So I don't even know where to start with this. I read the transcript because I don't have tine to listen today because of family events. I lived in Decatur, Illinois and what the guest said was completely wrong about this area being the traditional homelands of the Potawatomi. It definitely was NOT. They were living around the Chicago area prior to colonization. There were many tribes in Illinois. My father in-law's tribe the Sauk people were living on the west side of northern Illinois on the border with modern day Iowa. Chicago is 4 hours north of Decatur which is in central Illinois. The Peoria tribe would be much closer and a temporary director of the Dickson Mound museum was a member of the Peoria tribe. He helped repatriate many items for many of the trines here who were removed by the Illinois militia in 1832. Additionally, the University of Illinois has repeatedly made overtures to the Peoria tribe (now in Oklahoma) asking them to sanction a new "Chief Illiniwek" because Champaign-Urbana is 40 minutes from Decatur as the crow flies. They have offered the tribe funds amd seats on their board o directors at the university ever since the NCAA banned Native mascots years ago. However, because the Seminole tribe in Florida licensed the Seminole mascot to Florida State, the U of I has held out hope they can somehow get their Native mascot back. One of my daughters was the President of the Native American House on the U of IL campus and she received so much hate from r*c*st students because she was against bringing back the mascot that she eventually transferred to Oklahoma State because she and my kids and grandkids are enrolled in the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma. Their paternal grandmother is Mvskoke Creek so they are alao now located in eastern Oklahoma after they were removed in the early 19th century from their ancestral homelands in Georgia and Alabama. They are descendants of moundbuilders which is why my ex-spouse was interested in the mounds here in Illinois which include Cahokia a huge pre-colonial city across the Mississippi River from modern day St Louis, Missouri. I have Black members in my family who have been partners with my own siblings. We are Hunkpapa Lakota from Standing Rock. Being Afro-Indigenous is fine. However, because of self-I.D. many Native orgs in the Twin Cities in Minnesota now have directors who self I.D. as Black/Native without having any real ties to either the Dakota or Ojibwe communities there. Often Native cultural coordinators are being pushed out due to harassment by Christian non-Native BIPOC employees in these orgs. Minnesota has already gotten in trouble with the U.S. Dept of Justice for surpressing Native education. According to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, we are free to reclaim and teach our ceremonies without harassment from people outside of the Dakota/Ojibwe communities who do not approve because they are members of a church or other colonial religious org. This is one of the problems with the Decolonization Movement. There are a lot of people floating around as "experts" on Indigenous people but don't actually work in a specific Native community or know historical facts. My advice to those people including your guest is to work without demanding a mic and spotlight in the communities with at-risk youth or other marginalized groups befoe doing the "savior" routine. I'm retired now but my kids work in their communities without expecting a platform. That always seems like another grift where no real progress is ever made, sadly.

It would be really good if there were workshops where Native youth workers could study how to utilize a more cultural aspect for wellness. My daughter works with at-risk youth but some of the non-profit orgs are staffed and directed by non-Native people in leadership positions and they have harassed the Native employees with Christian pamphlets and subtly undermined traditional culture and healing and made these Native employees quit out of lack of support to perfrm their job duties.

It's probably not a good idea to idea to continually platform certain people who are never willing to hold themselves accountable or responsible for their behavior in their community or with youth. Some of these "Public Indigenous Leaders" are not leaders at all. They are rather self-promotional, self-aggrandizing people who without social media would not be as respected as their PR currently makes them. So many people fail the youth and shouldn't be included in the Matriarch category, imo

Shayla, I love your Podcast. The video Production, is amazing. I'm learning so much from it. Sending Love, From Yanaguana (San Antonio,Tx)

Incredible interview. Thank you so much.