- On this Native Report, we highlight the uniqueness of the multiracial indigenous experience in Alaska.

And we hear from a member of the native two-spirited community, as well as from a scholar about gender identity roots in Indian country.

- Being two-spirit is at the center of everything.

You know, it's who I am.

So it's how I am able to speak out against issues and, and raise my voice as loud as I do.

- Plus an Oneida Nation Language Nest instructor shares concerns over the language being in state of emergency.

We also learn what we can do to lead healthier lives and hear from our elders.

(soft music) - Production for Native Report is made possible by grants from the Blandin Foundation Anishinabe Fund, and Alexandra Smith Fund in support of Native American Treaty Rights, administered through the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, and the generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Native Report and thanks for tuning in, I'm Rita Karppinen.

In this episode, we're exploring those who are balancing life between two worlds.

We learn more about what it's like to be multiracial in Alaska, Talk with someone who identifies as two-spirit in modern times, and hear from an Oneida Nation language instructor as the language is in a state of emergency.

(soft music) - (singing) Man, what to do - With the other hand - I've always felt in our community, specially in Alaska, that we can do better, and that there's more collective knowledge that can be shared to enhance our life, improve our awareness and understanding of how we treat each other, and how we can inform our choices to bring more love and harmony to our lives.

- (singing) Killing me, killing me.

I'm liking the key (singing continues) - Growing up in Bethel, there were not a lot of other black people.

- I took, I just kind of came up with this.

- (voice over) Being so removed from black communities, I really was reaching out to whatever I could find and connect with from music.

(vocalizing to percussion) - I get so excited about representing my ancestors, honoring the long history of art of Yup'ik family.

- (singing) Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no (singing continues) (singing) - Hey, people elect, but consequence shared It's not enough, take action now - I'm a musician.

I play with a group called Pamyua and we do music, dance, performing arts, been doing that for about 27 years.

My name is Philip Blanchett.

My Yup'ik name is My mother, my Yup'ik mother.

You know, Marie was at the first generation to have mixed race relationships outside of the Yup'ik community.

But my dad was one of the first African-Americans to travel to the YK Delta, and to travel to the village where my mom was born.

- And to spend time in, in the the fish camps that are along the banks of the Kuskokwim that our family, our Yup'ik family has been for, for generations.

Everywhere I went, I was always reminded of being black.

With the kids that was kid stuff, but it was it was really actually kind of sweet; what stands out.

I've heard this phrase, like growing up no matter where I went with random people.

Elder native Yup'ik women looking at me and like, "I wish I had your hair."

And I was like, like, always like that same phrase no matter where I went.

I was always reminded that I had curly hair, that I was that I had these unique aspects about being black.

And I thought that was really cool.

I just hope my kids can be proud of who they are.

Understand that, that they'll always have that, that will never go away to be able to figure out how to honor who they are and to and to create their own life.

(emotional music) - Lumpia!

- My name is E.J.

David.

I am a Filipino immigrant to Alaska.

I've been living in Alaska now 28 years.

- I was 14 years when I moved here and and I moved to Barrow, Alaska or what is now Utqia!vik.

I am an immigrant to this country, to these lands.

I'm a guest.

Alaska has one of the highest rates of multiracial people in the country.

When we look at the data, especially when we look at our youth, you know, surveys and schools and stuff, multiracial kids seem to be at highest risk for substance use, alcohol, and other drugs.

Multiracial kids also seem to be at highest risk for suicide ideation.

You know, to me it's, they're more than just numbers.

They're more than just statistics because, you know, those statistics are talking about my children.

I worry about that on a very real level us being who we are, me being Filipino is not a risk factor.

My kids being Native is not a risk factor.

My kids being multiracial is not a risk factor.

We do our best to get them involved in both their Athabascan and Filipino communities.

We want our kids to get strength from both of their communities as well.

- We make food together.

We go to parties together.

- We go fishing.

Like we go to our casino house.

- We go to pow wows and we learn - Pow wows.

- We learn songs, Athabascan songs.

And we have (unintelligible) - Dancing - Our kids know a lot of Tagalog words and use a lot of Tagalog words in our everyday lives.

Same thing with, with the Athabascan side, you know we use SISU for grandma there for so they call my mom Lola.

She's Filipino So they call her Lola and then they call Margaret's mom.

SISU because she's Athabascan, And that's the Athabascan word for grandma.

Native games.

So my kids are involved in in a lot of Native games to participate in events (voice drowned out in background noise) So they do all of that.

Fishing, um, that's a huge part of their Athabascan culture and not just fish, but also do everything else that, that comes with that.

Cleaning the fish, cutting the fish, smoking it, stripping it, drying it, jarring it, you know even Tallah who's two.

One of her roles this past fishing season was to scrape off the salmon meat off of the spine.

You know, so all of that little scraps of meat from the spine that's actually what we turn into salmon lumpia which is a combination of, you know, traditional Native food, salmon and then lumpia is Filipino food.

Growing up I experienced a lot of self-doubts and a lot of sense of inferiority attached to my heritage.

I don't want my kids to go through that.

When they think of their heritage I want my kids to think of great things.

I want them to feel pride, joy.

I want them to feel strength.

I want them to feel empowered when they think of both their Filipino and Athabascan cultures.

That's what I want them to take away from this, is that their cultures are sources of strength, and it's what makes them special.

That's what I want them to feel.

It's what makes them special.

It's not what makes them at higher risk for this or that.

It's not what's holding them back.

It's not what's putting them in danger.

It's what's going to help them thrive in this world.

And it's what's going to help them make this world a better place.

- But he just dropped it in the road right over there.

I was like, um that's a pretty cool tire.

- And then he started like using it as like weights.

And he started lifting Are - Strong man!

- Those are cardboard.

- Okay, count to three, you run to me.

I'm going to grab you and pick you up, okay?

One, two, three!

Come on!

Whoa!

- Ya, put me down!

- But what if you go up and you can see really high - You wanna see what you can see?

- Huh?

- Philip continues to work on his solo album which will be releasing in 2022.

And to learn more about the Athabascan-Filipino experience you can read E.

J.

's book titled "We Have Not Stopped Trembling Yet: Letters to my Filipino-Athabascan Family" (soft music) - Go for what you want.

I did.

And I retired for 24 years with the state of Minnesota where nobody around here was getting jobs.

I went ahead and went out there and got it.

I got on the Department of Transportation working with the men.

Um, I was the first woman and the first Native to be hired in the state of Minnesota and Brainerd.

For men that they can, whatever they decide they want.

They can do it.

You just have to set your mind.

But I had, I had a husband that helped that helped.

I told him before because of the way the guys were acting, you know, I told him I wanted to quit at first.

And he said, no, you don't wanna quit.

You're gonna need this job sometime.

So that I always remember that he was always behind me.

(soft music) - We're exploring and raising awareness of the two-spirit identity in current times.

We spoke with a tribal member who identifies as a proud two-spirited native to share what it means to them.

We also hear from a scholar on historical mention of non-traditional gender identities in Native communities.

- Being two-spirit is at the center of everything.

You know, it's who I am.

So it's, it's how I am able to speak out against issues and and raise my voice as loud as I do, because I have two very powerful spirits within me.

(introduces themselves in Native language) My name is Jessica Gidagaakoons Smith.

I am a two-spirit member of the Bois Forte Band of The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

The term two spirit has been a fairly new term.

So it wasn't really something that I personally identified when I was younger.

I define it as, as having a feminine and a masculine spirit.

For me, that's, that's how I identify myself, but I identify as a two-spirited woman.

It differs for people.

Some people think that all Native people who are LGBTQ are two-spirit and that is not true.

A lot of people think that it's simply a sexual identity and it's not.

It's a spiritual identity.

My life has improved a thousand times since I decided to go back to school.

That was truly when I started my, you know, inner healing of, of being a trafficking victim and survivor.

Two-spirit people are vulnerable for for trafficking and things like that because a trafficker, somebody, can market them to both males or females.

They think, you know, if you're LGBTQ, you you can do anything, which you know, it's not, it's not the case.

I have a 21-year-old nephew who is two-spirit.

And I have a 15-year-old niece who is also two-spirit.

It's really beautiful thing to see two-spirit youth really comfortable and embody who they are, because when I was a youth, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't something that I was comfortable with.

And historically it hasn't been something that was a good thing because of colonization.

- We know that there are still places and families that are not very accepting, and where individuals are maybe hesitant to reveal their identity, or their sexual orientation.

We all operate in multiple worlds in our lives.

I'm Jill Doerfler.

I'm a professor and the Department Head of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Two-spirit is a relatively new term.

It's typically traced to 1990 to a gathering in Winnipeg and an Anishinaabe woman there sort of coined the term Niizh manidoowag, two-spirit.

It's an umbrella term that can encompass many varieties of specific identities underneath of it.

Historically, tribes had a lot of diversity when it came to gender identity and sexual orientation.

And in the United States, part of the assimilation process was to eradicate those identities Kind of for two purposes, one, for reinforcing European-American ideals of gender, sexuality, family formation, but as well as for access to resources, and to destabilize Native governing structures.

There were efforts on the US government's part to not allow those fluid identities, those multiple identities to flourish in Native communities.

People had to either hide their identities or sort of practice them in secret.

Even within tribal communities, Indian agents, and through the early 20th century on reservations had a huge degree of power.

And, so if someone was acting in a in a quote, unquote "deviant manner", or maybe, you know in a same sex relationship and the Indian agent is controlling the rations that someone is dependent upon, they're not gonna feel free and able to exercise their identity.

They're gonna practice that in secret so that they can still get their rations and survive, or that they might not experience other forms of retribution that the Indian agent might be able to exercise on them or on their family.

These efforts then worked to the benefit of the US in order to gain property and resources from Native nations.

I think the, the fluidity that existed, the many varieties of relationships and identities that Native people had, were threatening in the sense that they were seen as divergent from the European ideal system and structure and the way that laws worked.

For example, property inheritance, in the US, in the early days of the American system, who could inherit property?

Men.

And so then we need to think about who's a man.

These things are embedded and layered into law and governance maybe without us even realizing it.

Even though two-spirit is a relatively new term, it comes out of a historical legacy.

It's a contemporary way to acknowledge and honor these practices, these identities that have been present in indigenous communities since time immemorial.

Really for many indigenous communities there was an acceptance of fluidity.

- Traditionally, two-spirit people were, you know, prior to colonization considered sacred.

Because with a feminine and a masculine spirit you're able to do ceremonial things that both a man or a woman would be able to do.

So two-spirit people were, were upheld as sacred in many communities.

And that's why when colonization in boarding schools and all of that happened, um, two-spirit people were hidden to be protected.

Now they say that only men are supposed to be fire keepers.

It's a product of colonization.

I hope to see all federally recognized tribes recognizing same-sex marriage.

- [Jill Doerfler] Some tribes have modified their laws to allow for same-sex marriage and other tribes have not.

And so there is a diversity in tribal nations today as far as what is officially government sanctioned and accepted and what is not.

It's very hard because the process of colonization has caused all of us to some extent or another to internalize these ideas about family norms, gender, identity.

And so it takes a conscious effort, many times to to decolonize, to work on undoing that work of colonization.

And that process is ongoing.

- Two-spirited is more of a modern umbrella term and there's a variety of literature available diving more into its origins and meaning.

There are many two-spirited peoples of the Native community worth highlighting from authors, to artists, to doctors.

The list goes on and on.

- Have you ever wondered about anemia?

Red blood cells carry oxygen.

Anemia, or low hemoglobin is a decrease in the red blood cells.

There are multiple kinds of anemia, each with its own cause, but the most common is iron deficiency anemia.

Red blood cells need iron to bind oxygen, and if there aren't enough red blood cells oxygen doesn't get the tissues, and the result is feeling weak and tired.

Low blood red cells can happen for three reasons.

Not enough are being made, the ones that are being made are being broken down, or blood cells are being lost to bleeding.

Anemia can lead to other problems.

If there aren't enough red blood cells that supply oxygen to tissues, the heart has the speed up to get the oxygen that is available to those tissues.

That can lead to an enlarged heart or heart failure.

Getting enough iron in your diet is key.

Red meats, beans, green leafy vegetables, dried fruit, and other foods are good sources of iron.

Your dietician can help with that.

In any event, your healthcare provider will explain things as you go and has your best interest at heart.

Regular clinic visits and prevention are usually the right answer.

And remember to call an elder; they've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr. Arne Vainio, and this is Health Matters.

(upbeat music) - We take a visit to the Oneida Nation Language Nest, where young children are learning the Oneida language.

This is the language is currently in a state of emergency while in the classroom for the total emergent experience there's no use of the English language.

(soft music) - Our curriculum is based on our ceremonial cycles.

We have two gardens where the students pick the corn.

We braided the corn (speaks in Native language) - I'm (introduces herself in Native language) or Rosa Francour.

I am a instructor in the Tehatinákhwa Language Nest.

The Oneida language is currently classified in a state of emergency.

Our program uses only Oneida as the sole medium of instruction.

(exclaiming in Oneida language) (singing in Oneida language) So we have three Oneida communities, one in New York, one in Canada, and one here.

Our community here has the biggest population, but we also have the least amount of speakers.

We have been removed from our homelands in New York.

So that's influenced a lot of, I guess it's influenced the decrease of our language here.

There's a lot of reasons for our language being in the state that it is right now, federal policies, Indian boarding schools.

With the Oneida language being in a state of emergency, it means that it's critically endangered.

It means that the speaker ship of our population is very, very low.

We started the program four years ago.

Our program serves students three to seven.

We have, um, two classrooms right now.

We are currently in the process of expanding our program as our students age.

We are working on also building an outdoor classroom to really focus on the outdoor learning experiential education aspect of our program.

(exclaims in Oneida language) - Repetition and routine is key to immersion education.

It helps them to think in our language.

wherever I teach, generally, I have some type of visual that helps to assist what I'm talking about.

(speaks in Oneida language) - Gestures, um, body movements are also really helpful to get students to learn.

It's busy, but it's really fun and it goes by fast.

(laughs) - UW Green Bay has all Oneida Nation peoples speak English and most know only a few expressions at Oneida.

The university believes there are probably no more than a dozen native speakers of Oneida currently in Wisconsin.

The Oneida Nation says every word you learn and speak becomes a part of keeping the language alive.

- If you missed a show or wanna catch up online find us at nativereport.org and follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for behind the scenes updates.

And drop a comment on social media if you enjoyed the show.

Thanks for spending time with your friends and neighbors across Indian country.

I'm Rita Karppenin.

We'll see you next time on Native Report.

(upbeat music)