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Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel
188 Plays5 years ago
”My name is Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel. I am Kul Wicasa Lakota and a citizen of Kul Wicasa Oyate/Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota. I am also Diné (Navajo). I am passionate about many things. However, I want to connect two of those passions that really make life worthwhile: running and activism.
I was born to run, but I rejected it for quite some time. My Lala (grandfather) Nyal Brings was a long-distance runner for the University of South Dakota and was inducted into the USD Hall of Fame for his running accomplishments. Friendly rivals, Lala Billy Mills and Lala Nyal competed in the mile a few times, with Lala Nyal taking a victory over Billy. In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Lala Billy would go on to win a gold medal in the 10K. My Lala Nyal took me on my first run and it ended with a half-mile uphill that ultimately led me to not like running. I didn't find it fun at all. My Ina (mother) was a sprinter and my Lala was her coach, with a sure plan to get her to the 1988 Olympic Trials. However, her path led her to become an incredible pediatric, dialysis and oncology nurse. My Até (dad) really helped me develop a mental toughness for running — something I'll never forget.
I grew from tolerating running to really falling in love with the sport. I started with the 5K and 10K my freshman and sophomore years of college, then moved down to shorter distances. However, after college, I moved back to longer distances, then half marathons and eventually marathons. After college, Lala Billy's organization, Running Strong for American Indian Youth, had asked me to join their team for the 2016 Boston Marathon. At the time, I was working with tribes to implement programs, some specifically for Native youth in Washington D.C., and I was glad to help Running Strong raise funds. I suffered an injury while preparing for that marathon but somehow got myself to the starting line in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
My coach got me into the first wave and corral, so to experience that while fan-girling over my idols gave me the adrenaline to run through the pain. When the gun went off, all I could think about was my Lala Nyal, my Ina, Lala Billy and my entire tiospaye (extended family) back in Lower Brule and Indian Country. I was running Boston, something I never would've dreamed possible. Alongside me, others were running to get a best time or running for a cause, all while running with other Indigenous relatives. I had a lot to reflect on. I got to the finish, feeling happy and emotional. I was in pain, but the joy I felt upon completing that race wasn't for me, it was for Indian Country. The possibilities for Indigenous Peoples are endless and to share that with everyone was beautiful.
That experience led me to use running as a way to change the narrative around how people see or think about Indigenous Peoples. The protests in Standing Rock over the Dakota Access Pipeline really inspired me. While I was working full-time and training, I was also organizing events, rallies and marches to raise awareness about environmental, social and economic issues where running could serve as another platform. The Standing Rock youth who ran 2,200 miles from North Dakota to D.C. to hand deliver a petition opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline to protect water — our first medicine (mni wiconi translates to water is life) — was a great motivator for me, and an example of how I thought I could connect running with activism.
https://www.jordanmariedaniel.com
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
You
Introduction to Podcast and Guest
00:00:02
Speaker
are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Ken Valente. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello, listeners. Welcome to something rather than nothing. And for this episode, have the great pleasure of talking to Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel, who is a runner and was visibly noticed by her running in the Boston Marathon with the red
00:00:46
Speaker
hand over the mouth, painted red hand over the mouth, and MMIW painted on her legs. And as listeners might know, we've had a few episodes on missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit recently.
Advocacy and Childhood Memories
00:01:07
Speaker
And it's with great pleasure that I welcome you, Jordan, to something rather than nothing.
00:01:14
Speaker
Now, Jordan, you were kind of got in a lot of national press around your action and advocacy for MMIW. But first of all, we're just wondering, what were you like as a young child? Did you run? Were you interested in art? Were you an activist? Or how did you see yourself back then?
00:01:42
Speaker
Um, when I was little, I was living with my Tiyoshua'e, my family in lower Bruell, um, the lower Bruell Sioux tribe in South Dakota until I was nine. So I was surrounded by my family and community, but my other nickname, um, was called Bossy Jordan. So that's kind of speaking to the personality of little Jordan way back then, um, just kind of rounding up all the cousins going out, playing in the river.
00:02:09
Speaker
playing cars, playing games, getting dirty, doing whatever kids do. But it was such an amazing and beautiful time because I was surrounded by my culture and my family. And that's all that I knew. And running didn't really happen until I was 10 years old. But by that time, I was already living in Maine for the first year. My dad had an opportunity to teach out there, so we took it.
00:02:35
Speaker
And so it was the summer that we came back to visit after we moved where my grandfather, who is a running legend himself, took me on my first run. And that's when I realized, you know, I want to do this because it's a family tradition. It felt like I'm a fourth generation runner, so it was really awesome to run with one of my heroes. And at the same time, I kind of questioned his sanity and runner's sanity because
00:03:02
Speaker
He took me on my first run and it was downhill. And then to get back home, it was all uphill and I just hated it and kept doing running and competing and middle school and high school. But it wasn't until college that I truly found it for myself and fell in love with it and really just have grown to appreciate it so much.
00:03:26
Speaker
Absolutely. And I know how running can be so important to runners, and I've known a lot of runners. For you, I mean, what has running done for you?
Lessons from Running
00:03:39
Speaker
Running has taught me patience. It's taught me humility.
00:03:45
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It's also taught me community. It can be an individual sport and you can have your own goals and aspirations, whether it's anywhere from the Olympic level to just a very personal goal. But it also has taught me how to heal. And it was my way to disconnect from school or work or anything that was going on in my life where I could just connect with myself
00:04:13
Speaker
get on the trails, get on the pavement, wherever I was, that this time was for me to connect to myself, to connect with my surroundings and to kind of just recenter myself and put things back into perspective. But it's also the same thing. It can bring me anxiety and it can bring me stress too, especially when you're training for something and things aren't going right or it's kind of, you know, all correlating with everything happening all at once.
00:04:42
Speaker
Um, and so you can kind of feel it in your running, but at the same time, it's just what I love at the end of the day. And it's been in our family and. That's one of my biggest memories is just like past time conversations, talking about races and analyzing, you know, paces and cadence and everything that goes into running, especially, you know, knowing my grandpa, he, his mind was like a working stopwatch. And so.
00:05:08
Speaker
It was just a way to continue this family legacy and to have a growing appreciation of running and what it allows for you to do. Yeah. And I want to move to the Boston Marathon.
00:05:30
Speaker
I went for the first time. My brother invited me. He ran for a Bentley University. And I think there was a spot on something like the 21st or 22nd mile that the alumni had. And honestly, at first, I was like, well, I don't I don't know. I don't know if I want to go to like, what do you do at a marathon? Like, I just hadn't been to one. And then
00:05:53
Speaker
What I connected to was that there was just great, it was great fun to be a spectator and to cheer folks on or see what they were running for or who they were running for. It was just one of the more inspiring events I've ever been to. And I want to ask you about your experience of the marathon and connected to that, your advocacy,
00:06:22
Speaker
on missing and murdered and indigenous women. Could you tell a little bit about the marathon itself, your connection to it, but also what you did? Yeah, I mean, kind of just to give it some background, you know, that happened in 2019, April 2019. And
00:06:43
Speaker
for probably since 2017 is where I really actively committed to wanting to learn more about this epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and two spirits and relatives. And it was a conversation that I first ever learned about it happening when we were fighting pipelines, fighting against the Keystone XL pipeline, fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
00:07:07
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other pipelines that are happening in North America where they have man camps and those man camps bring high rates of violence, especially along the communities that are indigenous that are near those pipelines and so
00:07:21
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I started seeing this kind of correlation between the violence against the earth and violence against women and how it is connected. And it's creating this, you know, unsettling feeling and not having safety within our communities and feeling like especially indigenous women having targets on our backs.
Activism and Savannah LaFontaine Graywind
00:07:40
Speaker
And so with the death of Savannah LaFontaine Graywind in August, 2017,
00:07:47
Speaker
it was, you know, reading the story and hearing about what happened to her is so gruesome. And I just couldn't believe people were capable of doing this to someone. And so that was kind of like, I threw everything on the ground through my hands up in the air and was like, nothing's enough. Like I need to not just share and retweet and like, or, or just donate. Like I need to be proactive and
00:08:12
Speaker
try and organize and be a voice to support the families, to support the advocates that have been doing this work for decades, and to just do my part as a community member, as an Indigenous woman, to help make our communities safer and to have these conversations of dismantling racism and white supremacy and all of that, because it's all rooted in these traumas and these
00:08:36
Speaker
these really devastating realities that are for Indigenous people and happening to us. And so that next year in 2018 at the San Diego Half Marathon, I decided to dedicate my bib number to MMIW hashtag, hoping it would spark conversation. And it did after I finished.
00:08:57
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But it wasn't enough. And it only ever felt like, you know, Indigenous folks were talking about this issue within our own circles, that it wasn't really being seen or talked about or cared about outside of our circles. So I kept organizing and advocating and supporting those for the next year. And then 2019 in March, I ran the San Diego Half Marathon, did the same thing again, dedicated it to MMIWG for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
00:09:26
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And it sparked conversations again, but nothing really came out of it. And it kind of just got so frustrating because I see all the hard work that's happening. And I see legislation being created and proposed and then being shut down by one Republican or just not having this understanding and awareness about indigenous communities and what we're fighting so hard for every single day.
00:09:55
Speaker
that a month later when it came time for the Boston Marathon, at that point I was kind of falling into this kind of negative thinking of no one cares about native people, no one cares about if we're dying and going missing. You know, we fight so hard for visibility and we're fighting so much for justice that's, you know, not just focused on MMIW and girls and two spirits and women, but like
00:10:22
Speaker
It just got to the point where I just like, you know what, like I need to do something that's for them. And that's where I decided to dedicate my whole marathon and dedicate a prayer to 26 missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls, where I said a prayer at the beginning of every mile for them, said their name out loud, put it out into the universe.
00:10:48
Speaker
and set a prayer for them, set a prayer for their families, their communities, and for all of our communities because this violence is not happening in just the United States. It's happening in Canada. You have the highway of tears. It's happening in Mexico because our indigenous communities, we don't recognize or acknowledge colonial borders like this is happening to all of our relatives. And this was just my way to share
00:11:14
Speaker
my passion with them because running is the only thing I know how to do, really, aside from just being a community organizer. But I thought that that would be the most intentional space to give them, to remember them, and to let them know that I am one of many relatives that are looking for them, are thinking of them, and that we're not going to forget them. And so that was just my way to
00:11:44
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give up something that I have always looked at as being MySpace just running and like running for a fast time and especially at Boston Marathon where it's so amazing and the spectators are so like awesome and the energy there but I didn't care about any of that I just wanted to run for them and you know give up kind of that
00:12:10
Speaker
selfishness that happens with running in your own personal goals. And so I just wanted that time to be for them. And I thought the best way to do it would be to paint the letters on my arms and legs and put the red handprint over my mouth to symbolize the violence that silencing our relatives and who no longer can speak for themselves anymore. It was really heavy and emotional and
00:12:40
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you could feel the weight as you're just going running through the course. And you know, thank goodness it was the Boston Marathon because the energy kind of like helped keep me going at the same time and being able to see my partner and my mom on the course multiple times too was an added bonus. But it was a really like humbling and you know, beautiful experience and
00:13:08
Speaker
It's something I don't regret and something that I've committed myself to running for justice until I no longer have to. And I don't know if that's going to happen in my lifetime, but I know myself, Rosalie, and so many other folks are doing the work that they can to try and end this injustice. Yeah. And thank you. Thank you so much for your thoughts. And I think it was just, I was quite moved.
00:13:35
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of, you know, with the 26 miles and the dedication, you know, the dedication that each, it's just such a profound act. And it was very moving to read about that, because I read about your comments about what you were doing there.
00:13:57
Speaker
And I think the awareness, I think as far as the awareness, I know that's a debate with inactivism. It's kind of awareness and then doesn't move you to act. If we could take the physical paint and the symbol there, and I know you're an activist, can you talk a bit about maybe the role of the visual or of art
00:14:27
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within activism itself?
Art and Activism
00:14:32
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Yeah, I mean, specifically for the run, you know, I chose red because it represents the movement and it represents, you know, our earth. And it's just something that I felt really connected to. And I thought it was a great way to express and give visibility to this movement and this injustice. And it's
00:14:57
Speaker
not just that specific kind of art like I, as I've told you before, I believe running is its own art form. And, you know, so many people are running for many different reasons and for causes and for someone. And so we all have our own purpose within it. And so that's what motivates us and keeps us going and keeps our, you know, creativity going within the sport.
00:15:20
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And I think art is such a beautiful way to tell the story, to portray the message. And ever since then and even before, I know amazing muralists and artivists
00:15:36
Speaker
especially now during Black Lives Matter and what's happening in all of our cities and fighting for justice and equality and equity. And we have Indigenous artists that have been making beautiful artwork to show the magnitude of what this injustice of the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women is having in our communities and what it's representing and
00:16:02
Speaker
telling it in a way where it's just kind of like stops you in your tracks as you're walking you know in a city or wherever you are and you just see this amazing powerful image and a majority of them have the red handprint and it's just something that
00:16:19
Speaker
is a great way to tell those that may not come from our communities like what's going on. I've had people reach out to me saying like, you know, I saw this mural and I saw the red hand print and I saw like the artist and a hashtag and I just, you know, started googling them on Instagram and, you know, entering the tags in and I just learned so much just from the hashtags and like finding people of who we can support and donate or, you know, whatever.
00:16:49
Speaker
And I just think it's such a great and beautiful way to raise awareness about the things that we care about and doing it in a way that will invoke action, that will get that curiosity going. And I think now we are definitely in a time where people are wanting to hold themselves accountable and willing to learn, to unlearn and relearn.
00:17:15
Speaker
so that they can become allies, that they can become advocates with us and support us in these movements. Jordan, I wanted to ask you, you had mentioned as far as this time here within the pandemic and with COVID, and one of the dynamics that we've seen and is being demonstrated is that in our American society with
00:17:45
Speaker
just really disparate racial class and economic disparities that exist, that we see kind of problematic health outcomes, water, quality of water, things like that, and kind of just a simple and profound and alarming
00:18:10
Speaker
disparate impact on Native communities. Now, I know you've done some work on that. Could you mention a few things as far as with your advocacy, what those efforts are like now in the pandemic? I mean, everything has gone virtual, which I see, you know, having its benefits, having its benefits to have a bigger reach.
00:18:35
Speaker
rather than it being very community-based. But having those opportunities to center those in the community, talking about what's going on with pipelines or oil wells in their backyard, like the many oil wells we have in L.A., and talking about pipelines that are going through northern South Dakota, Kinder Morgan, and so many other projects, dirty infrastructure projects happening across the country.
00:19:05
Speaker
And during this pandemic, I think it's allowed people to, you know,
00:19:10
Speaker
get creative and to organize virtually, to mobilize people, to help educate, to create that awareness. And so a lot of the things that I'm doing right now, it's, I mean, it's definitely difficult and I would rather be more in person and being able to visit these communities. But it's just, you know, I'm on the intersectional environmentalism council.
00:19:36
Speaker
And so that's where we are advocating for justice both for the people and the planet because everything is interconnected and kind of giving visibility to those coming from the frontline communities, marginalized communities, the BIPOC communities that are kind of being more heavily impacted by these dirty infrastructure projects and, you know,
00:20:06
Speaker
racial injustice, socioeconomic injustice, and everything in between. And so it's just creating this really opportunity to have these panel discussions, to have these
00:20:21
Speaker
interviews or podcast interviews or live recordings to be able to talk about you know what's happening and we just had amazing news about the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline and I know that like Indian Collective and Mark Tilson are creating this amazing campaign as well as Indigenous Environmental Network created this amazing like post and campaign you know about
00:20:44
Speaker
the native people, especially coming from a Chetisha Kaui from that region, you know, are going to be serving DAPL and KeyXL their eviction notice because it's time for them to go. Yeah, that's wonderful. Yeah, and I think it's so great. And so I think
00:21:00
Speaker
I think we're now all realizing the power of, I guess, social media. I mean, it may not look like it, but I really don't like social media. It just sucks up so much time. And it is a full-time job, basically. But it does allow for that opportunity for engagement, for community togetherness, even if it's virtually.
Running during the Pandemic
00:21:23
Speaker
And that's happening not just within our frontline movements, but that's happening even with the running community.
00:21:28
Speaker
virtual races happening. And I hosted one a few weeks ago to fundraise for COVID relief support because we're helping to deliver masks to Indigenous communities that are being impacted.
00:21:41
Speaker
especially with what we're seeing in Navajo Nation, you know, the high rates of positive infection, as well as, you know, the heartbreaking deaths. You know, those are our knowledge keepers. A lot of them are elders. And so we need to do what we can to not only keep our communities safe, but really protect our elders because they hold that knowledge that we need that needs to be passed down.
00:22:02
Speaker
And so having those opportunities to go virtual just creates for such a beautiful opportunity of still like camaraderie and togetherness and being able to support one another and being able to learn from one another. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Jordan. One of the things I wanted to ask is
00:22:26
Speaker
It's related to running, but it's art as well. I was wondering if you could tell me from your perspective and the reference to the art of running, what's the art of running in connected to that? One of the big questions I tend to ask, what is art itself? I think we're all our own versions of art and how we express ourselves and what we do within our own lives. I think we're all our own
00:22:53
Speaker
art pieces and we're the master of creating that and improving and always ever changing. But I think just, you know, having grown up with running all my life and attending so many races and watching races on TV, I've always been so mesmerized by watching runners. It's an art form of how they make it
00:23:21
Speaker
look so simple or so easy and the way their arms are moving and the way their legs are planting on the ground and their facial expressions and you can see when they're struggling or when they're in that, you know, flow state of mind of, you know, this is perfect, like, no pain, I'm gonna just put the hammer down and just push it, like,
00:23:46
Speaker
You can just see so much expression in running and whether that's looking at the shoulders and seeing how tense they are or loose they are or looking at how their hands are more relaxed or more tense and being able to just visually see a runner and what they're doing out there on the track or on the trails or on the roads, I think is just so beautiful. And we all have our own form.
00:24:14
Speaker
in how we run and it's what we were born with, it's how we began running and it's kind of what we've stuck with, you know, our whole running career or lives. And so I think it's just a beautiful way to
00:24:29
Speaker
have representation, especially for communities of color. I take my role as being a runner as not just trying to run for fast times, but it's also a way to represent my community, our communities, for our next generations.
00:24:47
Speaker
It's also a way for us to have these discussions of what's happening in our communities with the running community. And for me, there's no one that's ever been more accepting.
00:25:00
Speaker
of me and the things that I've had to say than the running community. And I feel bad that I didn't give them enough credit at the 2019 Boston Marathon, because I had that attitude of like, no one cares. And after I made that post talking about the prayers and who I ran for, and just the amount of support that came right after, you know, was incredible. And I don't know, I just I've always found running as its own art in
00:25:30
Speaker
You know, we all are kind of the masters of that art. Yeah. And, and, and I just wonder if I could have a, uh, ask you a follow-up to that as far as what you had expected the reaction to be a fellow runners in what, what it actually was. The reaction when, you know, the more positive reaction or the element that you were surprised. Do you think that was correlated to any aspect of like the runner's personality or how runners are?
00:26:00
Speaker
No, I think it was just I was I think I was including the reactions or the lack of reactions coming from just the communities outside of that of what I was used to working in and advocating in and like going up against white supremacists and going up against people who just have that mentality of like, well, it's not affecting me. Like, why should I care? And just feeling like Native people are invisible. And so
00:26:30
Speaker
For running, I never felt like it was about my skin color. It felt like it was the only place where, as long as I showed up as Jordan and showed up on the start line and came across the finish line, and it was about my integrity and the hard work that I put in, that's how I was perceived and judged. And that it wasn't about my skin color. But anywhere outside of that, it felt like my skin color definitely had an impact and made a difference.
00:27:01
Speaker
and had judgment. And so I think I just kind of carried that negative notion of no one cares.
00:27:08
Speaker
into this community and I should have gave them more credit because I do see the running community doing so much within our own circles and raising funds for cancer research or pulling behind a runner who is having health complications and all of these go fund needs or these programs created to support a native youth program or anything like that. And especially now with what we're seeing with Tom
00:27:38
Speaker
Tommy, he is a trail runner right now and he just was diagnosed with this really rare form of cancer in his lungs and they all were thinking it was COVID because he was having a hard time breathing, but just seeing how the running community has just come right full front force.
00:27:57
Speaker
with the amount of support and the funding that was created, allowed for his family to not have to suffer financially right now. And just the amount of messages and love that's being sent and prayers that are being said for him and his family, I think is just really beautiful. And so we all kind of have this mentality to be drawn to these people and to want to support them and help them, even if you don't know them.
00:28:25
Speaker
Yeah. And that's very inspiring. I find that, you know, and I use a new as an example, as far as the the the inspiring acts of of advocacy and in humanity that that can come out of that activism is is like this antidote or this or this helpful, like just so helpful
00:28:52
Speaker
Because it's coming out of these situations that are just so rife with injustice, ignorance, and racism. So it's just really wonderful to see the transformation, for me, the transformation of that energy into folks connecting with the cause and just kind of putting our hands together and hoping for progress.
00:29:17
Speaker
I mean, running is bringing people together that have never been runners. That's something that I'm seeing too, especially during this pandemic is like now because gyms are closed and people can't go get their fitness in. A lot of people have come to terms with, I guess I'll be a runner. And so I'm seeing a lot more people taking on running and asking for advice or anything like that or sharing their experiences I think is really, really great.
00:29:47
Speaker
What happened in May? I ran a prayer run on May 5th on National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, where I dedicated 27 miles and 27 prayers to Indigenous women, girls, men, and two spirits.
00:30:01
Speaker
And then a few days later, everyone came together and ran for Ahmaud Arbery, 2.23 miles, who is a black man who is out for a run enjoying something that he loves and was murdered. And so it raised that question of runner safety, especially for the BIPOC community.
00:30:24
Speaker
But on that day, especially, I saw so many people that have never run before in their lives, you know, commit themselves to wanting to run in this virtual solidarity action. And I just thought that was so beautiful. Yeah, and I know
00:30:43
Speaker
And I am connecting to the just that the the courage around running I know like even without getting an anti any social political elements, you know running in a running in a car based You know world is a danger to begin with right and then you know then there's other components of you know You know of a vulnerability when when you're running that of course women are very very familiar with but
00:31:12
Speaker
So it's just that type of it tends to be an act and an activity that, you know, it has to be this awareness of it in and, you know, kind of care and taken with it. Yeah, I know I've seen a lot a lot of that as well as far as runners and I myself when the pandemic started started walking like
00:31:33
Speaker
dedicated walking each day, three to eight miles each day. And I felt the changes, you know, just within that. And it's helped me just institute a positive, useful way to walk and think, you know, each day amidst everything else that we're seeing. And I know runners know that kind of, you know, that movement in that mind-body connection is
00:32:02
Speaker
can help create health, right? Yeah, yeah. I think it's also a way of healing for people, too. I'm noticing because, you know, during this pandemic, people are experiencing depression and all of these other mental health, you know, kind of, you know, problems that they maybe have never experienced before in their lives.
00:32:25
Speaker
um, that are turning to going out for walks and going out for runs for the first time. Um, I think it's just a beautiful way for, for self care and self healing. Um, especially when you can kind of like detach the whole runnings only for like competitiveness and like to be fast or whatever, but running is not about that at all. Running is about so much more than just that. Um,
00:32:51
Speaker
And I think people, because of this pandemic, are realizing that, are seeing it as it is a health benefit. It is good to get your body moving and connecting with yourself and your surroundings and pulling yourself out of the kind of every single day, like, Groundhog moments of, you know, it feels like you're just having the same day every single day.
00:33:15
Speaker
and don't know what to really look forward to because this pandemic is still happening and it's going to be happening for a while. And so I think it's just a great way for people to to connect and to practice self-care and self-heal. Yeah.
Role and Representation with Lululemon
00:33:31
Speaker
I had a question, Jordan, as far as your global run ambassador for Lulu Lemon. What's a global run ambassador?
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm their global run ambassador athlete and basically there to it's like the one tier below they're like actual signed elite athletes. But it's just a way for me to kind of have representation within the company and
00:34:02
Speaker
They saw me after my prayer run, Mike, who's the global ambassador program manager, and he saw me and reached out and was like, what can I do? What can we do to support you and the communities that you're coming from? And so I had heard about their history before, which made me kind of always a little bit hesitant
00:34:23
Speaker
just because, you know, their company kind of really focused just on, you know, the white yoga woman and wasn't as inclusive as it could be. And so I'm more about action. And so they really showed up for me. And then they offered me the ambassadorship in February, the day after my birthday. And it's been so incredible. And it's a platform for me to be a voice within this company.
00:34:52
Speaker
and to speak to my experiences and experiences that I've heard from other people and I feel like it's my opportunity and obligation to speak up for them and talk about these experiences of how we can make this company and everything better and inclusive and
00:35:12
Speaker
You know, the perfect opportunity that came out of that was what happened with George Floyd, and Lululemon took the opportunity to put out a public statement, which seemed and looked great, but they were really vague. They didn't say that they were supporting Black Lives Matter.
00:35:30
Speaker
They were really big and a lot of people were commenting like what are you standing for? Like who are you saying you stand for and I called them out on it I called them out publicly on their accounts and I also hit reply all to the VP and And this message that was to all of the ambassadors and employees and the collective of you know talked about what they want to do and committed to do and the money that they donated but I replied all and called them out again and went and
00:35:58
Speaker
did a deep dive in talking about white supremacy and racism and the culture and how we need to be inclusive and supporting, you know, especially the Lululemon staff and ambassadors and consultants that are coming from the black, brown and indigenous communities. And so that created this ripple effect along with other voices that spoke up too, that now they created an ambassador advisory board, which I'm one of six on there.
00:36:27
Speaker
And we're all of color coming from our own communities. And we have basically oversight of what they're doing, of anything from brand branding and marketing to social media to like clothing and whatever. And so they are already committed to doing the work and making, you know, really big changes already. But we're there to be voices. We're there to give our opinions and our feedback.
00:36:56
Speaker
to say yes this is great or this is not enough. And I've already brought up experiences coming from other employees that have reached out to me personally on Instagram saying like thank you so much for being part of this organization like like your voice is going to definitely help make a difference or I had this experience and I feel like you know this
00:37:18
Speaker
diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings could have been better. It just felt like a check in the box. And these are messages that I'm relaying to the CEO and corporate leadership. And so it's a perfect opportunity to help influence this change because I believe that they can do better. And so far, they're doing everything right. They're doing things to make this
00:37:39
Speaker
environment and culture better and more supportive and really taking accountability and being very proactive in what they're doing. So I'm really excited. I'm always taking it one day at a time. But yeah, it's just been a really supportive and very fun and collaborative relationship. And out of that opportunity, too, came, I guess, like my first ever billboard of me. Oh, wow. I didn't know that that was happening.
00:38:10
Speaker
Mike, the manager, you know, sent me a text and it was a billboard, like a giant billboard of me running for one of their campaigns that they launched. And it was so amazing to see because that's what I wanted to see when I was little, when I was a youth runner. And
00:38:30
Speaker
It wasn't even about me. It was just about, this is the representation that we need, that the world needs to see. And so it was just really an incredible moment and it was really, really cool. Yeah. And it's just a message at least, you know, coming from my voice is that, you know, this is speaking to our younger ones. This is speaking to our communities that like we can be in these spaces. We can occupy these platforms.
00:38:57
Speaker
And we can be seen and that we are still here and that we are more than the stereotypes that people put on us and think of us. Um, we're runners or teachers, we're volunteers, we're lawyers, you know, we're so many more things. And so this is just, you know, like a, for me, a community celebratory, like action, like this is for all of us. And so it was a really amazing opportunity.
00:39:24
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds great. And I really love to see the billboard. And I really connect to what you say as far as, you know, that's something you wanted to see when you were younger. I remember seeing a quote something along the lines of, you know, be the person who you needed when you were younger. Right. So, I mean, it's like that that representation has such powerful meaning. I
00:39:49
Speaker
You know, I work for a public education teacher union and we see, you know, the dynamic between students, staff and students of color. And Oregon, where I live, is a very white state because under the Constitution, it was illegal for people of African descent to actually reside.
00:40:18
Speaker
in Oregon, which actually made it the most restrictive state for people of color in the entire country. So it's not even the South. Like in that sense, it's, you know, was written into the Constitution. Oh, yeah. And yeah, go ahead. Oh, no, I was gonna say, and it's like also written in the Declaration of Independence of, you know, what natives are first of all, Indian savages, like, it's all of this.
00:40:47
Speaker
this problematic phrasing and racist thinking that create these narratives that just have these ripple effects of prejudice and racism that just expand across all communities. And that's the hard work that's happening right now is to dismantle all of that and to rewrite our own narrative so that we are included and that we are there, that we can end this injustice and that there is equality and respect and visibility for our communities.
00:41:16
Speaker
Yeah, and I think one of the inspiring things about recent events that have happened is it's easy to be pessimistic about outcomes. But I tell you, there seems to be something different about the younger generation in the sense that the level of activism and the level of rejection of racist thinking seems to be pretty profound.
00:41:40
Speaker
Um, you know, it's inspiring to see that they could be large groups of younger people say, look, we don't want this legacy of the generations before us. We reject it whole handedly on, on, on all levels. And I'm not saying everybody does. I'm just saying that there seems to be more of a, of a flood or a flow of that type of energy saying we don't, we don't want your baggage older generations.
00:42:06
Speaker
No, I love this generation right now, and they give me so much hope and they give me so much inspiration to just keep doing this work, even though it can get really mentally and physically and spiritually exhausting, but it's worth it. It's worth it to create a better future for our next generations because that's what they did for us, our ancestors did. They advocated and fought for the next seven generations, and that seventh generation is now. Oh, wow.
00:42:35
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. Thank you. Jordan, big question. Got a couple more questions for you. The big question of the show and just jump, you know, just jump at this one if you can. Why is there something rather than nothing? Because it was nothing. The world would not be in a good place.
00:43:03
Speaker
And so it needs to be something, something that we're fighting for, that we're passionate about, that we want to just go after and get it and to create. They used to keep saying this ripple effect and influence of change. And so, you know, I really love that phrase and what your podcast is, uh, is entitled. Um,
00:43:26
Speaker
I was reading that in the email and I was just like, that's actually really good just like quote because that's kind of like my life. It's like if you're either not going to do anything or have anything to do or you're going to do something and I'm very, I'm one that's very proactive.
00:43:42
Speaker
And always thinking about what can we do? What can be done? What's the next thing? How can this improve? Because if I didn't, I feel like I'm just not helping. I'm not helping my community. I'm not helping my family. I'm not helping our next generations.
00:44:00
Speaker
That's what we're doing. I think our much larger collective of all of our intersecting movements is if we remain inactive and just don't do anything, nothing is going to change. We're going to keep seeing these injustices happening in our communities in that those injustices are what's fueling our fire to fight for justice. Yeah.
00:44:23
Speaker
Before I ask you a final question around just the sense of how folks can connect with your work and your advocacy, I want to make one comment of something that I saw of a phrase, and I'm going to break protocol here because I didn't ask you how to say this, but I'm going to try to pronounce it and to take that risk.
Cultural Reflections and Connections
00:44:49
Speaker
It had to do when you were talking, and it's a concept that's really powerful to me and really struck me the way that you said it was an expression around that we are all related. And I think it's, meet the kwie oyasen. Is that correct? Thank you. And I think for me, I really connected to that expression. And of course, it's meaning that we're all related.
00:45:17
Speaker
For me, it's kind of like an ethical basis in understanding that there's a connection amongst everybody. I've talked to, identifying as a 47-year-old white male myself, that when I'm concerned about the issues that we're talking about and other issues,
00:45:40
Speaker
I feel that personally, I am injured by a racist society in the sense of the type of exclusion, the type of negativity, the type of lack of opportunity for others. And I think one of the biggest things is that connection amongst each other that, and of course, in the labor movement, there's an expression that an injury to one is an injury to all, right?
00:46:07
Speaker
But that connection that I think is so important, and I just thought that was a beautiful phrase. Could you pronounce it one more time, Jordan? We are all related or all my relations. Thanks for that. Jordan Marie brings three horses, Daniel.
00:46:29
Speaker
I was wondering if you could let listeners know how to connect with the advocacy you do, the work that you do, or, you know, guidance or the activism or whatever you'd like to share with the audience, how they can connect with you and your work.
00:46:47
Speaker
Yeah, so they can follow me on Instagram at native in underscore LA and there's an email button right on my bio. That's the easiest way to get a hold of me. I'm going to be launching my website, which is going to be Jordan Marie Daniel dot com.
00:47:05
Speaker
just making the final edit. So that's going to just be an amazing resource for everybody that's not just focused on the projects that I'm working on, but it's also going to be just a great resource of what's going on in our communities that people can be proactive with and learn more about what's happening with these movements.
00:47:23
Speaker
what we're all fighting for and helping to give visibility to the amazing, you know, frontline advocates and organizers in our communities. And so those are going to be great resources and a good opportunity to connect with me. And I'm always down for collaboration and always down to have, you know, productive and respectful conversation and dialogue. Because I think without that, we won't have the change that's needed. And
00:47:51
Speaker
I'm always, always, always enjoying meeting new people. So that's the best way. Yeah, Jordan, I want to say personally, for me, having you as a guest on this show is.
00:48:04
Speaker
and has been a great honor. I would say that even seeing the visual representation of you in the Boston Marathon changed me or what that looked like changed me even prior to talking to you. And I think that's some of the power of art, some of the power of the work that you do in running for change. So I just wanted to extend to you
00:48:29
Speaker
a deep thanks for your time and in your thoughts, because it's been a great pleasure for me. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me and having the other amazing, you know, matriarchs and relatives that you've had before me talking about and giving visibility for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in two spirits. Yeah. And you're I think you call
00:48:56
Speaker
Rosalie Fish, former guest I've had, or little sis, right? And you're a big sis? Yeah, honkala. That's quite the thing. I'm happy that I was able to get her on the podcast and to start my journey talking to Rosalie, talking to Jessica McDermott, the author of Highway of Tears, Kim Gucci, activist up in British Columbia. And of course, you, Jordan,
00:49:26
Speaker
Thanks again for your time and I really hope we get the chance to work together or chat soon. Thank you very much. Thank you Jordan and have a wonderful day. You too. Thanks. You are listening to something rather than nothing.