00:00:06.020 - 00:00:00.000

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:00:06.02 --> 00:02:00.04 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Kai Walther interviews A'lice Myers-Hall at Malcolm X Park for Indigenous Peoples' Day. In this clip, A'lice Myers-Hall introduces herself and describes her involvement with the event. SUBJECTS: Lenape; American Indian Society of Washington; tukihëla; Indigenous Peoples' Day; Washington, D.C. So could you introduce yourself again for me please? Yes, my name is A'lice, I am Lenape, and the granddaughter of Mary Evangeline the Shawnee elder. I come from Pennsylvania. I am the president of the American Indian Society of Washington DC; tukihëla And do I have your permission to record this interview?

00:00:29.230 - 00:00:51.040

Yes please. Thank you. What brought you to this event today? My sister called me and said this event was happening. And she's an elder and a wise person and she said, You'll be there and I said, I will be there. I see, okay. And you spoke earlier right?

00:00:51.060 - 00:02:04.130

Yes. What did you speak about? I spoke about the word that we call tukihëla. Tukihëla means to wake up. And when I usually speak about tukihëla, I say wake up children, you have been sleeping too long. You have forgotten our ancient ways and you have forgotten our ancient songs. Even though I speak to the children of Turtle Island, I speak to the masses. Because if you believe in the six degrees of separation, you know that we touch one another, you know. So when I say wake up, I need people to hear the word and you want to digest it and let it fill you. And then you wake up and all of a sudden the things that are important to you in the world are not important. I was made a storyteller. I was always the storyteller, but I was told to be a storyteller by one of the elders who has walked on. So that's what I do. Okay that sounds wonderful, I wish I could have heard it.

00:02:05.060 - 00:02:58.170

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:00:06.02 --> 00:07:07.23 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: In this clip, A'lice Myers-Hall speaks about her involvement with the American Indian Movement and other Indigenous rights organizations. SUBJECTS: American Indian Movement; Anadarko, Oklahoma; Warrior Women; American Indian Society; Murdered Missing Indigenous Women and Girls; Coalition of East Coast Indians; Coalition of Northern Woodland Indians; Circle Legacy So you said earlier -- could you just go again over your involvement with the American Indian Movement? Or are you involved in the American Indian Movement? Yes, actually. I have been involved with the American Indian Movement, AIM. But when AIM started I was real little I was a baby. But my mother, we're from Pennsylvania. AIM moved across. as they moved, that spirit was caught by many of us on the east coast. We're sometimes thought of as the forgotten people because there's not as many rezes here, our sovereign lands, and they call us "town kids" or "townies." But remember that on the East Coast, we're still here, as you can see by my shirt. Yes absolutely.

00:02:59.020 - 00:04:59.200

One of the mothers gave me this shirt. We were here. Those of us who are remaining, we don't want to say remnant, but remaining. My tribe was pushed to Oklahoma. My tribe was pushed to Canada. But we're still connected because we are connected by spirituality and a language. And you can't separate that. so when I go home to Oklahoma, I go to Anadarko, and I see my people, my family. So yes I'm very involved. I should be even more involved with AIM. The person who got me involved walked on a couple years ago, and he was one of the founders of AIM. and I miss him greatly. I'm sorry about that. You said when AIM started you were a lot younger, but -- We'll let the sirens go by. But then, since then when you've grown up, what sort -- have you taken part in any of the walks that AIM has been a part of? What did you do with that? I just walked and kept water and sold t-shirts and supported those who were selling the t-shirts I guess. And making known we just had -- it was a movie, and she was wonderful, and it was called Warrior Women because people forget behind AIM were powerful women. And if you get a chance to look at that, I give much, much respect to that film called Warrior Women. You will see a lot of the power behind AIM.

00:04:59.240 - 00:06:29.160

Yeah absolutely, I'll check it out. Thank you, thank you. What have been the most important moments in the movement for you? I think the regeneration and the understanding exactly what AIM was about and is about. And though I am not as active because I have other organizations that get my time. But there's not a time that any of AIM people can['t] come to me and say, Sister I need your help. You have my help. But in terms when I have needed his help, he was always there for me. So I was gone, I joined the military after a year in college, and I was gone for over twenty years. So I'm really just getting back into the swing of what's going on in a lot of organizations. But look at the positiveness. You could pick anything apart, but the main root will always stay there. AIM is just like it says, AIM. I see them as aiming toward the stars and I'm going to grab onto the tail of that star because they're doing good and great things. What other organizations are you part of?

00:06:30.020 - 00:11:14.170

Well, as I said I'm the president of the American Indian Society, I'm with the MMIWG - Murdered Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. I also belong to the Coalition of East Coast Indians and also the Northern Woodland Indians, and I am a member of a Circle Legacy which is the Carlisle School and we also are in the long house in Pennsylvania. I'm originally from Pennsylvania. So there's a lot there. Are any people from those organizations also here today? Yes, a few. If I could find them, a few of them are. INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:07:10.05 --> 00:11:14.17 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: A'lice Myers-Hall in this clip talks about the meaning of Indigenous Peoples' Day and its relationship to children's US history education. SUBJECTS: Indigenous Peoples' Day; Columbus Day; Washington DC; education; miseducation

00:07:10.050 - 00:08:51.240

Okay. So last year the DC government officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Why do you think that change happened when it did? I have several thoughts on that. I'm glad it happened. I'm always wary under the auspices of why something happens. Did you do it because within your spirit you felt it was right? As an educator, me, I endeavor to educate the truth into our children and dispel the fantasies, the stories, the Brothers Grimm idea of history. I know that the history of America is dark. It is filled with blood and treachery but is the truth. And when you're speaking the truth, you can break off into small words for the young, but if you feed them a fantasy, they grow up to be some of the people that you see in charge now living in a fantasy, living a lie. So even though they have given us this day, Indigenous Day, for me every day is Indigenous Day. you have marked it on the calendar and it's been marked in my spirit since conception. So I'm a bit radical. That's great. So do you think the name change is part of that getting rid of the fantasy of US history or do you think there's still more to do?

00:08:52.080 - 00:10:53.200

I think it's a start you can't knock anything that is positive. Now what man may see as bad, we're going to take that for good. We're trying to start our schools, our online schools, and it's called -- we just had a symposium with some of our Senate representatives, and my question was the miseducation of our Native children and all children. If you say one plus one is two, that's the truth. If you say 3.14 will always be pi, then it will always be pi. But if you say that the Indians celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey, then you have fabricated a lot. And the web gets bigger and bigger, and children become confused. And children are light. You have no right to put darkness on light. What do you teach the children in your life about today? Or, I guess it was Monday was Indigenous Peoples Day. Well, I teach them first that every day that you're in this body is indigenous day for you. My children are grown but they know that they walk in their truth. I also have the younger children that will come to hear stories. Our history is told by stories but not fantasy. They're told, you will always know Tecumseh. Tecumseh was your ancestor. Know the truth. Know the truth of those who even fought against the English. Know the truth about when you speak that you are feeding this child.

00:10:54.130 - 00:11:22.130

Are you feeding this child truth? Are you poisoning this child? You have no right. Feed them the truth so that they can walk upright and speak truth. I really like that way of putting it, that makes a lot of sense. INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:11:15.23 --> 00:13:57.18 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: In this clip, A'lice Myers-Hall speaks about the legacy of Malcolm X Park and the meaning of its location for Indigenous Peoples' Day. SUBJECTS: Malcolm X Park; culture; ethnicity; Turtle Island; Malcolm X; legacy Switching gears a little bit, what do you think is the significance of holding this event at Malcolm X Park?

00:11:23.240 - 00:12:54.240

I loved it. I loved it. It's a large park and it can be quaint if you look at it. I look at the -- If you see the Indigenous trees growing around here, many of these trees, all of this is medicine. I see a lot of the medicine growing here. See, medicine when it grows low to the ground, is made for healing I see this as an opportunity to begin to heal. When people understand that we are one blood, we are one people, you may come from this area. I even watch the difference between the way the people from the north treat the people from the south. I ponder that. You're still on Turtle Island, you're one people, you have the right to your own culture, and your ethnicity is important because that feeds your culture. However, we have to understand that when the Great Horse comes, the equalizer is, we all close our eyes. What have you left behind in the wake? What is your part of the legacy? What do you think is the legacy of holding the event at this place?

00:12:55.010 - 00:14:08.140

I think it's going to be -- I think it's going to grow. Now it's very difficult to get here, it is very difficult to get here. But that's something when you do your after-action review, you start, How can we make it easier to get here? Should we get a bus? Should we have ways to people to caravan? But you can't let it stop you. I think being here at Malcolm X Park, whom I remember even though I was real little, real little, I remember -- I'm from like I said the north, so I do remember Malcolm X. I was so young and my cousins said, That's Malcolm X. And I said, Why doesn't he have a whole name? (laughs) I'm four! But this park, look. It's just the beginning. You have to have the preset, and this is the beginning. INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:13:58.03 --> 00:14:49.12 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: A'lice Myers-Hall and Kai Walther thank each other for the interview. SUBJECTS: Indigenous Peoples Day; Wanìshi Absolutely. So those are all the questions I had for you, but is there anything else that you want to talk about that did not already get covered in the interview?

00:14:08.210 - 00:14:48.070

Well, what I would like to say to you is Wanìshi, thank you. Because you took time out of your life, time is a continuum, and you took time to honor me, to speak with me, and that's very important because that's time that you cannot get back. And you took time out of your life, your spirit, to touch my spirit with respect and I thank you for that. Thank you for the same. For sitting and speaking to me and sharing all of this. I appreciate it so much. I learned a lot. I learn every day. Absolutely, very much. Thank you.

00:14:48.070 - 00:14:49.120

Thank you.