WEBVTT

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I think I'll play these little
songs next, because in Conflict

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Resolution--

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I got asked a question
today about a student.

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Because in this book, I
have these little riffs.

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And I said, well, they're
really, like, saxophone riffs.

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And then the question
was, yeah, but what

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does jazz and blues have
to do with Native people?

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And I said, well, I'm working
on a musical now actually.

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I didn't say that.

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About restoring Native people
to the story of blues and jazz,

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because it was born
in the Southeast,

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Congo Square, which
was considered

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one of the birthplace--
kind of the navel point

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birthplace of blues and jazz
was a Muskogean village.

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So there, there it is.

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And yet, we have not been
included in that story.

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And I've been researching
for a long time.

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And people will stand
right up to the edge

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and say, OK, Charley
Patton was Choctaw,

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and he was born right
there in Choctaw country.

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But they won't say, well,
if you listen to our music,

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you'll hear the
blues, it's there.

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So anyway, I didn't say
all that in class though.

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But I was thinking about
it after that question,

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and thinking, in our
ceremonial grounds,

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you can see, they let the people
out, the African people out,

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on Sundays.

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And they came over.

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Oh, there's other Native people.

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Come on over here
with us and hang out.

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Well, this is what we do.

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This is how we sing.

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You know?

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There's a lot of
sharing that went on.

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And I was thinking
about how in our songs

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at the ceremonial grounds,
that those songs have a lot

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to do with connecting us to
the Earth and making our space,

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talking about our relationship.

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It's all plant related.

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All of those songs are
related to the plants.

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So these little jazz
riffs are related

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to what we're talking about.

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I'm going to see how it goes.

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Horns go flat when
they get cold.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Humans were created by mistake.

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Someone laughed, and
we came crawling out.

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That was the beginning
of the story.

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We were hooked then.

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What a wild dilemma, how to make
it to the stars on a highway

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slick with fear.

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When I awoke from a 40-year
sleep, it was by a song.

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I could hear the
drums in the village.

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I felt the sweat of
ancestors in each palm.

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The singers were singing
the world into place,

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even as it continued
to fall apart.

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They were making songs
to turn hatred into love.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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I need a page turner up here.

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Yeah.

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This is only one of many worlds.

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Worlds are beings, each
with their own themes,

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rules, and ways of doing.

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Humans in this world
fall too easily to war,

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are quick to take offense
and claim ownership.

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"What drama," said
Crow, dodging traffic

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as he wrestled with
a piece of roadkill.

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Where we lived, the
settlers built their houses.

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Where we drew fresh water,
the oil companies sucked oil.

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Where deer ran in countless
numbers, we have a new mall.

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Where the healing plants
thrived, the river is burning.

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Now a fence cuts the road home.

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Next, the sky will be tethered
and we will pay for air.

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Midnight is a horn player warmed
up tight for the last set.

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1:00 AM is a drummer who
knows how to lay it sweet.

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2:00 AM is a guitar player
who is down on his luck.

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3:00 AM is a bass
player who is walking

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the floor crazy for you.

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4:00 AM is a singer in silk
who will do anything for love.

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5:00 AM is kept for the birds.

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6:00 AM is the cleaning
crew smoking cigarettes

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while they wait for
the door to open.

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7:00 AM we're having breakfast
at the diner that never closes.

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8:00 AM and we shut it
down, though the clock keeps

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running all through the town.

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"When I walk over to
join you in the 2-step,

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you'd better say yes,"
the old woman told Death.

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And Death laughed.

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For her, Death was a
fine looking native man.

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He wore old style buckskin.

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She took his arm.

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He was a good dancer.

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They 2-stepped all the way
to the end of the circle

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of this Earth fire.

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The day went on
as it always had,

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though we fought
the government's

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troops in that crook
of the river that

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had given us much pleasure.

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The sun kept moving,
as did the clouds.

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The birds were, however, silent.

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They could not comprehend
the violence of humans.

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Everyone comes into this
world with a job to do.

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I don't mean working for
a company, a corporation.

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We were all given
gifts to share,

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even the animals, even
the plants, the minerals,

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the clouds.

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All beings.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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