(wind whooshing) - [Rider] We're always taught that the animals and the birds are our relatives and you need to treat them like family.

When you get on that horse's back, you have a relationship and you have to put trust in another living being.

- Oops, you're all gone.

All gone.

- Okay, scenario.

Which one would you jump on?

We needed a horse, came across some wild horses.

- I'm a painter girl.

- Paint?

- Yeah, I love just the way they look against it, just against the planes.

One of the most positive things I've ever learned is how my voice matters.

A Res kid like me from the heartland of South Dakota means something.

We stand.

- We stand.

- For our brothers.

- For our brothers.

- For our sisters.

- For our sisters.

- For life.

- For life.

- Democracy is not a spectator sport.

- The future of this nation - Is in our hands.

- We wanted to get at the question of how do you practice democracy in America today?

- Hi everyone.

My name is Trinity Colón.

I live in the community, grew up here, do a lot of community organizing.

- [Condoleezza] And so we brought together young people from different backgrounds who have strong senses of obligation.

- In whatever shape it may take, I see my role as a change maker, a mentor, that next person carrying the torch.

- What I hope to learn is what kind of a society and country do they want to live in?

What do they have to tell us about what needs to be done in order to achieve that kind of a society?

And then what are they doing individually to move us along that path?

- These little shots right here are so cool.

- Young people are such important civic and social actors, especially maybe from the communities that we come from.

Young people have that power in them and have that passion in them to get involved.

- My work and what I do for my people, it's being a good relative because that's what I was always taught.

And for us, that automatically goes back into our culture, how you treat someone, how you treat them like their family.

- Democracy is at its strongest when individual citizens take responsibility for other citizens.

And so it is absolutely incumbent on every citizen to figure out where do I fit?

What are my skills?

Where can I make a difference?

And to make sure that generations to come have the same motivation and the same inspiration.

If we do that, then the future is enormously bright.

(bright music) - So Jace and Trinity, what I sense that you have in common is both of you have a deep and committed sense of place.

So you want to talk just a little bit about what bonds you to your place on this planet earth?

- I think what's grounding me to place all the time is people.

I think it is a lot about community and unity within the Southeast side of Chicago.

- Being an Indigenous person and predating the US, there's a long history in relationships, not only with the land, but the community that we built and we helped build in America.

So it's a privilege to be a part of that and be a part of this long story of not only Indigenous people, but everybody we share this land with.

(gentle music) Freedom for me is freedom to live.

As the creator put you here, to grow your own food, to drink clean water, to live a life without persecution, free to have a place to call home.

- Where are you going?

- Oh, I'm going to Michigan to talk to a university over there.

- Oh, cool.

- And right after Sundance, I'm gonna go to be a counselor at a youth camp in New Mexico.

- Gee, for real, where at?

- Near Albuquerque.

When I was younger, I was in foster care.

I was in group homes.

When I finally turned 18, they just kind of like kicked me to the curb.

A lot of us didn't have a place to go and we would live in tents in our powwow grounds.

I was just like walking across the street and these group of women were like marching and they're like, hey, come over here.

You don't have to say anything, just come over here and hold this sign.

And I was like, me?

Someone saw me and saw how small I felt and they engaged me in something so small.

I was just like, okay, yeah, I can just stand here and hold the sign.

And from that point on was a pivot point of me plugging in and involving myself in these activities.

You guys were always up doing something, you know, being involved, just trying to feed the people.

When you're young, when you're a young kid, you're like, oh, I don't want to help Auntie cook.

- That you guys actually listened.

- Yeah.

When you were talking, we were listening.

We were listening.

May not have looked like it.

- But you were, so.

- When I was 19 years old, we started going out to different reservations to offer assistance and we heard Standing Rock was calling for aid.

- We turn now to North Dakota, where Indigenous activists launched an ongoing protest camp against the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota access pipeline.

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe say the pipeline threatens to contaminate the Missouri River, which provides water not only for thousands of residents on the reservation, but also for millions living downstream.

- In the beginning, there was five of us.

Four were young people.

The youngest was 16, the oldest was 19.

And our mentor, she had health problems, but she was still out there camping in her teepee.

When the community members found out it was just a bunch of kids and a disabled woman out there, they're like, well, we're gonna go help.

And you got different organizations, different people, you got different tribes coming in, and it grew to something even larger.

- [Reporter] The encampments in North Dakota were the largest gathering of Native Americans in decades.

At its peak, more than 10,000 people were at the resistance camps.

- Seeing all that, I was so proud.

You woke up the world.

I mean, I like, I just had to, I cry every time I think about that because I'm so proud.

(gentle music) - [Jace] We're here not to have anger in our hearts, but to create unity.

But other ranchers in nearby areas understood that we're fighting for their water too, that they share the same land, the same drinking water as we do.

We have to share this land together.

(upbeat music) - I love the character of the Southeast side.

We're a beautiful, thriving, vibrant community.

And two bottle caps.

Hello.

- Hi.

- It's this really cool kind of small town feel, but in a large city.

We also have such amazing green space around us.

(upbeat music) Especially where we're standing right here just encapsulates a lot of what it's like to live here.

We have the beautiful lake here.

This is a spot like where bird watchers go.

This is a spot where people fish at.

But then in the background here, we have a lot of industrial pollution.

(gentle music) (camera shutter whirring) Children growing up know not only the names of the local schools nearby, but know the names of the local polluters nearby.

Like I grew up with pollution in my backyard, literally, like going out to just take the garbage out and the air that you're breathing, you can smell that it smells rotten.

You can smell that it smells dirty.

That's the reason why we have such chronic asthma rates, regardless of the measures that you take, it's there.

It's in our homes, it's in our soil.

(bell ringing) I remember when I was a freshman in high school, I was taking AP US Government and Politics.

We were having these different like debates about politics and we were thinking about how important it is to stay involved and updated.

That had been my first time like, okay, I'm actually taking the ideas that I have about the world very seriously and I feel like my teachers are taking my passion seriously and the things that I want to change very seriously.

- In recent months, the tension between industry and community has escalated.

I come to demand we deny the permits for a serial polluter's relocation to the Southeast side of Chicago, my home.

- [Narrator] General Iron is a scrap metal recycling company that will move to the south side, even though the area has faced a glut of environmental problems from other industrial plants.

- The city decides where industry goes and they have almost built a community of industrial facilities nearby.

Like I think there's 70 plus within the neighborhood.

Growing through this work, I just learned so much.

What does it mean to build something?

What does it mean to organize?

What does it mean to win?

- The city and the mayor's administration decided to deny a permit to General Iron to operate a metal scrapper on the Southeast side.

(gentle music) - When you encounter a peer, a young person like yourself, and you're trying to get them motivated to stand up and they resist, oh, I'm only one person.

My voice is too tiny.

It's all futile, what you say to them?

- You know, it's so easy to think that, you know, you're such a small person, but your words, once you speak, it might bounce off closed hearts, but it'll bounce into an open ear somewhere and there's someone there listening.

- And do you talk to them about not just what you want to prevent happening, but what you want to see happen?

So talk about that.

- Absolutely.

I think that it's super, super important for young people to have the opportunity to dream.

A lot of times, like in the Southeast Side, we're going about life as if it's normal to live in such close proximity to industrial pollution, as if it's normal to not be able to drink the water within your school.

It's so important to really think about young people and building their imagination and telling them that this doesn't have to be this way.

And I think art really helps in activism because it gets at that root of imagination of creation.

(attendees chattering) - All right, y'all, I am so excited to introduce you to our two wonderful guest speakers for today, Jace Charger and Trinity Colón.

And they are going to lead you through a workshop on community mapping today and talk to you about their leadership in their communities.

So, without further ado.

- So what is community mapping?

I'm just gonna tell you so we can get the ball rolling.

It's identifying strengths and challenges in your community to develop deeper understanding of your community and planning and addressing its needs.

- So this is my community map.

I'm a very visual person.

I can be very much everywhere all at once.

So this is the kind of learning that really helps me think about what are the assets in my community, right?

What are the things that I have right now that I have in my toolbox?

And also what is the support that I have and who can I reach out to and who can I talk to?

Okay, any thoughts on what I've said so far?

- Oakland's a place where a lot of people feel like they're able to express themselves more freely than other places, and that's why there's like a bunch of murals around here.

And I think that's something nice.

We do have some issues, but I feel like if you look around you, you see a lot of art and that's something that is like a nice thing on the streets here.

- Yeah.

No, definitely.

I think of art and mural and street painters as how we can change the narrative about our communities.

We want it to be seen in a beautiful light.

Let's connect with artists.

Let's connect with muralists and see what they can do.

(upbeat music) - So you just flip up the bottom part, flip it up.

Yep.

And then when this is lit, like how Autumn's is, that's when it's ready to go.

(upbeat music) - It's pretty cool to be in a community space with a lot of Latino pride, but also it's an event about joy and art and dance and it's also so political at the same time.

Hi.

- How you doing?

- I'm doing good, how are you?

Is it cool if I take a picture of you from down here?

Thank you.

(upbeat music) Photography really gives you a chance to feel what it's like to be in an environment at a very personal level.

There's a lot of intimacy that comes with that.

- I hope nobody comes.

- It's been really, really fun finding my own style and seeing what photos I really get excited about.

But my favorite part about taking pictures is actually talking with the people behind them, just having genuine conversations with people about who they are, what they care about, getting into deep talks about community power, just like anywhere.

- Yes, get a little feel, yes.

Now you're addicted to it.

I teach art.

- Teacher?

- In a school or like us?

- I'm in a couple schools.

I do afterschool programs and stuff like that too.

- I love the togetherness that we have in the Southeast side.

Thank you, nice meeting you too.

- This is Raven, he's an OG.

OG.

- Nice to meet you.

I'm Trinity.

Yeah, nice to meet you.

I feel like proud.

I love seeing all the art and stuff and all people come here and celebrate rather than come here and gawk.

(percussive music) - Awesome.

(students applauding) Thank you, Trinity.

Good job.

So when we're talking about community mapping, this is kind of guidelines.

Individuals in your community who are important to you, who can help your cause.

It doesn't have to be like the governor, it doesn't have to be a police chief, it could be your mother, it could be your brother, your sister, your cousins, your classmates, your teammates.

Physical spaces, that could be your school, that could be in your church, anywhere.

And if you don't have a space, you make space.

And one of the things that I did was a youth pride march.

Not a lot of people are out and proud in my culture because of colonization, because of the influence with the church.

And it was a small thing just marching down Main Street, just a group of people that came together who see the need of disadvantaged youth and young adults.

And so those social connections that you have, that's a big one.

A lot of people don't think that they're connected to each other, but like organs in a body, you can't have your heart, you can't have just your lungs.

Everything works together to make our community function.

You matter in this community.

(wind whooshing) I'm cooking some spuds for the houseless relatives in my community just to give them something nutritional to eat that's hearty, tastes good, that's made with love, especially just with how cold and windy it is outside right now.

It's kind of crazy.

My cousin Alexis, her father was a houseless relative too, just like my mom and he's not with us anymore, but this hits close to home for all of us.

Hola.

The cabbage and zucchini are going in the pot next because they have similar cooking times.

To make change in your community can be a very daunting thing and to simplify it and to break it down into small steps and small goals that can be achieved, you know, makes the task a little bit easier to understand and to do.

(gentle music) My community is definitely forgetting that we are all one people.

Yeah, this is the soup right here.

Oh, and beans, and potato salad.

Yeah, got you.

Got you.

You know, this is an instance where we can make a place to build that community where people can see each other as neighbors, especially with everything going on in the world.

So we want to turn it over so you can map out your own communities.

Have fun with it.

Get the wheels turning.

- Like I started with the Oakland tree.

From there, I kind of just like branched off thinking of places that are like community places.

- Funding with like schools.

You can see that they're not funded well.

- It's so crucial for young people to be trusted as leaders.

When we tap into imagination, tap into dreaming, young people have it and they're ready and they're eager.

- Right now we're doing poverty and things that alleviate it are food banks and shelters.

- My issue with lead in the water systems and how we could try to solve it is talk to community members about this, try to get more people.

- Ooh, that's good.

That's good.

- Bye.

- Bye guys.

Thank you guys for coming.

Thank you.

Bye guys.

- See yous.

- Good luck in your future education.

- Yes!

- Yeah.

You guys are gonna kill it.

I believe in you.

- In the United States, we have community, but we're also very individualistic people.

I come from a segregated Birmingham, and when I was growing up, we had a very strong community, but we were also encouraged to go out and do everything that we could to make ourselves better.

So how do you balance the strength of the individual within the community?

- I encourage each young person that I work with to stay in school.

And just because you are in school does not mean you can't be involved in your community.

Especially being a Native American, furthering my education is something that means a lot to me because we always believe an educated native is a dangerous native because then you're arming yourself with the knowledge and you're using that as a tool to change what you want your community to look like.

- I'm really glad that you brought that point up because there's a reason, for instance, that in slavery, they didn't want slaves to be able to read because once you could read, you had a picture of your horizons that was much different than if you couldn't.

And so education's a really valuable tool.

(birds chirping) - Being in Evanston versus being in the Southeast side of Chicago is very, very different experience.

And I feel like I'm a little bit different because of my experiences.

When we're talking about first generation and low income college students, there's a lot of, oh, you were put at a disadvantage.

And then when I was talking to other people about our experiences and the mindset that they had versus the mindset that I had, I was like, I don't think I was put at a disadvantage.

Where I come from, we had a very collective understanding of each other, the world, social change.

And some of you guys aren't even thinking about any of these things at all.

I had so much more to bring to the conversation.

Oh yay.

Since I've been in college, I've been thinking about, okay, where does the power for social change really lie?

And then I was like, how did I even get here?

Why am I asking myself these questions?

And I was like, it was my teachers.

And then I was like, oh my gosh, if I want to be a community organizer for the rest of my life, and if that's what I want to dedicate myself to, that's just teachers.

My plan is to become a teacher in my neighborhood.

I just want to be there to support young people who want to continue changing the world.

- So the question today, I want you guys to find a cause and map out your community.

How are you gonna get it done?

My position in the movement has drastically changed from being the very high-spirited, fiery, you know, young person who's just the one that wants to be out there in the front line to me being in the classroom right now.

It's completely like yin and yang.

- Meeting classes and teaching the seven teachings.

- This is a different kind of leadership.

Yeah, your grandma.

Your grandma's an individual in your community.

They should see people like them in these points of contact, in teacher positions.

Now we identify the problem.

Let's create an action of how we're gonna fix that problem.

These kids are gonna grow up like one of them could be a doctor, one of them could cure cancer, one of them could be like the next me out there, and I'm helping them find their way.

I'm planting that seed and nurturing it and watering it.

I'm like, all right, I'm gonna give you the tools you all need to face this world and mind your own path in it.

So it's like, it's an amazing experience.

You guys got it down.

Yeah.

- Democracy demands that its citizens care, and there is citizen power.

There's no doubt about it.

If you want to organize your community, you've got the power to do it, but you're going to have to figure out how to bring others along.

- I want to talk here about activist history.

Political action, that's hard.

Protest is hard.

Organizing is hard.

If you're in a campaign and you're trying to achieve something and it hasn't been achieved, you should be thinking a lot about what has come from what we've done, like what community members are now like involved with us.

Like what are the relationships I've built?

What are the values that we're now uplifting?

That's a win within itself.

- Perfect.

- We all live in society, in communities, and the health of the community, the health of the society is absolutely integrally important to our own individual health and wellbeing.

The more things that push us away from that sense of we're all in this together, that we have a responsibility and a duty to build and sustain healthy communities, not just healthy individual lives, the more trouble we have going forward.

- I want other young people to see how we move through our daily lives is always gonna affect somebody else.

There's so much interconnectedness that there is no us and them.

There's we, there's all of us.

We as US citizens and just people in this country, we need each other.

- That's exciting.

Bye guys.

(gentle music) (upbeat music)