Dallas Goldtooth speaks in Macky Auditorium on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (Hunter Dee/CU Independent)
To reactions of alternating pin-drop silence and uproarious laughter, activist, actor and writer Dallas Goldtooth addressed an audience of hundreds of community members in the University of Colorado Boulder’s Macky Auditorium on Tuesday evening.
Goldtooth, who has Dakota and Diné heritage, co-writes and acts in the TV show “Reservation Dogs,” which follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers living in rural Oklahoma. In addition to his work in the performing arts, he described himself as an organizer.
Specifically, Goldtooth organizes to fight against what he calls “climate chaos” through storytelling.
“At the core root of it as an organizer, you’re storytellers,” Goldtooth said. “Any cultural movement, any social movement in the history of this world, all successful ones are because they told a good story.”
Goldtooth pointed to the “water is life” narrative born out of the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 as a connection between storytelling and successful activism.
“That was a narrative device used to maximum effect to bring folks to our side because it’s a common issue,” he said. “People can understand water is life.”
Goldtooth also emphasized the power of storytelling to connect people across demographic divides.
“You could be a farmer in southern Iowa,” he said. “You could be a community member activist in Flint, Michigan… You could be along the Columbia River fighting for the return of the salmon and understand water is life.”
He also attributed much of the success of different environmental movements to Indigenous communities doing the work of climate activism.
Goldtooth said that Indigenous activism has stopped or delayed over one-fourth of carbon emissions in the U.S. and Canada.
“It just shows you that the resistance is thriving, important, impactful and also shows that when you support Indigenous rights, you’re also supporting a vision for a better planet,” Goldtooth said.
Sundell Lepe, an audience member and the sister of moderator Angelica Lawson, said she has seen her own community, the Northern Arapahoe, making strides toward environmental progress.
“I grew up on the Wind River Reservation and there’s a lot of people who depend on income from the oil companies… we’re switching over towards more renewable energy sources such as solar energy and windmills,” Lepe said. “A lot of the tribal businesses are switching over to electric vehicles, and we’re getting away from relying on financial support from fossil fuels.”
Turning to his work in the television industry, Goldtooth discussed the importance of supporting Indigenous issues, such as land back movements and elevated incarceration rates, often while maintaining a difficult balance between seriousness and comedy.
“It was really essential for us to walk that line (on “Reservation Dogs”)… we’re not going to beat people over the head, but these are parts of who we are as Native people and communities,” he said.
Throughout the evening, Goldtooth himself walked this line between the serious and the comedic, interspersing the talk with both sermon-heavy proclamations and moments poking fun at his experiences growing up, his six children and his semi-clothed appearances on “Reservation Dogs.”
Regarding his heritage, Goldtooth said that his ancestry is much of the driving force behind his work.
“I find myself in a place where I’m doing this work, and I have to ask myself: why am I doing this? Where’s the drive to keep on going? I could be cliché and say it’s for the (next) generation… but it’s for my ancestors,” he said. “That’s what keeps me in this, because I know whatever hardship I’m going through, my ancestors went through five times as much.”
He noted that such hardships have not been limited to his ancestors but have been faced by others across racial, gender and generational lines.
“The liberation and the fight to stop misogyny and to confront toxic masculinity is not a fight just for women. It’s a fight for me as (well) because I’m also a victim of that,” he said.”The same goes for the fight for Black liberation. The same goes (for) the fight for human rights in Palestine.”
Addressing the students in the crowd, Goldtooth said it was important to change existing narratives to see results.
“We cannot be afraid of change. We have to lean into change. We have to use change as a constructive tool to build a better world,” he said.
Sophie Kvaratskhelia, a fourth-year environmental studies and molecular biology major who attended the event, said it was important to learn from other activists.
“It’s really important to ground ourselves in the wisdom of the people who are on the front lines of climate chaos and environmental injustice and (to) recognize and listen to these voices that can be so inspiring,” she said.
To close the evening, Goldtooth gave a final message to students.
“What we want to do, what we strive to do, what we are doing, is radically imagining a future that is better for all of us, not for some of us,” he said. “Wherever you’re at, you can work towards disrupting the system for a better future.”
