- [Announcer] Your
support helps us bring you programs you love. Go to wyomingpbs.org, click on support and
become a sustaining member or an annual member. It's easy and secure. Thank you. - Life on the reservation,
the voices of Indian youth, and the power of
traditional arts, next on Wyoming Chronicle. (bright instrumental music) Brutal crimes grip an
Indian reservation. That headline, earlier this
year in the New York Times, struck a raw nerve on the
Wind River Indian Reservation, and around Wyoming. The article portrayed a
community riven by crime and violence, and unable to
cope with social problems, a polluted environment,
and poverty, yet it also led many residents
to protest what they saw as one-sided reporting,
that focused only on the worst aspects of
life on the reservation. Many students wrote
replies, and one of them, from Willow Pingree, from Fort
Washakie Charter High School, was published by the newspaper. On this program, Wyoming
Chronicle convenes a panel of Indian youth to discuss
how life on the reservation is reported and
perceived, and later, we will see how a
tribal-centered curriculum, that features traditional
arts, is helping to anchor young lives on the
reservation with meaning, a sense of purpose,
and community. So, we came to Wyoming
Indian High School, on the Blue Sky
Highway in Ethete. Built in 1989, the
school currently has
about 125 students, mostly Shoshone or Arapaho, but also representing many
other tribal backgrounds. It is a fact that the school, like the reservation it serves, faces serious issues such
as a high dropout rate, substance abuse and crime,
but it also takes pride in its identity and
such achievements as a long string of state
basketball championships. And joining me at Wyoming
Indian High School, we have Mikala Sunrhodes,
she is a high school senior, and also, last year's Miss
Denver March Pow Wow Princess, welcome. And also joining us,
we have Jordan Dresser, he is a lifelong resident of
the Wind River reservation, a practicing journalist,
and a, full disclosure, consultant to the newly opened
Wind River Casino Hotel, welcome both of you,
thank you for being here. Well, as I mentioned
in our introduction, on February 2nd of this
year, the New York Times ran a major article
on the problems on the Wind River reservation,
including crime, poverty, and Mikala, when you read that, what was your first reaction? - At first, I was, you know,
my first reaction would be, I was mad, disappointed
in the way they portrayed the reservation,
because it's nothing, it's nothing like that. The article just gathered
all of the negativity, they didn't tell anything
positive about the reservation. - What was most unfair,
do you think, about it? - How they talked
about the crime rate, and how it was just so
horrible, you know, so bad, they had to take that
and blow it up, you know, and I thought that
was pretty bad. - Well now Jordan, you're
a working journalist, so, you read things with
a journalist's eye, what was your response? - Well, when I looked, when
I read the story, you know, my first reaction was that it
was a very statistics-based story, it was really heavy
on a lot of that stuff, and statistics tell a story
too, but also, looking at it, I think the big
thing that it missed was the human element to it, and putting a face to
a lot of these things that they talk about, and I
just think that they just, that point was missed entirely. - Did you think there
was a fair element to it? - No, I don't, I don't
think there was anything. - Well was there any truth in
it, do you think, or I mean... - There was, you know, anywhere
you're going to look at, there's going to be problems
with alcohol, crime, and you know the poverty,
but they just picked us, and they decided to you know,
take it and run with it. - You know, one thing
that really struck me was that in the weeks after, I know a lot of students
on the reservation wrote responses,
including Willow Pingree, from Fort Washakie, and his
article begins this way: "The smell of fry
bread and burgers, the laughter of
friends and family reminiscing about good old
times, the sound of music and the sight of people
dressed in regalia," a very different picture
of the same place. What did you think of that? - Well I think, you know,
Mikala made a good point, saying that you could go
anywhere and you'll see a lot of those things, you
could pick any reservation in North America, and they'll
have the same problems, they'll have the same
issues and stuff, but they don't focus on
a lot of those things that keep communities
alive, and keep them strong, which is like how Willow
described, you know, a lot of social gatherings,
you know and native communities are very social with each other, and they find their strengths,
in numbers with that, like the pow wow settings and
different community events, those are the things
that really bring the communities together,
and I think that Willow really set a
good scene with that, 'cause that's a lot of things
that I see growing up here, a lot of those events,
and things like that. - And of course, Mikala
you participate very much in the pow wow, you know,
for those who have never participated or even seen one, describe for me the
significance of pow wow, what does it mean? - The significance of
pow wow, is, you know, it's where everyone, it's
an intertribal thing, all tribes come together,
and they sing and they dance, and it's just really
colorful, and very unique, and it's who we are, and
how we celebrate life, and enjoy each other's company, it's just a really
awesome event. - Jordan, of course, you
are a graduate of the American Indian Journalism
Institute, I'm wondering, does that leave you in
two different worlds, does that somehow define
you, as a journalist, or push you in a
certain direction? - Well, you know, I
mean, there's so few
native journalists, across America, and I
think that here in Wyoming, in every state where
there's a reservation, where there's any tribes,
but you know where I mean, all across the country,
newsrooms really benefit having natives in there,
because there's that sense of walking in two worlds,
where we're able to get access, and get things to
people that you know, non-natives wouldn't be able
to get, and then I think that, for me, it puts me in a
position of wanting to tell our peoples' stories, you
know, and doing it accurate, you got to take the
good with the bad, there's good things
about people's lives, and there's also bad things,
and to tell the accurate story, you have to tell both. - Well you know I
find it interesting, right in the foyer of
this school actually, the motto talks about
helping the students here straddle two worlds, one
of tradition, and I guess one of more modernity. Do you get that sense,
that being a student here helps you prepare for both
worlds, or do you think of it as one world? - I think for me, it would
be walking in two worlds, and living in two worlds,
because you have your culture and traditions, and
language and all of that. But then you have education,
jobs, everything else. But then, you know,
this school is so, it's kind of like
your family, you know, and it helps me learn
better, and I take it, I really think it is
walking in two worlds because there are two
different things, yeah, you have to come in the
middle and find a medium. - And of course,
when we talk about the Wind River Reservation,
we're talking about two worlds within one world
again, aren't we, because the history
here, as I had stated, it has a complicated history because it is
shared by two tribes who at one point
were once enemies. Now I've heard, in my
short time here in Wyoming, that those feelings were
strong even a generation ago, but what about now? How do you think things are
now, with Shoshone and Arapaho? - I still think, you
know, there's some, residents here that
still think of it as, "Oh you're Shoshone" or
"Oh, you're Arapaho," but then we do have the
Shoshone and Arapahos that are both, and now it's just getting so
intertwined and... We're learning to become
one, and work together, and you know, it
will take a while, because obviously
we were enemies-- - [Richard] It takes
generations, right? - Yeah, and even, like you said, it was just a generation
ago, you know. - [Richard] What sort
of signs do you see, in terms of inter-relations
between the two tribes here? - Well, I'm both, I'm
both, my Mom's Shoshone, and my Dad's Arapaho. I'm enrolled as Arapaho, but um, I think that you
know it is a very-- A lot of those feeling do lie with a lot of the older
generation, you know, because they have that mentality
of those are the Arapahos, and those are the Shoshones,
and I think sometimes, some of the younger generation, they try to get those
feelings and those ideas try to go again, try
to ignite that feud, but to me, like Mikala
said, we're so intertwined, and not only Shoshone and
Arapahos, but different tribes, they're Crows who they fear,
they're Sioux, there's Navajos, there are so many different
people who live here now that call this their home,
this is their home now, so, I think that the idea
of igniting those, rivalry, like that, animosity towards each other, it just doesn't, wouldn't
work out, mainly because, I think the die was already
cast, it would be too late to kick the Arapahos
off, you know? - You know, so much of
this is about identity, and how you identify yourself, when you define
yourself, do you feel, I'm American first,
I'm Indian first, or is there a
tug-of-war between? - You know of course, I'm
going to think, I'm... my Native American
heritage and everything that I've been through,
I was raised you know, pretty traditional,
and that's just me, and then I am an American,
and you know, I'll take both. - So you don't want
to separate them? - No, I'd rather not. - And most of your
friends feel that way? - Yeah. - Well, like, I mean that
there's that idea of, well I say also a Native too,
because I think that you know, we were, we had our culture
and we had our traditions before this was
considered America, before this was named America, and that's where I
think our strength lies, is in realizing our
cultures and traditions that we've had so long before
everything changed for us, and we were forced
to be assimilated. - Well, there's a few of
the issues that were raised in that Times article I
wanted to address with you. The dropout rate,
which is about 40%, nearly twice the state average. Why do you think it is
that so many young people don't finish high school? - I think for some young
people, it is hard, because they didn't
have, they don't have as much support, and you
know, it's a big thing, as... - You mean like
family support, or... - It's just you know, what
you surround yourself with, and like if you wanna
surround yourself with positive things,
to graduate high school, and to see that as an
incentive to you know, go move on to bigger
and better things then, yeah you will be, I guess you would say, influenced to graduate... - What's your sense, Jordan,
why so many young people don't finish what is important
for an economic future? - I mean, I think it's easy
to drop out, and just say, I don't want to do that,
and just want to quit. You know it's easy to
just say I want to quit. But then I don't think they
realize how hard it is, to afterwards get your
footing back, you know, and either going back into
high school and finishing, or getting your GED, I mean
it's a challenge either way, because then you stop that
learning process, you know, and they say we're
lifelong learners, and I always get discouraged
when I hear that, because for me when
I went to college my whole world opened up, so much more, and I
think going to college is one of the most important
things you could do, as a person, and I think that,
they're just missing out, and they just see it
as a quick solution to whatever their
problems are, you know, and like Mikala said,
surrounding themselves with different influences. - Well now, when you were
in high school though, of course you went to
Lander High School, you did not go to a high
school on the reservation. What sort of difference
do you think that made in terms of you then
proceeding on to college? - Well, when I was there at
Lander, it was a different time, back then we were in
the older high school, back then it was open campus,
so people just had the option just to walk off school,
you know, or not leave, so there was that temptation
that I didn't have, here in Wyoming
Indian Middle School, you know where you're really
watched, and really guarded, so I think for me,
there, I learned how to be a little bit
more independent, and how to really
motivate myself, as opposed to having so many
other people motivating you. - [Richard] You know, Mikala, when we look at
what the important institutions are,
on the reservation that make for a stronger
society, what would you say they are, is it school, is
it home life, is it church, what do you think are the real
strengths of the community? - I think it is home life,
because as Indian people, family is a big part
of your life, and -- - Do you think there's a
difference in how you view home life, than
average white people? - I think there
is a difference-- - What would that be?
Because we have, as Indian people, we
have extended family, we have aunts, uncles,
grammas, grampas, cousins, nieces, nephews, you
know, we surround ourself with all of that
family, it's just, it teaches you a different
aspect to life, because for me, you know, it teaches
me responsibility, because I'm one of the
older children in my family, for my nieces and my
nephews, I'm, it teaches me to care for one another, to love and to never take
anything for granted. - You know, your own personal
plans, when we spoke earlier, you had said, you're
interested in going to college, from here--
- [Mikala] Yeah. - But do you see yourself coming
back here, or do you think the wider world is where
you're going to end up? - I think for a couple of
years after college, I will, you know, explore and
move away, but then when I do get older,
I will come back, because this is always my home. - What brings you back? - My family. - So when there are
really terrible crimes, as there have been in
the past couple of years, how do you and your friends
you know, cope with those, because everybody
knows everybody here. - Because it's such a
tightly wound community, and you know if one
person passes away, or is affected by
that, the crime, then it is going
to get back to you, and if you're not directly
related to that person, then you know someone
that is, and it is hard, but you just kind of gotta
keep going, because... - So when we read reports
of a sense of hopelessness on the reservation, is
that just exaggeration? - It is exaggeration,
because we're not, you know, we haven't hit that point where
it's just, we're hopeless. We can still keep going and
we still have that push, to you know, get past
this, it makes us stronger as a people, as a
tribe, as a community. - Well I always
say that you know, Natives are like the
ultimate survival story, and then I think that to say
that this area's hopeless is a wrong assumption,
because we've had hope all these years to get
us through everything that we've survived, and I
think with the bad things, 'cause you know bad
things do happen here, and I think it's important
to continue those dialogs, of okay, why did it
happen, and most of all, what can we do to stop it,
so that something like this doesn't happen again, I think it's important to keep
those conversations going, and to do different things, to incorporate different
programs throughout
the reservation you know, like the Eastern
Shoshone Boys and Girls Club, or Wind River Youth Program,
just these different things just to try to let
people know that hey, maybe right now you're
feeling hopeless, but, those feelings
can change you know, because there's
hope all around you. - Well we've got just
about a minute left, I wanted to ask you one
last question, and that is, what would you most like
people to understand about the people and the
community on the reservation that maybe they don't? - I would like
people to know that we are people, we are human, we live our lives just like everyone else
does, we have families, we have jobs, or
we go to school, and we're... not everything that the radio, the tv, the newspapers say. - You get the last word. - I would say that you
know, that we're still here, that we as a native
people, we're still here, through everything that
we've been through, we're still here, we're still
striving, we're still going, we hold on to a lot of the
cultures and traditions that have been passed down
and survived for us to have, you know, and I think it's
really up to my generation, the younger generation,
in order to take that and run with it and keep
it going, and you know, people like Mikala doing
all the things that she does and being a positive role model
especially to young women, that's really important
'cause they always say that women are the
backbone of the tribe, and I think that's just
really important for all of us just to keep going and that's
what I want people to know is that we're still here, and
there's many layers to us, not just one or two, you
know, poverty, alcoholism, all these different
things, there's just so many different layers to us. (bell rings) - Thank you both very much. Culture shapes
identity, and every day, traditional arts are taught
at Wyoming Indian High School. Chronicle Producer
Stephanie Smith tells us about lessons learned. (native voices singing) - [Stephanie] Any society
must have a strong sense of its cultural past. That knowledge is a
source of identity that helps individuals deal with the influence of other cultures. At Wyoming Indian High School, students learn their history
and crafts first hand. The traditional arts bring
tribal history alive. Chico Her Many Horses
guides a new generation through traditions
with ancient origins, such as pow wow dancing,
and costume building. - Pow wows basically
started at the end of World War I, when
soldiers came home, our Indian soldiers
came home from the war, and those old warriors
from the 1860s and 1870s met them at the train
head, sang victory songs, and they got out and danced,
and welcomed them back, and talked about
making the Germans cry, and all that stuff,
they'd do naming, they would do all
these tribal ceremonies that were banned at one time, so that's basically
how pow wows got to be. - [Stephanie] This has
evolved with generations, as kids and families cross
the country to take part. - All of a sudden, competition
started stepping in, all of a sudden,
people picked this up, and it became a
subculture, and right now, that's what it is, a subculture, people says I'm Indian,
I'm Ogallala, I'm Pawnee, I'm what, since I go to these
pow wows, well you know, that's way out here in
the recreational area, the main core of our tribal
beliefs is over here, but to our young people, this
is become the subculture. - [Stephanie] Pow
wow can change lives. - It was huge, real huge change. - [Stephanie] Two years ago,
Gabriel Spoonhunter was living in North Carolina, far
from any tribal community. - Due to the fact
that at my old school, there was a student body
of over 8,000 people, and there was only 36
Native Americans in there. - [Stephanie] He got into
trouble, and faced an ultimatum. Straighten up, or
leave for Wyoming. He chose Wyoming, and
found a sense of community. - I found my little nieces
and nephews dancing, and then my uncle gave
me a dance regalia, and he said, go try it
out, and I was like, no, no, I was real scared,
there's like about a good, about a good 200 people out
there, and I'm sitting there just being real nervous, and
I'm shaking and everything and next thing you know, I
turned around and basically, threw on the dance
regalia and ran out there, and did about a good five
spins and then moved my left, moved my right,
they always told me, whatever I do on my left,
I have to do on my right, so, I kept doing it like that,
over and over and over again, and then finally I got
it down, to where now, a lot of times, I place at
whatever pow wow I go to. - [Stephanie] These gatherings
breathe life into tradition, and at the same time,
help a young person understand the path
that they are on. - My dancing has changed
me, and everything, because due to my parents'
divorce, they were, I ended up having a bunch
of anger management issues where, I couldn't
really control my anger, but ever since I've been
dancing and going to my, we have a sweat at my uncles'
house, and I go down there, and I sweat and everything
and thanks to a lot of that, I've been able to
control my anger better. - [Stephanie] Chico
Her Many Horses works to help his students
see the connection from one generation to the next, as they take part
in these pow wows that are now more
competitive than ever. - But for our kids and
stuff, that's the rockstars, that's our Olympic heroes, and with the advent
of the internet, they're on YouTube,
they know who's winning, they know who's rocking, and it's done great things, it's brought a lot
of tribal pride, personal pride, has kept
people off the streets and from drinking and
drugging, 'cause you got to be, you know, this is a
serious, serious stuff, 'cause it's gotten
to be a big thing, and that's the good part about
it, bad part about it is, they don't understand some
of the reasons they existed. We do a lot of traditional
craft items in here, it's one of the classes I
have, we always tell the kids, if we don't know how to do
it, we're going to sit down and figure it out. We're going to use some
of the modern machinery that's available today,
because back in the days, Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, if they had access to a bandsaw, you betcha they'd be
using the bandsaw. - [Stephanie] And Chico
helps his students see the connections
between tribal life and other cultures
and histories. - We'll do all this stuff
and at the same time I explain to them, you know,
some place down the line, some place down the line,
somebody's going to ask you about this you know, and
it's really embarrassing if he's from Hungary
or Czechoslovakia and he knows more than you, it's really going
to be embarrassing, so I'll tell 'em, whether they, a lot of them have retained it, a lot of them understand
things, you know, and figure out where it's
from or they'll go home and ask their grandparents,
and they'll get reinforced, or they'll tell them better,
better, a better thing, y'know. - [Stephanie] It's clear
there's a deep well of pride and guidance on the reservation,
for those young people able and willing to take it in. - A recent belief
that's been going around on our reservation,
and everything is,
walking the red road, the red road is straight, red
dirt, and on one side you have our culture, our
traditions, our songs, our dancing, and everything, and on the other hand you
have the white teachings, as they say, as the old men say, in order to survive in
this world, nowadays, you have to walk
on that red road. (native voices singing) - Our thanks to the
staff and students at Wyoming Indian High School. And join us again,
for Wyoming Chronicle. (native voices singing
and drums beating)
