Category: Interviews

INTRO: Welcome, I’m Rose Aguilar, and this is Your Call. The FBI file on today’s guests says quote, “He is extremely eloquent, therefore extremely dangerous.” From 1969 to 1979 the FBI collected a seventeen-thousand-page file on John Trudell, an acclaimed poet, recording artist, and Indigenous rights activist, He’s well known for becoming one of the main voices of the occupation of alcatraz in November, 1969. In October, 1972 he took part in the American Indian Movement’s Trail of Broken Treaties caravan march on the Bureau of Indian Affairs in D.C. From November third to the seventh, they occupied the Department of the Interior. The Nixon Administration rejected their demands to revive native sovereignty, but instead authorized sixty six thousand dollars for gas money to send the caravan back where it came from. John Trudell continued his work with AIM, serving as chair from ‘73 to ‘79. And so much happened during that time. In February of ‘79, a fire of unknown origin killed Trudell’s wife, three children and mother in law. It was through this horrific tragedy that he began to find his voice as an artist and poet, writing in his words, to stay connected to this reality. John Trudell has also been a leading voice for the legalization of hemp through the project Hempstead Project Heart. Hempstead was created by the olders, Willie Nelson and John Trudell, to promote a conscious recognition of the qualities of industrial hemp as a renewable economic alternative, green energy resource. He says, hemp is one of the most important issues of our time. As part of the fourth annual Hemp History Week the documentary film Bringing it Home, which tells the story of hemp’s past, present and future, will be screened in San Francisco tonight at 7pm. Inner Mission, San Francisco, 2050, Bryant Street, and John Trudell will be at tonight’s screening and he joins me here in studio.

Rose Aguilar: Hi, John. 

John Trudell: Hello. 

Nice to see you! Thanks for coming in! 

Well it’s nice to be seen. 

Tamra Lucid: In your book Lines from a Mined Mind (Fulcrum, 2008) you use mining as a metaphor for the way industrialization has turned human beings into products or dehumanized resources for exploitation. You compare the resulting fear and alienation to the toxic waste left behind by uranium mining. Please explain to our readers your concept of the Great Programming. 

John Trudell: Everything is about energy. Everything that ever goes on in this dimension of reality that we are in is about energy. This whole idea of the great programming, I think that this has got to do with the planetary industrial ruling class. The programming has got to do with how they channel our energy, the energy of being, being human, to feed their technological needs. The programming takes place in how we’re civilized, educated, to see reality. Programming is about how to get our energy. 

Christopher Luna: Was there a particular time period or album when you began to feel confident about how you were combining poetry and music? 

John Trudell: I felt it with the very first album, Tribal Voice. I liked it. I didn’t set myself up for criticism, and I didn’t try to compete against myself. Then I got the opportunity to do electric music with Jesse Ed Davis, and we made Graffiti Man. In my mind I was thinking, this may not be a perfect album, but hey, I’m gonna learn as I go along. I’ve never not been pleased with one of my albums. I figure because it’s spoken word, there will be people who relate to it, and people who don’t, so I don’t worry about any of that. I’ve been doing it for over twenty years. I’ve always written because it was something I had to do, never for the glory. 

Which songwriters or poets do you look to for inspiration? 

Interviewer: Can we start off with some of the typical biographical details – where were you born and all that?

John Trudell: I was born in 1946 near Omaha Nebraska and split my childhood half and half between living in town with my parents and living on the Santee Sioux Reservation just outside of Omaha with my grandparents. I dropped out of high-school because it wasn’t working for me, and at seventeen I joined the navy. I did my four-year hitch, even though it wasn’t really right for me, and got out in 1967. I did a couple of years of college after that, but that didn’t work out because of some political shit, and I was denied something that I should have got credit for. 

This might be a stupid question, I don’t know, but how would your experiences as a child have been different than your so-called typical kid growing up in the suburbs? 

John Trudell: Dreaming is a way of seeing and thinking. And generally, when we dream, when we’re dreaming awake, generally we don’t make bad dreams. So we’re seeking some kind of clarity or some kind of good with our dreams. You know from the time we’re young we’re imprinted that daydreaming is bad. Dreaming is not good, you know, but they do that to us because if we’re not, if we’re daydreaming we’re not paying attention to what they’re trying to make us do, right. And so really that’s why I think that they attack the whole concept of dreams, or dreamers, or Dreaming. I mean from the industrial level, because it takes our attention away from them. 

Lila Johnston: This is Lila Johnston, with Cultural Energy and I’m here with John Trudell. John, you’ve led an amazing life and I want to get to know your past and what you’ve been through to lead into what you’re doing now and what you see for the future. The U.S. Government went to great extents to stop people like yourself and other AIM members. Why was this gargantuan existence of the U.S. Government so scared of little old AIM? And like, what was it about you guys that made them so fearful? 

John Trudell: I mean AIM got the biggest focus, but it was that whole activist energy that was going on in the native community at that time. What I really think it is, is say, our rebellion. Native rebellion as manifested through AIM. When you just cut right down to the bottom line of everything it was about law. See there are five types of law in America. There’s Common Law, Criminal law, Constitutional Law, Statue Law and Treaty Law. See so Treaties are laws, but most people, even Natives alright, and Americans, they drop the word Law off Treaty, so they say Treaties. See so at some point that implies that it’s not a legal, that it’s more of an ethical or moral obligation, but in reality it’s a legal responsibility that America has to the Native Tribes. Any Treaty Law agreements, because these Treaties were legal agreements made between the Tribes and the Americans. The Constitution of the United States says that the Treaties with the various Indian Tribes and the Constitution are the supreme laws of the land. The laws of the land, and see so the treaties, really according the Constitution, are part of the laws of a land just like  the Constitution is. And the American government does not want anyone to understand this right because it would change the whole dynamic of everything. That was really what the cruxt of it is, because America pretends to be a nation of law, but in reality, if they violate these treaty laws then they are not a nation of laws. And for me personally, I have all that understanding that we do not live in a nation of laws. But I think that’s really why they hit us so heavy. Because this wasn’t like a civil rights movement about our civil rights. This was about our sovereign rights as human beings, and they don’t want the rest of the Americans thinking in terms of their rights as human beings, you know they want them thinking in terms of civil rights, these things can be legislated away, erased and all this and that. So we were opening up a whole legal and philosophical reality that the American government just does not want opened up. 

Brendan Lorber: You’ve said you felt you were knocked unconscious when you were born and have spent your entire life trying to come to. What techniques have you called upon become more aware? 

John Trudell: I never thought in terms of technique. There are some things I can’t explain. I went through my life experiences and at a young age things just didn’t seem right to me. I was always influenced by that and as different things have happened in my life I thought about them a lot, maybe out of necessity. It’s apparent to me that the reality that’s being imposed upon us, something’s not right about it. It’s almost like this is not real, what reality’s supposed to be all about. My mind goes off with these kind of things but I’ve never thought in terms of any technique. I just do what I do. 

Everyone from the FBI to Kris Kristofferson says you are dangerous – who are you dangerous to and why? 

[The following is an interview freelancer Iretta Tiger conducted with recording artist, poet and champion of indigenous issues John Trudell.]

Iretta Tiger: Musical & Literary Influences: 

John Trudell: My literary influences? I can’t think of any literary influences. In the sense of literature–cause I like to read so I always liked to read. When I was a kid I read everything from true romance magazines to the Farmers Almanac, true crime to Reader’s Digest. Whatever I could get my hands on just for the read-ing. Following specific writers–I don’t really remember following a specific writer. “Now that being said, I was always into music; lyrics in songs. Music–but also the lyrics in songs. To me in a way my literary writers were the people that wrote lyrics for songs; the John Pines’ and the Bob Dylan’s and the Kris Kristofferson’s and the Buffy St. Maries’. But as a writer that’s where I got most of my influences. 

[In a running conversation with Indian Country Today Senior Editor Jose Barreiro, Trudell seeks to address lingering issues in the dissolution of AIM and particularly in the case of Annie Mae Pictou-Aquash, the Micmac woman and AIM activist murdered in South Dakota during the winter of 1975 – ’76. One man, Arlo Looking Cloud, has been convicted in the murder while a second indicted man, John Graham, awaits extradition from Canada to the United States to stand trial.

This series covers Trudell’s perspective on the issues of violence in the activist movement where the renowned poet proposes a theory of the ”deeply embedded government operative” and the role of rogue government infiltration programs in stimulating violence in social and political movements. Trudell also addresses his own shift from political organizing to the musical poetics of stage and film.]

Jose Barreiro: It’s been 30 years since the killing of Annie Mae Pictou- Aquash. The case remains largely unsolved, although there has been one conviction in recent years. You’ve expressed interest in advancing some thoughts on the subject. I wonder how you’re feeling about where that investigation might be at and where you would like to see it go?

John Trudell: It’s interesting how the investigation into the killing of Annie Mae has unfolded. Where it stands right now, Arlo Looking Cloud has been convicted and he is serving time in the U.S. for his part in the crime. John Graham, ”John Boy,” is in Canada fighting extradition back to stand trial for murder, and my understanding is that he has been ordered to be extradited back but he is on a final appeal.

So we understand that the extradition is imminent.

With a Natural American Spirit cigarette in one hand and a cup of hot black coffee in front of him, legendary Native American poet and activist John Trudell sits across from me at an outside table at Rose’s Café in Venice Beach, CA. I have been looking forward to this interview since I saw Heather Rae’s documentary Trudell last January at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

John Estherent: What did you think about the idea of having a film made about you?

John Trudell: I was curious. Heather was from the next generation and I wanted to see what she knew and what she would do with the material… I think they did a great job. 

Do you find it ironic the film is illustrating a well-known figure such as yourself when much of your philosophy and rhetoric emphasizes mass populace conscious and mobilization?

Interviewer: Why did you choose to let Heather Rae make a documentary about your life?

John Trudell: I had been approached by another party, which was interested in doing a documentary, but it meant that they would be traveling and living with me for two to three months. I wasn’t interested in having to live with a camera—I have a hard enough time getting along with myself. I don’t need cameras around and all that action. Being followed by a camera…means whatever documentation is being made, it’s being limited to a certain timeframe—the time they’re there with the camera—so it’s more personality oriented and interaction and things of that nature. It’s a different kind of documentary.

Patty Martin: So I’m Patty Martin interviewing John Trudell. 

John Trudell: Hello Patty. 

So, I have a couple questions for you, and mainly about youth and the messages you want to send to the youth.

Well, I hadn’t thought in terms of anything as a message. But what I would say to young people is basically what I would say to anybody, because I think we’re as human beings, we’re all equally at risk in this world, just the same as we’re all equally entitled to joy, so to speak, alright, but I think, but because youth are younger yet and they got a longer time to be here, right, I think that it would be very important that they understand the value of their intelligence. And that young people understand, you know to use their intelligence as clearly and coherently as they can. To think before they act. To think about things. And you know, to think. And recognize as much about the issue that they’re dealing with as they possibly can. To see things for what they are. Because too many times we’ve been programmed to emotionally react to situations and we generally react based upon our beliefs and what we believe. So then something happens and we react with how we believe. By how we believe. And I think that’s what helped to create the mess that the world is in today. Because if you’re reacting out of emotion and beliefs, then that means–you can’t have emotional reaction and clear and coherent thought at the same time. One is at the expense of the other. And I think for young people to understand the value of their intelligence, I would just, I don’t know how coherent I’m being with this, but that is what I would say. Understand the value of your intelligence and your own worth. 

[NOTE: The discussion covers Trudell’s worldview that encompasses his call for humans to return to their intelligence and their humanity to forge a pathway forward.  His responses to the questions now seem prophetic.]

Leila Conners: Just for the camera, what’s your name and where are you from?

John Trudell: My name is John Trudell. I’m in California. I know that humanity is not living in balance with nature. It’s not happening. And actually it’s more than a little out of balance. Humanity is actually at this point, almost going against nature. It’s beyond living out of balance. But I also think with humanity going against nature that there’s a small percentage, a small number of human beings that are behind this and driving it and imposing it upon just humanity in general. 

In going against nature, what does that do to the survivability of humanity? 

Trudell participated in the occupation of Alcatraz Island by Indians of All Tribes, becoming a spokesman for Indians of All Tribes. After the occupation ended in 1971, Trudell worked with the American Indian Movement, becoming national chairman of AIM from 1973 until 1979. In February of 1979, Trudell’s mother-in-law, wife and three children were killed in a fire of unknown origin. It was through this horrific tragedy that Trudell began to find his voice as an artist and poet. Trudell now lives in Southern California and performs around the country to both Native and non-Native audiences. He believes that his purpose and that of the movement was, and is, to “Light the fire of Native spirit…of Native consciousness.”

Frank J King III: So what do you think of the American Indian Film Festival? You’ve lived in this area for quite a while now.

John Trudell: Well, you’ve got to define “this area.” I’ve lived in California for a long time, but I live in L.A. Actually I like it. I like the fact that they’re here and they have been for a long time so it’s almost like a powwow. It’s a gathering point for Native people that are in film or various aspects of the arts. People get together. Then you get into the fact that they showcase different Native people, acknowledge different Naive people by showcasing their work. I think it’s good all the way around.

Interviewer: So there’s his obvious imbalance here. If you were going to try to describe it to a young person or to a visitor who got here five minutes ago to Earth and had no clue. How would you describe what the problem is here? 

John Trudell: They have entered the reality of the already dead, who are just spending their lives waiting to die. The reality of the spiritually disconnected. This is the reality that seems to be prevalent, because it’s like you look at the leadership or you look at the institutions or the things that are held up in these esteems and none of these things seem to have any spiritual relationship to life. You know, so it’s like, no spiritual relationship to life it’s almost like no spiritual recognition. We’re in a time in reality where the human beings, at least in the technologic world no longer remember the the original dream. They no longer remember their ancestors or the teachings or the knowledge. They no longer have these things of their ancestry. So it’s almost like they’re spiritually disconnected from the past. And when you look at the situations, the conditions that we live in now, the way that the cancers of greed and war, the way that these viruses, these diseases have spread, and everyone, and no one is really taking responsibility to effectively deal with these things. People are having emotional reactions and emotional outbursts and these types of things, but no one’s taking clear and coherent action to deal with this disease of aggression that is taking place. So it’s almost like because of that they have no spiritual relationship to their own descendants. So it’s like you know, no spiritual relationship to the past, the ancestry, no spiritual relationship to the ancestry in the shape of the future. So whatever this disease of aggression and violence and greed, whatever this disease mentality is, it lives in this life system now. It’s eating up the spirit of the diseased. And they don’t even know it’s happening. They have no relationship to being. They only function and react as humans. They have no relationship to being, being always is, this is with our ancesters, with our descendants. Being. When we leave as humans, we go back to being. Being. Human being. That really means something. But we live in a reality now, or in a time where I would say to anyone, you know,  protect your spirit. Protect your spirit because you’re in the place where spirits get eaten.

Interviewer: A few years ago, you were asked about your AIM days, and you said, “That was a different me.” 

John Trudell: A different me? I wonder which me said that. When we’re infants, we’re infants. When we’re crawlers, we’re crawlers. And when we’re young people, we’re young people. AIM was a very crucial part of my learning experience, my life test. Things happen in life, and I headed in another direction with writing and things. 

AIM celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year. How do you look back on those times? 

Mali: What drew you to the work that you do today?

John Trudell: You mean with the music and the writing and things? It just kind of happened. What I’m doing now… the writing and the poetry and this aspect of it… I started this writing, maybe 1979, the end of 79. I was 33 years old then – it had never been a thought in my consciousness that I would be doing what I’m doing now. Prior to that, I had spent ten years, actually, as a political activist with Indians of All Tribes and Alcatraz, in the American Indian Movement.

It was a ten year block of time. It just turns out that it ended up being ten years where I was actively a political activist and we had our confrontations with the government about many issues, mainly over treaty laws.

Very excited about what’s coming up, American Indian poet, musician and activist John Trudell visited the Bay area recently as an artist in residence at the Intersection of the arts in San Francisco, where he gave readings of his work and heart talks in small intimate settings. Here in a conversation with actor activist Peter Koyote, Trudell discusses his personal genius as a key player in the American Indian Movement, highlights defining moments of Native American struggles, and shows us how to recreate our language to reempower us all in the face of today’s monocultural monalith. We start out with Peter Coyote. Here it is. This was recorded, I should say one month ago at Intersection for the arts in San Francisco. Here’s Peter Coyote. 

During a recent visit to Albuquerque, poet and Native leader John Trudell sat down for an interview about native people’s past and future. Trudell is a former national chairman of the American Indian Movement. He lost his family in the war being waged against indigenous people. Born on February 15, 1946 in Omaha, Nebraska, Trudell grew up on and around the nearby Santee Chicano/Mexicanos Sioux reservation.(His father was Santee, his mother’s tribal roots were in Mexico). 

Interviewer: It has been 509 years since the invasion of these lands. What form do you see  the struggle for Indigenous rights taking right now? Or do you even see the Native Pride movement still existing? 

John Trudell: We have to understand, in the evolution of our people, there is a reason why we are who we are. I don’t think its a matter of being proud. It’s a matter of living as native people. A matter of being who we are. We represent several generations as survivors of genocide. We are physically still here and we all carry parts of the original dream memory within us. You see, in the real world all parts are different, but it’s how the parts fit together to create a balance. Things change – that’s the nature of reality. So we must live as today yet retain who we are. Our responsibility is to recognize and not judge. Because that is what Native factionalism is all about – arrogance, pride and judgment. 

Conducted in 1999, this interview covers all of the central themes of Trudell’s ideas, from the necessity of individuals and nations to take responsibility for their actions, to the importance of finding spirituality in one’s life, and onward, with comments on the potential dangers of plastic medicine men, his thoughts on women, the source of his creative energy and more.

Ben Corbett: If there’s a continuous theme running through your album Blue Indians what would you say that is? 

John Trudell: That the technologic civilized world is an industrial reservation. 

Can you explain this?

Yeah, well I mean it IS an industrial reservation. Because you look at it, you know, and there’s basically one set of rules that protect that industrial ruling class. That’s what the governments do, that’s what the religions do. They protect the interests of that industrial ruling class.

EARTH FIRST JOURNAL: Earth First! has changed a lot since it hit the scene in late 1979. Then it was about property  destruction or monkeywrenching and less popular redneck-type wilderness politics. Since the late ’80s, EF! has moved strongly toward a strategy of above- ground nonviolent direct action — basically a lot of civil disobedience. Some EF! groups even publicly denounce monkeywrenching now. What do you think EF!’s role should be in the environmental movement today?

JOHN TRUDELL: To always promote and keep alive the consciousness of the Earth. I think that is what it should be about, regardless of what the difference of opinion may be about whether it is spiking trees or sitting in trees, these are just tactics that people are working out to accomplish the one thing that Earth First! needs to stick by and that is protecting the Earth. I think that one thing for people to remember is that all things on this planet are different. It is how all the different things work together that makes the balance. So, within Earth First! there must be an understanding that there are different ways to get things done. If nothing else, whether or not people agree with the differences at this point, I would say that every idea should be respected. 

This interview with WOJB’s Lori Townsend took place on Feb. 28, before Trudell performed in concert in Kyle, South Dakota, part of the 25th Anniversary of Wounded Knee:

JOHN TRUDELL: Being here, to me it’s partly about acknowledging the other Wounded Knee occupation 25 years ago, but I think in a larger sense, it’s an opportunity to get back with the community. Most of the people here are from those days, from those times. We don’t get to see each other a lot any more because a lot of things have happened. In a way it’s like a family reunion to me. It’s nice to know I can come back to a nice safe place. Safe, like this is family and an opportunity to see everybody. I’m not here so much for the politics or anything. I have a lot of friends, a lot of relations from those times. And it’s also good to acknowledge the struggle itself. But I don’t know that I’m here to acknowledge the struggle, as much as to see the people again.

LORI TOWNSEND: I know that people have said, this is to commemorate a time of healing, from that time when there was a lot of division. People were separated by the very nature of the struggle. What have you seen in 25 years, as people come together, being able to heal from that time?

NATIVE AMERICAS: John, I see from your performance the other night that you are still reaching for your truth about what’s going on in the world. You travel a lot, you deal with young people, that youthful energy of the music business. How is the new generation different from our generation, and how is it similar?

JOHN TRUDELL: That is hard to answer because in many ways when I’m not working I’m pretty reclusive. But when I’m out in the world, I think that the energy is the same for the youth now as when we were young. The technology is a little different and the information that new technology brings is a little different, but I think that what is really the essence of us, from our youth to the youth now, that essence is still there. In fact, I think that this essence is part of the fuel that runs America. 

ALIBI: You’ve lived many lives so far during this earthly lifetime. You’ve been a Marine during Vietnam, an AIM member, you’ve been involved in battles with the federal government and have endured subsequent personal tragedies. You’ve been in documentaries and have acted in movies. You’re a poet/musician and now you’ve just published a book of conversation, lyrics and poetry. Where do you think this continuum of experiences is taking you? 

JOHN TRUDELL: Into madness. I mean, don’t rule it out, right? I’m not really sure. In my own mind I’m headed in a direction. I can’t really define that direction. It just seems that all of these things are consistent. These are just like worlds I’ve been through. But each world seems to put me dead center in the next one. In reality, we, at this given moment in time, are an accumulation of all of our experiences. That is a part of our physical identity within this life. We’re all affected differently by our experiences. But in the end that’s what we are, a continuum of every experience we’ve had since we entered into this life and probably, way in our DNA, a continuum of other experiences.

ALIBI: You’ve lived many lives so far during this earthly lifetime. You’ve been a Marine during Vietnam, an AIM member, involved in battles with the federal government and have endured subsequent personal tragedies. You’ve been in documentaries and have acted in movies. You’re a poet/musician and now you’ve just published a book of conversation, lyrics and poetry. Where do you think this continuum of experiences is taking you? 

JOHN TRUDELL: Into madness. I mean, don’t rule it out, right? I’m not really sure. In my own mind I’m headed in a direction. I can’t really define that direction. It just seems that all of these things are consistent. These are just like worlds I’ve been through. But each world seems to put me dead center in the next one. In reality, we, at this given moment in time, are an accumulation of all of our experiences. That is a part of our physical identity within this life. We’re all affected differently by our experiences, but in the end that’s what we are: a continuum of every experience we’ve had since we entered into this life and probably, way in our DNA, a continuum of other experiences.

ANDRE TABABOO: You have been involved with the American Indian Movement since the early 1970s. What has been your experience? Where do you see us now?

JOHN TRUDELL: We are part of an evolution. The cultural spirit is still very strong amongst the people and I think we are still quite active. The Movement is about consciousness. Political structures, they’re at different levels and forms, you use them for a while, then you use another one. It’s the spirit I’m concerned about.

ANDRE TABABOO: You have been involved with the American Indian Movement since the early 1970s. What has been your experience? Where do you see us now?

JOHN TRUDELL: We are part of an evolution. The cultural spirit is still very strong amongst the people and I think we are still quite active. The Movement is about consciousness. Political structures, they’re at different levels and forms, you use them for a while, then you use another one. It’s the spirit I’m concerned about.

“As we take on these labels, we must remember that they describe what we do, not who we are. We are the People—we are human beings—that’s who we are. We have to accept all the parts of us as being part of a whole. When I called myself a ‘political activist’ and started saying that’s who I was, then that’s all I saw. I didn’t see a lot of important things, and I missed a lot of things. I was locked in there and looked at only a part of me as being the total. It’s the same with the label ‘writer’ or any other label. It limits us if we confuse what we do with who we are. At the basic core of reality, we’re human beings. If we don’t forget that, it will help make our way a little better. We are the People. Our ancestors and the ancient ones were the People. And I am just one of the People, doing the best I can with the best I’ve got.” – On being labeled a radical, militant, political activist, visionary, subversive, poet and writer.

IINTERVIEWER: On the notion of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage to the New World being an opportunity to re-evaluate the history of the Americas.

JOHN TRUDELL: Among indigenous peoples, we don’t need to re-evaluate. This predatory energy arrived on our hemisphere 500 years ago and there’s only one evaluation…it has been genocidal and destructive to all living aspects of the hemisphere. And that behavior has not changed at all. It still continues on its destructive path. Many indigenous peoples will protest this anniversary and tell their truths. I haven’t found many people in the circles I move in who endorse it or find anything to celebrate.

Phone Interview: 

JOHN TRUDELL: I’ve not agreed with them about that. I’ve felt that people are open to hearing much more than they’re allowed to hear, and that people have a right to hear these things and make up their own mind. So I feel vindicated in some ways.

INTERVIEWER: There’s a line in Baby Boom Che: “Rock ‘n’ roll is based on revolution.” Tell me about your Influences, as far as rock ‘n’ roll goes — when you started listening, some of the artists, and why. 

I started listening to Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Bo Didley, the Everly Brothers and Brenda Lee way back when all this first started. When I came in contact with this phase of music I sure liked it a lot more than the music I had been hearing before.

INTERVIEWER: You claim that the fire that killed your family was set on purpose by the US government. Do you have any evidence to support that? 

JOHN TRUDELL: The fire wasn’t an accident. When the fire happened on Feb. 12, 1979 the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the government — whoever their federal fire people are — had stated the fire was an accident, that it had started in the fireplace. This was not true. When I came back home, I had some other people look at it and they said it was physically impossible that the fire was an accident, but I can’t discuss the particulars right now. In good time, it will be settled, because this was mass murder. 

Faye Brown/Dale Kakkak: You began writing in 1979, writing words down on paper. How did this evolve into producing music?

John Trudell: I started writing poetry in ’79 but prior to that, I used to write a lot of statements for press releases and political things. When I started writing poetry, I was spending a lot of time around musicians and it wasn’t a conscientious effort on my part. I just started writing poetry. It turned out that I was in this world of musicians and I was spending a lot of time with Jackson (Browne) and so maybe after a couple of years I just got the notion to put poetry to music. I thought it would work and that’s what turned into my first release, Tribal Voice.

KATHY (BHA): Why did you decide to request political asylum in Canada instead of somewhere else?

JOHN TRUDELL: We came to Canada because Leonard Peltier came to Canada in 1976 asking for political asylum. Members of the Canadian Justice Department, in collusion with members of the FBI and United States Justice Department, illegally extradited Leonard Peltier back to the U.S.

They were able to do this because they could hide behind the criminal charges that Leonard had filed against him. Now, in order to extradite Leonard back to the U.S., in violation of extradition law, the FBI committed perjury within the Canadian Court System. And this was done with the knowledge of some Crown attorneys. Extradition attorneys. When we come to Canada ourselves, we want to bring this issue back up. That not only has Peltier been illegally convicted in the U.S., he was illegally sent back to the U.S. by the Canadian Government that was in power at that time. We wish to bring this issue back up in front of the Canadian people on the whole Peltier case, Daryl and myself.