Interview · North Dakota · South Dakota · Jesse Taken Alive · OSEU 6 · NDNAEU 7
Themes: Kinship & family, Storytelling & oral tradition, Education & learning, Treaties & sovereignty, Values & generosity, Listening & observation, Children & young people, Intergenerational learning
Learn About questions
1. What creates a challenge for Native people to convey their stories to non-Natives?
2. Why is “I didn’t know that” a response from so many non-Native people?
3. How might that be used as an excuse?
4. Why is it important for young people to be able to express who they are to others?
Learn From questions
1. Have you ever used the statement “I didn’t know” to get out of a tricky situation? What was the response?
2. In what ways does not working to “know” about another group of people create tensions?
3. If you needed to share about who you are as a person or part of a group of people, what would you say?
4. What is your ancestral story?
Transcripts
They'll say, “I didn't know” - Jesse Taken Alive- OSEU 6
Watch this interview on YouTubeJust the hundreds and hundreds of teachings and the beauty of it is that they're all simple. The beauty of it is that you all can learn those in your way and I respect you for learning them in your way. If you try to articulate this to a lot of our non-Indian friends, whether they be my counterparts in state or federal government, it's always a challenge.
And over the years meeting with these officials, the number one comment, the number one question that comes out once we start sharing why we need things, not want things, but why we need things and share the dynamics of that, whatever it may be, the number one comment is, I didn't know that. I didn't know that, which is fair because they wouldn't know it because they don't live with us as Lakota, you know, and we respect that, we understand it.
So, by the time they start knowing about it, then comes another election and you've got another set of relatives and counterparts to re-educate. Just as long as they don't use that as the excuse not to work together as partners, as treaty partners, with whatever the case may be, just as long as that's not used as an excuse because we're ready to educate, we're ready to do those things, always have been. So, that's something that's very interesting and I share that with a lot of young people.
Know who you are, know what you are and be able to share that with whomever, not just what's worth your actions because you're going to get that return statement, I didn't know that. That's all right, that's fine, that's okay because remember we live in two worlds.
Resource text
OSEU 6: INTERVIEW WITH JESSE TAKEN ALIVE
WoLakota Project
From the current WoLakota source page:
They’ll Say I Didn’t Know
Jesse Taken Alive
Transcript
(deep listening, information)
(deep listening, information)
Teachings of Our Elders resource text:
NDNAEU Alignment:
Some indexed text was extracted from scanned material. Check the original source for exact wording and spelling.
Source materials
Supplied transcript document. Text preserved as supplied; spellings and transcription uncertainties have not been corrected.
Additional source transcripts
They’ll Say I Didn’t Know
They'll say, “I didn't know” - Jesse Taken Alive- OSEU
6
Just the hundreds and hundreds of teachings and the beauty of it is that they're all
simple. The beauty of it is that you all can learn those in your way and I respect you for
learning them in your way. If you try to articulate this to a lot of our non-Indian friends,
whether they be my counterparts in state or federal government, it's always a challenge.
And over the years meeting with these officials, the number one comment, the number
one question that comes out once we start sharing why we need things, not want things,
but why we need things and share the dynamics of that, whatever it may be, the number
one comment is, I didn't know that. I didn't know that, which is fair because they
wouldn't know it because they don't live with us as Lakota, you know, and we respect
that, we understand it.
So, by the time they start knowing about it, then comes another election and you've got
another set of relatives and counterparts to re-educate. Just as long as they don't use
that as the excuse not to work together as partners, as treaty partners, with whatever
the case may be, just as long as that's not used as an excuse because we're ready to
educate, we're ready to do those things, always have been. So, that's something that's
very interesting and I share that with a lot of young people.
Know who you are, know what you are and be able to share that with whomever, not
just what's worth your actions because you're going to get that return statement, I didn't
know that. That's all right, that's fine, that's okay because remember we live in two
worlds.