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March 29, 2021 19 mins

For Melanie and her community, protecting the earth and our water is a way of life – even if it puts them in conflict with others - because, without it, there is no life.  

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Melanie (00:10):
We're calling Earth activists - get your vote out,
make it count. Help protectMother Earth, help protect the
water.
This guy goes,I need a job more than I need
water, though.
And I was like, Yeah, butwithout water, you're
like, you're not really going tolive. And I was like, so you
can't really have a job withoutwater, so
help protect Mother Earth. So hesaid, Do you want me to vote for
water? So I said yes, vote forwater!

DB Crema (00:35):
This is United States of Race - personal stories of
how our earliest memoriesdetermine a lifetime of
relationships. Each episodefeatures one guest sharing their
experiences with race, listenwithout prejudice to their real,
uninhibited stories, because bysharing when we first learned,
we are all different, we findthe common thread that shows us

(00:58):
how much we are all the same.
I'm your host DB Crema. ForMelanie and her community,
protecting the earth and ourwater is a way of life, even if
it puts them in conflict withothers, because without it,
there is no life.

(01:19):
When did you become aware ofrace?

Melanie (01:22):
Um, when we first moved to Wichita, Kansas. When I was
in first grade through fourthgrade, we moved to the ghetto
there, and my mom got a jobthere in a factory. So we moved
there. And we lived right in themiddle of the black ghetto.
Because I remember they had thetall apartment, brick apartment

(01:46):
buildings.

DB Crema (01:47):
Section 8 housing.

Melanie (01:48):
Yeah. And I used to think those are so cool. They're
so tall.
And then, but then right on theother side of the sidewalk, was
the Chinese. And we moved tothis place, and people would
talk real different. Andsometimes I couldn't understand
them. ButI was a culture shocked. And
Because they talked different.
But that's when I firstrealized.
that's when I first realizedthat there was a different race.

DB Crema (02:08):
So basically, before first grade, you were always
But I realized that they werelike us back on the rez, because
they all lived together. Thegrandmas all took care of the
kids outside in theneighborhood. The grandmas and
the uncles and auntie's were allsitting on the porches with
their, with all the kids runningaround. So I was like, these
around people who look like you.
guys are a little bit different.
And I noticed the smell wasdifferent. It didn't smell like

(02:28):
frybread no more. But everybodywas outside. Everybody was
hopscotching, we're all doubledutching. They taught us how to
double dutch. And it was alrigt. That's when I realized, I
as like, well, there's other peole in the world. But these guys
re darker and then these guys ae a little bit different. But
I couldn't understand eiter... I couldn't understand any

Melanie (02:57):
Yeah, pretty much. We grew up here in the country with
no electric, no water. A lot offamilies stacked up on top of
each other. And just mostlynatives, just pow wows.
Everybody eating together,everybody living together. And
then the only difference withmoving to the place where I
moved, was the color weredifferent. That was it.

DB Crema (03:20):
How did it make you feel? Because you know, you saw
people who looked different, butwere very much the same in terms
of community and family. But youwere now, I assume, one of the
few people who looked like you.
Did you feel out of place? Didyou... like how did you feel?

Melanie (03:34):
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I just wanted to fit in. I was
just hoping to be accepted. Andthey did. They accepted me. And
it was, it was alright. It feltgood to be there. I felt at
home, I felt... Yeah, I felt athome. We were able to go in and
out of their houses just like wedid here. Of course, they'd

(03:54):
always get mad, chase us outsidejust like everyone else did. But
it was all the same. So I didn'treally feel any different. I
just remember wanting to, to,like touch them to see if they
felt the same - their hair. Withmy, with my black girlfriends, I
always wanted to touch theirhair because it felt a little

(04:15):
different.
Then they'd touched my hair. Youknow, we would do stuff like
that. Yeah, yeah. And I learneda lot of cool things. I learned
how to double dutch. That wasreally cool, because that's all
we ever did.

DB Crema (04:29):
Okay, so like you think about how people talk
about the ghetto. And especiallyin the media, when you talk
about the ghetto, it's always avery negative view of it. Right?
But you have a really positiveview of it.

Melanie (04:42):
I don't think we see it like that as kids when we're
growing up. I think only adultslike that. Only adults see the
negativity. I think kids arejust like, just now in the
present moment. Yeah. So it'salways really happy.

DB Crema (04:59):
What were you taught about being Native American,
what did it mean for you as achild?

Melanie (05:04):
Um, just to be nice to everybody.
That was it. Just to respecteverybody. We were just raised
to respect everything andeverybody. We went to pow wows,
we went to ceremony, we went toSundance. I didn't really learn
about other races, except forwhite people. The only other

(05:25):
race that lived here was whitepeople. So, we didn't really
interact with the white peoplethat lived on the reservation,
though.

DB Crema (05:37):
Why were the white people on the reservation?

Melanie (05:40):
They, they live here.
They own a lot of businesseshere. They own the stores, they
own the gas stations, they runthe schools. Well, I think they
came first from the churches tobring religion to the Native
Americans.

DB Crema (05:57):
But didn't you already have your own religion?

Melanie (05:59):
Yeah, we do. But they brought Catholicism. But we
didn't go. We had, we had sweat.
My grandfather was morespiritual. He was a medicine man
here. He would lead all thesundance here, which is prayer
with the piercing through thechest. Just mostly praying for
the people, there's a big treein the middle. It's the dances
of self sacrifice, fasting.

DB Crema (06:27):
Tell me about pow wows. Because I think pow wows
is something that everyone hasheard of, right? But um, you
know, I don't know that really,we understand what it's about
and what the purpose is.

Melanie (06:38):
Pow wows are a gathering. They are meant for
celebration, and communitygatherings. And it's someplace
where we can all get togetherand see each other, and
celebrate life and celebrate ourculture. Getting to know each
other. Of course, it's happy,there's music going, there's
drumming going, there's food,you know. In the bigger pow

(06:58):
wows, okay, like the gatheringof nations. The bigger ones are
all the tribes coming together,and finding out what their
tribes are doing, what they'regoing through, what problems
they might be facing. What'shappening in their community, is
it going to come to ourcommunity next? Like with the

(07:19):
oil that went to the Mandan,Hidatsa, Arikara tribe in
Newtown, North Dakota. But thenthey got a lot of trouble with
the oil. So then our tribe gotworried after like going up
there, and we're going to theirpow wows, and we're seeing their
land being destroyed. And thenwe're like, oh, shoot, is that
gonna come to our tribe? Youknow? So that's kind of like

(07:42):
what pow wows do.

DB Crema (07:43):
So you're talking about oil? Are you talking about
the pipeline or pipelines comingin?

Melanie (07:48):
Yeah, the pipelines coming in.

DB Crema (07:50):
And tell me about that. Why, why are you concerned
about the pipelines coming in?

Melanie (07:53):
We're worried about it, because we don't want it to get
into our water. I'm only verypassionate about it. Because
I've been to a lot of otherplaces where there's water, we
couldn't drink a lot of thewater down south. And we come
back home. And the water is soclear up here. And it doesn't

(08:14):
hurt our skin. It doesn't giveus rashes. Other places that
I've lived, we can't drink thetap water, we have to go buy the
water. Or there's days or wehave to boil the water before we
drink it. But the oil, the oil!Oh my lord. The oil is going to
ruin the water. And if the oilruins the water up here,

(08:35):
everything downstream is ruined.
So that's why I'm always like,water!
We want to drink clear water. Wedon't want the oil in our water.
And there's a reason why the oilis so far down in the earth and
they say, keep it in the groundbecause there was a reason why
it's down there. It wasn't putup here with man. We're like the

(08:58):
oil is not up here with man.
There's a reason why the earthwas created with it being down
at the core. So why are wedigging it up? And, and without
water we have no grass, we haveno plant life. Without plant
life, we have no animals. Noanimals, there's no... we're
animals. I mean, we're animals.
So we're mammals or whatever. SoI'm like, without clean water.

(09:24):
There's nothing, there's nolife. So if we ruin our water.

DB Crema (09:28):
We're ruining us.

Melanie (09:30):
Yeah.

DB Crema (09:31):
But what about, um, the companies and the engineers
and the government all say thatyou can take out the oil in a
way that doesn't hurt the wateror hurt the rest of the earth.

Melanie (09:41):
They say that? I'm sitting here like, they say
that?

DB Crema (09:47):
They do. They do.

Melanie (09:50):
Okay. Um, I don't know.
We're the only species thattries to destroy its habitat.
Why? Every other species triesto live in harmony with it and
they only take what they needand they need to use. But I'm
like, why are we such consumers?

(10:13):
Consumption of everything orwhatever?
I'm like, why do we do that?
We're just destroying it.

DB Crema (10:19):
What does it mean to be an earth activist? How do you
see your role as an earthactivist? And does that have to
do with being native? Do you seethose things being connected?
Like,

Melanie (10:28):
Yeah, it's all around us. We're always talking about
Unci Maka, Mother Earth, she isthe one who provides for us, sh
gives us life. She provides ouair, she provides our water. We
come from her, and we return toher. And we often say, our an

(10:50):
estors, my ancestors are in ths land, I have to be here. Li
e, one day I was thinking abut it. And then I was just si
ting out at, we're sitting don at the river, and I was pl
ying with the earth. And I walike lifting up the sand. An
we're just pouring it. And I walike, Oh, so much prayers ha
e been said down here. This issitting Bull's campsite. And I
as like, so much prayers have ben said down here. The people wh

(11:11):
were here before me, are bak in this earth. We do go ba
k to the earth. Our grndfathers are in the rocks. Tha

DB Crema (11:17):
Do you ever feel like being an activist to you know,
's why we take them into cermony. We take the heated roc
s into ceremony, because the're in there, they're in the ear
h, and rock only forms after itas been in the earth for so lon
. Like, that's why we're so cray about protecting Mother Ear
h, because I think a lot of usust feel like we come from the

(11:40):
earth, we return to the earh, the earth provides eve
ything for us. If we don't takcare of the water, that pro
ides nourishment for the plat life and the animals we wil
not live. So water is imprtant. Taking care of the Ear
h is important, not to polute it. So being an activist is

(12:03):
important to me. Ah, I just, wen I when we look at the g
andchildren here, we're always lke, Is there going to be...? Ar
they going to be able to sustaithemselves, once we're gone? Or
is the world going to beso polluted that we're gonna e

(12:23):
d up leaving a big pile for thm to clean up just to surviv
? It's important, it's importat to take care of the future, n
t just us. We don't own the lan. We are just borrowing it fr
m our children hoping to leavet in a better, in a better way f

(12:48):
r them, or leave it the waywe found it. But that's not
he case. It's not happening lke that. We're just destroy
ng everything. And we just becoma bunch of consumers and
ur elders in us we all talk abut leaving not such a mess f
r them. Not Not Not Not what we'e doin

(13:13):
protect and preserve the earthputs you in conflict with other
races?

Melanie (13:18):
Oh, yes.
Yes, that happened that DAPL.
Dakota Access Pipeline, theybuilt the pipeline, right above
the Standing Rock Reservation.
Right like where there's theStanding Rock rez, and then
there's the state? Well, there'sthis, this unceded territory,

(13:39):
that's the Army Corps ofEngineers, they own the land,
the United States governmentowns that land that's in between
the rez and the state land.
There's this empty part. It's agray area. That's why we fought
because it's not theirs, bytheir, by the law that they say
that the land is there's thestate law. And it's not the

(14:00):
reservation, the land that hasbeen put aside for us to be on
or put on or whatever, but soit's that gray area. They put
the pipeline up there, but it'sright next to our reservation
line. And that's where a lot ofour...I mean, it's right on the

(14:22):
river. We live right along theriver. And it crosses the river,
the main stream, the MissouriRiver is the main blood vein
that runs down through thecenter of the United States and
it's right next to us. So we'relike okay, so if the pipeline
bursts, we're going to be thefirst to know. We're not going
to have any water. But we're notonly just worried about us,

(14:44):
we're like everybody downstreamis not going to have water.
That's going to polluteeverybody's... and we're talking
everybody down south from NorthDakota down. So it's gonna
pollute everybody's water. Sothen, by then it's gonna hit The
ocean. We're just like, we'rejust thinking all these things.
And we're like, No, this can'thappen. They can't put this oil

(15:04):
here, it's not that important tohave oil. So why are we putting
our land at risk and our waterat risk? So we're like, No, this
can't be. So we fought, and itput us in a bad position. And
it's a touchy subject here now.
It brought a lot of conflictbetween us and the government

(15:26):
and the state side. Just tryingto protect the water. So yes, it
does bring conflict and it does,it does affect us. But we're
still gonna fight. We're stillsaying don't do it!

DB Crema (15:39):
The way you talk about your relationship to the earth,
and the need to protect it isdifferent than a lot of other
people talk about it and yourworld is, is oftentimes in
conflict with the rest of theworld. I should say the rest of
the world is in conflict withyour efforts to live in harmony

(16:01):
with the environment.

Melanie (16:04):
Um, I don't know, we live in the country. Where we
live, it's the country. It'sscary to go out and walk because
there's, there's mountain lions,there's, there's wild animals
out there. And if you have todepend on being out there for a
whole day, which I have, I'vegotten lost...

(16:25):
just last year.
So, I got lost out in the woods,and I couldn't find my way out.
And I remember thinking it washot that day. And I was like,
yeah, we really do need cleanwater - to drink it out of here.
And it was so hot. Just beingoutside with all the elements,

(16:46):
the water, the dirt,the plantlife.

DB Crema (16:49):
You're reminded how minuscule you are in the grand
scheme of things. But yet, alsoit reminds you the importance
of, you know, every single... ittakes every single drop of water
to make the ocean. It takes eachof us to make this this
universe.

Melanie (17:08):
Everything... you realize how small of a person
you are. How defenseless youare, in this whole grand scheme
of things. Because you're like,you get out in the woods, and
you're like, Oh, I'm reallynothing.
I'm like, I'm as fragile as thatbranch or whatever. You're like,

(17:30):
I just became not the top of thefood chain. But now I've moved
down.
And maybe people in the city,how they can understand how
important nature is, is to justreally seriously just go get
dropped off somewhere and haveto survive out there and see,
see if you can find clean water.
So maybe leave your cell phones,leave your car keys and just get

(17:55):
dropped off in the wildernesssomewhere and find your way
home. And then you'll see howimportant it is to take care of
something so fragile, becauseyou become something so small.

DB Crema (18:19):
Thanks for listening to United States of Race. This
podcast was produced by me, DBCrema. Our artwork is designed
by Aly Creative, and ourrecordings are done via
Squadcast FM. With everythingbeing remote these days,
Squadcast delivers studioquality remote recording for all
your podcast needs.

(18:40):
If you love great storytelling,you can follow United States of
Race on Spotify, Apple podcasts,or wherever you get your
podcasts. And show us some loveby rating and writing a review
on Apple podcasts or Podchaser.
You can also share this podcastwith your friends and anyone who
believes in the power ofbuilding connection through
sharing personal stories. Andyou can follow us on Instagram

(19:02):
at unitedstatesofrace. And asalways, if you Yes, you have a
compelling story to share andwould like to be featured in an
upcoming episode. Send us amessage at
unitedstatesofrace@gmail.com.
Until next time.
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