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Feminists Around the World: Sherenté Mishitashin Harris · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stefan
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Never Told your production of iHeart Radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And welcome to another edition of Feminists around the World.
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  Speaker 2: And for our Pride Month edition, we are talking about
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  Speaker 2: indigenous two spirited dancer and activists Charente Michitotian Harris. And
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  Speaker 2: Harris is from the US. But you know, we always
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  Speaker 2: love to bring in people from the US as well
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  Speaker 2: because they often don't get enough credit as in like
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  Speaker 2: even though they're in the US, we don't know about
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  Speaker 2: them what So today we were talking about Harris, who
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  Speaker 2: is a member of the indigenous and the Organztt tribe
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  Speaker 2: in Rhode Island and has been a part of the
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  Speaker 2: traditional dance world. We're a chunk of their lives. Their
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  Speaker 2: family is made up of dancers with championships and global
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  Speaker 2: tours under their names. Their mother even danced at the
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  Speaker 2: second inauguration of President Bill Clinton, and their father is
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  Speaker 2: a world champion Eastern War dancer, the highest honor given
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  Speaker 2: at the largest First People's gathering. And yes, if you notice,
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  Speaker 2: we are using them pronouns here, but they do have
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  Speaker 2: I think they go by all including she and he.
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  Speaker 2: But we're gonna stick with them just to be safe.
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  Speaker 2: So the War Dance is a dance that tells the
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  Speaker 2: story of hunting among the first peoples, and their mother
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  Speaker 2: performs the Fancy Shaw Dance, which is a modern dance,
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  Speaker 2: and as they explain it in an interview with Milk
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  Speaker 2: Makeup dot com, quote fancy Shawl dance is a dance
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  Speaker 2: of liberation and continuation, and the dances are representative of
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  Speaker 2: an quote active connectivity. They continue in that same interview, saying,
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  Speaker 2: when we dance, we're living as individuals but tapping into
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  Speaker 2: this feeling of oneness that is the truth behind the
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  Speaker 2: illusion of us being separate. When we dance, we dance
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  Speaker 2: in a and with no end and no beginning.
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  Speaker 1: And it was the inspiration and love of dance that
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  Speaker 1: helped them to become whom they truly are and embrace
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  Speaker 1: and advocate for themselves and those like them. It was
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  Speaker 1: when they were watching the women perform the Fancy Shaw
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  Speaker 1: dance they realized they were too spirited. They told glad
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  Speaker 1: dot Org in an interview about their love of dance
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  Speaker 1: and what it means to them now. When I dance,
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  Speaker 1: I have always felt an obligation to dance for my people,
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  Speaker 1: but now I feel an obligation to dance for two
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  Speaker 1: spirit people as well. But I really identify first and
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  Speaker 1: foremost as being near a dancet. And they also talked
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  Speaker 1: about how the dances gave them the opportunity to express themselves. Quote,
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  Speaker 1: I think that fancy shaw dancing was my first opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to make a public statement about who I was. Dancing
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  Speaker 1: in the style of dance traditionally done by women. Was
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  Speaker 1: my opportunity to be seen in a way that I
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  Speaker 1: otherwise would not be.
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  Speaker 2: And with the ability to dance and share their love,
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  Speaker 2: they know that it comes with responsibilities. They explain so
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  Speaker 2: much of my work, my scholarship, my artwork, my writing
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  Speaker 2: is all in the forefront of my mind. But if
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  Speaker 2: I'm not out there in the circle dancing fancy shawl
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  Speaker 2: sometimes taking on the abuse that comes from homophobic and
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  Speaker 2: transphobic people, then that means that I'm leaving it to
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  Speaker 2: another young person to have to carry the weight of
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  Speaker 2: that by themselves. So in twenty nineteen ted X talk,
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  Speaker 2: they said, this dance is a dance of liberation, not
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  Speaker 2: just for me, but for the entire LGBT community. And
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  Speaker 2: for that reason I have gone out and danced in
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  Speaker 2: the face of those who feel that I should not.
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  Speaker 2: And for the indigenous community, many of these traditions are
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  Speaker 2: traditions of storytelling coming from the Turtle clan. They stress
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  Speaker 2: the importance of storytelling as a way to preserve their culture.
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  Speaker 2: They told NBC news dot Com Grandmother Turtle is the
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  Speaker 2: oldest and wisest of all of the creatures, and therefore
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  Speaker 2: she carries the traditions of our people on her tongue.
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  Speaker 2: And they continue, these are the histories that have been overlooked,
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  Speaker 2: have been intentionally forgotten or rewritten over Our invisibility is
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  Speaker 2: one of the most pernicious things that has a lot
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  Speaker 2: us to remain under the heel of oppression. And they're
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  Speaker 2: specifically talking about two spirited peoples in this part.
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  Speaker 1: And they go on talking about the interconnectedness of the
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  Speaker 1: world and how a basis of naraganstant worldview is that connectedness.
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  Speaker 1: Quote all our beloved relations a translation from naraganstant view,
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  Speaker 1: which means quote all of creation is a family and
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  Speaker 1: Earth is the mother of all things. Harris explains, when
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  Speaker 1: you recognize everything in the world around you as your relation,
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  Speaker 1: you treat it as if it is inextrictly connected. To you.
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  Speaker 1: It is part of you. That is traditionally the role
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  Speaker 1: that two spirit people played within our communities to remind
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  Speaker 1: people that even the most seemingly distance of things, light
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  Speaker 1: and darkness, the day and the night, men and women,
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  Speaker 1: that we are all connected. And the two spirit person
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  Speaker 1: embodies that. And they did receive backlash when they started
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  Speaker 1: to perform for the public and competitions at the age
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  Speaker 1: of sixteen. They told Thrillist dot com they had thought
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  Speaker 1: about quitting altogether. Quote. I was being called such he
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  Speaker 1: things to my face by strangers, and all I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to do was be able to speak to my people,
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  Speaker 1: to tell my story, to understand why they hated me
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  Speaker 1: so much, And no one wanted to talk to me.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it wasn't just words and harassment, but during
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  Speaker 2: an actual competition, there was calls for some of the
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  Speaker 2: judges to not even watch or judge them as part
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  Speaker 2: of the competition. Harris said about that moment, the point
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  Speaker 2: at which they finally saw me was when the judges
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  Speaker 2: walked off saying that what was happening to me was wrong.
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  Speaker 2: When a huge protest happened while I was dancing, and
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  Speaker 2: when people saw what was happening to me, and they
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  Speaker 2: no longer saw me as an idea or a confused person,
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  Speaker 2: or as queer or as transgender. They saw me as
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  Speaker 2: a human being, and they found themselves within me. And
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  Speaker 2: though it took some time for them to be able
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  Speaker 2: to get support from the public, Harris has always had
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  Speaker 2: the support of their family and from those around them.
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  Speaker 2: They said, I had a guidance counselor who I had
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  Speaker 2: seen my entire life, and when I was thinking of
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  Speaker 2: switching schools, she told me, Sharinte, you're at a place
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  Speaker 2: where you have two paths ahead of you. No matter
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  Speaker 2: which path you take, you're destined for greatness. That really
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  Speaker 2: liberated me. If I stayed in my old school district
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  Speaker 2: and in the closet, I don't think I would have
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  Speaker 2: been accepted into a dual degree program at Brown University.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think I would be a presidential scholar or
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  Speaker 2: an LGBT History Month icon. I likely would not have
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  Speaker 2: done any activism work for my two spirited community.
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  Speaker 1: And they continue to compete and advocate for both the
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  Speaker 1: queer and their indigenous communities. They were featured in a
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two documentary title Being Thunder, which tells Harris's
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  Speaker 1: story struggles and passions. They told Glad that they hoped
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  Speaker 1: that quote the name of the Narragansett will be remembered again.
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  Speaker 1: I mean to go from being the most powerful people
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  Speaker 1: in the region to having under three thousand citizens at
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  Speaker 1: this point in our tribal community. It is of the
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  Speaker 1: utmost importance that we are seen when people watch the film,
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  Speaker 1: I want them to see that we are still here.
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  Speaker 1: I want them to reconsider the ideas that they have
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  Speaker 1: around gender and two spirit people, and if they open
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  Speaker 1: their perspective to other cultures, they would see just how
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  Speaker 1: vast and diverse human experience is. So I hope it's
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  Speaker 1: a learning opportunity. The documentary also only shows the tiniest
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  Speaker 1: of glimpses of what Narroganstic people are like. There is
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  Speaker 1: so much more to us beneath the surface, and I
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  Speaker 1: hope that glimpse makes them want to learn more about us.
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  Speaker 2: Right and when asked what they would tell young people today,
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  Speaker 2: Harris said, we view our future and our past is connected.
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  Speaker 2: All of this has happened before, and all of it
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  Speaker 2: will happen again. There's peace in knowing that whatever injustices
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  Speaker 2: you might face, and despite the pain you may know,
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  Speaker 2: so intimately work to find peace. You might not be
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  Speaker 2: able to, but nothing is forever if you can endure
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  Speaker 2: through that journey, nothing is forever. Once that pain has
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  Speaker 2: left you, I pray that you can regard it with
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  Speaker 2: peace and respect for the role it has played in
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  Speaker 2: your story. For our story would be terribly dull and
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  Speaker 2: pointless if we did not all have our own battles.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, as always, I can't wait to look into this more. Yeah, yes,
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  Speaker 1: and come back to it later, I'm sure. But as
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  Speaker 1: always to listeners, if you have any suggestions for this segment,
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  Speaker 1: please write in. You can email us at Stephanie and
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us
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• 8:19
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• 8:22
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• 8:25
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• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Yes Things. As always to our super producer Christina, our
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: executive producer Maya, and our contributor Joey, thank you all,
• 8:39
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