Native Americans : We Shall Remain | LoVina Louie | TEDxCoeurdalene

[Music] ah his lovely' white Husker halt entire squeezed customer and trust booths telecast hello my friends good afternoon my Indian name is customer which means talks good and was given to me by my aya who was my maternal grandmother my heart is very happy to be here with each and every one of you I come from the sister Cheops the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and plumber Idaho I come from the insult teen snakes the Okanagan and lakes band of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington I come from the nimiipuu the Nez Perce in LA poi Idaho my parents are Devon Jeanne Louie I be send from chief Morris Antelope of the systems of chief Manuel Louie of the insult team snakes I am honored to be here today representing my people what I want to do at this time is I want to take you back to a time when these canoes were on the lake a time when our people lived off the land a time before cell phones and buildings and hospitals and all the things that were used of today so as I journey back to this time I would like you to close your eyes and come with me as you go back to this time you are walking through a forest and you can hear the birds chirping and you can hear the Chipmunks talking and as you come out of the forest you see beautiful tule mat teepees you see children playing you might see this canoe out on the water and the father teaching his son how to fish and feed his family you may see a mother teaching her daughter how to tan the hides so that they will be warm so that they can make the Buckskin that we wear you may see the women grinding the roots and the berries that will feed our families you will smell the fire and you will see the deer meat hanging over the fire drying and you will see salmon all around the fire and as you walk into a tepee you might hear a yacht a grandmother singing to her grandchild you might hear as she's wrapping this child and the baby board you might hear this song whoa oh wait wait wait hi wait ha ha wait ha ha ha we ha we are we're hail way ha ha ha [Music] wait ha ha ha we ha [Music] he'll our yet our two-piece they sing these songs to us as children the love and the prayers that they said made us who we are made us in silk chain the hump Chien nimiipuu these songs that were saying these teachings that they gave to us it was love as she wrapped the baby in the baby board she was praying for the next seven generations to come she was asking Creator : Suton to help this child you could feel the love in our songs and now today you may ask what happened to our people what happened to Native Americans did we just help the Pilgrims and have a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner and then we disappeared because that's what America teaches is that the Indians help the Pilgrims and then nobody knows what happened to us I have been asked by children that I work with for the last 20 years why why where did the love go why is there there no love in our families anymore why is there alcohol and drugs and so after 20 years we made this video this video is going to explain to you historical and generational trauma of what happened to our people Leeloo [Music] one morning I woke up and I heard my brother cryin he was screaming so loud he thought someone was dying mom dad he screamed but there was no use trying they weren't around I ran outside and saw he'd had a pretty bad crash his bike was in the ditch down his arm a bloody gash he looked so pitiful just sitting there in the dirt amongst the trash crying [Music] dad I picked him up and started running toward my uncles up the way it started raining and got real dark he could barely tell it was day my brother cried and asked sister where's mom I didn't know what to say when the truth is I don't know but my uncle saw us coming he ran into the yard he took my brother from me and he held him in his arms when he saw my face I could tell I could tell he was alarmed and he said what happened you fall - uncle I'm so tired so tired of wondering why why did he drink why do they do drugs why do they leave us why he said sister is hard to explain and I said uncle try and then he told this story once this land was teepees as far as you can see the water was clean the land pristine we were where we were meant to be that strangers came across the sea and brought with them their disease our people cried and prayed and sang but it brought them to their knees [Music] [Music] imagine that your family and most of all your tribe what if most of everyone you love suddenly got sick and died and before he even had a chance to bury them and mourn the strangers came and took away the land where you were born and you wondered if your parents even cared as they stole you and your brother away or if they'd been so beaten down they had nothing left to say and then at school they cut your hair and beat you if you spoke the language that creator gave our people and Earth awoke [Music] [Music] [Music] sister I'm not trying to tell you that your mom and dad are okay or that they are not responsible for the choices that they've made but you see this bloody meeting about your little brother's arm if we don't clean it it can't heal and it will do all kinds of on those deep wounds of our ancestors still bleed within our hearts remember all they've done that's where the healing starts so every morning when you wake you pray this prayer out loud creator help me live in a way that would make my ancestors proud [Music] you can be anything you want to be just work hard never give up perseverance is the key strength do the honor that's all in your family tree so hold your head up high and know that [Music] so my hope in my dream is that video will help you to understand what happened to my people what happened to our people but it leaves you with the feeling that we're still here our people our women have broken the glass in Congress the first Native American women their success was on the prayers of our ancestors that one day our ancestors would take back this country that was taken away from us and now we have a voice in America now we have a voice for our women and our children and our people are going back to our traditional ways the sturgeon nose canoe that you see here the first time that we brought these canoes back was was barely four years ago when we were removed from the lake four hundred years our people haven't got to be in these canoes on our waters when our young people said prayers for the first canoe that we made and they sang an honor song and when we carried that canoe down to the water and when it touched the water when it touched the Coeur d'Alene Lake I could feel my ancestors welcoming us home welcoming this back to where we belong on the water our people have fought for the water at Standing Cloud are at Standing Rock the water is our life it is who we are the very first canoe journey that I went on in one of these canoes I had my daughter Northstar with me and as we came around the kettle falls into the Columbia River and I was singing my Auntie Anne's song and we were paddling our canoe and my daughter looked and she said mom and two eagles flew down and she turned around and looked at me and she said mom this is going to be my most precious memory with you and it made me feel alive and it made me feel proud to be Who I am and so what I want to leave with you today is a song that the Creator gave to me because underneath our skin whether we're white black brown underneath our skin we all bleed red blood we are all connected to each other and to mother earth and our teachings teach us that every decision we make we make for the seventh generation that when I wake up every morning I ask myself how am I going to make my ancestors proud today what am I going to do to make this world a better place and so the creator gave me this song and this song he said is to clear the way and today our country needs to clear the way for the leaders that are coming forward for the young leaders that you see in the schools we need to clear away and so when I sing this song the way that I was taught to sing it it's to pray for all those people in all the directions in the north in the East in the South in the West to ask our mother earth to sing and to be with us to ask father sky to help us to ask grandmother moon and grandfather Sun to be with us and to help us and to give us a good heart and a clear mind those are the teachings that creator coolin suit and have given to me and that's what I want to leave with you I want to leave with you with good and love from my people to your people and so this song as I sing this song is a prayer to you and so I would ask that you take it in a good way Liam Lynch and rosboroughs telecast thank you for my heart Oh Hey oh hey hoo [Laughter] oh oh hey oh hey [Music] namely in hospitals telecast thank you for my heart lene lene cúcuta cut CIA [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 83,638

Rating: 4.9370313 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Global Issues, Community, Connection, Culture, Health, Identity, Peace, Social Justice

Id: ilf5vDptOYk

Length: 18min 27sec (1107 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2019