WEBVTT

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This piece is-- this
next piece is one that

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has a very large history to it.

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It's the history, of course,
of the O'odham people.

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Also the history
of this country,

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and particularly the southern
part here, and, of course,

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Arizona.

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As O'odham people, this whole
area, of course, Tucson, we--

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its real name, of
course, is S-cuk-Sǫn.

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This whole area is O'odham land,
going on down into what is,

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of course, now Sonora, Mexico.

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And our tribe is
split by the border.

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And some of us ended up
what is now the Mexico side.

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And the majority of
the O'odham, of course,

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are on the Arizona
side or the US side.

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Anyway, there's lots of
different histories of families

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and large groups
of O'odham people

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in that evolved in
different ways because

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of that separation, that
physical separation, also

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political separation of peoples.

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And my family came into
Arizona in the 1950s.

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At least, my mother and
father came in the 1950s.

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Both of them are
from Sonora, Mexico.

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Our traditional home is
in what is now Mexico.

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And like many
O'odham people, they

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sort of moved around for
economic reasons, finding jobs

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and so forth.

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And they ended up on the edges,
on the edge of the reservation,

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on the edge of a lot of things.

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And so many of us, of
course, were born at home.

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And I was one of them.

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We had a big family.

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And as a result of that,
I have no documentation

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of my birth and all that
that is often required.

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Anyway, at one point--

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in fact, in the last
10 years, I think--

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I've had invitations to
go-- to leave the country

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or to go to other places in
the world for different things,

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especially the work on language
and Indigenous languages,

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Native American languages.

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But of course, I cannot go.

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Well, I guess I could go.

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I just can't come
back into the country.

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But anyway, so one time--

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well, actually, several times--

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different people
offered to help me.

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The thing that I never
took them up on their offer

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is because it's
one thing to help

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me to get a birth
certificate and a passport

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or whatever was necessary.

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But then what about the rest
of the O'odham people who were

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in the same position--
situation as--

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that I was in?

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So I never went through
the whole process.

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And then, of course, I would
take my political stance

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and say, I don't need a piece
of paper, that sort of thing.

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But anyway, one time, I did
try, just to see what it took.

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And I went downtown
and talked to the woman

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behind the glass plate window.

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Eh, you know, she was a lifelong
worker behind the glass window.

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And so this piece has
a lot of that dialogue.

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It's real dialogue,
too, between myself

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and this woman behind
the glass window.

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And then, of course,
it's my story

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and the story of many O'odham
people who were born at home

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or, perhaps, born or
came in from Mexico

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but are O'odham people.

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And it's not a question of
whether they're US citizens

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or not.

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It's that they're O'odham,
and this is our homeland.

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And so this piece is called
"Birth Witness" because that's

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what I need in the
end, is someone

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who saw me being born here
on this side, in the US side.

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"My mother gave birth to
me in an old wooden row

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house in the cotton fields.

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She remembers it was windy."

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And actually, my birthday is
this month, the windy month

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of April-- excuse me, March.

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"She remembers it was windy,
around 1:00 in the afternoon.

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The tin roof rattled, a piece
uplifted from the wooden frame.

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It quivered and flapped
as she gave birth.

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She knew it was March, a
windy afternoon in the cotton

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fields of Arizona.

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She also used to say I
was baptized standing up.

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'It doesn't count,' the woman
behind the glass window tells

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me.

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'If you were not baptized
the same year you were born,

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the baptismal certificate cannot
be used to verify your birth.

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You need affidavits,' she said.

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'Your older siblings--
you have some, don't you?

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They have to be old enough to
have a memory of your birth.

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Can they vouch for you?'

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Who was there to
witness my birth?

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Who was there with my mother?

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Was it my big sister?

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Would my mother
have let a teenager

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watch her giving birth?

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Was it my father?

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I can imagine my father
assisting her with her babies.

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My aunts?

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Who was there when I
breathed my first breath,

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took in those dry particles
from the cotton fields?

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Who knew then that I would
need witnesses of my birth?

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The stars were there in the sky.

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The wind was there.

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The sun was there.

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The pollen of
spring was floating

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and sensed me being born.

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They are silent witnesses.

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They do not know of affidavits.

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They simply know.

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'You need records,' she said.

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'Are there doctor's receipts
from when you were a baby?

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Didn't your parents have
a family Bible, you know,

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where births are recorded?

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Were there letters?

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Announcements of your birth?'

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I don't bother to
explain my parents are

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illiterate in the
English language.

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What I really want
to tell her is

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they speak a language much
too civil for writing.

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It is a language useful
for pulling memory

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from the depths of the earth.

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It is useful for praying
with the earth and sky.

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It is useful for singing songs
that pull down the clouds.

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It is useful for calling rain.

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It is useful for
speeches and incantations

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that pull sickness from the
minds and bodies of believers.

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It is a language too
civil for writing.

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It is too civil for writing
minor things like my birth.

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This is what I really
want to tell her.

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But I don't.

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Instead, I take the
form she hands me,

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and I begin to
account for myself."

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I still dig it up--