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Feminists Around the World: Charlie Amaya Scott · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is any and Samantha.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Welcome stuff. I never told your prediction of iHeart radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And we are wrapping up Pride Month. It is towards
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the end of June.
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  Speaker 3: But of course, as you know, we will be celebrating
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  Speaker 3: and always celebrate the queer community all day every day.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, even though it's official by standards of
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  Speaker 3: the calendar and whatever, I guess the US teams, is
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  Speaker 3: it international or just the US that doesn't in June.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: I believe it's it's not international. I think several other
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  Speaker 2: countries do it, but it is not completely international.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, so they do it in their own time. Because
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  Speaker 3: I also know, like, yeah, unfortunately there's a split here
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  Speaker 3: in the US as well at different time, and we've
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  Speaker 3: talked about that previously. But going back to officially by
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  Speaker 3: calendar by US calendar holidays is wrapping up of Pride Month.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I always go always a little.
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  Speaker 3: Bit off track, but this time we are wrapping it
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  Speaker 3: up with a Native American activist, Charlie Amaya Scott. So
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  Speaker 3: Scott is an activist, educator, and scholar, and as someone
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  Speaker 3: who seeks to find joy and share it, I love
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  Speaker 3: that when we were researching them, they just talked about
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  Speaker 3: wanting to share their stories and bring joy and I
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  Speaker 3: of course we are all down for that. Scott has
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  Speaker 3: been an outspoken advocate for the indigenous community as well
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  Speaker 3: as a fierce activist for climate justice. On their site
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  Speaker 3: Denay Aesthetics dot com, they write, born and raised within
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  Speaker 3: the Navajo Nation, Charlie Amia Scott is dedicated to creating
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  Speaker 3: and sharing content that inspires joy and justice. They have
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  Speaker 3: worked with brand and organizations around climate justice, celebrating her
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  Speaker 3: culture and language, advocating and supporting movements that celebrate or
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  Speaker 3: affect black and Indigenous, queer and trans peoples, and sharing
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  Speaker 3: knowledge around Indigenous people's gender and sexuality, date, colonization, higher
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  Speaker 3: education representation, and more. They are transactivist as well, and
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  Speaker 3: they go by by them she her, So there may
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  Speaker 3: be some interchanging here, but yeah, so that's that is
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  Speaker 3: their preference and we honor that.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, And they are currently working on their PhD
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  Speaker 2: at the University of Denver, and according to their site quote,
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  Speaker 2: Charlie is also a doctoral candidate who is intrigued by
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  Speaker 2: the intricracies among higher education, settler colonialism, and social media.
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  Speaker 2: Their scholarship and writings are imbued with a desire for
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  Speaker 2: a more just and liberating education that supports, inspires, and
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  Speaker 2: celebrates the next generation of queer, trans, and Indigenous students
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  Speaker 2: and to expand on that. They told blogger Cassandra Banksen quote,
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  Speaker 2: my area of study is similar to what I post online.
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  Speaker 2: It's celebrating and advocating for black, brown, and Indigenous peoples,
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  Speaker 2: particularly those who are queer in trans I'm trying to
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  Speaker 2: address things like rainbow capitalism, cultural appropriation, misrepresentation, and college access.
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  Speaker 2: In celebration of Pride Month, I've been focusing a lot
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  Speaker 2: more on queer and trans folk and the marginalization that
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  Speaker 2: they experienced both within and outside different Native nations. To
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  Speaker 2: empower and educate others, I talk about my experiences as
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  Speaker 2: a queer transfem and how they have influenced my life.
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  Speaker 3: Right and as they mentioned, Charlie has had a big
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  Speaker 3: impact within the social media platforms talking about their work
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  Speaker 3: and how to address the ideas of colonization and decolonization.
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  Speaker 3: In an interview with indie kids dot org, which are
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  Speaker 3: interviews with younger kids, like the interviewer here is a
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  Speaker 3: ten year old named Nikki. So I was like cool, cool,
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  Speaker 3: I love this idea, and by the way, the questions
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  Speaker 3: were really really deep, and I was like, oh, I
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  Speaker 3: neeed lessons from her, they say. I speak on a
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  Speaker 3: lot of issues on social media, like climate justice or
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  Speaker 3: justice within education. I try to encourage other Native youth
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  Speaker 3: who want to go to college and advocate on their
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  Speaker 3: behalf with professors or staff of a college. I want
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  Speaker 3: these people to understand that the way that Native people
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  Speaker 3: interact and move through this world might be a little
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  Speaker 3: bit different and they might need more support. I also
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  Speaker 3: speak a lot about gender and sexuality and about how
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  Speaker 3: the Navajo Nation does not support trans people, and I
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  Speaker 3: try to explain to people that the reason for this
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  Speaker 3: is not necessarily our fault, and there are reasons why
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  Speaker 3: they don't support trans people, but that doesn't mean they
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  Speaker 3: can't change and do better. Decolonization to me means celebrating, centering,
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  Speaker 3: uplifting the dreams, desires, and demands of queer and trans
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  Speaker 3: Indigenous people. And I say queer and trans Indigenous people
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  Speaker 3: because those particular relatives of mine were targeted by colonialism
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  Speaker 3: in a way that's different from those who were straight
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  Speaker 3: or CIS Indigenous people.
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  Speaker 2: And with that, Charlie often talks about the importance of
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  Speaker 2: storytelling in order to decolonize. In an article they wrote
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  Speaker 2: in Yes Magazine titled Digital Native Storytelling, they write, the
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  Speaker 2: scale of social media's impact surprises me, especially considering that
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  Speaker 2: it sits in the palm of my hand. It is
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  Speaker 2: a thread connecting us to so many across the world.
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  Speaker 2: Over the past last decade, there has been an expansion
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  Speaker 2: and evolution of social media that has changed the lives
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  Speaker 2: of people, both in how we build and maintain relationships
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  Speaker 2: and how we share and produce knowledge. It has created
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  Speaker 2: a culture all its own. One of the most significant
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  Speaker 2: impacts I have experienced is how Indigenous people have embraced
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  Speaker 2: the art of storytelling online.
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  Speaker 3: Right and they continue. Storytelling is more than just recounting events.
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  Speaker 3: There is an inherent art and skill to one of
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  Speaker 3: the oldest and most widely practiced forms of communication and
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  Speaker 3: cultural preservation in human history. Indigenous storytellers are inspired by
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  Speaker 3: and pull from what I lovingly describe as the sentient archive,
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  Speaker 3: a living, breathing repository of memories, lessons, and knowledge built
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  Speaker 3: and shared from generation to generation. There is an inheritance
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  Speaker 3: form through the kinship of sharing a story, imparting strength
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  Speaker 3: beauty and wisdom that transcend temporal and spatial dimensions. Our
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  Speaker 3: storytelling enables us to define who we were, who we are,
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  Speaker 3: and who we will be as Indigenous peoples indigenous transfim.
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  Speaker 3: Who I am, who I was, and who I will
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  Speaker 3: be exists because of my family, my community, and the
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  Speaker 3: people I choose to be in relationship with, as well
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  Speaker 3: as what I learn, embrace, and refuse in this life.
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  Speaker 3: My use of social media is informed and grounded by
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  Speaker 3: denay ways of being and knowing which I have inherited
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  Speaker 3: from and cultivated with my family and community. Through online platforms,
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  Speaker 3: I have been able to reclaim what was long denied
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  Speaker 3: to me.
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  Speaker 1: My story. Social media enabled me to create new and
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  Speaker 1: complex representations of what it means to be indigenous, along
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  Speaker 1: with fresh forms of queerness and transness that exists in
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  Speaker 1: alignment with my indigenouity.
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  Speaker 2: And with that, they have continued their activism, all the
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  Speaker 2: while sharing their joy and stories with so many and
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: in the series In the Know by Yahoo, Charlie talks
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  Speaker 2: about not only being inspirational, but being inspired as well.
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  Speaker 2: They say, one of the things that I'm most proud
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  Speaker 2: of is being able to be a representation and a
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  Speaker 2: presence than someone who inspires thousands of people every single day.
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  Speaker 2: I think that what I'm hoping to change in the
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  Speaker 2: world is how people see and understand indigenous peoples. For
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  Speaker 2: so long we are seen as savages and uncivilized, but
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  Speaker 2: being able to tell them, being able to show them
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  Speaker 2: that we are so much more, and that we are
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  Speaker 2: brilliant and that we're beautiful. I think there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of changing how they see us and how they understand us,
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  Speaker 2: and how they witness us. The queer community inspires me
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  Speaker 2: to have a little bit of fun every day. The
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  Speaker 2: indigenous community reminds me of where I come from and
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  Speaker 2: who I'm representing. And the trans community reminds me that
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  Speaker 2: you decide who you want to be, not anyone else.
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  Speaker 3: Uh Yeah, And to end, we wanted to read a
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  Speaker 3: bit more from them. Here's some more from the Yes
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  Speaker 3: magazine titled Beyond the Binary Retelling the DNAE Creation Story,
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  Speaker 3: and it's just an excerpt path the creation Story where
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: they speak about themselves my entire life. I was taught
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  Speaker 3: by my family and my community to value and celebrate
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  Speaker 3: our language and culture. But what of the Dnay history
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  Speaker 3: that is queer in trans The one I know existed
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  Speaker 3: before it was silenced and erased. I read the translated
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  Speaker 3: version of my stories and they feel so wrong. Although
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  Speaker 3: I'm not fluid in my language, and my body remembers
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  Speaker 3: in its own way. There is a rhythm that beats
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  Speaker 3: across my homeland. It is soft, but it is there,
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  Speaker 3: waiting for me to dance along. There is a humming
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  Speaker 3: in the air and in synergy, waiting to be caressed.
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  Speaker 3: And it starts with the retelling of these stories and
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  Speaker 3: a celebration of my body, my trans feminine Dnay body.
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  Speaker 3: Like first Woman and first man, I too, was made
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  Speaker 3: from the ears of corn, mixed and mingled among its variations,
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  Speaker 3: made and shaped by their hands in the divine. The
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  Speaker 3: wind breathed life into me, as it did for my
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  Speaker 3: mother and her mother and those who came before, and
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  Speaker 3: as it will do for those after my body returns
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  Speaker 3: to the earth. My choice was stolen from me, but
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  Speaker 3: not anymore. I have spent years learning and unlearning what
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  Speaker 3: it means to be Dnay and to be queer and
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  Speaker 3: to be trans in this world, this world that denied
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  Speaker 3: me first Woman's gift. Now I am reclaiming this gift.
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  Speaker 3: I know who I am and with this knowledge, with
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  Speaker 3: the ceremony of transformation, I am regaining my power of creation,
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  Speaker 3: starting with myself and our stories, until finally there's a
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  Speaker 3: world that celebrates people like me. So you can definitely
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  Speaker 3: find more and more of their writing within Yes Magazine.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: I know they are a part of that as well
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  Speaker 3: as so much more as well of their own site,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: dnae esthetics dot com, and you can find them under
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  Speaker 3: that in social media. I believe I already follow them
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: in TikTok. I was like, this person, look is really familiar.
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  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, so really beautiful poetry essentially in their writing
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  Speaker 3: and what they're doing and the joy they're finding even
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  Speaker 3: in times of oppression. So yeah, let's celebrate everyone and
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  Speaker 3: their uniqueness.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: And certainly listeners go check Charlie out if you have
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: been already, and if you have any suggestions. As always,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: we would love to hear from you. You can email
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: us at Stuff Media Mom, stuff at iHeartMedia dot com.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: I believe we have we're test driving a new email address,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: which is hello at Stuffmomnever told you dot com if
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: you want to try that.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: One, Oh was simpler, Hello at what.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Hello, It's stuff Moomnever told You dot com. Oh yes,
• 10:28
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• 10:34
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• 10:39
  Speaker 2: it was not a choice that we made do it,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: but slowly but surely we're working towards that. So if
• 10:47
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• 10:50
  Speaker 2: will get to us eventually. So two options for you there.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: or on Instagram and ticked stuff and Never Told You.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: We're also on YouTube. We have a tea public store,
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• 11:05
  Speaker 2: get your books. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: our executive producer May and our contributor Joey. Thank you
• 11:12
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• 11:14
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