The Comment Section with Drew Afualo

00:00:00.000 you don't have a culture and that's why you feel like it's not that big of a deal right

00:00:03.820 you don't have one like whatever yours is what is it casserole i don't fucking know like

00:00:08.080 what do you guys celebrate colonizing other races i don't know that's why i'm like it's

00:00:13.120 it's one of those things yeah well i mean it doesn't bother you because it's not you

00:00:16.360 america fourth of july like that's their culture their heritage yeah

00:00:20.600 hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the comment section show starring me your

00:00:29.060 favorite who cares about me who cares about me on to the guest today we have the amazing the iconic

00:00:34.140 the legendary kuana chasing horse welcome thank you i'm so excited to be here i'm honored to have

00:00:43.440 you my indigenous queen how are you i'm good i'm good just happy to be here i love watching all

00:00:51.120 your podcasts it's super fun especially in the morning i wake up and i'm like it gives me that

00:00:56.720 rush you know to get out of bed that makes me happy to hear i'm glad to hear it yeah i love it

00:01:02.960 i'm so happy to have you as a guest you're an icon and i've been following your career for a very long

00:01:08.360 time i was just talking to kuana about how busy you are all the time you're gone 24 7 yeah two weeks

00:01:14.580 of sleep and then you're back on the road yeah which is really nice considering i feel like a lot

00:01:18.940 of people also have a very busy schedule like mine yeah and but it's really nice to be here and

00:01:25.740 you know because now i'm based out of la so it's nice to be home yeah because man i haven't been

00:01:31.220 home for like a month i have a dog and we're just talking about how it's hard leaving our animals i know

00:01:36.060 you know our family but it's worth it at the end of the day yeah i mean i always think about no matter

00:01:42.600 how tired or how frustrated things can be you know and having you can have like the best experiences

00:01:48.160 in the industry or like some really shitty ones yeah and so you just gotta navigate it but um i've

00:01:55.100 just been really thankful you know and reaching the levels that i've reached and meeting the people

00:02:00.000 i've been able to meet absolutely really a roller coaster but yeah the best how i know you've been in

00:02:06.540 in the modeling industry for a while now like what what was that journey like when you first got

00:02:11.880 like discovered versus now like has there been like a huge shift a huge change do you see any

00:02:17.580 differences at all are you more seasoned now i feel like there's a little seasoning in there you know

00:02:23.500 i'm like marinating a little bit yeah but i'm still considered new you know i've only been doing this for

00:02:29.500 like two years yeah and um it all i was like thrown into it so it all happened really fast like i was

00:02:37.080 completely thrown into the industry but in a really great way you know it wasn't like i didn't want to

00:02:43.840 do it and i was just kind of like forced to do a lot of things it was more of like i my team my my

00:02:49.660 family my mom everyone made my dreams come true and it was truly like the best way i feel like anyone

00:02:55.660 could have walked into the industry you know full pride yeah and you know i feel like it is it comes with a

00:03:03.820 lot of like finding liberation you know and like being proud of who you are and where you come from

00:03:11.420 and there's not a lot of people coming out of alaska yeah pursuing things like this and

00:03:16.700 yeah it definitely has changed it's definitely been a lot faster now um but in the beginning it's those

00:03:25.440 things where you're kind of like just trying to get booked for a job you know and so you're just like

00:03:30.780 taking jobs left and right but now i'm at the point where i can sit down and really talk with

00:03:36.960 you know brands and designers and whoever i'm collabing with on you know my principles and my

00:03:45.160 values because a lot of things that i do now you know i'm at that point where i can ask those questions

00:03:50.100 i can make those demands because i um you know being one of the first indigenous people you know in

00:03:57.560 those spaces having a voice yeah absolutely you got to utilize that yeah absolutely and i've been an

00:04:02.860 advocate before modeling before i've been in this industry yeah so i can't just like stop doing that

00:04:10.040 and just you know forget about it exactly there's a lot more going on in there in the world and i just

00:04:17.080 want to be someone that can use my platform in a good way yeah um and so that's what i've been trying

00:04:23.820 to do a lot is just use my platform but also try to stay authentic to who i am yeah but also show

00:04:31.060 my work and i never talk about the things that i do for community as much i just kind of do them

00:04:38.620 and then same you know exactly you just do it behind the scenes you don't gotta like boast or brag about

00:04:44.200 it like i don't have to post about it for it to be real exactly exactly and i had this really

00:04:49.500 interesting altercation with someone really where they were like challenging me into like

00:04:56.580 basically trying to get me to say that i only do this for myself trying to like yeah like your

00:05:03.020 your form of representation is like self-serving and that's it it doesn't do anything for anyone

00:05:08.400 yeah yeah and it was really weird to hear that because i was like man how do i tell them that i

00:05:13.520 like you know how do i explain all my work yeah and they finally were like well tell me one thing

00:05:20.360 that you've done for the community and i was like all right one simple small thing and i consider this

00:05:24.880 very small yeah is now that i am the world ambassador for paul mitchell hair yeah um they've been doing

00:05:33.220 amazing job and like they've been trying to go you know completely sustainable and do really great

00:05:37.720 things they have great initiatives and um when i went back home i hadn't screened my film yet and i

00:05:45.900 was really excited to screen it back home yeah to show my community and we reached out to the north

00:05:52.500 face because they have been supporting my film they funded my film everything and then we got a few other

00:05:57.440 brands to send products and different things um for me to have this raffle but no one had to pay for

00:06:04.420 anything it was just like for free you know to give back to your exactly yeah and i asked for only

00:06:09.740 like 200 products and i thought that was a lot you know i was like that's a lot um maybe i'm pushing

00:06:15.960 you know they sent 1,200 products damn and i was like what do i even do so after the raffle after all

00:06:25.420 of that we were just donating them giving them away to you know the youth homeless shelters women's

00:06:30.360 homeless shelters just yeah you know different people within the community that don't have those

00:06:35.100 kind of resources or have access to nice things or like products you know that they need it's a lot

00:06:42.820 of these things are essential to like hygiene and care and like for me that's like the smallest thing

00:06:50.680 that you can do yeah for your community for me like i just felt like that was nothing compared to

00:06:55.400 some of the other things but having that just knowing that i can do a little bit you know like

00:07:02.300 it absolutely makes me feel a lot better with what i do as a model yeah absolutely i think that's

00:07:09.040 beautiful and i also think i relate to that a lot too because obviously our communities are very

00:07:15.180 underrepresented in media which is our topic for today by the way but i think too it for me i feel like

00:07:23.340 it undermines the gift of it like the ability to donate or help or or a platform or whatever you

00:07:30.960 can do if i feel the need to post about it and get kudos for it all the time posting about it every

00:07:36.300 once in a while sure right um or if it's like part of the deal right sure um but there's lots of things

00:07:41.440 that i do too for my own community that i don't talk about publicly because i feel like it makes it

00:07:47.240 disingenuous like if i'm doing it for likes or views or whatever um if i do happen to take

00:07:53.560 pictures and i want to share them at some point i think that's nice but like that's not the point

00:07:58.000 exactly why we're doing it exactly and i think it it you would honestly get the same you would get

00:08:03.940 like the inverse of that reaction if you posted it that'd be like oh you're just doing this for likes

00:08:08.420 and stuff so you're like if i i'm damned if i do i'm damned if i don't that's literally what i told

00:08:13.520 that person i was like either way if i did post it you'd literally still be coming at me

00:08:17.760 tell me the same thing exactly and it's it's also too i think a testament to like us being women too

00:08:24.700 um it's just never enough like everything we do it's just never enough no matter what we do

00:08:30.040 um because men can do the bare fucking minimum and they get an award on the back a key to the city

00:08:37.020 they're like give that man a presidency he deserves it um but we'll do all that and then some

00:08:43.360 and just not post about it and then we're held to a completely different standard in that sense

00:08:48.200 yeah and i feel like same thing with like you know activists or advocates or water protectors like

00:08:55.260 land protectors anybody that's showing up and that do that is what they do yeah and they're known for

00:09:02.100 it so they they use social media like exactly that also like i feel like people just like think that

00:09:10.080 we're just supposed to be perfect you know and especially indigenous women you know like we're

00:09:15.220 just supposed to be that picture perfect like you know warrior and like you know like we can't do no

00:09:22.580 wrong like and i just i hate that because we're all human and like we do human things and you know and

00:09:31.640 there's nothing wrong with that yeah absolutely not and so anytime i don't know i respond to comments

00:09:39.500 which is never all the time it's just like those ones where you have to just like you're like i can't

00:09:44.360 not say something exactly but also it's like you kind of use that comment as like you know like if

00:09:50.180 anyone has that same question or you know what i mean yeah use that as an example and just being

00:09:55.160 like all right the only reason why i'm responding to you is for this reason yeah i know other people

00:09:59.460 are gonna ask the same thing exactly or it's gonna turn into like a dog pile exactly exactly so you

00:10:05.840 gotta like nip it in the bud i feel that me i respond to hate all the time i love it i love it

00:10:11.240 i'm constantly responding to hate all the time it's the best it's the best it should get that that's my

00:10:16.280 whole platform is hate uh and what's been hate like hate directed towards me personally yeah and also

00:10:21.580 other people and that's what you said too about like when some people are activists first and that's

00:10:26.620 how they build their platform versus people who build it another way and activism is something they

00:10:31.240 weave into their platform it's like the standards are very different in that sense because obviously

00:10:36.740 when you're an activist first you have to post about it because that's like your whole platform

00:10:40.080 when you do all kinds of other things too like for example you you're a model and then you also weave

00:10:46.240 activism into your platform they like hold you to a different standard than they would someone who's

00:10:51.040 just purely activism and i just don't think there's any one right way to do it i think as long as you're

00:10:56.780 doing it and you're doing something and you're actually trying to platform your community and

00:11:02.160 fight for them and fight for representation where you can i think that's super important especially

00:11:06.720 when you're saying like now you have the ability to like talk with brands and have these conversations

00:11:11.400 about representation and like have those kinds of conversations that you wouldn't normally have if

00:11:16.620 you were just getting started especially sustainability like those ones are like the hardest conversation to

00:11:21.780 have because there's always excuses and there's always something that puts some you know it's

00:11:26.980 like a wall they like hit a wall and they don't know what to do and it's like it's possible yo

00:11:31.460 there's so many brands there's so many people out there that are making it possible and it's still

00:11:37.520 cute cool and trendy like you can do it all well considering indigenous people lived off

00:11:43.460 sustainability for thousands of years before being colonized and it is very possible yeah and they did it

00:11:50.420 without technology so like yeah we had like our own technology that's what i mean yeah like we had

00:11:56.560 our own system way of doing things we didn't need all the extra stuff didn't it didn't i think too like

00:12:05.680 when you said that about having those conversations i've had those conversations too especially when i

00:12:10.780 first built my platform because for aapi month i was like i know for a fact they're gonna come to me

00:12:18.540 because i'm like the only pi they can think of that has like a creator background like um and it

00:12:25.020 was true like i i had lots of uh people reach out to me and want to work with me during the month of

00:12:30.420 may which is wonderful um but the first questions i i had for them were like do you have any other

00:12:36.480 pacific islander representation or is it just me have you and then a lot of times they'll say like

00:12:41.380 well i you know like we haven't really you know gone that far and i'm like well you seem to have

00:12:46.140 fulfilled all the other requirements i'm the only other i'm the only pi like it's just me

00:12:50.580 that's like checking off the yeah it's it's checking a quota and then you get stuck in this

00:12:55.360 kind of like rock and hard place because you're like if i don't do this then there is no representation

00:13:00.400 but if i do do it and it's just me then i'm like i'm a checked box so it's like it's kind of that

00:13:07.220 balancing act so a lot of times i just bring it to the con i bring the conversation forward so we can

00:13:12.340 have it and i give them suggestions i'm like i follow other pacific islander creators i'd love

00:13:17.260 to pitch you guys if you guys are willing to platform them a lot of times they don't because

00:13:22.760 their platforms are not as big and and they're not like what they're looking for which basically is

00:13:28.240 just numbers um and that's fine if that's the case but then i just like don't want everyone to

00:13:34.420 pretend that they did all this research and just i was the only one they could find because that's not

00:13:38.940 true if you look hard enough you can find plenty yeah just like there are plenty of indigenous

00:13:43.640 creators that i follow on all different platforms like they they span all different types of

00:13:48.460 indigeneity like it's not just native americans it's not just pacific islanders there's like

00:13:52.720 indigenous mexican people too there's indigenous people all over the world and i follow a lot of

00:13:57.060 different creators i'm like i find it hard to believe that you couldn't find any when i could

00:14:00.600 with all your resources i could find them and you guys can't it's not that hard it's really not that

00:14:07.080 hard yeah and talking about this actually it's kind of funny today i think is like world indigenous

00:14:11.960 people's day so that's really cool that we're just having this conversation it's timely love that

00:14:18.140 for us but yeah i mean being in this industry just for as long as i've been which isn't even that long

00:14:27.540 at all like if you really think about it i'm still brand new i'm still learning you know it's been

00:14:34.680 such a roller coaster because like i've had some of the best experiences and then i've had

00:14:40.000 you know those experiences where you feel completely tokenized and then it doesn't feel authentic or

00:14:45.440 genuine it's just like like you said checking the quota and yeah it just feels kind of like like do

00:14:51.600 they even care that i'm here you know or do they just not want to get in trouble for not having

00:14:57.240 someone like me here exactly exactly and the hardest thing about being a native model is they're not a lot

00:15:03.300 of us there's really not like there's very few indigenous models that are like recognized for

00:15:08.120 it you know yeah and i'm friends with basically all of them it's all of you together literally

00:15:14.720 and there has been a few shows where we all got to like walk together or work together but usually

00:15:21.320 you know sometimes people within the industry some people you know on different teams or whatever

00:15:29.660 always trying to say you know mostly to them that i'm like the competitor like i am like they're

00:15:37.820 trying to turn you guys against each other kind of thing yeah and it's just not fun because they're

00:15:41.600 my friends and yeah as indigenous people we're supposed to uplift each other and support each other

00:15:47.060 you know and there should be room for everyone right not just exactly what i'm saying and it just it

00:15:53.320 gets so frustrating when you're sitting there like talking with all your friends and it's like oh i just

00:15:57.720 booked this job then they're like oh what job is it and we're like trying to be happy for each other

00:16:01.480 and then we like the more we talk about it we're like oh first they went to you and then you couldn't

00:16:06.280 do it or for some reason you know what i mean they kind of trickled down the line of like because

00:16:09.920 they needed one yeah and i'm like you could have at least hired both of us yeah you know like well

00:16:15.160 well considering they have multiples of every other ethnicity represented but they can only have one of you

00:16:21.740 that's exactly yeah is the frustrating part and that's why that's why i said then you run into

00:16:26.560 the issue of like well if i don't go there's no one and like i need to represent i want my community

00:16:33.240 to be represented but i don't want to be the only person there like the only the only one they they

00:16:39.200 cared enough to employ or hire and it gets really frustrating even like for me i mean other than the

00:16:46.780 rock who i do personal pr for at this point and then like jason momoa it's like just the three of

00:16:54.000 us yeah there's like a few other women too like um that are also representative of different pacific

00:16:59.920 under communities like periscope is one like she's someone and she's huge um but like some of them you

00:17:05.880 don't even know that there's someone or you don't they don't pay attention to it which is fine

00:17:09.920 but i feel like there are some other like people in the industry that because it's become like a new

00:17:17.920 thing to be indigenous in some space like they're like oh yeah same like me too i was just and i was

00:17:24.180 like you've been in the industry for how long and you're just now talking about it which is crazy to

00:17:29.260 me because i'm like you never wanted to talk about being someone prior to it becoming cool right like

00:17:38.080 the rock has always talked about it because he can't hide it like it's literally very obvious

00:17:42.760 and with even with someone like him like i know i talk about him all the time but even

00:17:46.460 he gets typecast a lot yeah as like big and strong like that's his thing is like i'm big big strong man

00:17:52.420 and uh some people are like oh i'm so sick of him playing those roles and i'm like that's the only

00:17:58.060 role he can play like they'll let him play because they're like well big man big man strong cast him

00:18:03.680 like that's that's not really his fault it's kind of like he's playing the hand that he was dealt

00:18:09.920 exactly because they're not gonna i mean they're not gonna put him in like a role where he has to

00:18:15.540 be like frail and fragile and like you know they're not gonna do that because of what he looks like and

00:18:19.620 that's the whole that's like my whole point so he can't hide it so of course he talks about it

00:18:24.000 but then there are other people in the industry that never talk about it until it becomes a trend

00:18:28.780 yeah and then they're like oh my gosh me too oh my gosh same i'm also indigenous which is so

00:18:35.180 i'm like all of a sudden huh yeah that's crazy and what's crazy is like the one thing that i actually

00:18:40.720 was talking to my friend about yesterday because it's been coming up a lot recently is you know

00:18:46.340 people also you know seeing that it's becoming trendy and cool they like maybe heard you know oh down

00:18:53.440 the line somewhere they have indigenous ancestry you know like native american ancestry yeah and

00:18:59.480 then i'm like oh cool what tribe they're like oh i'm cherokee my grandma's cherokee like i'm

00:19:04.520 cherokee princess like you know all of those stereotypical things it's always the same one

00:19:08.680 it's always the same thing and then it's just like i'm not trying to invalidate people you know either so

00:19:15.560 i'm just like i get it you know good for you yeah man there was this one time me and my mom

00:19:21.820 we're driving um to some event or something and she was really excited and yeah we were in our um

00:19:28.640 car and she rolled down the window and you know it's like those big black suvs yeah she rolls down

00:19:33.600 the window and she's looking at the window she's just super cute and cheesy yeah he's so cute and

00:19:38.280 she's like looking out the window and as we're like coming to this stop sign um or like a red light

00:19:44.100 some woman looks over at my mom and she's like oh my gosh are you native american my mom was like

00:19:48.300 yeah and uh the woman was in the other car damn no actually she was just walking on the street like

00:19:55.160 she was just on the sidewalk okay it was really funny and then my mom just continues to kind of

00:20:00.900 ignore her and then she goes oh my gosh me too i'm cherokee and my mom looks at her and goes

00:20:07.500 cool so are a lot of people and like slowly rolls up the window she's like you ruined it so yeah i'm

00:20:14.740 gonna look out the window anymore see this is why i don't roll down my window literally we can't even

00:20:19.140 roll down the window like oh yeah oh man if you literally looked at me and was like i shouldn't

00:20:25.200 have rolled down that she's like my days that's so funny that oh my gosh the way that my family

00:20:33.540 is like that too because like my boyfriend obviously my boyfriend is visibly someone and he is

00:20:38.900 and he's got tattoos and everything and long hair and my dad is huge my dad's a big dude and has

00:20:44.720 tattoos all over him too and he looks he's full someone so he looks someone and everywhere we go

00:20:50.640 if there's like they see him uh like people see him or my boyfriend or even just us because my mom has

00:20:57.300 tribal tattoos too they're like oh like are you um are you guys like hawaiian or something no in fact

00:21:05.240 no we always go no and then they're like oh so what are you guys and we're like oh we're someone

00:21:10.680 and they're like oh cool and then they tell me about their trip to hawaii congrats congrats babe i'm

00:21:16.700 so happy for you um that has nothing to do with me or my culture but love peace and love love that for

00:21:22.420 you and it's just one of those things you have to get used to like yeah the the way they just tell

00:21:26.440 you they're oh well one time i went one time i went to fiji and it was awesome like they want to

00:21:32.460 relate so they do and i and i wanted i can't like i don't have it in me to be unless they're

00:21:38.180 being outright racist which that is a microaggression which is racism but unless they're

00:21:42.920 like attack being antagonistic and racist i'm not going to be mean to you i'm just going to be like

00:21:47.200 what your mom did great congrats yeah love that for you she was like so are a lot of people and i was

00:21:53.140 like your mom's like yeah aren't we all

00:21:55.920 literally damn that's so one time one time i went to this event um and it was like a creator

00:22:04.200 event and i took my whole family because if i get a plus eight i'm taking everybody literally and so

00:22:09.240 i take my whole family we uh we're all like uh hanging out in this like kind of lounge area

00:22:15.460 and there's lots of creators in their families and uh these two kids come up to my dad

00:22:20.880 and they're like 19 20 like super young and they're um white for lack of a better word they're

00:22:29.460 white um they come up to my dad and they say the first thing they say to my dad is aloha

00:22:34.960 red flag big red flag in fact and my dad's like hey and then they're like hey like we wanted to

00:22:43.080 like ask you like are you um simon which by the way like in proper someone language it's pronounced

00:22:49.540 someone it's not pronounced simoan yeah so they said simoan strike two uh and then my dad goes yeah

00:22:56.080 i am and then they're like oh my gosh same are you i love that i love that for you they're like yeah we

00:23:05.940 are in fact like they're telling me like they start telling my dad how they're like they're half

00:23:10.620 they're half someone and like okay cool great awesome um i've met many half someone people in my life

00:23:17.720 many many many my boyfriend's one of them um not all have someone people look the same

00:23:22.360 but these people were blonde with blue eyes and they had really fair skin so like sure right like

00:23:30.820 i'm inclined to believe you because i can't run an ancestry.com on you but i'm inclined to believe

00:23:36.360 you and they just start trying to relate like to my dad and it feels inappropriate because if you

00:23:43.840 looked at what these men look like and what my dad looks like who's a full samuan man like

00:23:49.200 there's just no way like there's there's a huge disconnect in there and there's like an indigenous

00:23:54.320 experience there is and that's and that's kind of how it felt and it it was one thing to be like

00:23:59.820 you know i'm not and they said like i'm not in touch with my culture which okay cool clearly because

00:24:05.480 you said aloha like i just that's not even samuan that's why i'm like i don't want to call you a liar

00:24:11.240 but you're speaking hawaiian like that's that's completely different indigenous culture so they

00:24:16.680 they did this whole charade of like yeah like i just like i want to get so close to my culture my

00:24:22.260 dad was like i wish that happened i hope that happens for you i'm happy for you they're like yeah

00:24:27.920 and then when they leave they go like okay shoots and they do this with like there's like a shaka right

00:24:34.360 which is again hawaiian like that is not someone at all so i was like i don't want to call you

00:24:41.060 liar bro but like you're not even it's you're so you don't know the basics yeah you don't even the

00:24:46.640 foundation you don't even have that i would have rather you just spoke to us normally and told us

00:24:51.260 that and then been like okay see ya goodbye yeah nice to meet you and then left but it was like

00:24:57.160 these little sprinkles of like i'm just like you like yeah we're the same relatable or trying to like

00:25:02.660 act like they know yeah they're trying to really like that's not at all close nowhere near in fact

00:25:09.400 so and it feels it feels like disingenuous it feels inauthentic it feels it makes me feel icky

00:25:17.540 like i feel like and that makes me feel weird i don't like that like you don't have to lie to kick

00:25:23.320 it first of all but second of all if you if you really aren't close to it that's fine like yeah you

00:25:28.360 you know no one can take your culture from you but but when people are reconnecting or people that

00:25:34.280 are that aren't in touch you know take up space as if they know and try to like act like that like

00:25:39.720 they know or try to you know yeah dumb things that it's just like if you don't know then don't act

00:25:44.280 like you know exactly and that's okay you're gonna make it it's literally fine like yeah you know i grew

00:25:49.720 up with my culture i grew up knowing everything i need to know about my own culture and of course i'm

00:25:55.340 still learning because colonization you know yeah wipes out a lot of it yeah so we're all still

00:26:01.100 learning and still reconnecting but you know when reconnecting natives talk to me as if i don't know

00:26:08.940 some stuff i'm like that's the part that bothers me too yeah i'm just like you know what i'm gonna

00:26:14.440 just let you talk you know i'm not even gonna you know it's not worth the headache of fighting about

00:26:18.940 it really but it's also just like i can see your effort i can see you're trying i can see that you're

00:26:24.020 you're intrigued and you want to learn so i'm not even gonna try to like you know tell you what's

00:26:28.580 right and what's wrong i'm like i get your learning because same yeah it's like the process of it all

00:26:32.800 and i even like like someone language like i'm i still i speak a little bit of someone not a lot i'm

00:26:38.640 like conversational at best my dad speaks it fluently um but like i really want to learn fluently

00:26:45.120 and my boyfriend doesn't really speak it at all so um we want to learn together so we've been like

00:26:50.300 taking classes together and it's because like our language is a dying language so it's only ever

00:26:56.700 passed on now through um you know oratory like through tales through telling story like talking

00:27:02.680 story or passing it down that's the only way it's passed on now because it's not my brother is so

00:27:07.240 sweet because he's 19 and he was like i want to learn too like do you think they have it on like

00:27:11.620 duolingo and i was like they don't in fact i actually checked if they did i was curious to know

00:27:16.880 but it's not their fault like they don't have it because there's not enough people in the world who

00:27:20.420 know it so it's not it doesn't exist on a on a platform like that i wish it did that would be

00:27:24.960 awesome but even in college like i got to learn someone as a language course they offer it at the

00:27:30.240 university of hawaii because that's where i went to school thank you so i took it um and it's a four

00:27:34.560 credit course because it's such a hard language to learn and write too so um my boyfriend and i have

00:27:41.500 been trying to learn together because we both want to learn so we can keep culture alive right and

00:27:46.580 that's a great way to connect is through language right i feel like that's actually you know i've

00:27:52.160 been told through elders too that language is the foundation of our culture you know and um it's so

00:27:59.620 essential and like same with my tribe yeah a dying language we have like i think three elders four

00:28:05.120 elders left that know the language really and um thankfully we were able to like record a lot of it

00:28:10.900 and document a lot of it so we have that and i'm learning it yeah too yeah um but it that

00:28:16.460 is something like when you are learning it makes you so proud too you know it makes you so proud

00:28:21.840 yeah you feel so good but one thing that like you know i can really relate to when it comes to you

00:28:27.760 know like people just assuming you're from hawaii you know people assume that i'm inuit oh and i'm not

00:28:34.600 i wonder well is it because you're from you're from alaska tattoos yeah oh is it tattoos yeah so a lot of

00:28:39.840 people you know a lot of different tribes practice yeah cultural traditional tattooing yeah um but

00:28:46.340 a lot you know when i say i'm from alaska and then they see my tattoos they automatically think i'm

00:28:51.080 i'm inuit yeah which is fine you know that's like again facial tattoos like mine you know traditional

00:28:57.140 markings and um coming from alaska i can see a lot of people assuming that i'm inuit yeah but

00:29:03.640 i'm han guich in which is um also considered athabascan but it's very much you know how

00:29:12.220 colonizers came and they kind of generalized us yep you know so we have like specific tribes within

00:29:19.220 athabascan yeah you know people and then we have different dialects and different like peoples within

00:29:25.420 that so it's just like a whole thing and so my specific people are han guich in and um i come from

00:29:32.160 eagle village which is like on the upper yukon river and it's very like very different from

00:29:39.500 inuit culture and inuit people but yet we were like neighboring tribes so we had very similar

00:29:44.700 you know like traditions and very similar ways and like how um we were all raised and whatnot but

00:29:53.000 you know we have our own culture and we have our own language and everything so it is different

00:29:58.160 yeah and so that is something that i you know you know when i every time i'm out because like

00:30:03.880 uh i love this girl so much everyone knows her um i think her name is china or yeah you know she's

00:30:10.200 amazing she's gorgeous i love her and her mom and and i was just so happy when i seen her get her

00:30:15.860 traditional markings like it literally made me so happy for her because that is such a beautiful thing

00:30:20.860 it truly gives you like this insane amount of like liberation and pride and like where you come

00:30:27.780 from and who you are and you know i'm being honest like when i got my first tattoo was when i was 14

00:30:34.780 and that was the one single line down the chin it's the first time our people you know well i was one of

00:30:41.780 the first generation to bring back that yeah you know practice and it was so powerful to me that i

00:30:50.920 was so like full of like you know like this this your cup was full yes like it's just like this crazy

00:30:59.960 amount of like love yeah and care that you have for your culture and your community and you know that's

00:31:05.580 when advocacy kind of came in and my mom even talks about how she saw a change in me after that like i was

00:31:11.420 more confident yeah and absolutely it you know it's it completely changes you and you know watching

00:31:19.200 her and you know seeing her on tiktok just completely blow up and you know sharing her culture like it

00:31:25.440 was so fun to see yeah someone similar to me but we're different cultures so now every time i go out

00:31:31.040 though a lot of people assume that i'm her when we're like have completely different facial markings

00:31:37.080 and you also don't look alike look alike at all you know and she's absolutely gorgeous so anytime

00:31:41.940 people say that i don't know thank you yeah but no we're not related yeah wrong girl yeah wrong

00:31:48.280 native girl um but i'm that's not me but you know it's always like a i take it as a compliment yeah

00:31:53.500 absolutely gorgeous and i love what she does but yeah it's always funny just to see people just like

00:31:59.780 they just associate yeah just assume that i'm her i don't know yeah if there were more people like me

00:32:07.500 i might have that problem um but they're not they're not many um especially in the line of work that i'm

00:32:14.740 in but yeah i think even too like like with my uh with my culture too it's like it's the same thing as

00:32:23.880 far as like all of polynesia there's there's many different cultures within polynesia but like

00:32:28.320 the most popular ones are the ones that people know the most are probably like hawaiians right

00:32:32.660 like native hawaiians kanaka we always say like kanaka is like indigenous like that's the word for

00:32:37.680 it um and then there's samuan people which is my culture and then there's tongan people those are

00:32:43.360 typically the ones people know the most but tongans and samuans are very different um but there's a lot

00:32:48.980 of overlap like what you said like we're neighboring islands in that sense and also like our languages

00:32:54.060 there are some words that are similar same thing with hawaiian too like because i'm also learning

00:32:58.660 hawaiian at the same time and so like a lot of there's a lot of overlap in some of the words but

00:33:03.280 they're they mean different things and there's that that still doesn't mean the cultures are the same

00:33:09.040 thing and if you saw the cultural practice like the way that we dance and the food that we eat and

00:33:14.040 the language that we speak like it all is very different what we look like is very different all from

00:33:19.240 each other so i feel like that is very obvious to me because i was raised in a samuan culture

00:33:26.380 but when you know you meet a random person and they're like oh like are you like hawaiian no you

00:33:32.620 say no like i'm someone and they're like oh well same thing it's not actually it's not in fact it's

00:33:38.960 actually not but thank you i appreciate it it's like i hate when people do that too because it's a

00:33:43.380 low-key disrespectful because it's like they're like lazy to even like understand yeah like a

00:33:49.440 people like a person yeah a person like where someone comes from literally and that's like one

00:33:54.380 thing that like indian country talks about a lot like native yeah the native community and you know

00:34:00.400 it's like one of those things where we like say indian and we call each other indians as like a joke

00:34:06.240 and it's just kind of something we turned into like a funny thing for us because that was like

00:34:13.700 something that was used as a derogatory term yeah it was like against you yeah for a long time and

00:34:19.000 you know i feel like a lot of communities find a way to like reclaim it and make it funny instead of

00:34:24.120 derogatory you know absolutely and so like you know there's like little things you know within the

00:34:29.740 native community that you know it's it's so funny and so interesting to see how we like

00:34:34.660 we can easily just be really upset about specific things which rightfully so you know a lot of these

00:34:41.920 things but then we always find a way to bring humor into it and like that's the thing that you know i

00:34:48.220 feel like a lot of people you know and i hate when people also say like oh natives are so sensitive

00:34:53.900 about this and that i'm like honestly considering what we go through like rightfully we can be angry

00:34:58.040 we can be sensitive we can cry like literally rightfully so but the fact is like we turned it into a joke

00:35:03.820 like when cnn called us something else yeah and like had all of like the races like listed and

00:35:09.580 then like there's something else is like native americans we literally literally they wrote something

00:35:14.660 yeah you can look it up and it's on cnn and it was like a whole thing like yeah so we turned it to a

00:35:20.480 joke and now like it's yeah it's like an inside joke in native community it's like we're something else

00:35:26.120 so it's also too like when certain things are changed because they were derogatory and racist

00:35:33.400 in their very nature um when they say like oh you guys are so sensitive it's like well or maybe

00:35:40.180 it's just that bad maybe it is that racist and maybe it should be changed like maybe it is that bad like

00:35:47.140 it doesn't bother you because you are not native so of course it doesn't are you the person to ask if

00:35:53.680 this is offensive if it if it's not your culture literally and so it's the same thing with like uh

00:35:59.640 the washington football team right when they changed the name and they change it to just washington

00:36:04.160 the uproar the the outrage and i'm like they're still playing football like they have the same colors

00:36:11.200 like not much was changed like it's maybe it was that bad maybe that never should have been the name

00:36:17.780 of that team for however many years for a long time yeah well into the 21st century did it have

00:36:24.180 that name so maybe it is that bad like maybe it's okay if we correct like over time and we get better

00:36:31.280 and we evolve i don't think that that's a crime and then like when people say that like mascots or

00:36:38.160 like you know like native costumes or all kinds of weird appropriative stuff is like appreciation

00:36:45.640 that's like the most annoying thing you can hear in the entire world literally like how do you not

00:36:53.120 recognize the difference between appropriation and appreciation yeah you know i don't know i truly i

00:36:59.840 don't understand why that's such a hard concept like and i also think like your your culture

00:37:06.560 whatever it is like when it comes to white people who want to do that shit regardless of

00:37:11.460 how nicely you ask them to stop or meanly ask either way they don't listen no but like no matter how

00:37:18.020 many times you ask in whatever way you ask they're gonna ignore you and it's like you don't have a

00:37:22.600 culture and that's why you feel like it's not that big of a deal right you don't have one like

00:37:26.980 whatever yours is what is it casserole i don't fucking know like what do you guys celebrate

00:37:31.180 colonizing other races i don't know that's why i'm like it's it's one of those things yeah well i

00:37:36.440 mean it doesn't bother you because it's not you america fourth of july like that's their culture

00:37:41.060 their heritage yeah the old navy sales they have around fourth of july that's their culture

00:37:45.560 celebrate that that's a great thing celebrate it good for you we won't be celebrating the fourth

00:37:51.740 july but like go off if you want to papa literally i know the the appropriation thing too like i've seen

00:37:59.640 was something i get a lot since we're talking we were talking about tattoos earlier

00:38:03.140 like obviously i have i have tribal too and this is like samuan tribal and this is what's called a

00:38:08.500 malu which is only given to women of chiefly descent typically but normally it's tattooed on the legs

00:38:15.080 i just decided to put it in my tribal because it's important to me plus my mom's bloodlines are chiefly

00:38:20.500 anyway so i was like period let's do it and i put it on my hand because i wanted it to be visible

00:38:25.260 like at all times and so whenever i get um men who fucking hate me um and they see my tattoo

00:38:33.160 um i had a guy talk about how it looks like the map to treasure island which is like

00:38:38.780 not even really that funny if we're being honest like there's many other like you could have said

00:38:43.560 the goonies that would have been funnier but like i said it's funny because racism's always funny to

00:38:49.100 white people they laugh so hard at that stuff they love to laugh at that but this is like chiefly

00:38:55.580 bloodline shit bitch like this means i'm royal bitch that's what that means so it's funny to laugh at it

00:39:01.700 because it's not their culture um but then in the same at the same time people like that will be

00:39:07.600 really racist about you know indigenous tattoos or like because this is also like a cultural practice

00:39:14.000 too tattooing is a huge cultural practice in our culture too and at the same time i'll get random

00:39:20.440 questions about like um i'm not someone at all but can i get a someone tribal no no no i've said that

00:39:27.320 many times closed practices they are closed practices for a reason you want to appreciate appreciate from

00:39:32.360 the outside girl like look from outside and there's like other ways to appreciate and admire culture

00:39:37.840 without like getting the tattoo or exactly like doing those things like that's just extra

00:39:44.120 you're doing it on purpose at that point like it's an active conscious choice you're making at that point

00:39:49.980 if you respect and love and care about the culture so much then you would have known that that was

00:39:54.440 offensive you would have known that like maybe you know maybe i shouldn't do that i can maybe have

00:40:00.480 like an art piece in my home yeah exactly like buy from a local artist exactly buy from an indigenous

00:40:05.800 artist yeah which of whom the art piece comes from you know like it's that simple but you don't gotta

00:40:11.840 like try to act like you're a part of like the community but you know because that's how you know

00:40:16.720 that's another thing how we identified ourselves is a lot of our tattoos have different symbols or

00:40:22.560 different meanings or even different tattoos in general so like inuit people got all kinds of tattoos

00:40:28.740 all over the face but our tribe got specific ones on our chins on our cheeks um around our eyes and

00:40:36.720 one line down the forehead and that was how you knew you were from my tribe yeah the woman like and

00:40:42.600 usually an elder would get these but yeah um the one line down the forehead to the tip of the nose

00:40:47.680 like that was how a lot of people could be like oh that's you're from like hongwich in or you're from

00:40:52.360 that specific tribe because a lot of inuit people have like i think it's called the sickenick um tattoo

00:40:59.900 yeah i don't want to like you know but that's it's a beautiful beautiful practice and like that's

00:41:06.540 very similar but also very different yeah you know and that's how we differentiate each other too so it's

00:41:13.680 like when you get a traditional tattoo and natives that know people that know where that originate from

00:41:20.780 you know they're going to expect you to be from that community and if you're not you're just like

00:41:24.620 you're kind of sitting there and you're just like okay and then you know i've had friends a lot of

00:41:29.180 native friends including myself that you know um will be it's like kinship you know you're almost

00:41:34.380 like taken into another native tribe you know or like you have a family member or a friend that's

00:41:40.320 like a part of another tribe and they like you know love you so much they like it's like kinship you

00:41:45.480 know they take you in you're a part of the family now you're a part of this culture now yeah and so

00:41:49.960 i've you know been fortunate enough to be connected to many different cultures and to be you

00:41:54.500 know um and kinship with them and you know i've had people offer exactly yeah you know but it has

00:42:02.080 to come through like you can't just expect that from us either like it's like that you earn it you

00:42:07.280 know through like serving your people in good ways yeah and showing up in a good way yeah and i feel

00:42:13.960 like a lot of people just you know get these tattoos because they're aesthetic or they're cute and they're

00:42:19.320 cool and they're trendy and they're pretty all of the little things but it's like you know if you

00:42:23.280 see me out here with any kind of like polynesian tattoo for one if you're not comfortable i understand

00:42:30.120 but for two like i would never ever ever do that unless like the community gave me the right you

00:42:36.920 know unless someone was like you know i i really want to honor this with you because i've worked with

00:42:42.820 many different indigenous tattoo artists me and my mom are indigenous tattoo artists bringing it back

00:42:47.860 to our tribe yeah and so we've met so many you know traditional tattoo artists and we've traded

00:42:53.200 tattoos you know you know through kinship and so like that's the beauty of our culture and our people

00:42:59.860 as well is that we are welcoming and we are kind and we do adopt people into our ways but you earn it

00:43:07.820 you can't just think it's beautiful and get it yeah you earn those things yeah well and if they say no

00:43:13.220 the answer is no no literally yeah exactly you don't need a reason other than no and i i feel like

00:43:19.260 for me too like especially there we have a traditional like the malu is is the the female

00:43:25.460 version of of the shorts that's in english the shorts but it's called a pe'an for men and so it's a

00:43:32.600 very it's a cultural practice it's been passed down for thousands of years but it's a very arduous

00:43:39.120 process like it's a it's a whole like experience it's not something that you just like go into a

00:43:45.500 shop and get it's like you go back to the motherland you go back to samoa you find a traditional

00:43:51.700 samuan tattoo artist that does a pe'an like they only do pe'an so they don't do guns or anything it's

00:43:56.740 a it's a tapping tattoo and it's a whole cultural practice it's it's a ceremony yeah it's a ceremony

00:44:03.160 it's it's like becoming a man it's it's walking in in your culture it's honoring your ancestors

00:44:09.120 it's honoring the chiefs of your tribes and you have to be like given the like gift of getting the

00:44:15.640 tattoo exactly and there's a whole process to it like you have to spend so much money because you

00:44:21.600 have to get fine mats made and you have to honor him with gifts the tattoo artist like he has to come

00:44:26.280 stay at your house for two weeks while you honor him you feed him you give him gifts you earn it yeah

00:44:32.820 you earn it and then he gives you the tattoo and the tattoo is painful and you're not allowed to

00:44:38.100 take any sort of sedative or any sort of painkiller and you have to sit through it because that's the

00:44:42.860 process of the process yeah of the of the journey right and so it's like they do the whole thing

00:44:48.320 girl like if you look up a pe'an like it's like shorts it's it's so detailed it goes up the stomach

00:44:53.720 up the back in the belly button the belly button is actually the last part they do um and they tap it

00:44:59.280 in there and it's dark they do like a black square in there and they they it hurts so bad and then

00:45:05.440 they also do your butthole that's just a fun fact but they like spread your cheeks and they do it in

00:45:10.080 there girl i'm not kidding and so like they and you have everyone sits and watches you like your family

00:45:15.980 your loved ones the chief of your tribe like the obviously the tattoo artist his helpers and then

00:45:21.240 if you like pass out which happens a lot because it hurts if you pass out they wait till you wake up and

00:45:27.080 then they start again because the point is to you have to be a conscious during the whole thing

00:45:31.500 and so that's like a whole it's like a huge honor to get that kind of tattoo and so when i see people

00:45:39.740 are like oh that looks cool i'm gonna get it it pisses me off because i get angry yeah because i'm like

00:45:45.480 you don't even know what that means or where it comes from or the whole point of getting it in the

00:45:50.420 first place and it's disrespectful to the culture especially when you're not even someone on top of

00:45:56.740 that like you take all of that out on top of that you're not you've never lived our culture you've

00:46:01.020 never lived our life no you weren't raised someone you don't speak someone it's just all of it is just

00:46:05.600 so upsetting to me so that's why i tell people like it's the answer is no yeah it's an ignorance the

00:46:11.540 answer is no yeah are there exceptions sure there are ways for you to honor and get polynesian

00:46:16.560 inspired tattoos that aren't tribal like specifically there's many different forms of

00:46:22.440 that you could absolutely get one of those like and you can go in any tattoo shop and get it yeah

00:46:26.920 but i suggest you go to someone once if you want to get someone tribal go to like i have a someone

00:46:31.120 tattoo artist that's been tattooing for years he's tattooed my parents and all of my family and my

00:46:37.220 boyfriend like he's tattooed all of us because i wanted to go to a someone person if i was going to

00:46:41.340 get it and so he did my tattoo and i'm really thankful for it he also free-handed it he didn't

00:46:46.560 he literally just like drew it with a sharpie and i was like i think i'm gonna do it like that

00:46:49.880 and i said send it let's do it and it came out beautiful right it's gorgeous yeah i think i think

00:46:55.320 too sometimes people are like well if i go to someone tattoo artist and he gives it to me like

00:46:59.460 you can't like be mad at me and i'm like well they also have to make a living so yeah they're gonna

00:47:04.560 take your money literally does but sometimes someone tattoo artist will not give it to you like if

00:47:09.420 you're not they're gonna be like no and some of them they never repeat the same tribal

00:47:13.740 yeah so um my tattoo artist actually told me like after my platform grew there were women who were

00:47:21.560 taking pictures of my hand and bringing it to him and telling him i want you to do this exact same one

00:47:26.680 and he told them i can't do that i don't repeat the same tribal like that's her because it's supposed

00:47:31.380 to be your journey through life so he's like that's her journey i can't give you hers yeah i'll give you

00:47:35.940 something similar but i can't give you the same one yeah and so i'm like period exactly that's how like

00:47:42.140 that's how you're supposed to do it i think so yeah and like that's how i was taught and i was told

00:47:47.640 you know by other traditional tattoo artists too like you just don't like copy and paste someone's

00:47:53.000 traditional marking like that's for them for a reason yeah and it's just also interesting to see

00:48:00.100 like you know i've seen people within the native community you know from a tribe that doesn't

00:48:06.180 practice traditional tattooing receive a traditional tattoo from another tribe and that was like a thing

00:48:12.500 that i saw that actually came up on my tiktok today um yeah this um this creator she's really cool she

00:48:21.080 makes a lot of like informational videos but she calls out a lot of people that you know like non

00:48:25.780 indigenous people that get traditional markings and i remember one time i posted this one girl um

00:48:32.200 she had my exact facial markings really my exact facial markings and then um you actually responded

00:48:38.980 because she had a polynesian mark that's right remember that yes i do remember that i was like

00:48:43.920 how is she gonna disrespect two indigenous people two birds one stone literally yeah she got both of us

00:48:51.340 she hit both of us like that's true you did send it to me and i was like i've actually been sent this

00:48:55.020 video before and it's a white girl a british girl yeah and she blocked me on everything she blocked me too

00:49:00.480 that's so funny love that for us she had tribal on her face we don't even face right here and it

00:49:06.660 was someone tribal yeah and then we don't do my face yeah yeah she i swear to god i think she took a

00:49:12.480 picture of you and was like give these to me yeah huh yeah that's great i forgot about her yeah that's

00:49:18.820 so funny too because this is shows how fucking dumb you are because someone people don't get face

00:49:24.340 tattoos like that's not part like i'm sure some someone people have tribal on their face but that is

00:49:29.560 not a cultural practice that's actually maori people who are from new zealand that's different

00:49:34.880 they're also indigenous and they do i think they're called mokus if i remember correctly but yeah and

00:49:40.240 they do uh the women do like the mouth uh and the chin and men do the whole face and it's like that's

00:49:47.420 those are facial markings for their tribe so like you're picked the wrong one too like you're being

00:49:53.700 racist and you racist to the wrong people what is your problem girl that is it's embarrassing as

00:50:00.080 how i'm like how she's walking around like you know because imagine someone asks her like oh are

00:50:05.760 you polynesian no are you like inua are you like native american with the face markings and like no

00:50:11.720 like how are you gonna answer those questions hon she and like also like people ask me all the time

00:50:17.640 what do they mean you know and so like i'll give them the general same you know kind of explanation

00:50:23.440 but i'm not gonna tell them the whole ceremony you know but like what are they gonna say like what

00:50:27.900 does it mean to them i just thought it was cute that's her that's the way she says it i just thought

00:50:31.700 it was cute there you go it's also too with someone tribal it's all pretty uh genderless most someone

00:50:39.700 tribal but there are certain markings that are reserved for uh women or for men or chiefly women or chiefly

00:50:46.060 men there's like a distinction um and she wouldn't know that but her facial markings are for a man

00:50:51.560 which is even worse i'm like girl you're so fucking dumb bitch like i can't believe that you did that

00:50:57.860 like and you didn't you didn't even consult someone like if you're gonna like do that appropriative shit

00:51:03.580 like at least go to like an indigenous person at the very least i bet a white person tattooed that on

00:51:10.520 her too which is why it was bad it's bad tribal sorry you know when you see markings you're like you know for

00:51:15.800 a fact that wasn't tattooed by a yeah by an indigenous person like i know for a fact it wasn't

00:51:21.060 yeah just by looking at it there's like this other girl too that got an inuit trace tattoo on her

00:51:26.060 forehead and she doesn't even know if she belongs to that community but she claims it but anyway it's

00:51:31.600 a whole thing and she did it herself and i was like i tried to be supportive and i tried to be

00:51:36.640 like you know what like i get it yeah you know you're reconnecting and stuff i'm like you but that's

00:51:41.020 like that's not what you're supposed to do like to if you're reconnecting the right way to go

00:51:45.120 about it is to truly just sit and listen talk to elders like yeah and you have no stay no say

00:51:50.440 right now you know you have no say to learn is like exactly and if you don't like something i'm

00:51:55.640 sorry you're just gonna have to deal with it it's not like meant for you if you don't like you know

00:52:00.160 what i mean yeah literally it's not meant for you to like it you know like it's the way it is for

00:52:05.120 specific reasons and we have specific protocols for a reason yeah and it's just it was just

00:52:11.400 interesting to see that or i was just like wow so your way of reconnecting was to just instantly

00:52:16.800 get a tattoo not even learn or educate yourself kind of thing and or even learn language that's

00:52:22.940 like a baseline or like she did it herself and i'm just like that's also weird yeah i'm like i would

00:52:29.140 probably right that'd be a really hard tattoo to do on yourself right like really really hard

00:52:34.880 and actually it doesn't like horrible but it definitely like you said you you can tell yeah

00:52:40.280 you can tell you can tell when it's done by someone who knows what they're doing yes versus someone who

00:52:45.380 learned it for a hobby exactly like just because they're just like yeah i'm just gonna do that like

00:52:49.500 yeah there's um a famous tattoo artist in samoa his name is suas suluape and he's like one of the

00:52:55.700 original like like tattoo artists and he came to speak to my class once and he talked to us a lot

00:53:02.620 about like the different uh processes that they people go through in order to get their bow because

00:53:08.100 it used to be strictly for chiefly people now they've kind of opened it a little bit where

00:53:11.880 if you're like chiefly bloodlines and now it's kind of like because of modern technology and the fact

00:53:18.560 that people can do it with a gun now he's like well some people are just getting it just to get it and

00:53:22.300 that's fine like if you're just okay sure as if you're someone that's fine um but there is a whole

00:53:27.720 process to it and i feel like that's the whole point of it is not so you can look cool the whole

00:53:33.780 point of it is to pass down culture and and story and legend and all like what's important and what's

00:53:39.940 important to remember and because his eyes are going and his hands are going he's been teaching his

00:53:45.780 kids how to do it too to pass it on and typically it was mostly men who did who did pass but he has

00:53:53.280 a daughter and um so he taught his daughter how to do it which is pretty revolutionary in that world

00:53:59.160 because most of the time it's men who do um so he taught his daughter and so she's been like his

00:54:06.140 apprentice for a long time and now she's kind of teaching other people too which i think is so badass

00:54:10.860 because he was like we're not in the like olden times anymore and also like salmon people are pretty

00:54:17.040 matriarchal anyways so he was like i think it's it's important that all my kids learn in case one

00:54:22.900 of them forgets or doesn't want to do it anymore i just want all of them to know so they can pass it

00:54:26.940 to that way no one forgets how to do it which is important and that's why i'm like that's the kind

00:54:31.900 of shit i think about when i see people like that with like who just appropriate who pick who cherry

00:54:37.420 pick what they like and what they don't like exactly that's the shit i think about it that's

00:54:41.360 why it makes me so mad that's why i take it personally i feel the exact same way like it just

00:54:46.740 irks me and i just have to sit there and i'm like let me not be upset i can't control you know

00:54:51.920 someone i've never met and i'm probably never gonna cross paths literally let me be upset though

00:54:55.740 just for a second i'm gonna be upset just for a little let me just sit here you know i'll sit

00:54:59.640 with my feelings sit with my thoughts and then i'll move on from it but it's very frustrating it is

00:55:04.500 it's just so and it's also such a i just feel like such a slap in the face especially when you like

00:55:10.200 go through a whole process in order to get yours especially with your facial markings it's like

00:55:15.460 you go through this whole reconnection and this whole like you learn so much about your culture and

00:55:20.520 you feel enveloped in it and entrenched in it and you feel proud of it and then someone just like

00:55:25.100 walks into a tattoo shop on santa monica with their picture of your face and they're like this is

00:55:30.240 what i want it's just crazy it's frustrating yeah yeah and like you said you're allowed to be

00:55:36.080 frustrated yeah i'm allowed to be frustrated about it like and i get a lot of people always like trying

00:55:43.500 to say that like i'm bitter or you know this and that like gatekeeping and i'm like yeah you obviously

00:55:49.820 don't understand respect yeah like truly like and what if and so what if i am have you not taken

00:55:56.520 enough like exactly haven't you have have you not taken enough from indigenous people like

00:56:02.320 like can we have this for ourselves yeah can we have this one yeah can we just keep this one thing

00:56:06.960 is that cool with y'all because like what's crazy too is that our people were you know told that our

00:56:12.400 ways were like you know everything was they were like demonized yeah and so like my people you know

00:56:18.060 a lot of our women were imprisoned or like enslaved yeah when they had these markings yeah and so like

00:56:24.520 through colonization we were banned from practicing these things yeah and so people lost lives people

00:56:29.540 you know went like our people really went through it trying to keep this thing alive yeah but the very

00:56:34.560 people that told us that it was wrong that demonized it and all those things it's now all of a sudden cute

00:56:40.480 cool and trendy now you want to do it like bro and it's like you got to choose one or the other you

00:56:47.200 either hate us or you love us yeah are you and it's okay if you if your culture if you want to have

00:56:54.100 close practices that's okay we're allowed to do that like we you don't get to have everything just

00:57:00.540 because you want it doesn't mean you can have it that's like their whole but that's so on brand isn't

00:57:05.840 it like it's so very on brand for them they're like well what about me what about you maybe i'm not

00:57:10.540 thinking about you and i don't feel bad for saying it either i've said it many times the answer is no

00:57:14.880 like if you if you're a white person or a non-summon person and you want someone trouble the answer is no

00:57:19.960 like i say all the time if you have to ask me you know what the answer is and it's no and that's

00:57:25.080 okay i don't have to explain it to you i don't have to give you a good reason the reason is i don't want

00:57:30.500 you to have it because you're not someone that's the reason like there it is it's done that's it i

00:57:34.340 don't you don't need anything past that and that's okay it's not it's not something that is gonna make

00:57:40.640 or break your life if you get that tattoo if you don't you could tattoo like a literal hot dog on

00:57:45.420 your leg like you could tattoo anything anything you could write the word ass on your leg like you

00:57:49.940 could all those cute and they look cute all those little like my sister and i call them like they

00:57:55.120 have the patchwork tattoos they think i think they're so cute like i love them too when they get a bunch

00:57:59.620 of little random shit i love that bitch do that that's your culture right there i love it i love it

00:58:04.260 love it for you you can tattoo even sometimes i'm like i have most of all of my tattoos i think all

00:58:09.180 of my tattoo except for this one is all like traditional tattoos and like i always whenever i

00:58:17.180 see patchwork i'm always like man that's so cute maybe i should do that and then i'm like but i have

00:58:20.980 so many ideas for traditional markings you know yeah same same that's how i feel too because all my

00:58:25.740 i want all my tattoos to be someone so like i'm like well i think whenever i see a little cute one

00:58:31.400 i'm like oh maybe i'll get that and then i think i always think to myself i'm gonna add in

00:58:35.180 an element of like someone tribal probably so it matches the rest of my body that's probably what

00:58:40.640 i'm gonna do but i think that's i think it's something that you're allowed to like close yeah

00:58:48.060 that's for me yeah and that's okay it's not that serious and i even think too like it goes the same

00:58:54.820 for like gentrifying like when they move to places like hawaii and stuff so like i've had that question

00:59:00.340 a lot like is it bad if i want to move to hawaii um yeah it is yeah it is yes in fact i always tell

00:59:07.520 people too like a lot of people like i want to go to hawaii i'm like maybe you shouldn't yeah there's

00:59:12.280 a lot of other places you could go yeah i mean that are beautiful yeah i mean i know hawaii is

00:59:17.660 absolutely magical yeah you know and i don't blame you i want to go too but like no and it's like

00:59:22.940 it's do you like is there a way to go in a way that's like sustainable and healthy for them

00:59:27.800 because hawaii does depend heavily on tourism yeah but is there a way that you could also not

00:59:33.420 go and still be supportive absolutely yeah there's many different ways but hawaii is another home for

00:59:38.020 me so that's why like when i go i go in a way that's very respectful and everything so like

00:59:43.480 it's so funny too because there are so many different uh cultural practices that are within

00:59:48.600 my culture that i share with other people when i feel like it's necessary so like i've told people

00:59:53.560 before like turtles are very sacred in my culture like they're also protect a protected species so

00:59:59.980 they're not allowed to be touched like otherwise you get fined hello but when you are visited by one

01:00:06.120 like a lot of my people believe that's your ancestors coming back to see you like they're visiting you

01:00:10.360 so every time i've been in hawaii with my boyfriend um he always has turtles come up to him every single

01:00:16.760 time they always come right to him and that's crazy because like he doesn't go that far out and they swim

01:00:21.640 right up to him and they just look at him and then they swim away so we always say that those

01:00:25.780 are his grandparents because he grew up with his grandparents and both of them have since passed

01:00:28.960 but every single i'm telling you every time we've been in hawaii they always there's always two

01:00:32.860 and they always come right to him and so we like interesting yeah it's like we we believe that your

01:00:37.680 ancestors like are reborn and within turtles like the turtles are like a spiritual animal to us

01:00:43.320 and they're a little those are little cute things that i share with people when they're going

01:00:46.860 through grief and like one of my good friends was going through grief and she told me that she

01:00:52.940 went somewhere and a turtle came up to her and i told i was telling her like i think that's your

01:00:56.500 ancestor i think he's coming back to visit you and she got really emotional but those are things that

01:01:00.100 you can share and that's like a way to share a culture in a way that's not appropriative that's

01:01:05.520 not offensive right it's a way that you can share with someone a piece of you and they can appreciate

01:01:10.900 it and keep it within their mind and heart and it's not yeah something that hurts anybody like

01:01:16.620 that is very possible and like yeah i love that too because something that i always tell people

01:01:21.400 from my culture is you know like a lot of men a lot of native men a lot of people in general like

01:01:25.960 that struggle with you know allowing themselves to feel their grief or you know like go through

01:01:31.840 the motions and go through the process of grief or you know whatever they're feeling you know

01:01:36.840 like whenever you just need to cry just cry you know you know because it's like so unhealthy to

01:01:42.300 hold it in and a lot of people say that but it's actually been a saying within my culture for years

01:01:47.320 and years and years and like kind of there's kind of like an analogy that kind of goes with it and it's

01:01:52.120 basically talks about you know when you look at a swamp it's still water and you know it gets kind

01:01:58.500 of mucky and collects a lot of things and you get fungi algae all kinds of stuff in it bacteria

01:02:05.460 as for a creek can be clear and you can drink from it yeah and you know something that my elder told

01:02:13.900 me was when you think about those two things it's the same thing with your body you hold it all of

01:02:19.380 that in all your feelings all those emotions that grief it'll sit and it'll get mucky after a while

01:02:24.660 yeah you know and then you'll feel it in your body you'll feel it in your spirit yeah you need to

01:02:29.920 grieve that yeah and you know when you cry it's like that creek flowing it's like you're you're

01:02:36.080 clearing yourself out you know and like those are things that like you share with people yeah those

01:02:41.360 outside of your culture yeah yeah and it helps it helps to educate people on your culture and then at

01:02:48.600 the same time it helps them in their own lives and then they can hold on to that and appreciate it for

01:02:53.920 what it is and then it's not anything that harms anybody like it doesn't hurt anybody exactly and

01:02:59.340 also like it shows people that like how we are and how we see the world and how we like approach

01:03:06.060 things you know it's always with like love and like kindness period fuck around and find out

01:03:11.680 before we sign off with kwana i what is it that you want people to know about indigenous representation

01:03:22.360 as a whole whether it's in media or just in general like what's something really important

01:03:27.140 that you want people to know that are not indigenous when it comes to you and your community

01:03:31.500 um i would just say you know be open to learning on how to work with us because i've worked with

01:03:39.480 brands that have never worked with native people or indigenous people before and you know we have

01:03:44.440 values we have protocols we have principles yeah and each one of us is different we're not all the same

01:03:50.940 not every tribe not every culture is the same yeah and don't generalize us don't you know don't

01:03:58.500 tokenize i mean i know in this industry we're still moving away from that and y'all are for some reason

01:04:04.080 having a hard time with it but we're working on it yeah and just also like like truly be open to like

01:04:12.600 working with us because you know i've i've literally had to hire my mom as like a consultant

01:04:18.060 so like before every project before anything that i do she consults with the brand or the magazine or

01:04:25.420 whoever it is you know to make sure that they understand certain things that they're not so that

01:04:31.180 when i'm on set they're not going to ask me like arrogant or ignorant questions you know like my mom

01:04:38.020 just kind of sets the basis and so i don't have to do all that extra work and she gets paid to consult

01:04:43.560 so like it's also like she gets paid for that kind of knowledge to be shared yeah and you know

01:04:50.040 like truly be open to working with us because then you will see you know like people know when things

01:04:57.180 are authentic like truly so a lot of my projects people are really like wow like this is really

01:05:03.500 authentic and i'm like because we had to advocate for that we had to like push for that and now but i'm at

01:05:09.180 that place where i don't have to try as hard and people are willing to work with us yeah it's nice

01:05:14.060 but like again i'm not the only indigenous person out there same same yeah and you know there's many

01:05:23.280 other tribes you know cultures peoples that also deserve to be heard also deserve to be seen and

01:05:30.240 yeah just be open-minded when you come across a native person or an indigenous person because there's so

01:05:37.320 much to us that you have no clue you know yeah absolutely i love that so much and i'm so

01:05:43.460 thankful to have had you on the show you're amazing thank you you're a wonderful and so important

01:05:49.100 representation is one of the few things that makes me emotional me don't tell the man

01:05:53.740 don't tell the terrible man it ruins my street they're just gonna like come after me now

01:05:58.700 to make you upset it's all right i got you get behind me that's why i always tell people get behind

01:06:03.740 we all take it so thank you all so much for joining us on this episode thank you so much

01:06:08.480 to kwana for joining us as our amazing guest where can everybody find you um instagram i'm not really

01:06:15.100 on tiktok yeah but instagram just kwana dot rose love posting a lot of advocacy and a lot of my work

01:06:22.260 and yes i've been trying to post more personal things just to be authentic but we're working there

01:06:28.840 we're working working up to it thank you so much for joining me i adore you you're amazing

01:06:33.740 and a legend and thank you all so much for tuning into this episode of the comment section show

01:06:39.020 don't forget new episodes drop every wednesday exclusively on spotify and i'll see you next week bye

THEIR CULTURE IS A CASSEROLE Ft. Quannah Chasinghorse ｜ Drew Afualo ｜ THE COMMENT SECTION EP 80

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