The Future of Native Education with Sedelta Oosahwee

When we talk about Native education, we're talking about far more than classrooms.

In this episode of All My Relations, guest host Dallas Goldtooth welcomes longtime friend Sedelta Oosahwee (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Cherokee), Senior Program & Policy Analyst at the National Education Association, for a timely conversation about the future of Native students, tribal sovereignty, and public education.

Together they unpack what Native education actually looks like today, why more than 90% of Native students attend public schools, and what proposed changes to the U.S. Department of Education could mean for tribal nations. They also discuss school choice, the importance of culturally relevant curriculum, supporting Native students and teachers, and why tribal sovereignty is fundamentally different from DEI initiatives.

Along the way, Dallas and Sedelta share hilarious stories from their early 1491s days, reflect on the mentors who changed their lives, and celebrate the Native educators, artists, and storytellers creating a better future for the next generation.

This episode is a reminder that education isn't just about schools—it's about relationships, responsibility, and believing in what's possible.

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Produced by Matika Wilbur

Hosted by Dallas Goldtooth

AV Production & Editing by Pancho Francisco Sánchez

Score by Mato Wayuhi

Artwork & Social Media by Mandy Yeahpau

Episode Transcript:

There's been active conversations within this administration about shutting down the Department of Education. What are the dangers of this whole conversation around shutting down the Department of Education and its impact on Native peoples? 

I mean, if you think about it, too, the way it's set up, it's like the federal government, sovereign nation states. And so when you don't have that, because our relationship is with the federal government, those funds often go to tribes. And so what does that look like for, you know, these different programs that we have? What does it look like? 

When we take that away, that mechanism of federal government and the trust responsibility they have to provide education, if that department's gone, where does that go? How does that look? How do we make sure that states are working with tribes and incorporating tribes in consultation and ensuring that the funds are being used correctly? 

One thing that has been really concerning is the Office of Civil Rights. The staff has been greatly reduced, and that office was there to protect our Native students, students with disabilities. And if they don't have people that can research things and investigate things that are happening, like if your child And you're saying, hey, they're not meeting the needs of this. There's no one to hold them accountable at the federal level. 

I don't know if we can assume the states are going to be able to take that on. So there's a concern about discrimination. What does that look like? You know, what happens with Title VI? Do we move them to the Office of Indian Education? Do we move them somewhere else? You have these different title programs that are designed to help schools who are low income. Where does that money go? How do they make sure that's being used appropriately? 

And so there's just a worry of oversight and who's going to keep people accountable. And then where do these places go? Because these functions are still going to have to happen. And I don't know if that plan... that's been really clearly laid out, what that will look like and where they'll go.

How I'm with Docky P. How are relatives? Good to see you. Welcome back to All My Relations. I'm Dallas Goldtooth. And I'm excited to have this conversation. Today we have a tremendous guest I've known for a lot of years. Back to the early days of the 1491s. If you don't know the 1491s, it's a comedy group that I co-created with a number of other comedians and performers, including Sterling Harjo. That's the only one worth mentioning. I only say that because he's probably going to listen to us, the other guys aren't going to. 

Yeah, absolutely. 

But I have my good friend, Sedelta Oosahwee, in the studio here today with us. Sedelta is Mandan Hidatsa-Arikara in Cherokee, currently serves as a senior program and policy analyst with the National Education Association, where she manages the American Indian Alaska Native portfolio and leads racial justice work in education. 

And so... Welcome to All My Relations to Sedelta. 

Thank you. It's good to be here.

I met you through Ryan Redcorn and Sterling Harjo. Was it at Ryan's wedding? I think it was Ryan's wedding. That's right. I think you brought him a horse. I brought him a horse. It was a little pogo stick. It was a horse on a stick and we called it Toby. I forgot the name. It's so weird. We didn't really know each other. I didn't know Ryan at all, really. I was calling his wife Elektra at the time. 

You're not the first to do that, by the way. Thank God. Her name is Electra, and I was calling her Electra at the wedding. At the wedding, yeah. I was invited. I didn't even know her name. You all just came down in a van, and I drove up, and we all stayed at their house after, which was... Oh, yeah, we all piled in. On their honeymoon night. In his grandma's house.

We were all in his grandma's room with him on their honeymoon night. I think it's an old. It's a real tradition. Folks don't know Ryan Redcorn's Osage. It's an Osage tradition where all your family and guests and friends have to watch. Kind of like how they did in Chief of War.

You know the Chief of War episode where everyone watched them consummate the marriage? That's what we did. We had to make sure it happened. Yeah. Otherwise, it's just, did it? Yeah. Are they really?

Who knows? I guess it's an Osage thing. There has to at least be 16 people in the room when you do the deed with a Pawnee woman. And then I went to a separate room with my friend Elizabeth, and there was just two beds in there. Slept okay. And the next morning, Ryan's like, how'd you sleep?

And I was like, pretty good. He's like, that's my grandpa's bed. He died in it. And I was like, what? And I was just like... And there was a picture above it. And then I was like, oh my God, are the sheets changed? Was it the same? Was everything the same? I forgot.

So Ryan Redcorn lives in his grandparents' house and he didn't change anything in the house. The spices were still in there. The grandparents' room was untouched. Spices, all his grandma's clothing was still hanging up. And not only that, but his grandparents slept in separate beds. Which is also probably traditional. Yeah, it was probably traditional. They slept in separate beds. And then above, I think one of the beds was a picture of his grandpa who looked down at the other person. There was like a blanket for the bathroom door. I mean, it was a wild. It was a house of horrors. That's really what it comes down to. It was a sex dungeon house of horrors, Osage style. that we all watched them consummate their marriage. And that's how I met you. 

That's how we met. There it is. Coming back. Origin stories. Close the sacred circle there we did. 

We actually filmed a video together that never got published. The 1491s video. It was a mascot video. You remember that? There was these two brothers that were anti-mascot. They were protesting. They were trying to rally and advocate against it. This is what the concept of the video. Yeah, the concept of the video. And my sister had made this huge papier-mâché. Like really stereotypical Indian head that the mascots kind of were using at the time.

The twist in the video is at the end, they find out that their brother is actually the person who's the mascot under the mask. And you were the brother. I was the mascot. They were like,

what?

It was dumb. I mean, if you think like it's kind of like kind of meta, I guess. But it was it was funny because I think that happens still, you know, in some ways where it's like, oh, my God, but we are you are the mascot.

I mean, you see me, most people see me as the Indian on the horseback to this day. So I am the mascot. The twist continues. Chapter two.

But there's a lot of those that are in the vault. It'd be interesting to see some of those videos that never made it out. Or not interesting to see some of those videos. You were always there for a lot of our video projects. And you were the most successful. You've gone on to do many great things in your career when working in the field of education. For many years,

right? As long as I've known you, actually. Yes, let's say many years. Many years. Actually put a number on it. Okay, no numbers. No numbers. Numbers are culinary things. 

No, since I've known you, I think you were working for a while there at Northeastern University? State University. State University? Working with Native students there. You worked in the White House, doing a White House initiative on education. I don't know the exact. layout, but you've been doing it for a while. Now, this podcast is about relationships, right? It's really about how do we relate to each other? How do we relate to the land? What are the connections between all of us? And I think that education is a cornerstone. of relationships that often gets overlooked or just isn't appreciated enough of how it really truly is the guiding principle for society, right? How do we educate ourselves about what happened? What are we doing now? Where are we going?

And so I want to ask you, in the U.S., in the political climate and everything that's going on around education, where does education stand for Native peoples right now? I think before we answer that question, we have to kind of have a lay of the land like what is native education i often wonder when people hear that what they're thinking because i think they kind of assume that we're like in these different systems and these different buildings and that we're separated out from everyone else in the education field. But the reality is, is 90% of our students, over 90% are in public schools. 

So I went to public school. I assume you went to a public school. So we're in the public school systems about... 8%, 7% are in the Bureau of Indian Education Schools. And then we have a smaller group that are in different schools that don't fall into those categories. So when we talk about education, Native education, we're talking about our students who are in the public schools primarily and this other group. What that looks like from the government level is that the Department of Education oversees our public schools. And then the Department of Interior oversees the Bureau of Indian Education Schools. So you have two different departments that are a part of this system. And even then, like at the Department of Interior, they have the JOM program, Johnson & O'Malley. So public schools get that money as well, but it's coming from the Department of Interior. 

Yeah. It's a little complicated, isn't it? And I also think we forget higher ed at times.

And for higher education, our students are also in those, you know, predominantly white institutions. We have tribal colleges and universities. People don't know that sometimes. There's 37 of them. And then we have Native Americans serving non-tribal institutions. So this idea of Native education kind of covers different. K through 12, higher ed spaces. And so I think it's important to understand where our students are right now. We also have to remember how education is funded and how it works. When I worked at Department of Ed, we had people come into our offices and say, we want culturally relevant curriculum. We need more money for our schools. They're falling apart. And we agreed, yes, you need culturally relevant curriculum. Your school probably needs more funding, but the federal government doesn't do that. We were banned from doing curriculum. And you probably don't want the federal government really getting into curriculum. conversations. And I think people need to realize that the money that came out of department ed was supplemental. It was all to kind of support funding that was already in place. You know, these schools are getting money for special education, for native students, and then, you know, for students that are in low income school districts. The money we gave out was to help support those schools meet a gap. 

So it was never meant for standalone programming. It's not meant for infrastructure. Those are kind of like local and state. issues. A lot of them are local bond issues that can come with your schools and help create and update your schools. But states set regulations, locals kind of really have a say in curriculum. And so if we think about it through that lens, we're kind of in a state that's similar to where we've been for a while. We see states that have been really pushing for Indian education for all. The governor of South Dakota announced that it's going to sign on to Trump's plan around school choice. 

This whole idea of we're going to give individual families access to federal monies. for their kids to go to private schools or charter schools. It's been an ongoing movement under the idea of school choice. Right. So I think the concern with going to like the private charter school route is that oftentimes they don't have the same regulations that other schools have, public schools have. They're getting federal funds or they're getting these federal dollars that would have gone to the public school that are going to this entity that's now. Doing the charter school or the church or whoever's running it. But the accountability measures aren't there. So, for example, they might not have to do FOIA requests. They may not have to do the same requirements for open meetings, audits. There's less transparency in what's happening in those schools. They also underserve students with different educational needs. English as a second language, you know, students that might have an IEP or disabilities. Those cost more money to serve those students because they need more programs. They need more kind of support. And so they under-enroll those students and leave them in the public schools. Another concern with the charter schools is they don't have the same requirement to prove that there's a need for that school in an area. So they can come in and say, we're going to start a school here. It creates competition for students. And you're also creating a redundancy in resources. So now instead of... for one principal, you're paying for two. Instead of paying for one bus driver, you're paying for two or three. 

Those resources are split even more thinly at that point. And for Indian countries specifically, what does that look like for the tribally controlled schools? Are there several options? Is there an accessibility issue? We have questions around what does it look like for the BIE-operated school because they're federal government. It's a hidden agenda. That's what it is.

At the surface level, sounds great. Oh, yeah, I want more choice. But really, it's like, I don't

want to put my kid into a school where the school is mandated to follow certain standards about how they teach history or how they create space for students with disabilities, how they educate and talk about native issues. Right. That's that's where it comes down to. There's been an ongoing effort to eradicate DEI. Yeah. Day one of the administration, you know, President Trump went and signed several executive orders that first night and people were just stunned. But one of them was to eradicate DEI. And there was all of these executive orders that were included under it. One of them was the executive order that created the White House initiative that I had worked in. The White House initiative has gone through different name changes through executive order. And the only way that they could have gotten rid of it was through another executive order. The last change was under the Biden administration. I think it included equity in the title. And so that got done away with at that point. It actually activated Indian country.

There's a relationship that we have with the federal government. We're not just a diversity program. We're a nation and we have nationhood and sovereignty. And so we're not included in those kind of DEI conversations. So the organizations came together, NCI, NIEA, these larger native orgs, and they wrote a letter to the secretary of education and to the administration saying, we're sovereign nations. Please acknowledge this. We've always been. There's a trust responsibility. And as a result of it, I think after a meeting with NIA and some other people, AHEC, American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Yeah. And they represent the tribal colleges and universities. The secretary of education actually issued guidance and said that we recognize tribes of sovereign nations. They are not included in. diversity, equity, inclusion. So they've put that forward. Will that change? Who knows? What does that look like in the future? 

Are they really going to implement that? Is that something they're going to stand by? I think we just have to kind of wait and see. But having that letter and that guidance and having that in writing is a huge win for Indian country. And we'll just have to kind of keep an eye and make sure and stay vigilant on that, that they follow through with it. When it comes to... The government and tribes, it could change in a month. It could change in a week. All the laws and policies and procedures and relationship with tribal governments is built on such fluid and flimsy.

Yeah. things across the board that it's actually hard to explain right it's all yeah it's all kind of foobar it's all looked up beyond all recognition there's also like different caveats and like i'm like i'm not an indian law expert so don't quote me and don't take this to the bank and don't cite me but it impacts all aspects of our of our lives right what it means to be a nation is like we have a government we have you know an executive branch judicial we have the legislative branch like we're That's what it is. We're not just a club. We're not just an organization. We have elected leaders. We have people who are... our Congress, our council, whatever they call it for their specific tribe. And so we have all of these in place that makes us a nation too. I think people will sometimes think it is a club or like, oh, you get benefits, you know, you get a card.

It's like the AARP card, you know, discounts here and there. It's like, there's so much more that comes with that and what that means. But again, a lot of people don't understand that. We always say, well, we're sovereign nations. And so lately sometimes, and I'll do an introduction, especially in front of non-natives, I'll be, and this is what it means to be a sovereign nation, because I just think more people need to hear that. In this conversation on Indian education, we often focus on the students. But really, I think the work is trying to also provide resources to non-Native teachers, right? These people who are put in front of a bunch of Native students or have a handful of Native students to make sure that they're doing right by them and talking about our histories and our stories or making sure they're included. 

And that's a challenge. Yeah. One thing that I talk about a lot in the work I do, especially with our members, is letting them know that our students are in the public schools. You work in public schools. There's a chance you've had a Native student in your classroom. They may not look like me. They may not look like you. But, you know, they could look like my nephew with red curly hair. They are Native students and they have different needs. I just think that we have to find ways to support them, too, in feeling comfortable. A lot of educators will say, I don't feel comfortable talking about it because I don't know a lot. and I just don't want to say the wrong thing. And, you know, there are resources out there to help. NEA has a stack of micro-credentials that educators can take if you're one of our members. It's free. 

National Indian Education Association has resources. And I think they're trying to work on a kind of curriculum website or bank for people to come to and use. They have some online right now, but we want to make sure that they're using... the appropriate resources and you find the right people to work with. Cause if you just Google native American classroom resources, you're going to have kids making vests out of, you know, paper bags from the store.

Like we did.

Turkey headdresses, like paper plate, paper plates and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel that. Cause it's like, I mean, I speak a lot. I travel a lot. And I just so many times where I've actually had teachers and people come to me like, Hey, Well-meaning white folks, right? There's well-meaning folks. I'm not native. I don't say they're all necessarily white, but they're all wanted like, hey, whether it's like I want to teach my kids properly or my students properly or they're like parents and you're like, hey, I want to make sure I'm doing right. It's a dual-edged sword where I'm like, oh, I don't want to take that on. That shouldn't be on me to provide the way. But I also want folks. to be informed. I want to make sure folks have the resources, right? And that's where we point to like NEA, right? NIEA, NEA has our stack of micro -credentials. It gets confusing. There's NEA and NIEA. National Indian Education Association and the National Education Association. Yeah. The other thing too is at one point we were having a conversation about Does NEA have those resources? Could I pull them together? And I was kind of like, first of all, I don't have time to vet all these things coming in. Like, but I don't know if I should be the one looking at a lesson plan for the Navajo Nation today or for like the Creek or the Choctaws or, you know, any other tribe. I mean, like, oh, yeah, that's appropriate. That's good. That should work. I have no idea. You know, and so I was like, what does that look like

finding a collective of people who can help? kind of vet those resources and make sure they're high quality and they're not offensive. So you're saying that's a need right now? It's a need. I think NIA, like I said, I think they're working on it and they have plans to pull something together. But it does, it requires more than one person, basically. We're working towards it. There's still some stuff out there. 

Certain states, like Montana, has Indian Education for All. They have resources on their site. So you just have to do a little bit of work. Don't just do a simple Google search.

Spend some time actually looking into it, trying to decide who is the source, who created it, if it's a tribal nation. like you can probably assume that's going to be a good source. If it's National Indian Education Association, just think of who's creating. I mean, it's basic research, you know. Do your homework. You got this. You got this. Check your sources. That's what we have to carry, right? After a while, you're like, oh, like I don't want to do this. But on a personal level, I do feel. There has been growth and change and progress in Indian education. A bit of an anecdote. I live in Illinois. My kids go to a public school. They're the only natives in that school. My son was taking a class this semester, a social studies class, and they showed reservation dogs in the class. 

I love that.

Were you in the episode? I was in the episode. My son was so excited. He was like, can I tell my teacher that you're in it? And I was like... I don't know, sure. He's like, great, yeah. He was all excited about it, and the teacher was all really stoked. One, that's a plug for Reservation Dogs and the work that, as Native creatives, we've been taking to make sure that our stories are visible, right? But there's also a display that educators are going a little bit farther to bring in that material into their classroom, which is great, but it's also up to the teacher. Yeah. Right. That's not a standard set in Illinois. That teacher went out and sought that.

So that's really great to see. I think it's nice, too, because we have more resources. We have more books, more shows that are created by and for indigenous people. Whereas maybe 20 years ago, we didn't. I remember like when Dances of the Wolves came out and Last of the Mohicans, everyone was like, oh, we have Indians playing Indians. It was like the biggest thing ever. I was like, what? We were so excited. I was like, why is that such a big deal? Duh. Like they should be playing themselves, not understanding the history. And so. Now we have people who are actually stepping into that space to do that. So people have more to draw from. They can pull from a show like

Reservation Dogs that is made by Native people. They can pull from books that are written by Native people. And so they have more resources to pull from than they did maybe 20 years ago. We had

Dancing with Wolves and all those movies and Power Highway. But then books-wise, it was like all spiritual books. It was all like sacred knowledge books, right? There was nothing about like more contemporary or any kind of like something that's created by a native academic. Right. No, none of that. Yeah, we didn't have none of that. Or it was like super old stuff. Yeah, yeah. Which I felt was super old, but I guess looking back wasn't that old. But like, you know, Custer died for your sins and that stuff. And it was like, oh, this is so old. The covers look so dusty. I don't want to touch that. Update that cover. Graphics were like, oh, what? We're dating ourselves here, right? That was back in the day where every poster you see on a college campus was made by Microsoft Word. 

Absolutely. 

This is back in the day. Clip art. Clip art, yeah. Clip art. That's the old school age. Wes Studi trying to wear his glasses and like wear your glasses, you know, and like be powerful or something like that. But it's also kind of funny. You mentioned, you know, you're in a show. I was in the ninth grade and I had Oklahoma history class and they showed this video of a play called The Trial of Archula Smith. And my dad was in it and he played like this drunk Indian who was a witness to the crime. And I was like the whole time, you know, and then she goes, oh, Sedelta, wasn't that your dad, Harry? He's such a good guy. You know, the ninth grade, I was just trying to like blend in and like not. Wasn't your dad the drunk Indian? that was your dad like him so it was like yeah that's my dad yeah but it's funny that your son had a different reaction i was like oh the whole time but yeah good times good time great oldies dad is a language yeah he speaks fluent charlie he learned english when he went to school so it's interesting because i tell people that i kind of am like this I'm formed by all these different policies and kind of like things that have happened in our country. My mom went to boarding school from kindergarten to 12th grade. And so my dad was a person who learned English when we went to school. So it's interesting that I carry those stories and understandings in the work that I do too. And that's part of how I approach the work is thinking from those perspectives. What are the moments or a moment that convinced you that this is the path for you around Indian education or education in general? 

Well, you know, what's interesting is I never wanted to go into education. It was like the family business. Everyone did it. My dad had worked in education. My mom worked in education, aunties, uncles. Even my grandma was like a matron at one of the boarding schools. I was like, man, I want to do something different. I'm going to create my own path, you know? What did you want to do? Well, initially I wanted to be a nun when I was super young. You wanted to be a nun? I did. 

Dang. Because I knew two of them. They were so awesome. Sister Beth and Phyllis. I was like, they are so cool. They're so fun. And just, I wanted to be like that. And then I didn't know what I wanted to do. I got to college, did undergrad, and just kind of floated around unsure. But I got the... when I was an undergrad and they would pay for grad school in five different areas. I had a friend that was like, I'm doing this higher ed program. And I was like, I'll do it with you. You know, it's paid for, let's go for it. A week into the class, he sent me a text and he's like, hey, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to drop out of the program. I got our dream job. And I was like, okay, fine. I was like, well, what are you going to do? I'm working at the Apple store in Penn Square. I stayed in the program and he left. Afterwards, I ended up working at Northeastern State University, kind of on just a weird whim. And I found out I loved it. I loved working with those students. And I think of people along my own path. I wouldn't apply it for the Gates Scholarship if it hadn't been for a woman named Shannon Freeman. Shout out to Shannon Freeman. 

Yeah. Hutter's her son. Oh, okay. Yeah. So it was a Friday. The application was due on Monday. And I walked in the Native student office. She's like, how's your application going? I said, oh, I'm not going to do it. I don't think I'll get it. She goes, nope, you're going to do it. I'm going to nominate you and this person is going to recommend you and we'll send it off on Monday. So I went home and I did the essays over the weekend and sent it in and got the scholarship. It just took one person believing in me in different points in my life. And I want to be that person for other people. And then when they get there, I want to make sure they have the opportunities that will help them be successful.

And so that kind of led me to thinking about doing things in D.C. thought I would ever live there or work there. But after working at the university for a while, I applied for a job with Wilson Pipestim at IOTAN. They offered me the job. And in two weeks, I was in D.C. with a suitcase and no idea what I was doing. But I just took the chance. I said yes. And it kind of created a whole new pathway for me to be in D.C. and to do the things I've done. But I would have, if you'd asked me or told me, you know, when I was a kid, this is what I'd be doing, I'd be like, no way. Cause really I just wanted to stay in Tahlequah and maybe work at the college and have a kid or two and a family and just like, that's all I knew. And that's all I thought was possible. So it's fascinating how that works out your, your path. in many ways, comes down to individuals who kind of intersect in that journey and kind of propel you forward, right? I'll give a shout out to Teresa Peterson.

She was an educator from Upper Sue Res, and she's the one that got me to apply to go to a boarding school, my final years in high school. I went to Native American prep school and was focused on getting kids into college. I think a lot of us in Indian country know these relatives who helped us in that journey to kind of keep us pushing forward. I think about like my K through 12, I went to a rural school and Oklahoma. There's like 25 in my class, but I had native teachers in my classroom who knew my older sister. They knew my uncle. You know, when I got to high school, I had native teachers there too. And I realized that having those native teachers did make a difference in how I performed in school. And then I talked to kids today who are in school and they don't have any native teachers. And I'll ask them like, do you think it'd be different if you had one? And they're like, you know what? I think it would. Even if they don't have a native teacher, everyone has a story of a teacher who either made their entire school experience. destroyed it. And I think that every day a teacher has an opportunity to uplift a student. And again, I don't think Shannon was doing anything that she thought was going to be that big of a deal, but believing in me when I didn't believe in myself for just like that one moment changed my whole life. And I just think that that's what's incredible education is that these people, these educators have the possibility every day to make someone's life better and amazing and to put them on a path that they didn't even know is possible. That's powerful. You make me cry. You make me cry.

So become a teacher. No, that's why I wanted to become a teacher. When I went to college, my thing was to be Dakota language and be a teacher. I always loved it. You still can. I still can do it. In many ways, I am a teacher, a teacher of you. And you. And you. And you. And you. Teaching you the ways of our people,

the Native American. The Indian. We're here to teach you the ways. No, it's very much true. I grew up around activists and organizers. I feel that's in my blood, but really it comes down to communication and teaching and education. I feel that's a core part of my journey. Shout out to all our teachers. Shout out to all our aunties and uncles out there who are investing in our youth.

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All right, so as we wind down here, I want to ask you some more, just lighter questions. One of the questions I want to ask, I want to hear a Native artist in any discipline, a Native artist that inspires you. I'll tell you, okay, a couple. Matika Wilbur. I mean, what she did was courageous.

Like, I'm going to get rid of everything and just get in the RV. And all the tribes, it's overwhelming. I can't even plan a trip, like, to Tulsa without freaking out. Like, oh, what am I going to do? What am I going to plan? Couldn't have done that. But also the way it's changed, the way we do see Native people and that it's created a more contemporary, another resource for educators to use. You know, we can find photos of people and you allowed them to be the way they wanted to be seen. You know, sometimes people don't want to be in all their regalia. Stop looking over there as if she's standing right, she's sitting right there. Like she's here. Imagine Matika is not watching us right now. She's not in the room, by the way. She's not right there.

Her spirit is everywhere. Her photos, they carry on in her photos. You have no idea that we're editing out her laugh right now so you can't hear it. There's special filters for her laugh.

No, you're right, though. Matika. Matika, tremendous. Yeah. And as a woman, too, like, that's scary. Sometimes, like, even walking down the street, I'm like, oh, should I be doing this? Is that safe? And then I do it anyways. She has the right personality for it that works, right? Just shows up. I'm like, I don't know what the plan is, but I'm here. I'm here. And I'm more of like, I need a plan. What's going to happen? Exactly. And she's like, I don't know. True story. True story.

Yeah. One of the first times me and my wife and our family went to Disney World. I saw Matika post somewhere like, oh, she was in Florida at the same time. So I was like, oh, yo, Matika, you're in Florida. Hey, we're at Disney World right now. She's like, oh, I'll come by. And she shows up.

And we go to Disney World, Magic Kingdom. And this is our first time. We're going. And we're all nervous. We're clocked through. We go through the gate. And Matika is supposed to be there with us. And she takes off. She disappears. I have no idea where she's at. We go through the gates. And like five minutes later, she's right next to us. She's like, hi, guys. And I was like, oh, you got a ticket? She's like, no. What? I was like. What the fuck do you mean you don't have a ticket? She's like, I don't know. I just walked in. I was like, what are you doing? She snuck in the Magic Kingdom for the day. Had a blast. I don't fault her. Those tickets are expensive. Stealing popcorn from kids. Punched a couple of elders and she bounced. That was Matika Wilder. On that same trip, she took my wife on a jet ski on the water. Has she ever been on one? No.

That's the thing. She was like, oh, that'd be fun. Let's do it. She convinces my wife, let's go for a cruise. So they jump on the jet ski. Neither my wife or I knew. Matika's never, ever driven a jet ski in her life. And they take off on these like three foot waves, hairs out. My wife's hanging on back. Matika's hair is like flying in my wife's face the whole time. That might've been a good thing. And my wife came back. She's like, I think I broke my back on that one. Cause they were just like, like she was like Vin Diesel in the action movie.

That's amazing. I know. I had to ask. Cause I was like, I feel like she probably hadn't been on a jet ski at that point. Never been. Yeah. But ready to go. Ready to go. Always. Let's go to every Indian res and every community in the country. Let's do this. Let's go. Right, tomorrow. We're going to do it. I don't know how I'm going to do it. But I'm going to make it happen. And she did.

She did. Glasses up. And the others are 1491s, all of you guys. I mean, if I think about it, we literally started out at Ryan's house. You'd be there for a week at a time.

We'd just make a big breakfast in the morning. There was no internet, no TV in there. There's nothing. And you guys were making videos. This is the sex dungeon, Osage House. The plaster ceilings are falling down at different points. But you guys never gave up. Everyone stayed in it.

You have an amazing acting career now. Migsy's writing. Bobby's writing and acting. Ryan's acting and writing as well. And Sterling has just blown up like crazy. I think what's interesting, too, is that... Like with Sterling, for example, he brings people with him. Oftentimes we see people who are in those industries and in those places and they are gatekeepers and they don't want to bring anyone else. And he's kind of of the mindset, the more the merrier. And let's bring people in. Let me give them an opportunity so they can put this on a resume and do something else after. And we could have more people sharing our perspective and voices in a field, in a place we never had before. And it's opened the door for so many people. And I think that that's something that, you know, I hope I do as well in my profession of like, if you ever have a career in education. or any of the places I've been, how do I download everything I learned? So you come in way ahead of me.

When I got to the government, I was sitting in those meetings like, what is this? What's this acronym? What's happening? Like, we have to do what? What paperwork? And I just want people to come in and know that ahead of time so they can go further than I ever could have imagined or ever done.

I feel like in many ways, that's actually a generational curse that we've been breaking because I feel like the older generations of Native folks, especially in the professional world. growing up felt so cutthroat so kind of antagonistic to each other because there was one this very much real like lack of resources so there was a constant fight over resources it creates such competition which was very much intentional right yeah and i think that the generation that we grew up with and that we are a part of really put a sustained effort to really break that down to be like look look we can't we don't have to compete we don't have to be all of us it was like almost you know there can only be one i have to be the one and it's like no we have enough work for everyone Like, we need more people. Open it up. I can't do it all. Let's find more people to help us out, which I love. 

I love that, too. I think it's done tremendous work, not only for... acting or in the arts, but also in education and also in tribal leadership. That's one of our biggest, within Indian country, one of the biggest obstacles we've had to face is that internalized oppression and how it manifests. And then you're demystifying these places that we didn't know about. I didn't know anyone in my life who'd been appointed to a presidential administration and all they had to go through. And so now that I've been through it, it's like, I want to tell people, this is how I got in. This is what I did. This is the things you're going to go through when you get into this position. And it makes it more accessible because if you don't know, and if you don't know how to get there, or if you don't know anyone who can help you understand it, it's scary and it's overwhelming. But now we have people in all these different sectors who are being successful who can come back and say, this is how I did it. Let me help you. Let me, if you need help, reach out, whatever I can do to support you. So that's kind of awesome. 

A hundred percent. Yeah. So this podcast is called All My Relations, right? And so I want to ask you, what does All My Relations mean to you? It means all my relations. No, it means my family and my community and the people I come from, my ancestors, the place I come from, the place I live. I carry it all with me all the time. And that's what I think about and when I do my work and who I am. I want to continue to make sure that folks can follow you and all the work that you do. So, like, give any shout-outs to your organization or to you. How can people keep updated? Not only for you, but also, like, the educators out there who want to get those resources. Where can they look? NEA Today has several resources. That's where you can find the micro-credentials. We have a landing page for some of the resources we have. I would definitely look at National Indian Education Association as well. They have incredible resources around curriculum. They're working on different websites for curriculum that have reports on. Native 101 reports on, you know, the state process, like where people are on states becoming visible. The resources are there. The toolkits are there. And they're also doing a great job of keeping up with the administration and like things that are happening that affect Indian country and Indian education specifically. So they have like different letters that have come out, templates you can use to advocate for stuff. It's a fantastic resource for people, especially in this moment. 

So Sedelta, I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. Tremendous nod of the hat to Matika and Tamaris for asking me to host this. I really appreciate you coming on to the podcast. I probably use my hands a lot, but you know. Hey, you're Indian. You talk like that. Talking that way. But it's been fun. Thank you. I appreciate it.

I appreciate you so much. And yeah.