Malama pono (take care of your body, mind and heart),

June Kaililani Tanoue

Kumu Hula

and Jadina Lilien's photos of the retreat.

"Not Knowing is also the ability to learn."

She's lived her whole life on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation.  She is Minnicoujou, band Shunkawotasni (people who don't eat dogs). Chas says that 'Eating dogs is a good thing.  They always come home.  People who don't eat dogs travel and wander. Minnicoujou means planters by the water and yet our band wanders.  It's a dichotomy.' 

Chas was raised Catholic and graduated from College of St. Benedict in Minnesota and hosts the No KXL Through Treaty Lands FaceBook page which has over 10,000 likes.

We met at the recent Zen Peacemakers Native American Bearing Witness Retreat in the Black Hills.  Chas calls herself a 'white person whisperer' and is able to communicate in both the White and Lakota world.  We spoke recently by phone.

Chas Jewett:  I grew up with a really intelligent father and it was easy to be educated by my father.  We grew up learning about the Treaty of 1868.  My white friends have no idea that the first article of the U.S. constitution talks about treaties.  I learned that the most important work of a nation is making treaty.  Keeping your word is important.  America is the first civilized nation state that included liberty for it's citizen. It came from indigenous thought of respecting one another - we slid that in there.

As a college student, I knew it all.  As I matured more I realized how little I knew and how I had to be open to what my dad was saying and all the lectures he was giving me.  It has made me the person I am.  Not knowing is also the ability to learn.

I have four sisters - I'm the lowest on the totem pole.  The oldest sister takes care of mom.  The second sister takes care of our ranch that we've had in the family since 1832 in the same spot.  The third sister had two babies.  The youngest sister is everyone's favorite.  

My tiwahe (immediate family) does the stuff that allows me to attend events, and be a white people whisperer.  i always was going to be the speaker of the family and all my sisters found their way too.  We do good.  My nieces and nephews have been raised by five mothers and a grandmother.  We fixed the things that we didn't get growing up.  Dad was raised in a boarding school and mom was raised by unaffectionate German people.  So between parents - dad was totally about love and acceptance and mom about requirements and duty.  It was a perfect little mix.  

Our grandmother lived with us until I was twelve.  Dad was the youngest of ten kids.  He was a momma's boy.  My grandmother was a powerful woman.  She installed into all of us that we had to work for the people and be proud of who we are.  Last night I was in my book club with four white women.  All are 50 and going into menopause.  The most beautiful one said she felt invisible and not attractive to everyone.  There was a genuine sentiment that their lives were not impactful enough to the world.  Even though they are all successful.  They can never do enough.

I realized over this past summer, that I've done enough.  If I die tomorrow, my life has been pretty fantastic. I've advocated for my people and the earth and was a voice for those who don't have one.  I can barely pay my bills and sustain myself with the quagmire of living in this world.  But as a Lakota, I've done all that I can and I feel at the top of my game. My people survived so I can do what I've done.  That's a life well lived.  I don't have to climb any mountains, or these crazy things that white people do in order to be recognized and be famous for five minutes.

June: What issues are you into now?

It's about relationship building - bringing Indian and white people around the same table. We live so divided in the community.  Just bringing them together is spectacular.  We bring powers that be - icons of community - together like the Chamber of Commerce, hospital president, bank president.  The chief of police called me and wanted to come.  It's going really well.  

I realize this is the ultimate conversation - if we can honor each other as human beings, we can honor Earth.  Indigenous people are rising throughout the world - we are considering earth, water, birds and trees as part of us.  That's where it is for us.  We have to solve the problems of race, class and environmental destruction.