Reclaiming Native American Heritage With Guest Jack Pepple

Apr 1

Diverse Joy Podcast - Season 3, Episode 7

In this episode, we invite special guest Jack Pepple, a member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, to share some of his experiences and perspectives related to his Native American heritage.

Jack Pepple with Amber Nelson, while reviewing photos of Jack's Native American ancestry — *A mid-record still of Jack and Amber, while reviewing some of Jack’s family photos*

Jack’s joy is that April is National Poetry Month, and he shares with us a delightful, uplifting, spiritual poem by Joy Harjo called, “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet“. Joy Harjo is an award-winning poet and was the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States. Amber’s joy is Pitch Black, a Black entrepreneurship organization that lifts up Black businesses and nonprofits across the U.S.! Will’s is a train trip he took with producer Eric Roman, Jack, and other friends, in which they crossed the country and collectively wrote their own murder mystery.

In a combined Story Time–Discussion Topic segment, Jack shares his personal story related to people around him trying to erase or deny his Native American heritage, how that affected him and how he reconnected with his identity over time. It provides an excellent framework to also discuss some of the historical context related to Native heritage erasure and redemption, and many related topics like reservations, media portrayals of native folks, alcoholism and substance abuse stereotypes and realities, assimilation and mandatory religious conversion to Christianity, two-spirit people, and more! Our connections to our identities provide a sense of stability and strength that buffers our well-being, and when an identity is erased or stigmatized, we can lose those beneficial effects. We also discuss land acknowledgments (e.g., we record the podcast in Madison, WI, which is situated on unceded land from the Ho Chunk nation).

Will, Jack, and Amber pose for a promotional photo for this episode of Diverse Joy — *Will, Jack (center), and Amber posing for a promotional photo*

This episodes question is “Is it okay to say ‘Indian,’ versus ‘Native American’ or ‘Indigenous’?” The answer: It depends, and you should ask the person it impacts.

This episode’s bias habit-breaking skills are two tools to help overcome bias habits, to Detect/Reflect/Reject Bias and to Rehearse Replacements.

Jack’s joyful recommendation is the novels of award-winning Blackfeet Native American horror author Stephen Graham Jones. One book Jack particularly recommends is My Heart is a Chainsaw, in which a young Indigenous girl who loves horror movies finds herself in a horror movie-like scenario when a slasher attacks people in her community! It is a fast-paced, intriguing offering for any horror fans out there!

The episode can be found below, by following the podcast wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, RSSFeed, Amazon/Audible, or by subscribing to @BiasHabit on YouTube.