WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.770 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.770 --> 00:00:08.600 align:middle line:84% One thing I noticed too-- and I'll 00:00:08.600 --> 00:00:13.330 align:middle line:84% be interested to see what the students have to say about some 00:00:13.330 --> 00:00:15.820 align:middle line:84% of the pieces that they read in here. 00:00:15.820 --> 00:00:19.810 align:middle line:90% I noticed that this book-- 00:00:19.810 --> 00:00:22.750 align:middle line:84% when I look at a group of pieces, 00:00:22.750 --> 00:00:26.050 align:middle line:84% it seems to be one of those things that says, me, me, me. 00:00:26.050 --> 00:00:27.790 align:middle line:90% It's all about me. 00:00:27.790 --> 00:00:31.000 align:middle line:84% And it gets kind of overwhelming. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.970 align:middle line:84% It just comes off that way, although a lot of them 00:00:33.970 --> 00:00:34.840 align:middle line:90% are not me. 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:38.560 align:middle line:90% 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:43.720 align:middle line:84% So I tried to figure out how to arrange them so it wouldn't 00:00:43.720 --> 00:00:46.300 align:middle line:90% appear so much that way. 00:00:46.300 --> 00:00:52.120 align:middle line:84% But there is one here that is definitely my story. 00:00:52.120 --> 00:00:56.860 align:middle line:84% The ending of the title piece, it is my story. 00:00:56.860 --> 00:01:00.340 align:middle line:84% It is my experience and my sisters. 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:04.540 align:middle line:84% And then this one is definitely not only my story, but also 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:06.820 align:middle line:90% other O'odham people. 00:01:06.820 --> 00:01:09.100 align:middle line:90% It is their story as well. 00:01:09.100 --> 00:01:15.130 align:middle line:84% This one, though, has specific references that I went through 00:01:15.130 --> 00:01:17.815 align:middle line:90% in trying to get a passport. 00:01:17.815 --> 00:01:20.530 align:middle line:90% 00:01:20.530 --> 00:01:23.020 align:middle line:84% And I've told the other part of this story 00:01:23.020 --> 00:01:28.780 align:middle line:84% many times, and so some of you are familiar with it, 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:34.660 align:middle line:84% about O'odham people and how our land extends, 00:01:34.660 --> 00:01:38.140 align:middle line:84% of course, into what is now the country of Mexico-- 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:40.230 align:middle line:90% northern Sonora, Mexico. 00:01:40.230 --> 00:01:43.240 align:middle line:84% And so my family was one of those families that 00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:46.520 align:middle line:90% was, as we say, on that side. 00:01:46.520 --> 00:01:49.920 align:middle line:90% And so when we came into-- 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.660 align:middle line:84% when our parents came into the US, 00:01:52.660 --> 00:01:54.790 align:middle line:84% they settled on the edges of the reservation, 00:01:54.790 --> 00:01:56.110 align:middle line:90% and were never part-- 00:01:56.110 --> 00:01:57.940 align:middle line:84% or never lived on the reservation, 00:01:57.940 --> 00:02:00.490 align:middle line:84% basically because that's not where we're from. 00:02:00.490 --> 00:02:05.560 align:middle line:84% And you just can't walk on there and say, here I am. 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:08.810 align:middle line:84% So we were on the edges, on the boundaries, 00:02:08.810 --> 00:02:15.790 align:middle line:84% and so were not counted as part of the O'odham census 00:02:15.790 --> 00:02:18.130 align:middle line:90% until fairly recently. 00:02:18.130 --> 00:02:23.200 align:middle line:84% But so many of us have little documentation, 00:02:23.200 --> 00:02:25.330 align:middle line:84% not only because we were not official members 00:02:25.330 --> 00:02:28.390 align:middle line:84% of the tribe in that sense, but also because of where we lived 00:02:28.390 --> 00:02:29.620 align:middle line:90% and how we live. 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:37.000 align:middle line:84% And in many instances, many from my generation and older, 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:38.680 align:middle line:90% we were born at home. 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:41.530 align:middle line:84% And O'odham people just were-- you were just born, 00:02:41.530 --> 00:02:42.970 align:middle line:90% and there you were. 00:02:42.970 --> 00:02:47.050 align:middle line:84% And you didn't have to write anything down to say, 00:02:47.050 --> 00:02:49.390 align:middle line:90% she was born, or he was born. 00:02:49.390 --> 00:02:50.530 align:middle line:90% So there was nothing there. 00:02:50.530 --> 00:02:54.730 align:middle line:90% You just began existing. 00:02:54.730 --> 00:02:56.860 align:middle line:84% But later on, it catches up to you. 00:02:56.860 --> 00:02:59.530 align:middle line:84% Somebody want some kind of documentation saying, 00:02:59.530 --> 00:03:00.800 align:middle line:90% you're here. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:02.810 align:middle line:90% So that's what this one's about. 00:03:02.810 --> 00:03:05.410 align:middle line:84% And so that's why I say, this is my story, but also 00:03:05.410 --> 00:03:08.950 align:middle line:84% the story of many O'odham people who fall in this category, 00:03:08.950 --> 00:03:10.150 align:middle line:90% and there's quite a few. 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:14.590 align:middle line:84% And not just O'odham as well, but Yaqui people here 00:03:14.590 --> 00:03:19.030 align:middle line:90% in the Tucson area or Arizona. 00:03:19.030 --> 00:03:22.660 align:middle line:84% So anyway, I want to share this story of when-- 00:03:22.660 --> 00:03:27.580 align:middle line:84% part of it is when I actually went downtown and talked 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:30.940 align:middle line:84% to this lady behind this glass wall, 00:03:30.940 --> 00:03:37.030 align:middle line:84% and she kept asking me questions through the glass wall. 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:41.290 align:middle line:84% And so part of that dialogue is actually in here. 00:03:41.290 --> 00:03:43.870 align:middle line:84% That dialogue stuck with me, and I ended up 00:03:43.870 --> 00:03:50.383 align:middle line:84% writing it almost word for word sometime later. 00:03:50.383 --> 00:03:52.300 align:middle line:84% And this is one that's called "Birth Witness." 00:03:52.300 --> 00:03:55.290 align:middle line:90% 00:03:55.290 --> 00:03:58.290 align:middle line:84% "My mother gave birth to me in an old wooden row 00:03:58.290 --> 00:04:00.600 align:middle line:90% house in the cotton fields. 00:04:00.600 --> 00:04:05.130 align:middle line:84% She remembers it was windy, around 1:00 in the afternoon. 00:04:05.130 --> 00:04:06.570 align:middle line:90% The tin roof rattled. 00:04:06.570 --> 00:04:09.060 align:middle line:84% A piece had lifted from the wooden frame. 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:12.060 align:middle line:84% It quivered and flapped as she gave birth. 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:15.870 align:middle line:84% She knew it was March, a windy afternoon in the cotton 00:04:15.870 --> 00:04:18.519 align:middle line:90% fields of Arizona. 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:23.790 align:middle line:84% She also used to say that I was baptized standing up. 00:04:23.790 --> 00:04:28.170 align:middle line:84% 'It doesn't count,' the woman behind the glass window tells 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:32.520 align:middle line:84% me, 'if you are not baptized the same year you were born. 00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:37.390 align:middle line:84% The baptismal record cannot be used to verify your birth. 00:04:37.390 --> 00:04:40.170 align:middle line:90% You need affidavits,' she said. 00:04:40.170 --> 00:04:43.230 align:middle line:84% 'Your older siblings, you have some, don't you? 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:47.190 align:middle line:84% They have to be old enough to have a memory of your birth. 00:04:47.190 --> 00:04:49.860 align:middle line:90% Can they vouch for you?' 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:52.590 align:middle line:90% Who was there for my birth? 00:04:52.590 --> 00:04:54.600 align:middle line:90% Who was there with my mother? 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:56.520 align:middle line:90% Was it my big sister? 00:04:56.520 --> 00:04:58.620 align:middle line:84% Would my mother had let a teenager 00:04:58.620 --> 00:05:00.780 align:middle line:90% watch her giving birth? 00:05:00.780 --> 00:05:03.300 align:middle line:90% Was it my father? 00:05:03.300 --> 00:05:05.640 align:middle line:84% I can imagine my father assisting her 00:05:05.640 --> 00:05:08.280 align:middle line:90% with her babies, my aunts. 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:11.160 align:middle line:84% Who was there when I breathed my first breath, 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:15.030 align:middle line:84% took in those dried particles from the cotton fields? 00:05:15.030 --> 00:05:19.470 align:middle line:84% Who knew then I would need witnesses of my birth? 00:05:19.470 --> 00:05:22.330 align:middle line:90% The stars were there in the sky. 00:05:22.330 --> 00:05:23.730 align:middle line:90% The wind was there. 00:05:23.730 --> 00:05:25.200 align:middle line:90% The Sun was there. 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:27.330 align:middle line:84% The pollen of spring was floating, 00:05:27.330 --> 00:05:29.370 align:middle line:90% and sensed me being born. 00:05:29.370 --> 00:05:31.440 align:middle line:90% They are silent witnesses. 00:05:31.440 --> 00:05:33.920 align:middle line:90% They do not know of affidavits. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.180 align:middle line:90% They simply know. 00:05:36.180 --> 00:05:38.850 align:middle line:90% 'You need records,' she said. 00:05:38.850 --> 00:05:42.150 align:middle line:84% 'Are there doctors' receipts from when you were a baby? 00:05:42.150 --> 00:05:44.640 align:middle line:84% Didn't your parents have a family bible-- 00:05:44.640 --> 00:05:47.460 align:middle line:84% you know, where births are recorded? 00:05:47.460 --> 00:05:52.540 align:middle line:84% Were there letters, announcements of your birth?' 00:05:52.540 --> 00:05:55.500 align:middle line:84% I don't bother to explain my parents are 00:05:55.500 --> 00:05:58.090 align:middle line:84% illiterate in the English language. 00:05:58.090 --> 00:05:59.760 align:middle line:84% What I really want to tell her is, 00:05:59.760 --> 00:06:03.660 align:middle line:84% they speak a language much too civil for writing. 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:06.300 align:middle line:84% It's a language useful for pulling memory 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:08.610 align:middle line:90% from the depths of the Earth. 00:06:08.610 --> 00:06:11.850 align:middle line:84% It is useful for praying with the Earth and sky. 00:06:11.850 --> 00:06:15.540 align:middle line:84% It is useful for singing songs that pull down the clouds. 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:17.760 align:middle line:90% It is useful for calling rain. 00:06:17.760 --> 00:06:20.610 align:middle line:84% It is useful for speeches and incantations 00:06:20.610 --> 00:06:24.450 align:middle line:84% that pull sickness from the minds and bodies of believers. 00:06:24.450 --> 00:06:27.960 align:middle line:84% It is a language too civil for writing. 00:06:27.960 --> 00:06:32.310 align:middle line:84% It is too civil for writing minor things like my birth. 00:06:32.310 --> 00:06:34.950 align:middle line:90% This is what I want to tell her. 00:06:34.950 --> 00:06:36.900 align:middle line:90% But I don't. 00:06:36.900 --> 00:06:40.440 align:middle line:84% Instead, I take the form she hands me, 00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:42.615 align:middle line:84% and I begin to account for myself." 00:06:42.615 --> 00:06:53.460 align:middle line:90% 00:06:53.460 --> 00:06:55.010 align:middle line:90% Oh.