Sound good? Alright, for this one speaking hand. Thank you for this interview today.
Can I just have you slowly say and spell your first and last name please?
Sure. Apache, Danforth, APA, CHE, D-A-N-F-O-R-T-H.
And what tribe are you from? I'm from the Oneida Nation.
Thank you so much for this today.
He spoke about the significance of students being able to wear their traditional regalia
or high school ceremonies and not to be the first students to be okay and comfortable with that as part of their identity.
Tell me about what you think about what he said about that today.
Well, it definitely is very important. It's a right that I think that our people have been advocating for for many, many years.
So it's not a new issue. However, it continues to be an issue.
So just recognizing that graduation is a milestone for many of our young people and many of the first ones graduating from high school and their family.
So wearing the traditional regalia really honors that tradition of accomplishment and a lot of times the regalia is an heirloom from a family.
So it also represents their family and what their success for, their family and representing their family.
I know that a lot of states have already passed legislation allowing students to wear traditional regalia.
And I think that the state of Wisconsin can follow suit and do the same to help protect our Indigenous students here in our state and allow them to wear that regalia.
And allow them to have that accolade and to represent our people in that way. It really promotes an inclusive culture.
I was going to ask you about, did that really good? That was perfect.
I want to ask you about cannabis regulation in this state. If you mention the statistic, 86% of Wisconsin I'd say they're in favor for it.
What do you think about that and how would it specifically impact Native people here in Wisconsin?
Well I think there's two sides of the coin on cannabis and I think that the legislator in many ways is right to kind of be careful in producing legislation that allows for the regulation of cannabis in our state.
However it is an economic tool that the tribes can use to build our communities and some many programs that help our communities society.
However it has to be done with caution.
I really encourage them to think about our kids when they're looking at legislation and legalizing cannabis in our state and how they're protecting our children from abusing and having access to cannabis.
However in terms of plant medicine definitely we've all seen the studies and it can definitely be a tool that helps our people escape addiction.
Pain management so that we don't have to get pharmaceuticals and heart opioids and ethanol and all these things to help regulate our pain so that we're understanding that it is a plant medicine.
It is important. It is spiritual in many ways in respecting that.
So respecting that spiritual part of the plant medicine but also being aware that it can be abused and what are we doing to protect our children.