“Learn About” Questions
(informational)
- In what ways have experiences of African Americans been similar to Native Americans in the US throughout history?
- What human rights have been fought for in the US throughout history?
- What does it mean to “plant seeds of greatness?”
“Learn From” Questions
(transformational)
- Has my family lost a “branch” from my family tree that ended a lineage? What was that experience like?
- What parts of being human do I find to be most exhausting? Why?
- What “seeds of greatness” have been planted in me? What “seeds of greatness” have I planted in others?
Transcript:
And we’re losing generations. When one life, just one life is taken, that’s a lineage that’s gone. We talk about, for example, we say in every tree there’s a forest. Well, in every boy there’s a man, every girl there’s a woman. If we snuff out this seed, what do we have? We’ve lost. And that’s what’s happening today. Where is our humanity? And I’m coming right back full circle the consequences of humanity and respecting each other and loving each other and uplifting your neighbor and supporting your neighbor. What is wrong with that? There’s nothing wrong with being human but it’s exhausting, very exhausting trying to teach others and trying to validate myself as a human being, trying to get someone to see me as a human being. That is exhausting for me, for Native Americans, to be seen in eyes of humanity. Trying to convince people that I am a good person, that a Native American is a good person. It can be really taxing and sometimes it’s overwhelming. And even here, in telling the story of the Little Rock Nine, and we move over into human rights and in talking about human rights, you always get pushed back for change. Whenever there is change, of course there is resistance. But when you’re on the right side of history, you have to keep forging and moving ahead. When you’re on the right side of history, when you’re trying to make that transition from civil wrongs to civil rights, you have to keep, but you also have to teach others. You have to plant those seeds of greatness so it’s going forward. So when you sit down, you know that someone else has taken up that mantle. But if we’re saying we don’t wanna hear it, if we’re saying sit down, shut up, you’re too young, you’re too young to have your own thoughts. If we already did that, and if the Little Rock Nine had believed in that, what would have happened? We wouldn’t be here today. So we have to support our youth in their effort in making this world a better place. We have to do that. And we have to let them know how significant they are and that they are important.
