys and more. She also shares about her international trips, that time she hugged President Obama, and why home is still her favorite place on Earth.You can find out more about Robin Sigo's work through the Suquamish Foundation and Sovereign Style websites, and say hi to her on Instagram or Facebook.Visit my website to learn more about me, and say hi on social media: @jetsetlisette.See Full Show NotesEnjoyed this episode?  If so, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Partners & OfferingsThis episode is sponsored by Waypoint Goods, makers of beautiful and functional travel scarves and journals. Globetrotter Lounge podcast listeners get a 15% discount –  enter JETSET at checkout.The episode is also sponsored by Manta Sleep. Their sleep masks and other sleep accessories help you maximize enjoyment of life and unlock your full potential through achieving quality sleep. Use JETSET to get 10% off at checkout.

Enter Washington's most haunted house, and discover what rooms it's spirits reside. Sound effects: Sound Effects Factory Music Coordinator: Matt Duffy AKA DJ TripleBypass Theme song: "Mystery" by Tavana, courtesy of HI*Sessions. Featured song: "Drivin' Me Crazy" by Cliff & Susan. ***** Please share us with your friends and family. Instagram: legendsfromthepacific https://www.instagram.com/legendsfromthepacific Twitter: LegendsPacific https://twitter.com/LegendsPacific Don't forget to subscribe and visit our website https://legendsfromthepacific.com/18-walkerames-house Send us your feedback at: https://legendsfromthepacific.com/feedback

In the past few weeks since the uprising in response to police killings of Black and Brown folks around Turtle Island, amazing chances have presented themselves and folks have seized opportunities. One great and unfolding circumstance is known as the CHAZ or CHOP, an autonomous zone and occupational protest surrounding a police precinct in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The area was opened to community redesign after nights of intense battles with the police leading to the department evacuating the East Precinct to crowds of people chanting “Every Day”, meaning they would continue surrounding the police building. In many ways, the ability of the community, including anarchists and other radicals, to be able to respond to the situation was possible because of the mutual aid work that had been being developed during the covid-19 pandemic and years of building relationships. In this podcast special, you'll hear a fresh conversation with D. D is a Black Anarchist who grew up in and around Capitol Hill district in Seattle. He talks for this chat about that neighborhood and adjacent Central District's rebelliousness and conflictual history with the Eastern Precinct that the Seattle Police abandoned, about his knowledge of the protests of past weeks and the retreat of cops from their pen. D talks about the foundation of what has been called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, aka CHAZ, aka Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (or CHOP), or as D calls it the Chopped City CHAZ. You'll also hear a tiny bit about the history of occupations during protests in the city, engagement with the zone and indigenous communities in the area, the idea of monolithic Black Leadership, self-defense against the far right, the reproduce-ability of the autonomous zone model and other topics. We're going to try to bring you more stories from this place soon and are super thankful to D for sharing his perspectives. Transcription PDF (Unimposed) Zine (Imposed PDF) note: I was informed by my cohost William that in fact the retaining wall in front of the fourth precinct in Minneapolis that I was referring to was actually constructed by the Minneapolis PD, hence why it looks janky as shit. A few of the resources that D suggests folks pay attention to include Converge Media, Some of the occupations that D mentions include: Northwest African American Museum Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Centre El Centro De La Raza The website for the Duwamish nation is DuwamishTribe.org And for the Suquamish nation's website can be found at Suquamish.nsn.us Political Prisoner Oso Blanco's statement on the CHAZ can be found at FreeOsoBlanco.Blogspot.Com. . ... . .. Music from this podcast: Liquid Liquid - Cavern - Discography (1981-1984)

No ano de 1855, o cacique Seattle, da tribo Suquamish, do Estado de Washington, enviou esta carta ao presidente dos Estados Unidos (Francis Pierce), depois de o Governo haver dado a entender que pretendia comprar o território ocupado por aqueles índios. Faz mais de um século e meio. Mas o desabafo do cacique tem uma incrível atualidade, ainda mais agora que enfrentamos o COVID19. https://www.psicologiaarquetipica.com.br/post/o-cacique-que-nos-avisou-sobre-o-covid19 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/arqcast/message

The Empty Celebration of Earth Day Gary Null PhD Progressive Radio Network, April 21, 2020   Fifty years ago I and other conservationists and public health advocates were thrilled with the idea of an annual Earth Day celebration to honor our planet. At that time, I had more requests from television and radio to speak about health, nutrition and the early natural food movement. I had never received before any requests to speak about the environment, although I was an organic farmer and taught organic and sustainable agricultural methods at my Fertile Earth Farm outside of New Paltz in the Hudson Valley. Despite the success of the early Earth Day events, there seemed to be very little national interest in deeper environmental issues. Even in those days, I largely spoke to deaf ears. Unlike the worldwide consciousness growing around civil and women's rights, activism advocating for stewardship of the Earth, its resources and wildlife was still in its infancy. I was hoping these various efforts might join together. That included going vegetarian, live through the principle of being in harmony with the natural world and conscientiously simplifying our lives. Rather than focus on a future to purchase and hoard more stuff, explore what other cultures do to connect with our human faculties that foster compassion, kindness, and a shared commons. I believed we should be oracles of peace rather than ambassadors of political hegemony, oppression and power. Yet how foolish, naive and delusional I was! Now jumping forward fifty years, where does humanity linger today?  Last year was the year of Greta Thunberg, a teenager who raised hell, got into the faces of the world's leaders and demanded environmental priority over profits. Despite her sincerity and heer activism's success in mobilizing the global youth, it turned out to be a rather futile gesture.  We are still faced with powerful laissez faire opportunists behind Green capitalism exemplified by the elite such as Al Gore. With very few exceptions, I no longer believe the world governments, and certainly not private industry or the mainstream media, will effectively cause anything to change to the degree necessary to reach a realistic level of ecological sustainability. Do we ever ask a basic question?  What are we trying to save the planet from? The answer is simple: massive over-consumption of unessential stuff that requires endless exploitation of natural resources and the media's manufacturing of consent. Aside from a bubble economy of debt, we have a bubble educational system.  Bubble military and pharmaceutical complexes. A bubble agriculture. A bubble body politic. And bubble comfort where we do nothing that advances the causes for empathy by engaging in authentic change and care for others rather than solely for ourselves and our tribe. All of our grasping for luxuries while doing less feeds the predatory capitalist system. Robinson Jeffers, an icon of America's early 20th century environmental movement, anti-war activist and epic poet warned of the same social hubris that we witness today and is now leading us to an environmental precipice. He believed humanity was too self-centered and indifferent to the "astonishing beauty of things." He called on his readers to "uncenter" themselves. The only thing that materialism accomplishes, according to Jeffers, is to teach us how to suffer. His contemporary John Muir would castigate the utter failure of the faith based religions to protect the Earth and pen, "No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals, temples and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord." Sadly, our lying mainstream media rarely portrays the ugliness of our culture and our destruction of the planet. It only focuses on the consequences of climate change disasters, not why these crises are happening and who is ultimately responsible. These are treated as one time events. There is no complex and truthful analysis. For example, last year, there were record breaking weather events. Alaska witnessed for the first time a complete loss of sea ice. Wildfires occurred in Greenland and above the Arctic Circle. There was epic flooding in the American heartland, forest fires devastated large tracts of northern California, and the Bahamas were hit with the first recognized Category 6 hurricane.  But these events were only in the news cycle for a day or two before disappearing. Have major media outlets ever gone back to look at the long term consequences? Our media reality is hyper-kinetic. Short and spastic, it changes with each 24-hour news cycle. Information is rapidly lost from our cultural consciousness and other political news stories replace it before another climate catastrophe appears on the horizon. Consequently there is no time for self reflection or meditation about what each of us as individuals should be doing. I knew something was terribly wrong during a later Earth Day celebration in Dallas where I was a speaker. After my lecture, I wandered around the fairgrounds observing people eating hamburgers and junk food. Coke cans were scattered about. I realized most came for the country music. They did not attend in order to learn how to better change their lives. Today there is nothing to stop global warming's dangerous feedback loops. Repeatedly we learn that the experts were wrong in their predictions by a substantial measure. The Antarctic ice sheets are melting far more rapidly than expected, by a ten-fold magnitude. Sea level rise is happening faster than forecasted.  In 2019, the International Arctic Research Center reported that the region has entered an "unprecedented state" that threatens the planet's climate stability. The Trump White House does absolutely nothing and instead has been making efforts to censor press statements related to climate change. Wall Street and the private corporate industrial complex are equally complicit in keeping the public stupefied.  In the meantime, there is a new Earth Day for us to stand up and be proud of. And this meaningless ritual we will continue to frivolously revere in the future as matters worsen. There is nothing to be learned from celebrity environmentalists, many who will fly to events in private jets, eat meat and then pontificate about environmental consciousness raising. This does not mean that I am surrendering my commitment to the Earth nor should you. However, I will no longer waste my time with large environmental organizations and Earth Days. Instead, every day I support local activities such as farmer markets and efforts to strengthen local community resilience. I balance my lifestyle in order to minimize my carbon footprint, support truly sustainable movements, and intentional communities where people choose to live in harmony with nature and focus on the emotional and intellectual quality of their lives. I will continue to host daily radio broadcasts and direct documentaries on the environment and health. However, what we do as individuals in our homes, with our neighbors and communities also make a difference. When Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson founded the first Earth Day in 1970, it was because he observed that the health of the planet was being completely ignored in politics and the media. The nationwide event would have been irrelevant except for it having set important milestones. It led to public support behind the eventual passage of Ralph Nader's Clean Air and Clean Water acts and the founding of the Environmental Protection Agency.  Nader is undoubtedly our most important and uncompromised environmentalist. It was his commitment to the Earth and our humanity's relationship to the environment that resulted in passing many laws to protect us. Therefore, instead of another Earth Day pageant on April 22nd, let us reconnect with the beauty of what remains of nature and our neighbors with earnest. And let's remember the words of Chief Seattle from the Suquamish nation that "humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves."

In THE interview of my life so far, Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the United States (the nation’s “official” poet!) is here. She’s the first Native American to hold this position, and I’ve been a weepy mess since she agreed to chat with us. As someone who lived on raw land in Northern New Mexico and studied with Native Americans, I'm deeply moved by her talent and activism on behalf of tribal peoples and vulnerable female populations. For some reason, I had a strong intuitive sense that Joy would have a perspective on the global Corona pandemic currently sweeping the globe that would bring a higher vision and comfort—and boy, did she! Her thoughts on this topic surprised us both and remind me why I love talking with visionary creatives; you never know what magic awaits!Joy is the author of nine books, including one of my favorite memoirs, Crazy Brave. Her many honors include the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, a PEN USA Literary Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She's also an award-winning musician with five CDs of original music. Throughout this episode, you're going to hear snippets of her performance for the Library of Congress the night she began her formal duties as Poet Laureate. Her musical talent, paired with her spoken-word performance, is spellbinding. If you're not yet a fan of poetry, I'm telling you, that's about to change. Joy does something else on this episode we've never done before—she reads a piece she's currently working on for her new memoir. And here's the thrilling part—you get to hear her EDITING it in real-time as she reads, crossing out words and replacing them with others. You might feel like you're watching Michelangelo paint, while at the same time, getting the gift of seeing that we're not so dissimilar in how we must labor to string beautiful words together. Joy's mother was Cherokee. Her father Muscogee (Creek)—the 4th largest native population of more than 500 tribes in America. Although my experiences are with Cherokee, Suquamish, Navajo, and Tiwi peoples, Joy has my heart, as you'll see. This interview feels like the culmination of all I've ever wanted—to meld my tree-hugging environmental work and my writing with my affection for Native American culture. It's hard to put it into words, so I'm going to stop trying. Hopefully, this episode will speak for itself. Except to say that reaching out to Joy, when I was terrified to do so, has taught me something valuable. It's made me realize that if we can't commit now—at least internally—to our deepest longings, when will we?Stay safe wherever you are. Write on. LS

Good morning! I’m Mary Regalado and it’s Tuesday, March 17th. Here’s your local news from The Seattle Times. Expect plenty of sunshine today with a high of 54. Tonight will be partly cloudy and chilly with a low of 36. Our top story: To protect their people and the public from the coronavirus outbreak, the Suquamish (soo-QUAHM-ish), Puyallup (pew-YALL-up), and Tulalip (too-LAY-lip) tribes announced yesterday afternoon they are shutting down their casino operations for 2 weeks.

Native American Voting Rights: Exploring Barriers And Solutions Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - 10:00am Location: 1310 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 Native American Voting Rights: Exploring Barriers and Solutions Subcommittees: Elections (116th Congress) On Tuesday, February 11, 2020, the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration will hold a hearing entitled “Native American Voting Rights: Exploring Barriers and Solutions.” The Committee hearing will take place at 10:00am at 1310 Longworth HOB. Witnesses: The Honorable Ben Ray Luján Member of Congress, Washington D.C. Mr. Leonard Forsman Chairman, Suquamish Tribe, Suquamish, WA Ms. Amber Torres Chairperson, Walker River Paiute Tribe Ms. Doreen McPaul Attorney General, Navajo Nation Mrs. Patricia Ferguson-Bohnee Director, Indian Legal Clinic, Sandra Day O' Connor College of Law, Phoenix, AZ Mr. Elvis Norquay Member, Turtle Mountain Reservation, Rolla, ND Ms. Jacqueline De Leon Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund, Boulder, CO Committee Notice: https://cha.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/native-american-voting-rights-exploring-barriers-and-solutions

Native American Voting Rights: Exploring Barriers And Solutions Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - 10:00am Location: 1310 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 Native American Voting Rights: Exploring Barriers and Solutions Subcommittees: Elections (116th Congress) On Tuesday, February 11, 2020, the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration will hold a hearing entitled “Native American Voting Rights: Exploring Barriers and Solutions.” The Committee hearing will take place at 10:00am at 1310 Longworth HOB. Witnesses: The Honorable Ben Ray Luján Member of Congress, Washington D.C. Mr. Leonard Forsman Chairman, Suquamish Tribe, Suquamish, WA Ms. Amber Torres Chairperson, Walker River Paiute Tribe Ms. Doreen McPaul Attorney General, Navajo Nation Mrs. Patricia Ferguson-Bohnee Director, Indian Legal Clinic, Sandra Day O' Connor College of Law, Phoenix, AZ Mr. Elvis Norquay Member, Turtle Mountain Reservation, Rolla, ND Ms. Jacqueline De Leon Staff Attorney, Native American Rights Fund, Boulder, CO Committee Notice: https://cha.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/native-american-voting-rights-exploring-barriers-and-solutions

For a medley of delicious foods, cultural performances, speakers and exhibits, come and enjoy Bainbridge Island's  Celebration of Cultures at the Woodward Middle School, this Thursday, May 31, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Evolved from the Cultural Fair that was a staple part of Bainbridge education for so many years, the Celebration of Cultures is sponsored by the Bainbridge Island School District and the Multi-Cultural Advisory Council, and now welcomes the entire  community to its celebration. In this podcast, Karen Vargas, Multi-Cultural Advisory Co-Chair, describes the multitude of performances, speakers and exhibits by diverse groups such as the Japanese-American, Suquamish, African-American, Filipino, and other communities at this exciting event. Designed for community members of all ages, whether or not they have family members in the school, this event will also offer a variety of ethnic foods, including African-American, Filipino, Native American, East Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Mexican. For a deliciously diverse evening, you won't want to miss this one! Credits: BCB host: Betsy Lydle Smith; audio tech Chris Walker; audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker.

Carl Johnson's new book, Where Water is Gold, combines breathtaking photography of Alaskan wilderness and waters with eloquent essays about the ecosystems, wildlife habitat, sustainable fisheries, and people in Alaska's Bristol Bay region, all of which are currently endangered by the proposed Pebble Copper Mine. Carl will speak and show his photos at the Suquamish Museum on Saturday, April 1 from 3 pm - 5 pm. The Bristol Bay region is home to the nation's largest and wildest state park, a world-famous wildlife sanctuary, and Alaska's largest lake.  It is also home to the largest salmon fishery in the world, supplying the world with 50%-60% of its demand for sockeye salmon.  The salmon - and also cod, halibut, herring, and smaller fish - sustain the ecosystem, feeding bears, birds, and all manner of wildlife.  The fishing industry - fishing, canning, seafood companies, and related services - supports thousands of local native people and those committed to showing up each year when the salmon season is in full throttle.  All this happens in the pristine, pure waters of Bristol Bay, which is now threatened by the proposed Pebble copper mine in the headwaters that feed Bristol Bay. In his book and in his Suquamish Museum presentation, award-winning landscape photographer Carl Johnson will celebrate how Bristol Bay's  water and salmon connect us all, globally.  Carl's beautiful photographs and eloquent essays combine to present a heart-rending picture of the potential devastation that the proposed Pebble Copper Mine poses to this beautiful unspoiled region, and serve as a moving call to action. The final essay in the book describes the impact the proposed Pebble mine could have on this exceptionally rich and vulnerable ecosystem, reminding us that “acid mine drainage can render the water 1,000 times more acidic than battery acid.” Once unearthed, he adds, “mine tailings never become safe again...tailings are forever.”   And now we have to ask ourselves: Is the risk of permanently contaminating these waters worth the financial profit in mining the copper? Reserve seats for this event here or here. Credits: BCB host: Channie Peters; BCB audio editor and social media publisher, Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/who-026-storyshare-donna-moore/ In this episode of BCB's StoryShare series, host Jack Armstrong talks with longtime Bainbridge Island resident Donna Moore about her experiences and observations about life on Bainbridge and what makes it such a special place to live. Like many residents, Donna found her way here without any intention of having it become her home, but she immediately felt an attraction that caused her to move to the island soon thereafter. During the interview she describes Bainbridge as she experienced it 40 years ago, including businesses and attractions that no longer exist, and she tells a delightful story about the theft of a rhododendron she had planted in front of her first home at the corner of Erickson and Wyatt –  and how it was found and returned to her two days later. Donna also discusses her earlier career with the State Department (including her first assignment in Benghazi as a young woman in her early 20s) and her fascination with the Suquamish people and their impact on local culture and tradition. She has published a novel, titled Out of the Fog, that takes place on the island and the Suquamish reservation. For more information about the book, visit www.donnamoorebooks.com.  Credits: BCB host: Jack Armstrong; audio editor: Chris Walker; social media publisher: Diane Walker.