The Culture Is: Indigenous Women Airs Sunday on MSNBC

Call it must-see TV, and you’ll be right on target. In The Culture Is: Indigenous Women, the fascinating and informative documentary premiering at 10 pm ET Sunday on MSNBC and later available on Peacock, seven trailblazing Indigenous women share insights and observations about historical and contemporary aspects of their culture with MSNBC correspondent Alyssa London.

But be forewarned: Throughout the hour-long special, which focuses primarily on a roundtable conversation filmed in Suquamish, Washington, we see participants served courses of food prepared by the Suquamish tribe that look well-nigh irresistible and positively mouth-watering. So maybe you shouldn’t watch on an empty stomach. That, or be prepared to snack during or after viewing.

Joining Alyssa London at the roundtable for an honest and thought-provoking discussion about Native identity, stereotypes, and the generational trauma within Indigenous communities: Crystal Echo-Hawk, executive director of IllumiNative; Amber Midthunder, star of the high praised Predator thriller Prey; Kimberly Teehee, Cherokee Nation’s first delegate to Congress; Jhane Myers, Emmy Award-winning TV and film producer; and Janee Kassanavoid, 2024 Olympic hopeful and the first Native American woman to medal at the World Athletics Track & Field Championship in Oregon.

But wait, there’s more: The Culture Is: Indigenous Women also features a special appearance by Secretary Deb Haaland, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary; and London’s exclusive one-on-one interview with Rep. Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

Earlier this week, I spoke with Alyssa London — the first person of Tlingit descent ever to be crowned Miss Alaska USA, and founder of the media and education company Culture Story — about The Culture Is: Indigenous Women. Here are some highlights from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.

Cowboys & Indians: Right from the start, I was intrigued by the idea that these remarkable women were proud to wear regalia that would reflect their culture. You can’t help being reminded that, for past generations of Native people, it was common to be told to keep your head down more or less, or you’d be hassled simply for asserting your identity.

Alyssa London: I’m glad you picked up on that. When we were going through the editorial for the show, I anticipated that, given we were doing a big taping, all the women would show up in some regalia from their community. So I had it listed out that I wanted to start the show with giving each woman an opportunity to introduce herself — which also included them saying what they are wearing, because that is also an opportunity to speak further about their connection to their community.

C&I: You also discuss the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, a scourge that only recently has been given the attention it deserves in the media.

London: We were actually out of time to film the special, and Crystal and Jane needed to leave for the airport already, and the crew had the flashcards up that said, “Close. Wrap the show.” But we hadn't talked about MMIP yet. So I went rogue and I brought it up. I know I wasn’t able to get through all of the topics I wanted to in the time we had. But you can see how important it is, because it made the final cut for this special.

C&I: Well, you certainly cover a lot within the time you have. Everything from the mistreatment and indoctrination of Native children in prison-like schools to the misinformed notions many non-Natives have about Indigenous people. Like Crustal Echo Hawk says: “If you live in certain parts of this country, you’re not even sure Native people still exist.”

London: Yeah, I think that's one reason why this media content is so important — and why I’m so proud that it is in mainstream media on MSNBC. Because that is a common idea that I had to deal with throughout my whole childhood, even up through college and my professional life the last 10 plus years. One reason why I’m so committed to creating premium content in mainstream media is to combat that idea that we are an antiquated part of history that is in natural history museums. I even think it’s offensive that natives are in natural history museums — next to dinosaurs, often.

C&I: You also note how ill-informed many non-Natives are when it comes to their assumptions about what a “real” Native looks like, or how one behaves.

London: That’s why I'm so passionate about the idea of blood quantum going away. It’s just not realistic for our communities to still be defined on that metric, because just like any community, we’re going to continue to intermarry. I think that is one of the reasons why the public thinks that Native Americans no longer exist, because the media portrayals of us to this point have largely been the 1800s types of Indian — darker skin, long black hair, braids. But even if you come up to Alaska, you'll see amongst the 225 different tribes very different appearances amongst all of us. I hope when people watch the show, they can see the varying appearances of all the different women who represent different tribes at that table.

So I hope that idea goes away because being indigenous needs to no longer be synonymous with looking like a Plains Indian. It needs to evolve into knowing that we are Indigenous regardless of our appearance. It’s because we are upholding the values and staying committed to our connection to our community.

C&I: Finally, what do you hope is the most important thing viewers take away from your documentary?

London: The biggest takeaway? That we’re still here, alive and well, and that we are increasingly getting an opportunity to tell our stories. So please support that by watching our content, and causing executives at major networks like NBC to invest in us creating these stories, because we haven’t gotten to yet. Please watch and support and be interested, and I hope that leads to a lot more content after the show.