#208 | All Nations Rise: Undoing Intergenerational Trauma & Healing Through Solidarity w/ Lyla June

Intro: 7:50

In this episode, I speak with musician, poet, anthropologist, educator, community organizer and public speaker Lyla June.

This discussion with Lyla covers a variety of compelling subjects, including Lyla’s journey of connecting with not only her Indigenous Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) identity and ancestry, but also with her European lineage as well. In connecting with that neglected line, Lyla uncovers and speaks not only to the intergenerational trauma that Indigenous peoples have endured since the colonization of the Americas began, and also to the deep and yet-to-be-reckoned-with trauma European settlers have carried with them to the so-called “New World” (e.g. the Black Death, the enclosure of the Commons, the Witch Hunts, etc). In addressing this fundamental truth about the underlying trauma that replicates itself up to the present day in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike, solidarity can be forged — potentially serving as a force for healing in our time. Along with this, Lyla also discusses the sacred (and desecrated) roles of the masculine and the feminine within human community, and how our understanding of the nature of these roles (including in the non-binary sense) can allow for another layer of this much needed healing and alignment to take place. We discuss this, and much more, in this discussion.

Lyla June is a nationally and internationally renowned public speaker, poet, hip-hop artist and acoustic singer-songwriter of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) lineages. Her music and message centers around intergenerational and inter-ethnic healing, as well as an articulation of Indigenous Philosophy. Her life story of addiction, abuse, discrimination and eventually overcoming these battles gives her a powerful vantage point from which to share a message of love, unification and healing. Lyla’s urgent, vibrant stage presence and ability to convey paths forward for indigenous liberation have brought her to universities, school assemblies, conferences, music festivals, and community centers across the United States and over ten nations around the world. In 2012, she graduated with honors from Stanford University with a degree in Environmental Anthropology. She is also an alumna from the University of New Mexico where she graduated with a master’s degree in American Indian Education with distinction. (http://bit.ly/3240Cco)

Episode Notes:

- Visit Lyla June’s website: http://www.sodizin.net

- Follow Lyla June on Facebook and Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/lylajune // https://www.instagram.com/lylajune

- Subscribe to her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/lylajohnston

- Purchase her book ‘Lifting Hearts Off the Ground: Declaring Indigenous Rights in Poetry’: http://bit.ly/2Pg91bi

- Lyla’s music can be found at: https://lylajune.bandcamp.com

- This episode features the song “Baba Yaga” by Daedelus from the album The Light Brigade, and “All Nations Rise” by Lyla June: http://bit.ly/33YFF4r