On this special episode of Our Body Politic, we highlight the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women’s (MMIW) crisis. Guest-host Andrea Ambam, speaks with Lorna Cuny, Co-Founder of the Medicine Wheel Ride and Darlene Gomez, who is General Counsel for Medicine Wheel Ride, about The Medicine Wheel Riders, a national group raising awareness about the MMIW crisis. Then Andrea speaks with Alecia Onzahwah, about her efforts to arm Indigenous women with tools to defend themselves. We round out the show with Andrea speaking with Prairie Rose Seminole, co-director of the documentary We Ride for Her.
Andrea Ambam [00:00:05] Hi, folks. We're so glad you're listening to Our Body Politic. If you haven't yet, remember to follow this podcast on your podcatcher of choice, like Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. And if you have time, please leave us a review. It helps other listeners find us and we read them for your feedback. Here's what one of you had to say. This podcast is such an essential resource for our collective political health. The conversations push my thoughts and I walk away with questions about justice, privilege, representation and the informative power of everyday political experiences and people. Super fortunate to have encountered this and excited to share with others. Thanks so much for the work you do. Thank you for that review. We're so glad you like the show. You can also reach out to us on Instagram and X @OurBodyPolitic where you can sign up for our newsletter. Just click the link in our bio. We're here for you with you and because of you. So keep letting us know what's on your mind. Thanks for listening.
Andrea Ambam [00:01:18] This is Our Body Politic. I'm guest host Andrea Ambam, artist and host of Level Forward’s More To Talk About. Sitting in for Farai Chideya. So you know, we're going to be sharing stories of violence against women on this show. So please take care of yourself while listening.
The FBI estimates that as of 2022, over 5000 Indigenous women and girls have been reported missing. And according to the U.S. Department of Justice, almost 300 Indigenous women are currently missing. While these numbers are unsettling, experts and community members say those numbers are significantly undercounted and with little support from the U.S. government, Indigenous women have taken on the responsibility to spread the word of this silent crisis. The Medicine Wheel Riders are a group of Indigenous women and allies who ride their motorcycles all over the country, sharing the stories of women and relatives who have gone missing or have been murdered. In August, I got to spend some time with the writers as they rode their motorcycles for their annual ride. This year, these women and allies rode from Arizona to South Dakota.
Lorna Cuny [00:02:38] I didn't really have a whole lot of knowledge about biker culture… Biker community. I was just a housewife and a mom.
Andrea Ambam [00:02:44] That was Lorna Cuny. In a clip from the documentary, We Ride For Her for ten days through five states. The Medicine Wheel Riders rode to raise awareness for the missing and murdered Indigenous women's crisis, also referred to as MMIW . On the journey, the riders traveled through Indigenous communities, sharing stories and working towards a future where the lives of Indigenous women are protected, valued and celebrated. Let's listen to another clip from the documentary, We Ride For Her.
MOVIE CLIP - I feel that a lot of our population are very at risk. And being female, you're very vulnerable to becoming part of a statistic of Native American women. To have something happen to you.
Andrea Ambam [00:03:40] To learn more about the Medicine Wheel Riders and their work, I'm joined by co-founder of the Medicine Wheel Ride. Lorna Cooney and Darlene Gomez, attorney at the law offices of Darlene Gomez and general counsel for the Medicine Will Ride. Welcome, Darlene, to Our Body Politic.
Darlene Gomez [00:03:56] Thank you for having me.
Andrea Ambam [00:03:57] And, Lorna, welcome to the show.
Lorna Cuny [00:03:59] Thank you. I'm glad to be here.
Andrea Ambam [00:04:01] Lorna, tell me about how you first brought together motorcycles and raising awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Lorna Cuny [00:04:09] Well, I think that, you know, when we first came together, you know, we were just a group of women who were strangers in the beginning who bonded over motorcycles. And, you know, when we met, we wanted to make a difference in our communities and do something to raise awareness about MMIW and about this epidemic. And so we went to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We met for the first time. And and that's whenever we did, you know, started planning for our first right across the United States.
Andrea Ambam [00:04:34] Darlene, I'm interested. You've been an attorney for 20 years. How did you get involved with the Medicine Wheel Riders?
Darlene Gomez [00:04:42] I actually got involved by chance. I was at an event where one of the co-founders was speaking, and I have a friend who went missing 23 years ago. And I actually did my first MMIW case 21 years ago. So I offered my services and I said, here is how I can help you, because it's a wonderful cause.
Andrea Ambam [00:05:04] Yeah, I love all the collisions and how people are coming together around the collective issue. You know, I had the honor of getting to see the Medicine Wheel Riders in Sturgis, and, you know, when bikers come to mind, I have a very biased image of what bikers look like. You know, like burly white guys. I'm from Missouri, so I know what burly white guys with tattoos who ride bikes look like. And I don't imagine that a lot of people picture a group of Indigenous women. Lorna, what is it like to take up space in the biker community?
Lorna Cuny [00:05:35] You know, it's really empowering for us, I feel like, especially at Sturgis, you know, because I did grow up here and, you know, like I think I said that in the video, we just didn't we didn't participate in the rally. You know, that wasn't something where you see a whole lot of Indigenous people. And so whenever you see a group of powerful Indigenous women, you know, reclaiming that space there, you know, because we started our sacred site at Bear Butte, it's powerful and it's meaningful, you know, And I feel like, you know, just riding through Sturgis, people stop and they're like, you know, who are these people and what are they doing?
Andrea Ambam [00:06:08] And you talked about that in the documentary We Ride For Her. And I want to mention we're talking to the documentary's co-director, Prairie Rose Seminole, later on in the show. Let's listen to a clip of you from that documentary.
Lorna Cuny MOVIE CLIP [00:06:21] Sturgis is the largest motorcycle rally in the United States. I grew up here knowing about Sturgis, but as an Indigenous person, we just didn't really participate in it. I do this ride not only to be a voice for our missing and murdered Indigenous people, but also to make an impact at the large event. We're trying to get the message out to as many people as we can. And I feel like that's where the awareness piece comes in, where we are able to talk about what we're doing and why we're doing it. And the support from Sturgis has been, you know, amazing, you know, and they've really embraced, you know, the ride every year that we've been there. And even the biker community has really embraced this, you know, this cause and… and us as Indigenous women.
Andrea Ambam [00:07:23] Mm hmm. Yeah. Even just getting to ride behind you all in a car, stopping traffic and and seeing the other riders who joined in on the journey there, it was just so cool. Darlene, how close are you to getting your motorcycle license now that you're with these group of women?
Darlene Gomez [00:07:41] Not very close, because I'm a bad driver. I have to admit, it looks cool. They ride cool, but I'm just not the best driver.
Andrea Ambam [00:07:53] You know, they say everyone has their work in you know, in this collective work and activism. Everyone plays their role. And Darlene, you got your role and the riders got their roles and it's totally okay. Lorna, can you tell us what is a medicine wheel and how is the wheel and the philosophy of the wheel incorporated into the rides?
Lorna Cuny [00:08:11] Yeah, you know, I mean, I think to several cultures, you know, the medicine wheel ride. You know, is, you know, it's like a symbolism, a balance unit. Everything that we do, you know, And in many, you know, Indigenous cultures, the circle is sacred to many of us because, you know, we believe that everything goes in a circle, even like, you know, whenever we are first born, you know, our life, we walk this Earth and then we return back to the Earth. It's all a cycle, you know, and the circle and there's meaning behind every single color, you know, within our medicine wheel. And each different color has meaning. And the meanings behind them are different with different Indigenous communities or cultures. You know, each one means something different to the different tribes. So to define that, I would have to go back and look for it, you know? But it's just, you know. But the medicine ride is it a symbol of balance of of life in general?
Andrea Ambam [00:09:13] Yeah. And do I have it right that in one of your first rides, y'all actually rode in the shape of the medicine wheel?
Lorna Cuny [00:09:19] Yes. That was the very first ride that we did. You know, there wasn't very many of us. I think, gosh it was just maybe, you know, maybe one or two people coming in from each direction. And then we met in Topeka, Kansas. And at that time they were having the Women's Freedom Ride in Topeka. And it just so happened to be the center of the medicine wheel, you know, coming in from four directions. And then with the Canadian women doing the outer circle, which was like 13,000 miles across the United States, and I think they touched… they started in Canada, you know, drove down to United States, touched on a corner of Mexico, and then back through California and back up to Canada to close up the circle. And then each of us… I rode in from the north.
Andrea Ambam [00:10:10] Picked up a few extra miles.
Lorna Cuny [00:10:11] Yeah. And so, I mean, the very first ride I don't really know that we, you know. We just knew we wanted to do something. You know, we wanted to take action. And that was our way of taking action. You know, it was embarking on this huge journey across the United States. And, you know, for me, we carried… I carried the name for the people that are here in South Dakota. I carried those names with me, you know, on my bike. And that was very emotional, you know, carrying those names with me.
Andrea Ambam [00:10:45] Yeah. And just to see even in such a short time how the ride has grown, I'm sure that has to be an incredible experience from both of you going to nine to almost 200 folks supporting this journey. So cool. My next question is for you, Darlene. You are currently representing Jamie Yazzie’s family in a trial of her murder. Tell us, who is Jamie Yazzie and how did you and the family come together for this trial?
Darlene Gomez [00:11:14] So Jamie Yazzie is a Navajo woman who is a mother, a daughter. She has three beautiful children and she worked as a nursing assistant for Indian Health Services. And she was brutally murdered by an alleged perpetrator. And it took almost. Four years for her family to get justice. And so I started this journey after I received a referral from the Medicine Wheel Ride in August of 2019. And so I started working with a family. We started doing press releases calling the FBI, calling the Navajo Nation criminal investigators, just doing everything we could to keep Jamie's name on the reservation, off reservation, just so nobody would forget about her.
Andrea Ambam [00:12:02] Last month, Jamie Yazzie’s family celebrated her birthday with purple balloons in hand and her favorite song playing in the background. Her family sang her Happy birthday in Phoenix, Arizona, as the trial for her murder continues. Darlene captured the celebration on her TikTok, where she updates community members about the trial.
[Jamie Yazzie’s FAMILY SINGING]
Andrea Ambam - And Lorna, earlier you talked about writing with names, given the statistics on missing and murdered Indigenous women. How rare is it for a case like this to actually get to trial? Darlene.
Darlene Gomez [00:13:34] I believe the numbers are probably less than 5% of all cases that actually even get to the prosecution level. And that speaks volumes for the data that just is not out there. When you speak to these families, they not only have one MMIW victim in their family, sometimes they have two. Three. It's generational. And I think the Jamie Yazzie family has shown families that there's hope that they're able to band together, that their voices can be heard, and that at some point law enforcement and the U.S. Attorney's office has to follow through with their trust responsibilities.
Andrea Ambam [00:14:20] Hmm. Yeah. Generational and how it continues to impact families all the way down to the youngest ones, which is something I got to see while I was in South Dakota with you all. And there's also, you know, you mention this. There are so many factors that exacerbate the MMIW crisis. And the history of colonialism is a major thread and why this is happening. Darlene, how does the history inform today's treatment of Indigenous women and people?
Darlene Gomez [00:14:50] You look at generations of the federal government and their policies taking land away. Sending children to boarding schools. The first colonizers that came in from Spain that were raping and trading women to one another. This is a long history. Now, in today's world, we have the FBI, who continues not to investigate crimes in Indian Country like MMIW to the extent that they investigate other crimes. This is their third priority. And until we change government policies, this is going to continue to occur. And we must demand that the federal government puts federal dollars into police agencies, to victims services, to social services, because this is just going to continue to happen.
Andrea Ambam [00:15:46] Yeah. And the visibility here seems to be, you know, so important, which is why just the the visual of the riders going through different towns and reservations and cities is so powerful. And I imagine that there's so much on your mind, Lorna, and for all of the riders as you're riding, you said you ride with the names many of the times. Can you talk to me about what it feels like when you're on the open road riding for the MMIW crisis? What do you think about it?
Lorna Cuny [00:16:22] For me, you know, it is it's…it's really meaningful, you know, because I know, like for me, I know this year I think we kind of all started off, you know, with heavy hearts when we started the ride in Phoenix, you know, and. It was hot. It was super hot. It was, you know, just putting up with the heat and you think about it and you just put things in perspective and it's like, you know, we're doing this for the families and it's what makes it all worth it. Like, you know, what am I complaining about on this bike? You know, we're doing this for these families and, you know, and what they're going through. As far. More difficult than me sitting on this bike. And so it isn't an honor to be able to honor these families and let them know that we are here for them and that we will not let their loved ones be forgotten. And, you know, and being able to support them, you know, is really meaningful to our riders, you know? And I think just keeping that in perspective is, is that this is why we're doing this work, you know, to support families and to be there for the families. And I, you know, when we come into the communities to see the families that come out to welcome us, you know, to say thank you, you know, for not, you know, forgetting about my loved one, you know, is it just makes it all worth it.
Andrea Ambam [00:17:53] I'm always so honored to spend time with you all. And I'll never forget my time on the ride with you all. Lorna Cuny, co-founder of the Medicine Wheel Ride, thank you for joining us today.
Lorna Cuny [00:18:07] Thank you for having me.
Andrea Ambam [00:18:08] And Darlene Gomez, attorney and general counsel for Medicine Wheel Ride. Thank you.
Darlene Gomez [00:18:14] Thank you for having me.
[SINGING]
Andrea Ambam [00:18:23] We turn next to Oklahoma, home to almost 40 federally recognized tribes. Oklahoma also has the 10th highest rate of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the country, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute. And as we've learned, it often falls to families to investigate crimes against their loved ones. That's what happened to one Oklahoma mother whose daughter disappeared in 2021. Now she's trying to protect other Native families any way she can with useful information and tools to fight off violence. Joining me now is Alecia Onzahwah, founder of the Skye Woman Project, and more recently, Skye Woman Beauty, a new beauty brand that also offers self-defense tools. Alisha The Skye Woman project is named for your daughter, Skye, tragically lost in 2021. What happened to her?
Alecia Onzahwah [00:19:19] She was found under a bridge. It was in the middle of the night. On the night of January 9th, 2021, she was found unresponsive by a motorist that came upon her. According to the motorists and the reports of their scene, she was, like I said, unresponsive. And another vehicle was approaching from the opposite direction of him. It's my understanding that he tried to stop that vehicle by turning his lights, flashing his lights. The vehicle at first slowed down, but then proceeded to go on and ran over my daughter. And so we just had questions after that. It just didn't make sense for her to be out there in the middle of the night. It was pretty cold that night. And so we immediately began having questions of our own.
Andrea Ambam [00:20:11] And did you feel like they were taking your concerns seriously?
Alecia Onzahwah [00:20:16] Absolutely not. Back in 2000, I think it was 2006… She went missing at that time. And that at that time it was before MMIW missing and murdered Indigenous women before that became of movement. And so there really wasn't a lot of resources to turn to as much as there are now. And of course, the Internet was was kind of limited. It's not the same as it is now. But when I went to report her as missing, I was at the age of 15, I was told that they would put their patrols on notice and look out for her. But the thing about it is my family is a very tight knit family. The only people that she went and spent the night with, if she ever did, was cousins or relatives that were around her age. And so it was mainly Native Native people. And my oldest daughter had seen her leave that time, and she had left with first of all, they were white. She had noticed that they were out of their out of state plates. And so that immediately set off a red flag for me. And so when I went to the police and informed them of this, they still didn't take me seriously, was I was met with the same level of apathy then as I have now. Thankfully, I had an aunt that stood by me and helped me kind of think things through. She's like we gotta get some fliers up immediately. And of course, the first 24 to 48 hours is always critical. So I contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and it was only then when I explained to them they saw the criticalness of it. And so they put me in touch with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. They contacted the local police for me. They came, the OSBI, came down to our town and set up a command center, and that's when everything began to get really real. But that's when things began to set in. And they came to my house. They asked me if they could search the home. They wanted to do a forensic search on the computer. They did find her. They did house to assist her in getting away from those people. And they took her into custody. Once they once they were able to get her and they placed her in a shelter, a youth shelter until we were able to go and get her home. And so at that time, we considered ourselves very fortunate. Because even then I had heard of stories, especially from Canada, of Native women disappearing, Native women and girls. So we considered ourselves very fortunate that we we got her back. But the fact that this happened twice to my daughter, I cannot wrap my mind around. You know, here we got her back. And 15 years later, here we are on the other side. Now we're on the murdered side.
Andrea Ambam [00:23:01] Yeah. Alecia, I mean, you said it so clearly in the journey and in the action you all had to take when she was missing, and 15 years later, the action you had to take when she was very likely murdered. What's your goal for this Skye Woman Project?
Alecia Onzahwah [00:23:19] Because her case was not taken seriously and not investigated properly? I strongly feel that and we had to take that up. That included having to look at pictures of the scene. So I had to look at that. I had to look at my child's put things in and I had to learn how to retrieve a 911 car report, how to retrieve an autopsy report, and putting those pieces together. And in trying to get as much information as I could and also looking at laws, you know, I laid there many nights, I of course, I couldn't sleep because of what happened, but laying there many lights and trying to figure out, you know, what am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? Who am I supposed to turn to? Is there any type of guide on this for families or surviving families? And I couldn't really find anything, especially anything that spoke specifically to the complexities of Native people, because it gets really complex when it comes to jurisdictional issues. As far as who oversees investigations and what kind of protocols are in place, just learning all of those things and. I've learned a lot over the last two years more than I would want to know. No parent should have to look at an autopsy report and see their child described in parts. But in the absence of the value of our loved ones' lives, sometimes we have to take things into our own hands. And in that circumstance, I wanted to make it easier for somebody out there if they find themselves in the same position. To make it easier and to provide some type of resource and some type of guidance on what to do. And so that's how the Skye Woman Project came to be. I just took all of that knowledge, everything I could, every type of resource that I could, and put it all together into one web based resource tool in hopes that some other mother or father or loved one are up at night by themselves alone. When the world is sleeping and has to try to find answers on what they should do, should they be met with the same level of apathy and just a devaluing of their loved one, that they can have some type of guidance on what their next step should be?
Andrea Ambam [00:25:44] Hmm. Yeah. Really providing a almost starter pathway or tool kit to address this issue. And I heard you saying in there, Alecia, those gaps. Can you talk more about how the state of Oklahoma tends to handle this issue?
Alecia Onzahwah [00:26:01] So when it comes to Native people, there is something we call Indian Country. It consists of federal lands, reservations, trust land or allotments. So in those instances, if a Native person, if there's a major crime committed against a Native person such as homicide, then it becomes a federal jurisdiction. However, my daughter, she was found on a road that was not considered within a reservation, but also not on an allotment, but rather is on a road. So therefore it was like a state road that would be considered within state jurisdiction. It can get really complex.
Andrea Ambam [00:26:39] Yeah. Alecia, you said complex and you said gaps. And when I hear you explaining all the intricacies of this, I, I hear that. And then it makes it so clear how people are the ones who fall through the cracks of those gaps. You also started a company earlier this year called Skye Woman Beauty, which sells makeup and self-defense tools. Why did it make sense for you to pair beauty with self-defense?
Alecia Onzahwah [00:27:07] Well, it started out with my oldest daughter. She had a hard time talking about the loss, you know, and kind of didn't want to face it. But eventually she kind of came around and she wanted to do something. That would honor Skye and Skye loved makeup, and that was one thing that was noticed is meticulous about it, you know? And I think that my niece, my daughter and her children remember, and as she was talking, I was thinking about it. And right now within Indian country, there is a trend, a fashion trend going on. And we're seeing numerous fashion shows, numerous beautiful designers coming out from, you know, from Indian Country. Along with that, of course, comes makeup and, you know, with makeup artists and things like that. And so now she's talking about this palette and seeing these trends and seeing all of these young people that are partaking in this. I asked her, I said, what if we could have we included self-defense products because as much. As awareness of MMIW and the issue itself has grown. I don't know that we're really utilizing the tools that are available for talking about prevention. I never thought about that. Even though my own daughter went missing at the age of 15. All of these years I've never thought about using self-defense products. I think part of it is it's just not marketed to us. I don't see any commercials on TV about it, but when you do, go look for those items. I don't see that they're really marketed towards women of color. And so my thought was, if we begin promoting these tools and putting these things in the forefront of our young women and young women's minds, then then maybe we can have some impact, some real impact on I'm hoping on trying to prevent further loss.
Andrea Ambam [00:29:04] I love how forward thinking Skye Woman Beauty already is, and just the overlaps and the connections between healing and self-expression and reclaiming power and standing in your power. It's all so exciting. What's in store for the future? What are your visions?
Alecia Onzahwah [00:29:24] Even if we don't grow as a company, then the main thing is to get our communities start utilizing these tools and not just these tools, but also start thinking of self-defense. Start fighting back. The time to resist is now. It's time to resist this, because this is… this is genocide and all these things that are happening. It's still enters on genocide, and even the lack of justice. You know, and so if we can't get justice, then we need to prevent. And that prevention includes, you know, includes all forms of self-defense, in my opinion. And we need to be our own saviors. It's a shame that we have to do this. We shouldn't have to. But in the absence of justice, prevention, I think, is is key.
Andrea Ambam [00:30:18] Thank you so much for saying that, Alecia. So much of the conversations that I've been having with folks around MMIW , MMIR, MMIP. The recurring theme has been self preservation and community preservation, and you are so actively and beautifully participating in that while carrying your own story and so many other stories. So Alecia Onzahwah, founder of the Skye Women Project and Skye Women Beauty. Thank you for joining us today.
Alecia Onzahwah [00:30:46] Thank you for having me. This means a lot. I really appreciate it.
[SINGING]
BREAK
[SINGING]
Andrea Ambam [00:31:35] Welcome back to Our Body Politic. I'm Andrea Ambam sitting in for Farai Chideya. With so many Native families grieving the loss of missing and or murdered women, the reality of their vulnerability is ever present. This continuing crisis is felt by Native people across North America, but outside of Native communities. Few people are talking about it. Prairie Rose Seminole is changing that. She's an educator, culture bearer and now co-director of the short documentary We Ride for Her. The film follows the Medicine Wheel Riders who we heard from earlier in the show. They ride motorcycles across the nation in support of those who've lost relatives to the missing and murdered Indigenous women's crisis, sometimes referred to as the missing and murdered Indigenous relatives crisis. Welcome to the show, Prairie Rose.
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:32:29] Hey, thank you. So nice to join you all today.
Andrea Ambam [00:32:31] We've been discussing the MMIR or MMIW crisis throughout the show. Give us your take on what's happening.
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:32:40] Yeah, the missing and murdered Indigenous relatives, which is MMIR are or Murdered Indigenous women and girls. And to spirit, which you'll often see in our hashtags as well. Sometimes MMIWG too. The crisis is happening across the country. It's been happening since colonial settling of these lands. There's a huge correlation between the extraction of our natural resources and the pillaging of our communities and the tearing up of our homes and communities, and it continues today.
Andrea Ambam [00:33:12] Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to do this advocacy work?
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:33:16] Absolutely. This started for me with the disappearance of our relatives and community members, both in my home area of Fargo, North Dakota, but now my home communities on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota. We've had marches, we've had walks, we've had gatherings of law enforcement to communicate the jurisdictional barriers happening between those layers of who responds. Right? But personally, it started to affect me more when my nephew was killed in winter of 2018, and then my older brother was killed also in 2018. And so it got personal real quick. When those types of situations happen and when this film, this film opportunity came about, I wasn’t ready to tell my story quite yet. It was a lot easier to channel my grief and advocacy into telling the story of others, and I took that on as a way that we can share the othering of our people in a way, especially with the film itself. Indigenous women are targeted and the resources that are put into searching for them and the justice for their families are just not the same as their white counterparts who go missing.
Andrea Ambam [00:34:28] Yeah, you know, they say that the personal is political or the political is personal. And I feel like that is so much in this conversation of how policies impact us personally and how our own personal experiences lead us to understand or be impacted by policy. What was the moment or the moments that then led you to work with the Medicine Wheel Riders in addressing the MMIR crisis?
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:34:53] Well, the history with that is partnering with the Red Sand Project, who's our primary producer on this film. We knew we wanted to create a series of short documentaries, starting with missing murdered Indigenous relatives, missing, murdered Indigenous women. So we started talking to folks and gathering stories. We also realized that this could be something that is traditional filmmaking in practice. My initial meeting with the producer and my fellow co-director Katrina Sorrentino, we talked about how we didn't want to exploit, we didn't want to be extractive. Although we had those conversations, we didn't really know how to put that into practice until we started having these interviews with survivors and storytellers from communities who were telling us these traumas. So we kind of put a pause on the story development piece as we started to create trauma informed practices of filmmaking, like what do we need as a team to do this work? And then how do we honor the stories that are coming forward through those conversations? It allowed us to better hear, better listen to storytellers and survivors. And once we got connected with the Medicine Wheel Riders, several folks said, you got to hear these women. You have to find this group. And our first meeting was so inspiring and hopeful. This collective of women who have really channeled their grief and advocacy into action, raising money, hosting events, really also just stepping up boldly as women. We are here, we are survivors. We are telling this story and we demand action. And I hope we captured every bit of that essence of their whole selves in this film. It's a short film, right? But I was embraced by all of them. And through the course of the last couple of years, just really fell in love with them in a way that allowed me to move my grief a step further and another step further and another step further.
Andrea Ambam [00:36:40] As you were getting to know more of the writers in the story. What were you most interested in, in capturing or communicating in this film? What were you trying to say by telling the story of We Write for Her.
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:36:54] Thank you for that question. That was a piece that I really wrestled with because how do you talk about trauma without talking about trauma? Right? And there are so many ways that we could tell these stories and have a series of stories that speak to being your whole self, even in grief. And I hope people see that through the Medicine Wheel Riders themselves, how they can experience an incredible trauma in their life, the violence of colonization, the violence of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. And yet they get themselves to a place where they can hold space for others. They go into these communities a community after community after community, and not only support families, but hold that space for them and their grief and then help them with practical steps to justice. Comfort If there is a way toward closure just with grief and how to carry that grief. These women have shown me that. And through this film, I hope you also get to see that even if it's just sharing a moment of beautiful Indigenous women laughter, which, you know, laughter is right up there with that other medicine; love. And these women carry that and embody all of that.
Andrea Ambam [00:37:59] Yeah, it's so embodied and, and I feel like what I also hear you saying in that is like the process of telling your own story is also a way to move through grief. People being able to find some sense of power in their story. And that to me, you know, connects a lot to what we talk about with filmmaking and with the media, because we know that so many marginalized communities, Native people, immigrants, Black people, the representation in media and being a part of their own stories has not always been the case. And so my next question for you is why is it so important?
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:38:37] Absolutely. I feel like dominant culture has done a good job at exploiting and extracting trauma for the sake of exploiting and extracting trauma, but they don't give us any sense of hope. And not that the issue is completely hopeless, but there is hope because we've taken it into our own hands. We collected ourselves as community to do our searches, to inform law enforcement, to really put pressure on law enforcement, to be accountable to our communities. And we're seeing that across the country now, right. Because there's this movement that the Medicine Wheel Riders are a part of and I'm a part of. And we try to affect that within our own reach. But with this film, particularly, especially when we're talking about trauma informed practices and we have a dominant culture org financing this film. We wanted it to be community owned and so we were very intentional about allowing our community stakeholders, the nonprofits that we're working with, the writers that we're working with, the individuals whose story we tell to really have that ownership and the risk that the Red Sand Project took with it was if at any time the issue, the person, the families, the ride, if they were not reflected to the way that they wanted to be reflected in, the project would stop. And like we don't find that in major industries at all, especially after raising funds so that we would have an impact within each community as well. Like, like no strings attached funding, right? Like, you don't see that either.
Andrea Ambam [00:40:07] Yeah, it's really a new model and an example of what filmmaking and community ownership can look like. What stories do you feel most drawn to tell and why? You know, connecting this to how you're talking about trauma informed approach and the work you've done in communities? Yeah, what stories do you feel most drawn to?
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:40:27] The stories I want to tell really fall into the spaces that allow for collective understanding and collective action and movement, and whether that truth telling is around how a family is perceived, how an individual is perceived, how community is perceived, or whole peoples right? There's movement in that because we need to be in these spaces as our whole selves. And I feel like we still get trapped in this dualness of wise Indian or trauma addicted Indian, right? Like there's like these two pieces and then like we're still stepping into these spaces and there's a lot of films coming out. There's shows coming out now that allow us to be our whole selves. But I want to be a part of that movement too. I want to continue in this narrative justice, work to share those stories and to build our understanding, humanize us, right? I do stand on the shoulders of many of the folks who stepped in these spaces. Like Tantoo Cardinal. This is an amazing Indigenous woman, Buffy Sainte-Marie, you know, musician, performer who continues to speak truth to her music. Winona LaDuke, who brings such knowledge of these systems that have worked against us into her work to be like we need to deconstruct these systems. Right? But I also recognize there's a lot of non-Natives that I step into spaces with, like Adrienne Marie Brown, Right. Like just speaking truth to how we can all take care of each other as well of ourselves. Right? But the folks who are doing all this work on our history. Mary Kathryn Nagle, who's a Cherokee attorney, but she's also a playwright and she's bringing stories, connecting the dots. Right. And her sister, Rebecca Nagle, who's got a podcast called This Land, who's also connecting the dots between like treaties signed hundreds of years ago to how that affects cases of Indigenous people's lives and quality of life in today's court systems and the Supreme Court. Right. I look up to a lot of speakers and storytellers who've done the work and who allow us to step into these spaces more wholly and share our stories and affect change within our reach. I'm a huge fan of those who are holding space for us, like Secretary Holland, National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. Like these are people who represent us at the highest level of government, but they also can't do the work all on their own, right? They need us. They need multiple layers of people doing this work. And there's folks who help them that I just admire. And big fans of.
Andrea Ambam [00:42:49] You mentioned in that list is like such a beautiful collection of artists and storytellers and politicians. And I love the layers of artists and advocate that you are and how that shows up in the people that you admire. And there is this example of both Indigenous creators and non-Indigenous creators. I've just heard so many models of what active community care and what active community and self preservation can look like. And so I really want to know what has shaped your relationship or even the sense of responsibility that you feel to your community, because I think it's something that we all need to be better about with taking care of each other.
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:43:31] Oh gosh, yeah, we do. And it's not something that came easily overnight, right? Like, I was somebody who has been very connected to community and family. I was really fortunate in my early twenties to have been adopted into a clan system by the late Serese Baker on my grandmother and inherited like a sister, my dearest friend, Dr. Twyla Baker. She's been so immense in my space of learning and just in relationships to I think we all need women who support us no matter what, and support us through each stage of our own growth and through Twyla and through my dear friend Ruth Buffalo and others, you got to create that circle of accountability, whether it's big or small, because family isn't always there for us. The systems that we rely on consistently fail on us and Indigenous people because of those systems failing on us. We have to recreate that for ourselves and create a practice of it to show up in a way that we always have each other. You know, if we need something, we're there for one another and not in always physical form, right? But we're able to establish a sisterhood of sharing and openness and accountability and trust. We need to create more spaces like that because there's still so, so few. And I see so much good work, especially in the nonprofits that we worked with in each of these committees for this film, for example, all of them are holding space. All of them are creating community care models that work for them and the culture they come from and how they hold that up. Right. And it's not so much of, well, you can't do it this way because that's not what I was taught. No, it's like we're doing it this way because that's what we learned. This is what we want people to feel. They want us to feel connected. They want us to feel as a community and be safe. I want to be part of that work. I want to be a part of creating safe communities and community care models that are not just about the whole, but also about the self and what we can do to ground ourselves to do the work as community.
Andrea Ambam [00:45:27] You know it really is a responsibility to be alive and to be trying to do it the best we can and the best way we know how. In that answer, you mentioned a few times, systems. And you've been involved in your home state, North Dakota politics since 2006. And in 2010 you ran for North Dakota State House District 45. Can you share what that experience was like for you?
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:45:50] I've actually been in office since I was in high school, so like mid-nineties, I was an appointed office with our state government and city officials. And so I sat in appointed office for quite a few years with city governments and on the Human Relations Commission within the city of Fargo. And we had a state commission as well for Natives in North Dakota for a little while. And that body allowed me to feel pretty confident in understanding the change that we needed to make within our state to be just more friendly, more open. Because at that time my mom worked for refugee resettlement, and North Dakota at the time was like fifth in the nation for refugee resettlement. And so I got to work like my first job was showing people how to ride the bus, how to stock their shelves with the different types of food because there were folks who had cans explode because they put them in the freezer because they wanted them cold. Right? Well, you can do that with these types of things or and just building those relationships as a teenager, exposing me to incredibly diverse cultures and the barriers that they faced, the challenges that they faced, allowed me to just better understand the systems around us. It also allowed me like reflection points to understand the systems that my family had challenges with, whether it was, you know, systems of incarceration, systems for behavioral health, systems of schools. So when I ran for office in 2010, it was after years of working with community, working with older folks, because I was always the youngest person in the room at that time. Even in 2010, I was still the youngest person in the room a lot, that asked questions. But also I was also met with these stigmas like, Oh, you're too young, or a young woman can’t do this, or I didn't know Natives could vote over here and like just little things that attack your identity in a way. And I had a lot to learn. I worked on health care reform and getting Obama elected, not necessarily with the votes from North Dakota, but being a part of those campaign pieces that I was wrapped up in this this movement of hope and change. And we can transform the systems around us. And so I ran actually, there was a handful of young women who ran in North Dakota at that time, but our party wasn't very receptive. The leadership in our party wasn't very supportive. My colleagues were very supportive. I had known them for years and the guys who asked me to run really believed in me. And I think they still believe in me. But in 2010, it was such a different election cycle because it was the rise of the Tea Party. It was the rise of this like anti-Black anti-Indigenous mentality in North Dakota and across the country. Just the hateful movement coming up for what? But at that time, we didn't consider what the impact it would be in a district like my own. That that took me a step back. I lost that election and I really looked at the party system, not necessarily to blame, but to say you need to be more supportive. There were women, young women running who were being targeted as these young women in rural communities, and it wasn't safe for them. Several actually left the state after that. I stayed. I thought, I can continue to make a difference. I had to step down from appointed leadership to run for office. But it allowed me to just kind of expand my own experience and work on other campaigns and be a part of movements that were effective. And I got to really be a part of organizers and movements that expanded my worldview. And everything is with a purpose, you know?
Andrea Ambam [00:49:12] Yeah. I mean, hearing you say about, you know, even the group of you that were running at that time around 2010 and like what it means to be putting yourself in such a public political position as the same time as like public hate is getting more and more popular and okayed. And I'm wondering for you now that you've participated in all forms of government, how would you say Indigenous Americans are currently represented in U.S. politics?
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:49:44] Honestly, organizing over the last 20 years across so many states has allowed us to really build up momentum. I mean, there's just over half a million elected offices across the country in the United States, and like less than 1% are held by Indigenous people. Right. But even in my own communities, like I see school board members across our communities that are battling with local challenges, being a Bureau of Indian Education school funded as a public school as well, and controlled by like our state century code within North Dakota. Right. So there's just all these barriers and complications that come with local office. But to the bigger picture, there's more and more training programs that are opening up and allowing more Native folks to run for public office outside of tribal elections. Right? Because tribal elections, nearly everyone shows up for those. They are incredibly politically active motivators in our communities. But public office outside of tribal elections is relatively new over the last 40 years, and we're seeing more and more understanding of how these bodies of decision makers affect our lives. And we're seeing more folks step up to running for office. And I just love being a part of that. I'm a national trainer with several organizations and actually just held a training with a group of women out in Oklahoma who I'm like, You're like North Dakota. You're in a very red, red, red state. And here are these like pockets of women who want to run for office because what's been happening, who's been elected over the last ten, 20 years, it's not working for us. Right. So we need to step into office. And I tell every woman I meet, like run for office, right? Like, there's all of these things that lead ourselves to think we're not qualified. But no, we're qualified. We're more than qualified than what's at the table right now? So I feel like being a part of that change has really allowed me to shift my energy in a way that empowers people. Because I joke that the only campaign I've ever lost is my own, right? It opened up so many doors to understanding and how the math works, how the personal relationships matter, and how transformational movements can be effective and successful because they are personal. But at the same time, there's a lot of barriers and challenges as well. But I've seen it. So I can apply those skills to other groups who want to run for office. And seeing that in so many spaces across the country is just so rewarding.
Andrea Ambam [00:52:09] This convincing by the people in power that we should know anything about our systems, all these things that make us not actually participate in the things that would benefit us the most. You acquiring that understanding and then making it a part of your work to make sure other people know like, Hey, you actually have power in this and they're trying to make sure you don't know, but you can participate. And this is really powerful. So thank you for doing that work. And so my last question for you is when you aren't mobilizing voters or when you're not doing prevention work for the MMR crisis, how do you spend your time? How do you access joy?
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:52:48] Thank you for that. When my older brother was killed in 2018, my older brother had left behind horses and I was the only one in the family who would really like pick them up and take on care for them. And it was exhausting. And I was learning a whole lot. And there were moments where I was like deep in my grief and I had to go see these horses. So I had to get up and go out and find these horses. Trekked through a mile of snow just to give them food and water. And it was beautiful. I continue to cry about the loss of my brother and others, but these horses really allowed me a space to honor him and to remember that I have community because there are so many times I needed help. I didn't know what I was doing with a bunch of horses, and you can't do anything with them until the probate process was over and it was right before the pandemic. So his probate process lasted a whole lot longer. But I continue to find so much grounding with these beings. I mean, we went from having seven horses to now ten. My family helps me, like all the time. It's brought us closer together and it just like I want to do my brother right. I want to do these horses right and do what's best for them. But they give me that grounding I need. I mean, I can cry with them. I can laugh with them. They show me their whole selves. And, you know, it's not always easy. It's every day, right? But it's an everyday relationship and routine and reminder that I've got so much more to live for. I've got so much more to contribute into this world. And if my brother was still here I hope he'd still be proud of me.
Andrea Ambam [00:54:31] I have no doubt that he is proud of me. And I'm so thankful that you have these horses and this Earth. I'm thankful for your groundedness. I'm thankful for the contributions that you make to us and that you make to this life. It's always a pleasure talking to you, Prairie Rose. I'm so grateful for you.
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:54:55] Thank you. I was very, very grateful talking to you.
Andrea Ambam [00:54:58] Prairie Rose Seminole, co-director of We Ride for Her. Thank you for joining us today.
Prairie Rose Seminole [00:55:03] Absolutely.
Andrea Ambam [00:55:05] And thank you to the Red Sand Project, Level Forward and the Medicine Wheel Riders for inviting us on the tour. You can learn more about the Medicine Wheel Ride at werideforher.com. Producer Natyna Bean captured all the sound you heard in our sound design today.
Thanks for listening to Our Body Politic. We're on the air each week and everywhere you listen to podcasts. We'd also like to invite you to sign up for our newsletter where we share additional insights and resources for the OBP community. Check us out on Instagram and X @OurBodyPolitic and click the link in our bio.
Our Body Politic is produced by Diaspora Farms and Rococo Punch. I'm today’s host Andrea Ambam. Farai Chideya, Nina Spensley and Shanta Covington are executive producers. Emily J. Daly is our senior producer. Bridget McAllister is our booking producer. Andrea Asuaje and Ann Marie Awad, Natyna Bean, Morgan Givens, Emily Ho and Monica Morales Garcia are our producers. Nicole Pasulka is our fact checker. Our associate producer is David Escobar. Our technical director is Mike Garth. And a big thank you to our partners at Level Forward, who were our co-producers for this show.
This program is produced with support from the Luce Foundation, Open Society Foundation, Ford Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Democracy Fund, The Harnisch Foundation, Compton Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the BMe Community, Katie McGrath & JJ Abrams Family Foundation, The Pop Culture Collaborative, and from generous contributions from listeners like you.