[gentle music]
- Rainer Posselt: I knew I always wanted
to be a healer, but I don't think I knew
what path it was gonna be.
I started wanting to be a doctor,
then it was a nurse practitioner,
but then it just really clicked that talking can be my medicine.
Words are my medicine.
Konamanthe, ndineeweethe Rainer.
Niya Mã'eekaneew, Mã'eekaneewe Seekwaneewik nom.
Niya aachumookees.
So, my name is Rainer.
I am Stockbridge-Munsee.
I'm from here on the reservation,
and I'm a therapist.
Psychology and counseling is very Western,
and if you have a deeply rooted Indigenous identity,
you know who you are.
You can kind of blend both of them.
And that helps meet Native patients where they're at.
Western therapy pushes people
towards choice and individualism.
I moved to Milwaukee when I was 18.
I feel like I can be myself in Milwaukee.
Me and my friend joke that we're Rez City Indians
because we grew up on the rez and moved to the city.
I have room to grow into who I wanna be
without maybe a community expectation
or a family expectation.
It speaks more to individual growth than collective growth.
Working on the rez and still having a home in Milwaukee
is the best of both worlds.
There is beauty in being connected to blood
and also having room to be yourself in the city.
For collectivist communities like Native communities,
it's like, "How can I have volition, autonomy
within the contexts of, like, a family or a community?"
And a lot of the times, it's compromise.
Like, it's "How can I help my family, my community,
and get my own needs met?"
So, I run an art therapy group.
It's a nonverbal way to process emotion,
so it's creating kind of like a physical safety
to calm the limbic system.
Not much needs to be said.
It's amazing how some healing can happen
without any words, you know?
Sometimes, healing is this creating
or being in community, talking.
Well studies show that
any time you incorporate activities
that encourage cultural identity growth,
that it has good outcomes for patients.
Potato stamps are a traditional Mohican art.
When we would make baskets,
we'd often decorate them with potatoes
and use dyes from different roots and plants.
It kind of teaches us
that there's beauty in imperfections,
'cause it's not always gonna come out the way you want it to.
Does that make it any less valuable?
I don't think so, you know.
And there's lessons in that.
And, you know, also lessons in failure,
and sometimes, you gotta start over.
My family, there's a lot of wisdom
and knowledge on plants.
I take pride in incorporating Indigenous practices
such as smudging or herbal medicine into my practice.
A plant has a spirit, so any time we're using a plant,
we're asking to give its spirit to us.
Medicines that we burned,
we're taking that energy, and it helps heal.
Sweetgrass, it's a feminine energy.
It reminds us of our mothers, of our grandmas.
It's sweet, it's springtime.
And sometimes, when a patient is,
they're bringing in a lot of grief,
it can just clear that out of the room.
Remind them that life is still sweet, you know?
Spring will come.
In a lot of the creation stories,
like, cedar was the first tree, right?
So, cedar is a very powerful medicine.
It has a lot of, like, physical benefits,
but it also helps us get rid of grief
and also helps us deal with fear too.
I think in my own community,
my dream is that it will become less stigmatized
and people will be more open to seeking help
when they need it.
And that's why therapists,
that's why we do what we do is to help.
So, if I'm able to include, like, traditional art forms
or things connected to history,
I think it's a form of radical healing,
of building identity,
of being proud of who you are, knowing who you are.
'Cause someone once told me,
"If you know who you are, what can stop you?"
[singing in Ojibwe]
["Prayer Loop Song" by Supaman]
- Keller Paap: We knew that the number of existing elders
who spoke Ojibwe fluently,
who were raised with Ojibwe as a first language,
were vastly diminishing.
So, we knew we had to do something quick.
And so, that's why we started "Waadookodaading."
[speaking Ojibwe]
- Brooke Ammann: Waadookodaading, it's a place
where our language lives, where the Ojibwe language lives.
- [speaking Ojibwe]
["Prayer Loop Song" by Supaman]
- Keller: Language-- I think with any cultural practice,
it has a specific vocabulary and teachings
that are associated with each activity in that practice.
So, for instance, all the words about boiling sap,
the way that it boils,
have specific terms that describe it
very, very accurately
and allow you to develop a deep comprehension
of the activity and why you do it and how you do it.
- [speaking Ojibwe]
[children singing in Ojibwe] - Keller: I always say
it's an educational experience for students,
but it's a community movement.
We're facing some really unique challenges right now.
- Brooke: We have a lot of statistics that are against us.
We have a lot of issues with abuse and suicide,
that show us as not being the most healthy of communities.
And I always think of it,
not just in terms of our culture surviving,
but really, our people surviving.
- [speaking Ojibwe]
- Keller: I didn't learn to speak Ojibwe as a child,
but when I started studying it as an adult in college,
I quickly realized how much knowledge and capacity
there is in a language
to know who you are, where you come from,
how to see the world in that unique way.
- [speaking Ojibwe]
- Keller: It's certainly academically rigorous.
It's not just a culture program.
It's not just a language program.
[speaking Ojibwe]
Ultimately, it's prepping them
and building an intellectual framework
that they'll be able to apply to and adapt to.
No matter where they are in the world, that will help them.
And I think they're prepared
with knowledge and ability that they feel proud of,
that they feel connected to their ancestry in a deeper way.
They have a much broader and deeper understanding
of Ojibwe perspective in relation to
the local community, the local environment,
and the world.
[vocable singing]
- Chris McGeshick: So, the Creator put these gifts
on Earth for us.
And we too are one of those gifts.
These are all lives that are being provided to us
so that we can continue to live.
But in order to do that, and to do it the right way,
we have to provide an offering to the Creator
and to the fish itself.
Everybody's putting out their tobacco.
It's called asemaa in our language.
And they offer this aseema and they pray to the Creator,
and they pray to that being, that life
that's about to give itself up.
You can now harvest and you can feel good about it.
The Creator respects that.
The animals respect that.
The life expects that.
Subsistence harvest is really, truly that.
It's so that you can survive.
It's part of our culture, it's part of our ceremonies,
it's part of our daily life.
We're looking to pass on those cultures,
those teachings, those methods of harvest.
With the tribe, what we did was
we put together all of the harvesters,
and we gave them the opportunity
to provide what their knowledge was
to share with the community members.
We're gonna be running some unattended lines,
some jig fishing,
and we'll also be doing some tip-ups,
and we'll be spearing through the ice as well.
And some of the kids are gonna be working tonight
on making their own decoys for spearing through the ice.
That's what we're gonna focus on,
as well as having really good food.
In this camp is nothing but fun.
Their first harvest, it's spectacular.
You see the smiles on these kids' faces
and these parents' faces when their kid's hugging this fish
and carrying it around and getting all slimy and wet.
Once that happens,
the individuals seem to get hooked on the practice
and they come back out,
and they'll do it from year to year.
Those kids that were there in 2014 are now adults,
and they're coming out
and they're teaching what they learn.
We're highly adaptive.
You know, if something comes out,
we're gonna try it and we're gonna utilize it.
If there's a new harvest method,
we're gonna try to encompass those within our camp.
We really wanna get 'em hooked on fishing.
And so, here at this camp, we're also gonna infuse
a little bit of that new technology
and bring the electronics out on the ice
so that they can work with it.
We want our family members and our youngsters
to learn how to take care of themselves.
Whatever we provide,
when you're provided this equipment
and you're provided this knowledge, you utilize it
so that you can survive in the event you need to.
I think it's important to thank our relatives
and our ancestors for preserving
and protecting these rights
for us and for the future generations.
We have that responsibility.
They had that responsibility.
They endured what they had to endure
to preserve the right for us to go out there and harvest.
And the subsistence harvest is just the next opportunity
for that next generation.
The tribe is investing in itself.
The tribe is investing in its future.
You can sit there and you can think sometimes
and visualize seven generations.
That first generation had the responsibility to preserve
and protect what that last generation that you see
is now able to enjoy.
[gentle music]
- Dylan Jennings: Sometimes, it gets hard
to balance these two worlds.
There's different responsibilities
that I hold at school.
There's different responsibilities
that I hold for the Powwow Trail.
I'm a junior at UW-Madison.
I come from the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.
["Electric Pow Wow Drum" by A Tribe Called Red]
[vocable singing]
- Announcer: All right, don't go away gentlemen.
- Dylan: A powwow is a social gathering.
This is like our way
of bringing our whole Native community together.
- Announcer: Okay, I believe we are ready
for our first round entry.
So, we are gonna ask those of you that are able
to please rise, remove the covers off your head,
to pay respects not only just to our Stars and Stripes,
but to the original flag of this continent, our Eagle Staffs.
- Dylan: The veterans play a huge role
because they went to battle for us.
They went to battle for our people,
and they always have.
Powwows are used as a means to educate people.
That's why they're so open to the public and everything.
A lot of people classify Native Americans
as you know, "Oh, they're all Indians."
Well, no, you know.
We're all from different nations
that are all really, really different.
We all have different languages.
We all have different ways of life.
And we're completely different.
Just from being on the Powwow Trail,
you get to learn so much about different Native nations.
When I was just a little guy, I'd watch those
men's traditional dancers,
and they always had a big impression on me, you know?
And I always saw them as
you know, like, almost like the protectors of the powwow.
[vocable singing]
It's almost like I'm hunting,
especially when you do the sneak up.
You're out there looking for your prey
or for your Waawaashkeshi, we call it.
That's our word for deer.
I started singing with Midnite Express a few years ago.
Those people on that drum are my family.
[vocable singing]
Sometimes, like when it's not a contest song,
I'll get to look out there and see all those feathers
out there, moving and bobbing with the beat,
people just jamming out, and that's a great feeling.
[drumming and vocable singing]
["Electric Pow Wow Drum" by A Tribe Called Red]
When you're dancing,
you're dancing for the ones that can't dance anymore.
That's what they say.
You dance hard so the ones that are watching that can't dance
or the ones that aren't able to make it to the powwow
can feel those feelings from here.
I really try to encourage younger--
I call them little brothers on the Powwow Trail.
That's another reason I dance and sing,
is to help motivate these young ones
to carry on our traditions.
I really feel that I was put here on this earth
to help pass things on.
I want to see these traditions, these ways, passed down
'til I'm gone, and on.
- Hunter VanZile: It's very nerve-wracking at the start.
We could all crash
and we could all go through smoothly.
But when they wave the green flag,
all the pain, all the anxiety, nervous,
everything just drops.
My name's Hunter VanZile,
and I drive a Pro Spec for Championship Off-road.
This one is the Forest County Potawatomi Cup.
We're all as a family, we're all communities
coming together and enjoying the racetrack.
That's Forest County Potawatomi.
My dad let me race short-course karts
about nine years ago.
He supports me more than anything.
It's just, he's my backbone.
He's taught me everything he knows,
and I've learned from that.
We kind of had that bonded, two heads at it,
and we knew what we needed to do to be involved in racing.
He'll tell me, like, to do this.
And then I'll say, "No, let me do this."
And there's just,
he knows a little bit more than I do,
and I know a little bit more than him.
We work our way through it.
My first-ever race, my dad was my spotter.
I had no idea what I was doing out there,
but we got lucky and got a third.
As soon as I got up on the podium, I knew, I was like,
"All right, this is exactly what I wanna do
the rest of my life is do this."
Back then, was just, it was just a family thing.
And now we have sponsors, the community,
my family, friends, everyone's there with me now.
After I won in Bark River, the tribe,
Forest County Potawatomi and the whole community seen it.
And that really exposed me out there.
I got my name out there,
and I was the first-ever Native American to do it.
That caught a lot of people's attention.
That's when I felt like
the community was right with me the whole entire time.
Yeah, I try to give back as much as I can.
I would love to work with the tribe.
I usually bring my truck up to the rec center
to show the kids, like, what it's all about.
Yeah, they always wanna get in and touch every button in there
and just slam the gas is what they wanna do.
Anyone is willing to help, if you ask.
I might not know the guy, but if I ask,
"Hey, can I get a hand with this on my shock setup?"
I mean, they're willing to help.
There's been times where I broke parts
and I needed help.
Yeah, there's always people that are willing
to help us get there.
I got a lot of friends that are supporting us.
Sponsors is a big thing.
I mean, Forest County Potawatomi has been there since I started.
I have a lot of family supporting me,
a lot of friends that will support me.
I have my dad helping me,
and my mom's there to cook and keep us fed and everything,
and my sisters are there for the entertainment.
Everyone, every single one of them keeps me happy.
Even if I travel out far, Crandon's my hometown.
This whole community is all there with me.
[gentle music]
[drumming]
- Jessica House: I started playing ball
when I was eight years old.
I just had a really good passion
to play basketball for Oneida Nation.
Basketball is my life, and so is the culture.
My name is Jessica House.
I am a senior, and I play for the Lady Thunderhawks.
To be a Lady Thunderhawk, you have to learn discipline.
I mean, you're role models.
You've got to think about how you're acting
out in public.
[singing and drumming]
In order to play basketball at Oneida,
you have to be in the culture.
You have to participate.
Not a lot of girls were raised into it, where I was.
But they are starting to find their ways now.
And some of them even come to Long House now.
[singing and drumming]
It's important because I think
it helps know who they really are.
'Cause sometimes you get so caught up in the other world.
There's other girls, like me and Tasha,
we take separate classes out of school
for an actual language class.
Our teacher, Shalihókt, when he was younger,
there was more of the elders around that spoke the language,
whereas now we don't really hear it.
- [speaking Oneida]
Have you learned, have you learned it?
- Jessica: Shalihókt teaches us words to say.
Every time we go for a huddle, we go:
- [speaking Oneida] Whoo!
["Native Puppy Love" by A Tribe Called Red]
[all cheering] Yay!
- We have 11 girls on this Lady T-hawk team.
I am captain.
I'm also the point guard,
so I'm expected to keep the game going,
keep everyone under control.
Keep myself under control!
Before, we had hardly any people in the stands.
My sophomore year, the fans started to fill in.
My parents only missed one game
out of the three years I've been at Oneida.
I think it's really cool
when all the parents are there supporting their daughters.
It gives us our energy.
I don't know how the other girls see it,
but there's no better feeling than when you play basketball.
["Native Puppy Love" by A Tribe Called Red]