S1: Welcome in San Diego. I'm Andrew Bowen , filling in for Jade Hindman. On today's show , a conversation with local Native American leaders on Indigenous Peoples Day , the enduring legacy of cultural suppression and bright futures of indigenous storytellers in academia and pop culture. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Today is Indigenous Peoples Day. It celebrates the ongoing resilience of indigenous communities in the United States. It's also a day to pause and celebrate indigenous culture , art , protest and storytelling. Here in San Diego County , there are 18 federally recognized tribal reservations. That's more than any other county in the United States. So on today's show , we wanted to sit down with a panel of local indigenous leaders uplifting culture and history. Joining me today is Ethan Venegas , San Diego State University professor and member of the Barona Band of Mission Indians. Also , Joely Proudfoot , department chair of American Indian Studies at Cal State San Marcos and director of their California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center. And Destiny Morales , former Miss Kumeyaay 2013 2014. She's also a member of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. Welcome to you all. And Julie , I would like to start this conversation with some history.
S2: In fact , we were skipped over. And if anything , we were only , um , talked about in the past tense. And so , um , it , you know , it made me , as a child , feel. Overlooked. Erased. Ignored. And I think that really encouraged me to be an educator and to bring the visibility and representation and uplift , um , future students.
S1: And , Ethan , our listeners might recognize you from an episode of the KPBS Arts podcast The Finest. You came on the show to talk about the Kumeyaay comic that you recently published , that , in a way , really reclaims the truth about California history. How is that different from what you learned in school ? Absolutely.
S3: So I just want to say that Julie was my one and only Native American professor at USD , and she she made a huge impact on me. And so one of the main things that we had wrong in the past that is now corrected is we now have , you know , Native American professors and teachers. So when I was growing up , I was at USD for actually ten years. I did , I did the extended program. Um , I had three majors in history , religion and politics , and Jolie was my political science professor. So , uh , while I was , you know , growing up , it was kind of the same story. Like Jolie said , you really learned , if anything , about Kumeyaay people. And if you did learn about us , it was our material culture. It was our it was our our bows and arrows. You rarely understood who we were as a people. So it was really one dimensional. Um , and most often , as Julie said , we were really not talked about at all until you get to college. And that was when things changed for me and Destiny.
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S4: Um , lots of family teachings. Uh , family made it a point. Like Ethan said , it was all material. Like our own material growing up. Um , that , you know , is my upbringing was my history , connection and our teachings. Um , but , you know , academically , we didn't have very much recognition in school , even , um , when I was in school , I graduated in 2015 , and a lot of the time we were still overlooked. But we did do our best to create a lot of recognition within our community , outside of our tribal community.
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S2: So I'm a firm believer that if you can see it , you can be it. And so having , um , California Indian community members in places and spaces that , um , showcase who we are as a resilient , um , entrepreneurial , um , ecological knowledge keepers of , of people is really impactful for , for young people and for , um , not only for native communities , but for non-Native communities to understand the resiliency of native peoples. You know , when we think about Indigenous Peoples Day , it's not a day to reflect solely on the past. It's about indigenous futures , right ? It's about recognizing the solutions to things like the climate crisis , to the social and political dysfunction and breakdowns and looking and leaning into indigenous knowledge systems that have sustained us from time immemorial. We have a lot to offer. So and it's not just for our indigenous communities , it's for the world. If you look around at the indigenous contributions globally , um , in terms of science , in terms of , um , ecological knowledge , um , we're really being leaned on to address issues like climate resilience and climate change. So if we can see it , we can be it. And indigenous peoples need to be promoted and uplifted and not just focused on the past , but on our contributions to the present and to indigenous futures. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. Ethan , you work in academia , as does Julie.
S3: We were always at a disadvantage. And what we've we're trying to do currently is translate our oral history into academia to be on the same level as written sources. So one of the things I was able to do is I collected 56 hours of footage from 33 elders in San Diego County who are Native American descent from different reservations. And then I was able to transcribe those into written form so it can be done. But it's really challenging and hard. And what really needs to happen is oral history needs to be elevated to the level of written history. And that bias really needs to go. It's not a it's not a fair bias because , you know , again , we're we we teach and collect our history orally. So it's really how we we really need the university system and the history , the way history is written and collected to reflect our systems of knowledge on the same level as the the West. Destiny.
S1: Destiny. Right now you are at the Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It's an all day event. I know you organized the bird singers for it.
S4: Today we have what we call a social gathering over here in Benbow Amphitheater. Um , bird singing in the social aspect is like a celebration. So what we're doing today here at the Safari Park is , you know , we're celebrating our past , our present and our future , like Jolie said. Um , we have plenty of youth here that are , you know , they're carrying on traditions , they're carrying on the dances and they're singers here. The men and the boys are carrying on the songs , and the songs talk a lot about our stories and , you know , our history things , the way we migrated , um , traditions that we have. And today , that's like , I think our biggest portion of our celebration here at the safari park today , and we have a well over 50 bird singers and well over 100 dancers here in attendance. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And I mentioned , uh , you are a former Miss Kumeyaay 2013 , 2014 , one of many to hold that title.
S4: Um , being Miss Kumeyaay , I was able to , you know , I was given the privilege to represent all of the Kumeyaay tribes here north of the border in Southern California. And also the ones on the other south of the border. Um , there's 13 Kumeyaay tribes here in Southern California , and I was able to go all the way to South America and represent my people and talk about them in and show people who we were and where we come from. Uh , what was a conference for the meeting of the Eagle and the Condor ? So they were connecting the Americas at an environmental conference , and I was able to meet , um , Jane Goodall at that conference , uh , who recently passed away. And I had so many experiences. You know , thankful. I was so thankful to the Miss Kumeyaay committee and the people that put that together and gave us the opportunity to represent my people.
S1: Ethan , we just heard Destiny talk about , uh , bird singing. And , you know , many indigenous stories are preserved and shared through visual storytelling , and that's something you really honor that creativity through your comic. So why is imaginative storytelling so important to you ? And can you talk to me about how you put that into that comic ? Yeah.
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S3: So I think historians have been afraid to admit how much they use their imagination when telling the past , uh , archaeology , for example , you stare at the ground , you you have a , you know , a certain dig , and then you have to tell a story with what you take out of the ground. Uh , so a lot of what we're already doing is using our imagination anyways. Of course , it's an educated guess , but it's it's imagination nonetheless. So. And I think to really captivate your audience , you have to use your imagination. And you have to be creative , at least in your delivery. Uh , and so I believe that what we captured in our comic was something that we've been doing for 10,000 or more years , Of which is telling stories in an entertaining way. Using our imagination and reaching our audience in a way that is much more captivating than if it's just simple prose. So I'm really grateful for that. And I think our comic certainly was part of that tradition that that we've had for a very long time.
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S3: I know Jolie's is part of the film industry , the native film industry. I myself want to to get into film and film is how you reach the masses. So we have a lot of new film studios that are promoting indigenous , you know , storytelling like , you know , Reservation Dogs is like number one right now for on Hulu. Um , for for that. So you know , again and what it's doing is it's teaching the audience who we are today , not someone in the past. So I think , you know , in addition to comics , which I think is one of the best ways to get to to the masses , I think film would be even better , uh , to get to a broader audience.
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S2: Like Ethan was saying , it's a way to reach places and spaces that you typically , you know , can't engage with. I myself , as a filmmaker and a producer , have been fortunate enough to participate in a number of venues to reach different individuals. For example , I have a I'm a producer on a series on CBS Paramount um , each Monday night. NCIS origins and many people are familiar with the NCIS series , but this current rendition , the origin story , takes place. It's fictional in San Diego County , and I was able to create characters that were Pikachu and Luiseno characters and bring in plotlines and storylines. This is just a way in which to use entertainment , but to let people know that we've always been here because that series takes place in the 1990s , right ? So you have these characters doing things like serving as chief medical officers and being contemporary people. But I also have a show that I've participated on and worked on , um , that's currently airing on the History Channel. I think you can see it on Amazon with one of our heroes , Jim Thorpe. Path Lit by Lightning Jim Thorpe has been credited as being the most impactful and most prolific athlete of all time , globally speaking , and he was SAC and Fox and Potawatomi. And this summer we released um alongside of our producer , um , LeBron James , this documentary that really explores the life and impact of Jim Thorpe. So these are ways in which we can educate and entertain. And I love it when people come up to me and they tell me , wow , I didn't know that , or I learned this or I saw this. And like Ethan was saying in narrative stories , you know , we have dark winds on AMC. We have , um , shows on Netflix. I have a series that I worked on for children and an animated series , Barrett Rangers , that talks about a fictional , uh , fictitious family of Native American park rangers , but really educates young people about our traditional ecological knowledge and language and culture from across Turtle Island. So there are different ways to explore , but there's also the visual art space and the fashion space. So indigenous people are thriving in the arts. We have always been storytellers and it's story through art , it's story through entertainment , it's story through fashion. Um , indigenous fashion designers , for example , are really , um , taking kind of the front and center stage. One of our most prolific indigenous fashion designers comes from right here in San Diego , Jamie Okuma , who's a member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians. And she is the one and only American Indian member of the CFDa , the , uh , the Council of Fashion Designers of America. So , um , lots of ways to explore indigenous beauty , indigenous resistance , indigenous art , um , and doing so with , you know , native artists from around the country.
S1: We're going to take a short break , but stick around. We'll continue our conversation about the enduring legacy of Indigenous Peoples Day and what it means to uplift indigenous stories when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. Right now we're talking about the enduring significance of Indigenous Peoples Day in 2025. My guests are Joely Proudfoot , department chair of American Indian studies at Cal State San Marcos. Ethan Venegas , Sdsu professor and member of the Barona Band of Mission Indians and Destiny Morales , former Miss Kumeyaay and a member of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. Ethan , I want to take a moment to zoom out and talk about national politics. President Trump signed a proclamation declaring today , Columbus Day. That was the holiday I remember marking and celebrating when I was a kid in school. Many states and cities have instead celebrated this day as Indigenous Peoples Day in recent years. President Biden officially recognized it Indigenous Peoples Day on the same day as Columbus Day in 2021.
S3: Um , so starting with his accomplishments , I always teach my students that the very first European to find North America was 500 years earlier in Canada. So Leif Erikson , a Viking , would reach Newfoundland in 11,000 A.D. , so 500 years prior to Columbus. Um , the other thing I like people to know is Columbus never stepped foot in North America. Uh , Columbus landed in San Salvador October 12th , 1492. Um , and on his second voyage back , he colonized Hispaniola , uh , which is Haiti and Dominican Republic. Uh , unfortunately , uh , the 8 million Tainos that were there. Um , because if you ever actually was in Haiti after the earthquake , uh , I went down there to build , build stuff. And , you know , I played my guitar to orphans , and it was a really amazing experience. And then I asked myself what happened to the indigenous people of Haiti and Dominican Republic ? And the answer is 8 million went extinct because of Columbus disease as part of the story. But the other part is slavery and ethnic cleansing. So I think that's important for the broader public to know , uh , his accomplishments as well as his character , uh , are not necessarily worth celebrating. Uh , for most indigenous people , uh , as well as I'm sure , non-Indigenous feel the same way. So the main thing for me is to set the facts straight. Um , and , you know , it's it's , uh , it's a sad truth and it's hard to hear. And I hope most folks would , would be willing to learn these , these hard truths. Jolie.
S1: Jolie. Indigenous people could not openly practice their own religious and cultural traditions , often until the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. Can you talk to me about the restrictions that preceded that law and the legacy of that cultural erasure ? Absolutely.
S2: Unfortunately , American Indian spiritual practices and our religious practices were frowned upon. Um , some listeners may have learned about or heard about what happened at Wounded Knee. Um , they may have learned about the Ghost Dance. Um , and these were atrocities committed by the United States government against native people for practicing their culture and their spirituality. You know , we were singing our songs , um , to protect our men , women and children and to make sure that some of our spiritual renewal ceremonies would continue so that we could make sure that the environment in which we live in and love so much could continue , not just for native people , but for all people. And I think When there is an othering happening. And this othering , we see this happening in today's society when we presume and assume that people are so different from us and their differences need to be abolished , whether it's our language , whether it's our culture , whether it's our spirituality , it does , you know , pretty reprehensible harm. Um , American Indian people were prevented from not only practicing our religions and spirituality , but , um , you know , maintaining things and objects that are important to us , like eagle feathers. It wasn't until 1978 , signed into law by President Jimmy Carter , that we were able to have access to , um , using some of our spiritual items and , um , able to have access to things like eagle feathers. But today , it's still very much a challenge to have access to sacred lands and sacred spaces when much of the land in the West is still owned by either the federal government or private entities and corporations , and we need to have access to those lands to pray. To gather materials. To participate in ceremony. In spiritual practice , when we don't have access to that , that means we don't have access , full access to our spiritual practices. So these are ongoing challenges for native peoples today , not just here in California , but around the globe. Destiny.
S1: Destiny.
S4: Um , a lot of our history and our , a lot of our oral stories and things that we could teach other people , um , are overlooked because a lot of people don't even realize that we're still here. Um , I get of I've had a few times where , you know , we could be talking in a community setting and someone says , oh , I didn't realize that Native Americans were still alive. And , you know , standing there and hearing something like that , it I mean , it it hits your heart to a core because it's , you know , you're looking at somebody and you say , well , I'm standing right here and I could teach you. But sometimes people aren't willing to be educated or to even give us the time to listen and learn. So they overlook the fact that we are still here and we very much are present in society today.
S1: And destiny. Talk to me about indigenous youth today.
S4: Um , I've seen a lot in and experienced a lot myself , um , where people shun us or they tend to tease or make fun of us , for you know where we are , who we come from , and specifically where we come from. If some we tell someone we're from the reservation , they think you know we're less than them because of that fact.
S1: We've just got a couple minutes left. But Ethan , I want to ask why Indigenous Peoples Day is important in a present and future context instead of just a historical one. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So first and foremost , I think it's always important to celebrate and recognize how far we've come as indigenous people. And it's , you know , my dad would always say it was such a great time to be alive. You know , he lived in a time when he would say , you you hid that the fact that you were Native American and you would blend into the Mexican population or you would you would tell you were another ethnicity. So I think it's most importantly , number one is about celebrating who we are today , how far we have come , and then more importantly , where we're going. So I , I desperately believe that it's a great time to be alive. And there's so many good things going on. Like Julie has mentioned , all these , this , these opportunities and films that are taking place. And so I , I'm really grateful and thankful that we have our own day to day. And , and it's important to focus on the positive when , whenever , whenever it matters and , and just focus on the future.
S1: Well , this has been such an enjoyable and enlightening conversation. Thank you all for joining us , and I hope our listeners will take you up on some of those media recommendations that you've mentioned. I've been speaking with Ethan Venegas , San Diego State University professor and member of the Barona Band of Mission Indians. Also , Destinee Morales , former Miss Kumeyaay 2013 2014 and a member of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. And Julie Proudfoot , Department chair of American Indian Studies at Cal State San Marcos and director of their California Indian Cultural and Culture and Sovereignty Center. Thank you all for joining us and Happy Indigenous Peoples Day. And that's our show for today. I'm your host , Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening to Midday Edition. Have a great day.
