IllumiNative Founder Talks Native Representation at SXSW: ‘We’ve Never Had Justice’

“There’s nowhere you can walk in this country that is not Native land,” said IllumiNative founder and executive director Crystal Echo Hawk at Rising Native Voices, the Variety and IllumiNative event in partnership with SXSW on Saturday.

IllumiNative, which is a Native woman-run social justice organization, DIGA Studios and Madica Productions recently announced their documentary-style podcast “American Genocide: The Crimes of Native American Boarding Schools.” The six-episode podcast examines the human rights violations against Indigenous children at Native American boarding schools, looking for answers specifically at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, S.D.

Variety‘s co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton moderated the conversation with Echo Hawk, Lashay Wesley, IllumiNative’s director of communications and storytelling, and Patrick Smith, DIGA’s executive director at the event, talking about Native representation in media and the new podcast.