Sarah Young Bear Brown Interview
Here is an interview with Sarah Young Bear Brown.
SARAH YOUNG BEAR BROWN:
Hello! My name is Sarah Young Bear-Brown. This is my name sign. My tribe is the Meskwaki in Iowa. I live at the Meskwaki Settlement.
This beadwork represents who I am. This is my face. The two babies are my kids. This represents motherhood. This represents fertility (a mother making babies). The waves here show my life’s hard journey. It has not been smooth, I’ve had my ups and downs.
I made this purse.
I have two accounts that you can contact me through — Facebook or Instagram. My name is Saybb Creations Beadwork.
THE DAILY MOTH:
She recently became the Vice Chair for Native American Caucus at Iowa Democratic Party.
SARAH YOUNG BEAR BROWN:
My duties are to recruit Native American people to vote because voting is so important. One vote makes a big difference. Some Native Americans do not know about voting because it is new to us. Some ask, “why vote?” I tell them that voting is important, that their vote counts regardless if it is just one or two. It still counts towards the final percentage. I want to see more Native Americans involved with voting.
THE DAILY MOTH:
I asked if she could share her thoughts on the ongoing discussion about the sign for Native American. Some sign it like this, or like this. I asked her to give her take.
SARAH YOUNG BEAR BROWN:
When people try to force others to focus on one sign, claiming that it’s the “right one,” and reject the other, I try to remind others that there isn’t a “right” or “wrong sign. It’s about identity. I use this sign to identify myself. Some people prefer to use the other sign. I have no problem with that. What is important is that they know where they come from and I know where I came from. We just need mutual respect. I just want them to respect my identity.
THE DAILY MOTH:
I asked about the Black Lives Matter movement and whether it’s made an impact on Native American issues.
SARAH YOUNG BEAR BROWN:
People who are not Black or Indigenous are learning about their white privilege, realize that they are racists, and are learning about systemic racism in places such as schools. Look at mascots for an example. It’s horrible because there are pictures of Native American men and framed as “Warriors” or “Chiefs.” Another example is the removal of Redskins from the Washington team. That was a big victory. The BLM movement has impacted the deaf community as well. An example is the school campus at the California School for the Deaf, Fremont. There is a statue of a bear with her two cubs attacking a Native American man. It has triggered some people. In 2003, I was on a senior trip to San Francisco. We decided to stop by CSDF for a campus visit. I was taken aback by the statue. I felt disturbed because my friend said, “Wow, a Native American person was killed.” I found it very strange that CSDF would put up that statue. I felt like they were saying, “Welcome to our campus.” I felt conflicted because it was a message of killing our people. It was like they said, “Hello, welcome, we’ll kill you!” You know? It didn’t sit right with me.
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THE DAILY MOTH:
In 2018, Sarah and her partner were arrested and accused of a serious crime and the incident was printed on local news and I also covered it on “The Daily Moth.” I asked her if she would be willing to share her thoughts on that.
SARAH YOUNG BEAR BROWN:
I still have dreams from what happened that night and I still struggle with it. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through. I was lost. I am still struggling to accept that I had to experience that. I had to experience this because of the color of my skin? I couldn’t speak out about that night until now because it takes time for me to open up to tell you what I saw with my own eyes, everything that I saw. When the police officers burst in the room, I was completely confused. There was no communication. They shone their flashlights. I was confused and I asked the cops many times for an interpreter but they refused to offer one. I couldn’t read their writing because it was not clear at all and I couldn’t read it. You know how some people have very unclear handwriting. I asked again and again for an interpreter but was refused. They told me I was going to jail for child endangerment and neglect. I was confused and did not understand why. They did not give me a reason why. Was it because of my skin color, because I was drinking, and they thought I was being abusive to my children. They did not ask if everything was okay or anything of that sort. They just moved forward and made me feel lost in my own situation. Because of my race? Now, the front desk employee at the hotel called the cops on me. I wonder what if I was white? Would the cops be called? I guarantee not. Maybe I would get a light warning. But the hotel quickly called the police without any kind of warning. It was a bad situation. When I was placed into jail, I was still confused. My kids were taken away, for real. I asked the police about it and knocked on a window. When the door did open, I walked up and tried to ask an officer about what happened, and he got so angry. He walked up to me and screamed in my face. I felt like he was ready to hit me. I was confused and asked for a pen and paper, but he kept on screaming. He knew I am deaf. He knows that. I can’t speak. He got so angry, was it because of the color of my skin? I don’t know why. I could feel his very hateful vibe. He was like that from the beginning when he saw me. He was hateful and I could feel that vibe. After all this, losing my kids, there was an article on the media. I was mortified. The article had a lot of misinformation. I felt they twisted the story to make me look bad. It made it seem like I harmed my children on purpose. But I’m not that kind of person, I really love my kids. I was very distraught at the thought of how others would look at me. I hoped it wouldn’t end up on “The Daily Moth.” But they contacted me and said they would run a story. I was very sad about it, and when they shared it, it went viral. So many more in the deaf community found about this. I was so mortified. I wondered how I could deal with that. Did they target me because I am an indigenous woman? Because I’m a minority? I felt very lost. But after all this, what did I do? I knew I had to take it step by step. First, I got my children back by working very hard. In the court, my charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. I worked very hard on everything to piece my life back together. Now, where I am now is at a much higher place. I have my children on my back as I climb the mountain to get my life back. I just remained positive and went forward despite all of the backstabbing I experienced. It really hurt, but I kept on going and kept a lot of it inside. Yes, I have a lot of scars on my road. I have seen it. People have stabbed me again and again. But I will still forge on ahead and walk in a straight path because I have to live my life. We only have one life. Just one. I’m not going to let that stop me. I will keep on going.
THE DAILY MOTH:
That touched my heart to see the pain that she went through as a deaf woman of color. After we had this interview, we embraced and I told her that I have learned from this to be more sensitive and mindful that race plays a huge part in police officers’ decisions and to be more sensitive and mindful in how I deliver news, especially when it’s about a woman of color.
Thank you, Sarah, for being willing to open up. You are a leader in our community in many different ways.