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A podcast on Native American resilience through and beyond trauma… exploring concepts, science, history, culture, stories and practices that we are working with as we seek to shape a future for our children and our grandchildren that is defined not by what we have suffered, but what we have overcome. This podcast explores NEAR Science, Historical Trauma, and ways Indigenous communities and individuals in Minnesota are creating and Remembering Resilience.
In season 1, podcast series hosts David Cournoyer, Susan Beaulieu and Linsey McMurrin share stories of this project and of ways community members and others are “Remembering Resilience.”
In season 2, podcast series hosts Susan Beaulieu, Briana Matrious and Linsey McMurrin continue to explore stories of collective and individual healing and how our communities continue on their journeys of “Remembering Resilience.”
Now that you’ve listened to us, we want to hear from you. Please fill out our brief survey by going to surveymonkey.com/r/podcastRR.
Linsey McMurrin: 00:00:35
Boozhoo. Gaawiin aapiji ninitaa-Anishinaabemosii. Ninga-gagwejitoon ji Anishinaabemoyaan.1 Niin Linsey McMurrin nindizhinakaaz zhaaganashimong. Gaa-Zagaskwaajimekaag nindoojibaa, idash Walker, Minnesota nindaa.
My name is Linsey McMurrin, and I am honored to join you all again as the co-host of our "Remembering Resilience" podcast. I'm an enrolled citizen of the Leech Lake Nation of Ojibwe and a descendant of the White Earth Nation. I live in northern Minnesota with my family. I have two sons that motivate me to make this world a better place for everyone.
Isaias:
My name is Isaias, and I'm 12.
Tobias:
My name is Tobias, and I am seven, and Linsey is our mom.
Linsey McMurrin:
I am grateful for the role I currently hold as the executive director of Peacemaker Resources, a nonprofit in the Bemidji area dedicated to building the skills and capacities we all need to learn and continuously develop social-emotional learning and cultural responsiveness. More aptly put, how to be a good relative and a good ancestor in this often complicated and confusing world we live in.
I have been so grateful that the path that has emerged for me in recent years as a future ancestor has been so transformative for my family in the here and now. I never could have imagined how profoundly my growth and development on the path my life has taken professionally would also impact my kids, my family, and my way of life.
And this also leads me to wonder what our whole world might look like if each of us were presented with the opportunity to embrace a way of being that truly embraces who we are. And the “why” behind who we are, the fullness of our being, living our lives authentically with purpose, responding to our calling as human beings here on this earth.
Tobias:
Okay, so, hi. We are here with my mom's work, seeing how this'll be for podcasting. And we're just going to talk about her good work that she does. And anyways, yeah, it's really good. So now let's get on with it.
Linsey McMurrin:
I am proud to be an Anishinaabe woman with a beautifully entwined ancestry, an Ikwe of the Leech Lake Ojibwe Nation, descended also from the White Earth Nation, a woman that proudly claims also a Scot-Irish ancestry, only a few generations removed, in fact, as well as with our little bit of Norwegian mixed in there too.
I think since I was a very small girl, I understood the importance of authenticity, the importance of feeling seen and heard and understood. And as an indigenous person throughout my childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, I felt like mainstream society was invalidating me as a person.
When I was in grade school I remember learning about the Great American Melting Pot, this idea that part of fitting in and belonging in this country meant letting go of all of those other pieces of who we were. Even as a small child this didn't feel quite right.
Even though I probably wasn't able to name it at the time, I think part of why that felt so disconcerting to me is because I cannot separate my cultural identity from who I am as a person. And as an indigenous person, I feel like our connection to our culture only strengthens who we are.
I think I began to realize the reason why that idea of the Melting Pot so grated upon my very soul is because it's very related to governmental policies intended to erase who we were as Native people. When I think about that phrase used by a nineteenth-century assimilationist, Richard Pratt, when he says, "Kill the Indian and save the man," what he was talking about was erasing the beautiful culture, the beautiful ways of knowing, traditions, knowledge, and, instead, fitting into that mold, fitting into that mold of who we were expected to be, if we were to be civilized and to become citizens of this emerging country. There's so much that is wrong with that.
Part of what I hope to do through my work, teaching social-emotional learning through my own journey of rediscovering what it means to be an Anishinaabe woman is creating space for others who might be feeling exactly like I did when I was young.
When I began thinking about connecting the dots, it became really apparent to me that there's so much of traditional wisdom that we know as Anishinaabe people that is reinforced by all of the learning that I've been doing currently in my career around social-emotional learning. Social-emotional learning, that fancy official title, came about and came into being more well-known in the field fairly recently.
Social-emotional learning. What is it? Well, one of the textbook definitions of social-emotional learning, or SEL for short, defines it as this: the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
To go a little bit further into the academic side of things, the Center for Academic and Social-Emotional Learning identifies five competency areas that help achieve that goal of social-emotional learning.
The first is self-awareness. What do we mean by that? Self-awareness is the ability to accurately recognize one's own emotions and thoughts and how they influence their behavior. This includes accurately assessing one's strengths and limitations and possessing a well-grounded sense of confidence and optimism.
The second competency area is self-management. It is defined as the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations. This includes managing stress, controlling impulses, motivating oneself, and setting and working toward achieving personal and academic goals.
The third is social awareness. The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and to recognize family, school and community resources and supports.
The next is relationship skills, the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking and offering help when needed.
And finally, the fifth area is responsible decision-making. I feel like all four of those previous competencies culminate in this one. Responsible decision-making means the ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on consideration of ethical standards, your values, safety concerns, social norms, the realistic evaluation of consequences of various actions, and the well-being of self and others.
Now, I realize, friends, that that is a lot of words that mean many things to different people. So to summarize it and put it a bit simpler, to me, SEL is about learning how to live a good life. In Anishinaabe culture, I think about that phrase, mino-bimaadiziwin, to live a good life. It's to be true to ourselves, to bring our best selves forward, to be a good relative, friend, and neighbor, to make good decisions, and to relate to one another in a good way, to do what we can to make this world a better place for everyone.
So if someone asked you, what does your mom do for work, what would you tell them?
Tobias:
I'd tell them she does really good work, and that it's good work to help people learn lots of stuff.
Linsey McMurrin:
So how does Mom help people?
Tobias:
By social-emotional learning.
Linsey McMurrin:
All right, social-emotional learning. Isaias, do you have any ideas about what social-emotional learning is?
Isaias:
Understanding emotions.
Linsey McMurrin:
Yeah, so say more about that.
Isaias:
Wondering why emotions happen and how they happen.
Linsey McMurrin:
Yeah, so getting in touch with what's going on in your body when you're experiencing certain things, right?
Why do you think this is important, Isaias, for school, for time with your friends, for interacting with your little brother and your mom at home? Why might it be helpful to know this kind of stuff?
Isaias:
I think it's helpful to know this because you will get along better and more understanding.
Linsey McMurrin:
Right. So better relationships with friends, with teachers, with your little brother, with other people around you, and that definitely helps...
As I began my career in this field, I began to realize how much my own learning journey and my desire to teach others about SEL aligned with the cultural teachings we value as Anishinaabe people in so many ways.
When I think about how there's so many points of intersection with a lot of the traditional knowledge and wisdom that our communities know from a standpoint of the Anishinaabe worldview, there's so many overlaps, points of intersection in which the Western ways of knowing, the scientific mainstream viewpoints are catching up to a certain extent with traditional wisdom coming from our communities.
And so as I started to think about talking about social-emotional learning and what that means in my life, both personally and professionally, what really started to come to mind was how there's so much overlap, again, with these seven grandfather teachings.
When I think about the work that I'm doing currently helping people understand more about social-emotional learning. Social-emotional learning in a nutshell is really about how to be our best selves and how to be in good relationship with other people. I feel like that is really also what's at the core when we look at those Seven Grandfather Teachings.
Now I want to pause here. I'll be the first to admit that for various reasons, including the impact of the generations of historical trauma, my family, my village, my community, my nation has endured, including my family and relatives in the Onigum and Cass Lake areas of Leech Lake, all the way to our roots in White Earth and beyond, I still struggle to find my footing in learning more about my heritage. I appreciate the opportunities that come forward for me to learn. And I also want to name that I'm sharing the following observation in the most humble way.
My language teacher, who, again, I didn't learn Ojibwe until college, but my language teacher always talked about the importance of a certain phrase. And it's, Gaawiin aapiji ninitaa-Anishinaabemosii. Ninga-gagwejitoon ji Anishinaabemoyaan.2
And, he was a first speaker, and yet he talked about how important it was to always use that phrase. And what it translates to is that, "I don't speak Ojibwe very well, but today I'm going to try for all of you." I think one of the most powerful things we can do as leaders, as purveyors of our culture is to keep at the forefront the importance of that teaching. The idea that we all have something to learn, that it's a continual journey. What I want to make sure that I do throughout that process is to remain humble. I need to name. I came across these teachings a lot later in life than I would've hoped for or liked. And so to be able to put these pieces together in a way that will help others maybe find those points of connection is very empowering.
As I have started on my own journey to learn more about my culture, recognizing that it's okay that this is my entry point, as a 38-year-old mother, I began to really dig into the idea of our Anishinaabe worldview. What is it that makes up our perspective, makes up the way that I see the world? And what I began to discover was that even though I maybe haven't learned these teachings explicitly in the past, that so much of it is part of who I am as a person. And that's been really powerful too.
So, as I started to look into the idea of the Seven Grandfather Teachings, there was so much that resonated with me in terms of how I parent, how I want to show up in this world.
Why do you think it's important to understand and to know this kind of stuff, Toby?
Tobias:
Because if you're ever in this type of situation, then you can just do that. Take a deep breath, walk away from the situation, and just go play basketball.
Linsey McMurrin:
When we choose those types of things to deal with what's going on, do you think that makes the problem bigger or smaller?
Tobias:
Smaller.
Linsey McMurrin:
Yeah, most definitely.
I think about the way that I'm raising my boys right now. Part of what motivates me as a parent is to help them be good human beings. And I feel like these different themes so connect with also what I'm doing right now in my career, in teaching our communities about social-emotional learning. And so there's seven themes, Seven Grandfather Teachings: honesty, truth, humility, love, wisdom, courage, and respect.
Honesty.
The word honesty itself brings forth ideas of maintaining truthfulness, sincerity and fairness in your actions, communicating with others in a good way where we're adhering to those values of fairness and truth.
Truth.
Truth itself. The idea of making sure we're speaking honestly and as honestly as we can according to our own perception, according to what's happening within us and around us, understanding the importance of loyalty and relationship.
Humility.
When we recognize that we are part of this creation of this larger world around us, it helps us to remember to be humble in that, to be careful what we say, how we interact with others, to ensure that we're acting out of empathy, understanding other's struggles and wanting to take that into account in the things that we do and the way that we act and how we respond. Making sure we're respectful of the thoughts and ideas of others as well. And then also recognizing our own weakness and acknowledging that we all have the capacity to grow.
Love.
Love. I believe that helps us understand how important it is to show kindness and compassion, to work with each other in a collaborative way, to try to live in harmony, to demonstrate acceptance, and to help empower each other. We need to offer each other hope. We need to offer each other encouragement. We need to offer each other inspiration. That's such an important part of being in community with one another.
Wisdom.
Wisdom. Taking the time to reflect upon our own experiences and maybe how it's impacted our worldview, the way we're looking at others, the way we're experiencing the things that are done and said in the world around us, and acknowledging that we have a lot to learn from each other. Knowing that it's important to seek guidance from elders and others with wisdom that come before us. And then also knowing that we have our own place and trying to acquire that same knowledge, that same wisdom, that same growth to improve the way that we're interacting in this world as well. It's also what gives us that value in trying to accomplish our own goals and dreams and moving forward in so many ways.
Courage.
Courage helps us remember the importance in facing difficult situations with bravery, being able to name that we ourselves have weaknesses, and also then thinking about, “How can we develop that strength, those skills, those capacities to overcome them?” And then also being able to step forward when we need to take that initiative to speak, to take action for our community, for our family, for ourselves.
Respect.
Respect. We need to respect one another and maintain those high standards of the way we're interacting with each other. We want to make sure that we're accepting of differences of people who might think differently than we do, and to always make sure that the way that we're interacting with one another is in a good way.
Again, it's about being in relationship, putting our best selves forward, but in a way that recognizes that we all have so much to learn. And I really felt affirmed in that as I start to connect the dots for myself, for my family, and hopefully for our communities around the inherent wisdom that comes with who we are as Anishinaabe people.
It's been very interesting for me to really take a step back and think about all of the points of intersection, the commonalities between what I'm teaching around social-emotional learning, and how the underpinnings of it all are so connected to, again, this traditional wisdom. And I think maybe that's one of the reasons why I've felt so called and drawn to this work is because I think it's so much bigger than me. Knowing that so often in this world, the way that our communities have been talked about, especially historically, part of what troubles me to no end is to know that I've walked into my son's classroom before and the Declaration of Independence was hanging on the wall.
There is still a line in the Declaration of Independence that talks about us as merciless Indian savages. We obviously know that that's not the case even at the time, right? But knowing that by doing this work and talking about how so much of what is considered emerging research in the Western world has actually been concepts that have been known and practiced by our community since time immemorial, amplifying that is so important to me. Because our youth, our community members deserve to hear our ways of thinking and knowing and being uplifted and amplified as it should be. We have known the importance of this type of work, that social-emotional learning lends itself to, for much longer than all of the Western ways of knowing and research and evidence-based practice.
I think that when we are able to help show our own communities the power in connecting to traditional ways of knowing and being, and then also to be able to reflect back to mainstream society, the inherent worth, the advanced thinking that has been put into place by our ancestors that came before us, there's something really powerful about that. Certainly we have things to offer. We have very valuable things to offer, and I want to be careful in that balance, but also just affirm our listeners, affirm our community members of how valuable our perspectives are, of how valuable our teachings are, and to be able to be very mindful of keeping that balance of both being willing to offer the good teachings we do have, and also being very humble as we do it, knowing that we too have so much to learn along the way.
Miigwech. Thank you for joining us again for this episode of "Remembering Resilience".
Giga-waabamin miinawa.
Sadie Luetmer: 00:24:47
This has been Season Three, Episode Four of "Remembering Resilience", a podcast on Native resilience through and beyond trauma. Today's episode was hosted by Linsey McMurrin. Season Three of "Remembering Resilience" was created and led by Susan Beaulieu, Briana Matrious, Linsey McMurrin, and Deanna Drift. You can find the full "Remembering Resilience" podcast series at RememberingResilience.home.blog. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, and elsewhere. This podcast is developed through a Health POWER project at FamilyWise Services with support from the University of Minnesota and the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. Sound design for Season 3 was done by Kalen Keir. Sadie Luetmer contributed additional producing.
Kalen Keir:
Thanks to all the artists who contributed music to "Remembering Resilience". This episode featured tracks by Leah Lemm and Molecular Machine, Wade Fernandez, Tall Paul, Reuben Kitto Stately, and additional compositions by Kalen Keir. A special thanks to the family of Calvin Ottertail.