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U.I. Dialogue Intake Session |
RetireTheChief
The following transcript is from the 4/14/00 Chief Illiniwek dialogue "intake session". It is an unedited excerpt from the original U.I. document.
MR. R.J. SMITH: Hello, my friends. All of you in this room, my name is R.J. Smith. I am Ojibway and Assiniboine. I was born and raised in Chicago. I am the proud director of the Urban Natives of Chicago Youth Council, this is a group of young Native Americans all who have grown up in Chicago who have faced the hardships of growing up in this city life away from their culture and away from their people, most of them.This group came together about five years ago to promote Native American youth leadership and youth activism, within this five years, they have done many things for their community and in turn, their community has done many things for them. Their community has told them that they have pride in their youth, that their youth are valid people, that they are part of the community and that they count. And this group does many good things for their community, not only the Native community, but non-Native people as well.
In this five years, they have set up a Native American dance troop and a drum group, all on their own doing. This is Native American youth trying to find out their own culture. And they have gone to the right people. They have gone to those people who know about their culture, those who possess that knowledge. They have gone to their elders and their families and they have asked for the permission to perform these dances and to sing these songs. I am not going to take up too much more time, I am going to turn this over to our youth representative, Miss Vanessa Casillas.
See the U.I. Dialogue on Chief Illiniwek page for more transcripts and information.