GEORGINA LIGHTNING
Georgina Lightning is co-founder of Tribal Alliance Productions, dedicated to producing films from a Native perspective. Her passion is making media that matters, and telling stories that challenge the mainstream consciousness. Lightning has garnered many accolades for her film Older Than America, now available in many countries around the world. She is currently working on a slate of films and is in pre-production on a film titled Fantasies of Flying. Georgina is Cree from Northern Alberta, and married into the Samson Nation
Who was your inspiration when you were growing up?
My Auntie Roxy. She was the only girl in my dad’s family, and her inspiration to me was kindness and love. She taught me the importance of raising a family with love. She was such a great caregiver to her children and that was amazing to watch. She was always nice, said positive words, and took care of everything. She had six kids and it seemed like a fun family, and well taken care of. So I always wanted six kids. But we only have three kids in our family.
Were there any issues you dealt with as a young per- son that you see young people dealing with today?
There’s still racism and that’s really sad. There’s peer pressure, and no support systems in place. Especially living in thecity, because often First Nations are not welcomed inthe mainstream. Now it’s even worse than it was when I
was a child. We need a Friendship Centre. We need a big community centre in the city for Native kids to have a calm and comfortable place to go, a place where they could have powwows, different support groups, and talking circles. Asafe haven to express yourself, seek comfort or support, or just be. I’ve been in Los Angeles for 22 years. I once lived in Edmonton and there used to be a Friendship Centre when I lived here. It looks like a storefront now. I guess it has some rooms, but it’s not like a Friendship Centre. I would’ve thought it would be way bigger, way more of a better functioning support system for the community.
As a young person you really need to be reinforced as towhy it’s beautiful to be a Native, why it’s beautiful to be First Nations, because out in the world it’s the opposite. We need somewhere where we can get reconnected to the philosophy, belief system, and the values that matter to us as Indigenous people, because it keeps you strong, it keeps you real. Without that we’re empty.
What are the values and qualities of a great leader?
Having a loving spirit. When you speak, always speak with love. Talk with love and encouragement. Have humility. Leave your ego at the door when you enter a room, and just be there to listen.
What is your vision for your community?
To support healing in our communities—that’s my number one. That’s actually what I’m doing right now. I am trying to create a healing system, to resurrect the Medicine Wheel and marry that with the Medicine Chest. I want to lift up that Medicine Chest. It’s Treaty 6, which was made in this region, that included the Medicine Chest. We need to bring that up and have the Medicine Chest provide the financial means for true healing efforts. That’s a holistic healing approach—not drugs from Western medicine.
We have huge mental illness in our community because of the trans-generational trauma. When you’re a child and you’re exposed to domestic violence, child abuse, or anything like that, you need support. Don’t wait until you end up in jail and have to go to a sweat lodge in prison behind bars. There needs to be healing for trauma. Just like if I break my leg, I’m taken to the hospital. They put pins in it, stitch it up, put a cast on it, and do maintenance on the leg. When your spirit is broken because of traumatic events, it also needs to be fixed. You need to take care of that. In today’s society they don’t do that. You’re bandaged up and away you go. If you’re raped at 17 like I was, they check if your back was broken. You go to the hospital and you get processed; they look after you physically, but they don’t look after your spiritual needs. So you leave as a fractured person. You’re completely broken and there is no care whatsoever—there is nothing for your spirit. We need to take care of that because I know my childhood trauma has affected me later on in life. That’s why I’m actually back in Edmonton now doing a film called The Trilogy for Healing, which deals with stuff like that.
Industrial law supersedes natural law in this society and it makes us sick—it makes us physically sick. Like in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we cannot be self-actualized unlessour five basic needs are met. If our basic needs as Native people are not met, we are excluded from everything: weare excluded from the social world, the economic world,and from every category. And what that exclusion does to our spirit and soul, sometimes we become our own worst enemies. How do we decolonize our society so we can repair the damage that was done? The communal values that we used to have where everyone is equal, and respected equally, and there are roles for men and women, those values have changed. Everything is so out of balance.
Now Edmonton is the highest in every epidemic ... kids incarcerated, disease, rape, murder, you name it. One of the young people I spoke with said she had been in every prison in Alberta, which I think says something about the prison system in general. On the positive side, when she joined a women’s program—the Sage Women’s Program—she finally found some sort of solace. There was healing there because there was ceremony and she finally got back in touch with her spirit. She said ever since then she’s been sober. She’s been sober three years, and she wants to stay that way. She just wishes there was more ceremony because she knows that’s what kept her strong. But there is none, unless she goes back to jail to participate there. She wants to move forward, but again, where is the cultural centre? Where are the ceremonies in the city? Some people don’t have the means or the connections to get to ceremonies on the reserve.
What is the role of a leader in the community?
A leader is someone who is there to be accessed for guidance, support, and encouragement. A leader is there to take on responsibility for the community. It’s somebody who sits back and watches, and observes the young people. As long as they are trying to walk forward and do good things, the leader continues to keep an eye on them. And when younger people seek help or guidance, the leader is there. Sometimes younger people are going to fall; sometimes they are going to react differently. They might cry or need you, and that’s when you’re there to pick them up. Because they will learn from their mistakes.
What role should our traditions and cultures have in the lives of our native american youth?
It should be number one. Starting in elementary school it should be mandatory to learn the values, the traditions, the ways of the land that are our inheritance. So if they’re
not learning it at home, at least we have it in our education system. Once our children reach Grade 1, they’re in the schoolroom more than they are in their own households. When they become teenagers and start getting off our path, they can go back and remember the old ways. As long as we have stability, and a strong foundation, we will get back. So
I think it’s really important for tradition and culture to play a role. Everything else is secondary.
If you had one message for the native community of north america, what would it be?
Everyone has all the power that they need. Every human being has the ability to accomplish anything that they want to, and nothing is impossible. You create your own obstacles—so don’t let there be any. No and can’t ... those words are so toxic!
Why is education important for our young people and their communities?
Education is our new buffalo—it’s the weapon of today.As long as we have traditional values and you mix it with education, we can be part of the solution, not the problem. Once you educate yourself and you learn to think thatway, then you learn how to change things. It’s your key to accessibility. My son is just getting ready to finish his fourth quarter in college. I told him, “Just finish that fourth quarter; it’s the key to the next step. If you don’t, you’re back at square one. You need those keys to open more doors.”
what advice would you give to youth who are plan- ning on becoming the leaders of their communities?
Whatever it is you want in your heart, you have to stay focused on that one thing. So no matter what happens in your life, you have to stick to your agenda, your goal. If you focus on that and believe that, anything is possible. Every single choice should have that goal in mind, because sometimes it’s confusing and life takes you on a path that you’re not expecting.
How does a leader effectively listen to the voice of the people?
By being present everywhere. You need to immerse yourself in everything. Even if you don’t like certain things, you have to do them. You have to force yourself to push past your comfort zone. That’s when things happen and you start being involved with the community in a positive way. If the youth ask you to be at a hip hop show, get down there and be part of it. No matter how you might feel about it, do it.
did you have to overcome specific challenges to be where you are today?
I had to overcome my lack of confidence, my low self-esteem and self-worth, my complete shyness. If you continue to put yourself outside of your comfort zone, you can overcome these things. I had to overcome my own fears. To move forward in life, you have to get over yourself. If you surrender to your fears you will never grow.
