Women Around the World: Sarah Eagle Heart

Today we shine a light on Emmy Award-winning activist Sarah Eagle Heart. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Andy and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
Never Told your production of iHeartRadio. Oh and we as
we have rounded our wonderful month long celebration of Halloween

(00:26):
and all things spooky, we are now coming into the
month of Devena. I guess we've been in the month
of November for about a week now, but you know,
I'm a little behind. That's pretty usual. And we here
in the US are entering into Native American Heritage Month
and we wanted to celebrate that because you know, we're
really big about talking about Indigenous voices and especially Indigenous

(00:47):
women who oftentimes are not seen or have been erased
or have been ignored, and we don't like that. We
will not allow that, and therefore we will celebrate these
amazing women. And we are starting with Sarah Ego Heart,
who is a part of Emmy legacy. Now I think
I'm trying to remember, Annie, Yes, have you ever won

(01:11):
an Emmy? I've won my own version. Yeah, for it
was for my marvelous uh acting in what we call
shower alone time seeds with any You never did that

(01:35):
in the shower You won like an award and it
was your shampoo bottle. No. See, this is where I
think I'm abnormal because I did not have the childhood imagination.
I'm doing things like that and I think, like, normally
would I've never had that. But I love this and
I kind of want to re enactment of one of them.
I want to hear the thank you speech. Would I

(01:57):
be a part of practiced it? Oh? Oh yeah, Okay, okay.
Because I know you're eventually gonna win an Emmy. I
know it's going to happen in that. But for today,
we're going to talk about Sarah eagle Heart, who did
actually win an Emmy, who was raised in the Oglala
Lakota tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota,

(02:20):
and if her name again sounds familiar, there are may
be a few reasons for that, including the fact she
was one of the organizers for the Women's March a
few years ago, so it was a really big key
proponent into trying to make the Women's March a little
more diverse and inclusive, as well as the fact that, yeah,
she won an Emmy for Crow the Legend, which also

(02:41):
featured John Legend, who was a voice Oprah Winfrey and constance. Woo.
It's like an eighteen minute animation. I really want to watch.
I don't know where it's available, but I really want
to watch it because apparently it's beautifully done. Again, there's
some phenomenal actors here as well as Eagle Heart, who
plays the moon apparently. But yes, so if you have
sing it, please let us know because I want to.

(03:01):
I want to know where I can stream it. I
guess I could just buy it. Yeah. Yeah, and if
we do find it, we were talking about doing my
name any on it, discussing it. Yeah, I definitely want
to watch it. Eagle Heart has been an activist for
quite some time, including protesting her neighboring school for their
appropriative homecoming ceremony in which they quote recreated a ceremony
with medicine men, warrior princess and a big chief. And yes,

(03:24):
it was done by white students most of the time, right.
Apparently it was like a neighboring schools to her reservation
and they're like, what is happening? Wait? And this was
before social media, which was a little it's a little
easier to hold people accountable. But she and her friends
and her sister were able to go and be like, hey, y'all,

(03:44):
you'll need to quit um and as it was able
to put a stop to it. So that's incredible scene.
And I can't imagine being a teenager to actually do that,
especially not at my own school. That's amazing. But yeah,
but just being able to be an activist at teenage
years as phenomenal. Um And Yeah, she continued in her
fight to advocate for the indigenous community. She's been working
internationally to seek social and environmental justice. Also she's done

(04:07):
it within her own church and community. As we talked about,
she actually worked within the Episcopalian Church to become the
first major denomination to denounce the doctrine of Discovery, which,
if you don't know, was a doctrine that advocated for
the quote superiority of people's or individuals on the basis
of national origin or race or racial, religious, ethnic, or

(04:29):
cultural differences. And this actually legitimized the colonization of indigenous
people around the world and unsurprisingly also dehumanized and exploited
the indigenous people. Yeah, also still exists today and can
be seen in different doctrines, even in court cases in
the US, which makes me nauseous. I hate that Yeah. Absolutely.

(04:50):
She has continued her advocacy as a social justice storyteller,
sharing her knowledge of her community, culture and traditions to
educate and bring positive change, and she was able to
do so with her involvement in the short film Crow
the Legend. She says about the film, the power behind
the piece is an authentic cultural and storytelling process conducted
with integrity. Native perspectives were included from the very beginning,

(05:14):
and we were invited to tell our own stories rather
than having others tell them for us. The themes of
Crow the Legend sacrifice, inclusivity, and community. Eagle Heart has
had many things on her plate, including being co founder
of the Indigenous Women Rise, which was formed in two
seventeen as part of the Women's March on Washington. As
we talked about, and she continues to work to advocate

(05:36):
for the advancement of Indigenous people's rights and to raise
awareness for issues and needs within the indigenous community. She
recently served as the CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy,
which quote promotes equitable and effective philanthropy in Native communities
and according to their side, if you want to go
visit it says our vision is for all Native communities

(05:56):
to be restored to full health and sustainability through sponsibility.
And of course she has been awarded for her tire
list work, and not just with an Emmy, but it
was also awarded with the American Express Engine Leadership Award
at the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Developments TOP
forty under forty. She's currently working on a book with

(06:17):
her twin sister on healing, leadership and advocacy that is
slated to be published in So excited about that. Yeah,
So if you want to go see what all she's doing,
she is not slowed down at all and has going
on to speak at other things that she is an actress,
I believe, and I'm sure we'll be see our featured
hopefully a lot more things because she deserves to be

(06:37):
at the forefront. She's a consultant for some of the
production companies in Hollywood in the film industry. So I'll
hope they do listen, yes, and then continue to push
for the voices to be out in front, for Native
voices to be out in front and not just a
secondary Yes, yes, yes, yes, And as always, listeners, if

(07:00):
there's somebody you think we should be spotlighting, in these segments.
Please send any suggestions are a way. You can emails
at stuff your mom Stuff at iHeart media dot com.
You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
or on Instagram at stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks
as always, you are a super producer. Christina, Thank you
and thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told
His protection of I Heart Radio. For more podcast from
my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app. Apple podcast

(07:21):
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