HIGHLIGHT: Martina Navratilova and Lily Gladstone

Summary

The Jim Acosta Show – HIGHLIGHT: Martina Navratilova and Lily Gladstone (June 10, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this highlight episode, Jim Acosta hosts two extraordinary figures: tennis legend and democracy advocate Martina Navratilova, and Academy Award-nominated actress and activist Lily Gladstone. The episode covers issues around democracy and authoritarianism in the US, leveraging Navratilova's lived experience under communism, and a powerful discussion of indigenous resilience, cultural identity, and ecological restoration with Gladstone, centered on the documentary Bring Them Home.

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Martina Navratilova: Fighting for Democracy

[00:00–13:29] Democracy, Immigration, and Speaking Out

Background: Voice for Freedom

• Jim Acosta introduces Martina Navratilova as a champion not just in tennis, but also as a fierce advocate for democracy.
• Martina discusses her childhood in Czechoslovakia and defection to the US at 18, highlighting the risks and sacrifices made for freedom and opportunity. She credits America for her life but voices grave concerns about democratic backsliding and authoritarian tendencies under Trump-era politics.

Key Discussion Points

• Martina’s Outspokenness:
  “I've been outspoken all my life. And that, which is what got me in trouble in Czechoslovakia. I left my country when I was almost 19 years old, not knowing if I was ever going to go back.”
  — Martina Navratilova [00:41]
• Defection and American Opportunity:
  “It was a big step and I appreciate it so much what America offered. Not just the fact for tennis it was perfect, but for life.” [00:55]
• Warnings About Authoritarianism:
  Martina recalls her early warnings about Trump’s dictatorial impulses and how the situation has deteriorated. “We really worry about Trump wanting to be a dictator and that he's going to just really...put a muzzle on democracy. And little did we know that it was going to be that much worse the second time around.” [01:09]
• Public Complacency and 'Willful Ignorance':
  Martina emphasizes the danger in ignoring abuses and the loss of rights, echoing Whoopi Goldberg's phrase, “willful ignorance.” [02:51]
• Acosta’s 'Ostrich Election':
  “I called last year the ostrich election because I think people would rather just stick their heads in the sand.” — Jim Acosta [02:56]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Personal Sacrifices for Freedom:
  “When I defected and I was able to say anything I wanted to, I did. I'm so proud to be an American, but I'm embarrassed for what Trump is doing to our country. I am pissed off as hell about people capitulating to Trump.” — Martina Navratilova [04:00]
• Complacency and the Risk to Democracy:
  “My fear is that people are just too complacent, too scared, and thinking that they don't matter.” — Martina Navratilova [05:07]
• Call to Action:
  “We are too big to fail if we stand together, but divided we fall. And that's what Trump is counting on. Chaos, fear.” [04:02]

On Immigration and Naturalized Citizens

• Attack on Immigrants:
  Martina and Jim discuss anti-immigrant policies, ICE raids, and the fear spreading among Hispanic-Americans.
  “There are people that are citizens in America that look Hispanic...They are scared of going outside. This is nuts. The government's supposed to be protecting us, not make us scared of it.” — Martina Navratilova [07:35]
• Denaturalization Fears:
  “There's 28 million naturalized citizens in this country. And they're going after people...they have gotten the state, the DOJ brought 14 cases and won eight...So it's like, what are you doing?...But yes, it worries you because...who's going to stop him?” [09:45]

On Why She Speaks Out (and Encourages Others to Act)

• “I've been screaming into the void, you know, on Twitter for a long time now...if I can make any difference on the positive side...just keep speaking out and do whatever it takes. And I just hope people will do something. People say we don't know what to do. Do something. Figure it out. Do something at home, on whatever scale. Talk to your neighbors, talk to your family. Run for office, run for mayor. I don't know. Do something.” [12:33]

[11:08–13:29] Hope, Action, and Inspiration

• On Sports and Life:
  Martina shares her excitement for the upcoming Olympics and stays inspired by watching women's sports thrive post-retirement.
• Maintaining Fight for Democracy:
  “This country gave me a great life, and I intend to keep it that way. And if I can make any difference on the positive side, that's, you know, just keep speaking out and do whatever it takes.” [12:33]

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Lily Gladstone: Cultural Restoration and Indigenous Resilience

[13:31–27:26] The Blackfeet Buffalo and Bring Them Home

Introduction & Personal Connection

• Lily Gladstone introduces her new PBS documentary Bring Them Home, which chronicles the Blackfeet Nation's efforts to return wild buffalo to their ancestral lands.
• Lily shares her deep personal and familial connection, growing up on the Blackfeet reservation and being directly linked to historic treaty signatories.

Key Discussion Points

• Ancestral Memory and Longing:
  “Growing up, just something that I heard a lot...we're buffalo people, but you look at cattle and how they behave...they're kept behind fences, they need to be fed on a schedule, they're dependent. And [my ancestor] said, that's who we're going to become.” — Lily Gladstone [14:23]
• A Lifelong Dream Realized:
  Lily saw the tribal herd as a child, prayed for their return, and now narrates the story of their recovery.
  “So there was a big formative point or period of my life where I would just imagine and pray...for buffalo being back on our plains.” [15:10]
• Running with the Buffalo:
  “It's a traditional game that we're taught...called make the Buffalo Run...So kind of took the analogy of that, that, you know, I guess that's what I'm doing. I'm out here running fast, I'm making noise, I'm leading...all in service of making the buffalo run and bringing them home.” [16:24]

Documentary Clip & Historical Trauma ([17:50–19:10])

• The film shows the devastation of the buffalo genocide, its impact on Blackfeet culture, and the resilience of hope for restoration.
• Notable:
  “This has been our home for millennia. For almost that entire time, we've lived with and alongside the buffalo. But more than a century ago, we and the buffalo became the targets of genocide.” — Lily Gladstone (narration in film clip) [17:50]

Eradication and Ecological Miracles ([19:48–21:28])

• Lily explains the intentional campaign to destroy the buffalo in the late 1800s and its devastating effect on the Blackfeet and broader indigenous identity.
• “There was a price on Indian scalps, there was also a price on buffalo. Knowing that eradicating buffalo would mean that we would become dependent or we would just go away entirely.” [19:48]
• The miraculous survival and return of buffalo descend from genetic herds preserved on the Flathead Reservation and Canada, culminating in a 2016 transfer of yearlings to their ancestral range.

The Deeper Lessons of Survival and Identity ([21:58–26:34])

• On Indigenous Survival:
  “We've survived genocide. We've survived concerted efforts to limit our liberties...and we're still here.” — Lily Gladstone [21:58]
• Resilience from the Buffalo:
  “When you're facing adversity as a kid back home, one thing you hear a lot is that you just turn into the storm and face it head on. Because that's what buffalo do.” [22:52]
• Cultural Lessons from Ecology:
  “Buffalo have taught us who we are. Human beings are kind of pitiful creatures...We have to learn how to be. And one of our biggest teachers are the bison.” [24:03]
• Humility and Connection:
  “We're kind of brought up in Western society to believe we're at the top of a hierarchy, but we're really part of an ecosystem...We have a lot to learn from being what we're meant to be, which is stewards of a world that is way bigger, way more connected, way more powerful than we are.” [26:00]

Why These Stories Matter Now

• Lily explains the current resonance of indigenous stories is rooted in global crises—cultural erasure, environmental disaster, and the search for meaning.
• “It's a global crisis of shared resource, but also of a sense of self, of identity.” [25:24]

Memorable Closing ([26:34–27:26])

• Jim praises Lily’s advocacy and the importance of this story:
  “Such an important message right now. Lily Gladstone, to me, you are such a role model and it's so amazing and important that you have emerged as this incredible star right now and you're using that platform to tell the story of your people.” — Jim Acosta [26:34]

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• Martina Navratilova on democracy & her background: [00:00–06:19]
• On immigration and denaturalization threats: [07:15–10:35]
• Call to action for civic engagement: [12:33–13:17]
• Lily Gladstone introduces Bring Them Home: [13:31–14:23]
• Personal story and buffalo history: [14:23–16:24]
• Documentary trailer and context: [17:50–19:10]
• Eradication of buffalo and recovery: [19:48–21:28]
• Cultural/ecological lessons and hope: [22:52–26:34]

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Episode Tone and Takeaways

• Both guests use their platforms to stress urgency, resilience, and collective power—whether defending democracy or restoring indigenous culture.
• The tone is impassioned, personal, and at times, blunt—reflecting the high stakes and gravity of the subjects discussed.
• Listeners are left with a strong message of responsibility: don’t be complacent, learn from history, cherish and defend democracy and nature, and take action in your own communities.

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Notable Quotes Recap

• Martina Navratilova:
  “We are too big to fail if we stand together, but divided we fall. And that's what Trump is counting on. Chaos, fear. This is the freest country in the world. When I defected in 1975, if this was the situation for me now, I would definitely not choose to live here.” [04:02]
• Lily Gladstone:
  “We've survived genocide...and we're still here. When you're facing adversity...you just turn into the storm and face it head on. Because that's what buffalo do.” [21:58], [22:52]

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For More

• Listen or watch the full episode for deeper context and firsthand emotion from both guests.
• Bring Them Home airs on PBS; check your local schedules or streaming options to watch Lily Gladstone’s acclaimed documentary.

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Summary prepared for listeners seeking the major themes, insights, and emotional highlights from this episode of The Jim Acosta Show.

Transcript

[A]

There tennis legend Martina Navratilova. Martina, great to see you. This is a big treat for me. I follow your career and, you know, just always was rooting you on and we're rooting you on again because now you are a fierce warrior on behalf of democracy. Let's talk about this.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

I see you all the time on social media being very outspoken and one of the things that folks may not know about you as you grew up, you spent part of your childhood in Czechoslovakia, came to the United States, became a tennis star, lived out your dreams here, but you've been very concerned about what you're seeing take place in this country and you become more outspoken about this.

[B]

Well, I've been outspoken all my life. And that, which is what got me in trouble in, in Czechoslovakia. I left my country when I was almost 19 years old, at 18, not knowing if I was ever going to go back, if I was going to be able to go there or if I went back, it would have been a one way ticket. I was a one way ticket out. So it was a big step and I appreciate it so much what America offered. Not just the fact for tennis it was perfect, but for life. Billie Jean used to call me a Yankee. The first time I came to the States, it was like I've always been here. So I fitted, I fitted right in. And when, when Trump was elected the first time, Masha Guess, and I'm guessing she goes by now, and I wrote coded an article for New York Times saying we really worry about Trump wanting to be a dictator and that he's going to just really, you know, put a, put a muzzle on democracy. And little did we know that it was going to be that much worse the second time around. It was pretty bad the first time, but it got so much worse this time because she's organized and shackles are off. And it's just crazy to me that people keep making excuses for what he's doing without really looking at the big picture, looking into the future. Just usa let's just take USA for example, which already I think the numbers are like 600,000 children and adults died because of the aid that we're not giving anymore. And by Susie Wild's admission, he didn't know anything about it. What kind of a president is that that doesn't know what's going on? He, he's just letting everybody do their stuff and he goes, plays golf and you know, goes to sporting events and it just basically is off the hook, takes no responsibility for anything that's bad. And all the credit for things that are good, even though he has nothing to do with it, like the price of gas. So I just don't know why people are so blind to what is going on, how their rights are being taken away. And I, I don't know. It's just Whoopi Goldberg's. A willful ignorance is her biggest pet peeve. And it's, it's almost like people just ignore all the bad stuff and.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know.

[B]

I don't understand it. I honestly do not understand.

[A]

Well, you know, I called last year the ostrich election because I think people would rather just stick their heads in the sand. And I think people still want to keep their heads in the sand, but they're starting to, I think, come to the real world. You know, we're seeing the economy not work out so well for a lot of people in maga. And I think, you know, you're right about the way he, he comes across. I mean, he, he talks like a dictator, sounds like a dictator, but he's letting the people around him just sort of get away with everything in terms of taking this country in a very extreme direction. And you were recently recorded a video with the group Home of the Brave. I. This stood out to me as just being absolutely right on target. Let's play a little bit of that and then talk about on the other side, okay?

[C]

And like Helen, am I going to be cowed again and have to be careful about what I say?

[B]

Martina, Martina, Martina Navratillo.

[A]

She's done it again. The pride of Prague in Fort Worth, Texas.

[B]

She lose better than anybody.

[A]

Nobody won more championships than Martina.

[D]

Greatest woman player in the world.

[C]

Hi, I'm Martina Navartilova. I used to play tennis pretty well. Grew up in a communist country, Czechoslovakia. So I know what it looks like and feels like to live in a totalitarian regime where you cannot see, speak your mind, or worse yet, put in prison for political opinions. So I left my country in 75. I was 18 years old.

[B]

My goal in my life is to become number one.

[C]

You know, I want to play as

[B]

much as I can, and I didn't

[C]

get this chance while being under the Czech government. So I didn't see my family for five years. It was a one way ticket and it was very scary. So when I defected and I was able to say anything I wanted to, I did. I'm so proud to be an American, but I'm embarrassed for what Trump is doing to our country. I am pissed off as hell about people capitulating to Trump, whether it's the legal firms or schools, politicians or companies, we are too big to fail if we stand together, but divided we fall. And that's what Trump is counting on. Chaos, fear. This is the freest country in the world. When I defected in 1975, if this was the situation for me now, I would definitely not choose to live here. My fear is that people are just too complacent, too scared, and thinking that they don't matter.

[B]

Matter.

[C]

As a tennis player, you're used to fighting. You have to fight for everybody.

[A]

Amazing stuff. Martina, why did you decide to do this?

[B]

I was asked. I mean, you know, I feel like I've been screaming into. Yeah, I've been screaming into the void, you know, on Twitter for. For. For a long time now. And, you know, I don't know how to make a difference. I don't know. I'm just trying to use my platform, my voice and experience. Most of all, you know, I'm not. You know, I still get these people. Oh, you don't know what you're talking about. Just a tennis player. Why don't you go back where you came from? All of this stuff. And I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm almost 70. I've lived in two different countries. I know them really well. I've been to, like, 50 countries in my lifetime. I've experienced so much. And you're telling me I don't know what I'm talking about because I used to play tennis, so the compensation. Yeah. And I just. I'm so thankful that I have this opportunity. And George Conway asked me would I do this? And then I think his son JJ Got it all organized, and. Yeah. So I was able to speak my mind and get my message across outside of the. The Twitter bubble.

[A]

Yeah. And I. I want to point out, I talk about my Cuban heritage a lot, but on my mom's side, her mother immigrated to this country from Czechoslovakia, and. And so I have some Czech roots on my mom's side. But I think the approach that you bring to this is absolutely perfect because people think, oh, this can't happen here. We won't go into a dictatorship here. And a lot of countries have said that over the years, and then look what. What happened to them. And I think it's a great point to make because democracy is precious, Isn't that right?

[B]

Yeah. Well, we have to work at it. It's a work in progress, just like we are as human beings. So you can't just relax. It's a Balancing act always will be a balancing act between too many regulations and not enough. Too much democracy, not enough. Too much power over the government, not enough. So you just have to keep adjusting. But right now, we're just going all one way, the other way. I mean, what is it? Clean Air act is bad now?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Clean Water act is bad because it's too clean. What are you talking about? So, yes, there's such a thing as too many regulations, too much government, but right now, the government there is definitely too much of it, but all on the wrong side. Look, you have. There are people that are citizens in America that look Hispanic. They are Hispanic. Doesn't matter whether they look it or they are. They are scared of going outside.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

This is nuts. The government's supposed to be protecting us, not make us scared of it.

[A]

That's exactly right.

[B]

Upside down.

[A]

No, that's. And I was going to ask about your immigrant experience and what you see now looking out at what is taking place in this country right now with the ICE raids, the deportation roundups. And you're right, and I've talked about this on my show. They're just grabbing people because they have brown skin, big Spanish, Spanish last name. And this is, I mean, papers, please. You know, that kind of talk is right out of, you know, fascist government.

[B]

And as citizens, you don't have to have your paperwork on you. I don't have to have my driver's license on me, so I don't have proof I'm an American. Because now they can stop you for whatever reason. I mean, it used to be, you know, they used to pretend you have a broken tail light to stop you in a car. Now they just, you know, break the window and. And pepper spray you and say, get out of the car. So it's. It's unrecognizable, really, but it's the drip, drip things. And it little by little, yeah, just normalize. Normalize the abnormal, legalize the illegal. And because Trump is doing it pure daylight, which somehow makes it legal, makes it okay, because he's not doing it surreptitiously. But in, out in the open, that makes it okay, because then it's presidential, which the Supreme Court enabled that. But I was. And also the capitulation. I talked about it in that ad in the promotion. Capitulation ahead. Like the legal firms. I was talking to my friend just now on the skillet. What do they have to gain by giving in to Trump? They say, well, it's either that or we lose the firm. How Would they lose the firm? Can you explain that to me? How does the legal firm lose itself because they don't get money to Trump?

[A]

Yeah, well, I mean, a lot of these folks, they've been feeding at the trough for so long, they're worried that I guess Trump could turn off the feed into the trough, I suppose. But, you know, and, but the other thing that, on the immigration front, just to go back to that for a second, I mean, there's some talk in, in the Trump orbit and inside the administration that they may go after people who have been naturalized citizens and try to go after their citizenship. Martina, could something like this happen to you? Are you worried that something like this could happen to you because you're speaking out?

[B]

There was just an article, a piece about that in the New York times. And there's 28 million naturalized citizens in this country, 28,800,000 this year. And they're going after people that may have lied on their process. Right. So they have gotten the state, the DOJ brought 14 cases and won eight of them, which they take the citizenship away. 14, eight lot. They want eight cases, which costs a lot of money to do. And then the people don't, they don't, they don't really report. They just lose their citizenship. They still have the residency. So it's like, what are you doing? What are you talking about? I didn't lie on my, on my immigration and I didn't do anything criminal. So I don't know. But yes, it worries you because how far he can, he can take it as far as he wants because who's going to stop him? Yeah, that's the problem. Nobody's stopping him.

[A]

But the message that you are bringing to this is that it's up to the people. The people have to come together. Yeah, right.

[B]

So that's, that's what I'm saying. You know, the first term there were some guardrails. So the Mattis and, and you know, the runs, Freebas, whoever was around him that were putting some breaks on him. Now there are no breaks. The Supreme Court gave him the free green light. So the only breaks is us, the people. We the people are the break. Yeah, well, we have to bail ourselves out of this mess.

[A]

Absolutely. And I have to ask a sports related question. Are you looking forward to watching the Olympics coming up? How is it that you've been able to stay in this phenomenal shape, Martina, to be able to ski out on the slopes like this? It looks like you're just not slowing down. Is that the key?

[B]

Yeah, Slowing down. Yes. Not on skis. Maybe not, but in every other way. Yes. But I was, again, talking to my friend Mindy, who I've skied with here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

My best friend. That I would love to go to Cortina d' Ampezzo and see Lindsey won ski, but it's just gonna. It's a logistical nightmare. Also, I have two small kids at home, so I can't just leave on a. On a dime. But I am so excited about watching it. Specifically the. The women's skiers, Michaela Shifrin and Lindsey Vaughn, who came back on a. On a artificial knee and kicking. So I'm very, very happy for her.

[A]

Yeah, I bumped into Lindsey Vaughn very briefly in Switzerland several years back, and when you see her in person, it's like, wow, she is an incredible athlete. And you can tell. You know, she can. She's just an amazing human being. But so are you, Martina. I mean, I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of so many people out there who just absolutely adore you and love watching you during your tennis career. And. And I'm just really excited to see. On the court of democracy. You know, this is. This is. I think there's a lot at stake right now, so it's really amazing that you're doing this.

[B]

Well, I don't know any other way to be. And, you know, this country gave me a great life, and I intend to keep it that way. And if I can make any difference on the positive side, that's, you know, just keep speaking out and do whatever it takes. And I just hope people will do something. People say we don't know what to do. Do something. Figure it out. Do something at home, on whatever scale. Talk to your neighbors, talk to your family. Run for office, run for mayor. I don't know. Do something. We can all do something. It's like recycling. We make a difference because everybody. So many people recycle. Right. If just one person is like, it doesn't matter. So do something. Figure it out.

[A]

Yeah. Sitting on the sidelines. Sitting on the sidelines. Not an option anymore. That's. There's no question about it. Martina Navratilova, my fellow chef. Maybe we're related in some way.

[B]

Who knows?

[A]

You never know. But great to meet you like this, and I always appreciate you whenever you engage with me on social media. I always appreciate that as well. And just know you have a lot of fans out there. Thank you so much. Really.

[B]

All right, thank you, Jim.

[A]

And joining us now is Lily Gladstone. She is an Academy Award Nominated actress. She's an executive producer and the narrator for a new feature documentary that is extremely important right now. It's called Bring them Home. It is from Thunderheart Films, Weta TV and pbs. Bring them Home is about the Blackfeet nation's decades long effort to return wild buffalo to their ancestral lands. The project is so important to the identity of the Blackfeet nation. And here to talk about it is Lily Gladstone. Wow. What an honor. Thank you so much, Lily. Great to see you.

[D]

Thank you so much.

[A]

Absolutely. And it's Native American Heritage month right now. And so this comes at a. At a perfect time. You know, I just have to ask you first of all, and I want to show a clip from the documentary and so on, but you know, why did you decide to do this? Why is this project so important to you?

[D]

You know, from being a kid, just day one, I grew up on the Blackfeet reservation where a lot of the film takes place. A lot of the same landscape was what I saw on my commute to school every morning. You can see my cousin Will out there riding a horse, helping, helping drive them drive the buffalo. Growing up, just something that I heard a lot. Partly came from my own family. My great, great, great grandfather, Chief Mikay Stu Red Crow, he was a signatory of Treaty 7 in Canada. But he was around for that time of transition from buffalo to cattle. And he witnessed and talked about how, you know, we're buffalo people, but you look at cattle and how they behave, they're. They're kept behind fences, they need to be fed on a schedule, they're dependent. And he said, that's who we're going to become. Kind of a you are what you eat sort of a thing in Crass, I guess. But the return of the buffalo then has been in conversation since early childhood. For me, the first time I remember seeing the first attempt at a tribal herd, I was pretty young. This was before my family moved away from the reservation. So mid-90s. I remember driving between East Glacier and Browning to go get groceries and just waiting and hoping to see them out there. There was one time they were the road and they totally shut traffic down. So there was a big formative point or period of my life where I would just imagine and pray for it and think about buffalo being back on our planes and imagine that, that resurgence. So when this documentary was coming together, it's been seven years, seven, eight years in the making.

[A]

Wow. No kidding.

[D]

The documentary brilliant documentarian who came out of Bozeman, well, it came out of Brooklyn and they came out of Bozeman. Daniel Glick, he was doing his footwork and working his way around the Res and kept asking for collaborators, and everybody kept bringing my name up. So long before Killers of the Flower Moon made me kind of a global name, I was definitely known around the Res and around Montana as a Black Feet filmmaker. So I've been attached to at least narrate for a really, really long time. And it was. It was really kind of heartwarming and wonderful that in the background of everything that was going on with me, the buffalo continued to come back and continued to get stronger. And one thing that. It's a traditional game that we're taught when we're young that you play at gatherings called make the Buffalo Run. It's. Before we had the horse, it's. There was buffalo runs. So you would have runners, young kids that would, at the top of their lungs, yell and scream and run for a length to draw the buffalo over a cliff. Pretty dangerous job and requires strong runners with loud voices. So kind of took the analogy of that, that, you know, I guess that's what I'm doing. I'm out here running fast, I'm making noise, I'm leading. Yeah, a bit reluctantly, but it's all in service of making the buffalo run and bringing them home. So it was always really wonderful fuel knowing that this. This story was coming together.

[A]

It's an incredible story. And let's watch a little bit from the documentary. I think we have a clip or a trailer, and I was looking at some of this last night. It's just extraordinary.

[D]

This has been our home for millennia. For almost that entire time, we've lived with and alongside the buffalo. But more than a century ago, we and the buffalo became the targets of genocide. Without buffalo, our world collapsed. But there were some of us who refused to give up, who held tight to the hope that with the return of ENI would come the healing from this trauma. Growing up, there weren't any buffalo here on the reserve. Never heard anybody ever talk of buffalo. So slowly, you know, just start learning

[A]

they're still a wild animal.

[B]

When you get them into crowds and stuff, you could, you know, you'll find that out pretty damn easy.

[A]

We begin to see who else should we bring in to help us evolve this idea of wild bison. Seeing them buffalo coming into territory up here would be a great victory more than anything that we've settled in the last thousand years, because they're going to teach us our ways again.

[D]

And it was almost like they were saying, we're coming home and prepare. Prepare for us to come home.

[A]

Wow. It is. It looks amazing. It looks beautiful. The cinematography here is. I mean, it's just. It's amazing to look at. Lily, you must be so proud of this. But I mean, I guess help us with the viewers and educating them on what happened to the buffalo because, I mean, a lot of people may not remember this or realize, I mean, they were just about wiped out. Correct.

[D]

I mean, and so large campaign latter late part of the 1800s, early 1900s. It was a very concerted effort. It was essentially a genocidal campaign. That famous photo of the mountains and mountains, right. Mountain of bison skulls. As I was talking about my great great grandpa Red crowd, how we're buffalo people. We're not the only ones who acknowledged and noticed that. So when westward expansion was happening, when there was a price on Indian scalps, there was also a price on buffalo. Knowing that eradicating buffalo would mean that we would become dependent or we would just go away entirely. So this campaign was enormously successful. And it's kind of a miracle that we have the American bison anymore. And it's, you know, I want to call it a miracle, but I also want to call it kind of metaphysical will, I suppose, will of any will of the buffalo that one of our genetic herds from this time was. It found kind of a sanctuary on the Flathead Reservation for a while. And then those buffalo moved up to Canada and still Blackfoot ancestral area territory. But this specific herd sat and waited for almost for over a century, for 100 years. And then in 2016, I remember going out and visiting the yearling. We got about 40 head, 40 to 60 head of yearling that were brought down and corralled. And those are the ones that you. You see in the film that's continue to grow. And knowing that they look a little bit different too. They sound like little pigs. They're really cute when they're young.

[A]

Don't get too close. As we saw that one gentleman close exactly in the ring there, I thought, oh, gosh, this somebody's gonna get hurt. But I have to ask you, because everybody knows you from Killers of the Flower Moon, which I love that book. I read that book, like in a couple of days. It was incredible. And then the movie was just amazing, and you were incredible in it. And what is it about the stories about Native Americans, about our indigenous people? Why. Why are these stories resonating with us now, do you think?

[D]

Something that a lot of indigenous folks have been saying for a while, we've survived genocide. We've survived concerted efforts to limit our liberties, to limit our speech, to limit our way of life. And we're still here. So there's been an enormous amount of tumult as of late, and it's affecting communities that haven't really ever felt it before. So I feel like, you know, we have survived and we are still here in the face of all of these very concerted efforts, these large policies, these government policies to kill the Indian, save the man, to basically eradicate our way of life and in the hopes that we just kind of disappear. And clearly we haven't. And that very much comes from going back to who buffalo people are. When. When you're facing adversity as a kid back home, one thing you hear a lot is that you just turn into the storm and face it head on. Because that's what buffalo do. You know, cow will need a rancher to take them to a pasture. We'll need them to take them to a barn, basically so they can surv a cold winter buffalo calf in sub zero so their babies, their newborn babies can survive 50 below. And the way that they get through the storm is they keep moving, they face it head on, and they break the. The strongest buffalo break the. The embankments and break the storm and the snow that's piling up, everything they do is protective of their young, protective of their vulnerable, and they just keep moving. So we've learned how to do that from them. It's one thing I'm really grateful about this documentary, particularly that Daniel had the absolutely necessary and vital foresight to work with Blackfeet filmmakers. A lot of times you see documentaries that have a biological element. Because in a lot of the documentary we work, we're talking about restoring bison as a megafauna for, you know, some necessary ecosystem revitalization. And a lot of times when you're talking in western biological terms, there's this strong resistance to anthropomorphize. So you're not supposed to anthropomorphize the animals. Well, it's true. You always got to be mindful of how much you're projecting yourself into what you're seeing. It's kind of the opposite with us. Buffalo have taught us who we are. Human beings are kind of pitiful creatures. If we're born in the middle of a sub zero storm, we're not going to make it. So we have to learn how to be. And one of our biggest teachers are the bison. So it's. Yeah, I think the lesson that people can look to from native peoples who have survived all of these, you know, centuries now of hardships, of erasure. Essentially we've learned how to survive from our land, from the non human peoples that we share our land with.

[A]

Yeah, a couple of things you said there really resonated with me. One is about being part of a culture that is facing the threat of eradication and erasure. I think that that message resonates with a lot of people right now. And I think also what you're talking about, the, the connection between ourselves and the natural world, which I think so many people have lost sight of.

[D]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[A]

Our climate, our environment.

[D]

Exactly. It's, it's a global crisis and it's a global crisis of shared resource, but also of a sense of self, of identity. There's this idea of man conquering nature and that's absolutely not it. You know, it hasn't been that long in our timeline as Blackfeet people that we haven't had been hand in hand with buffalo. And seeing that come back and seeing the revital, revitalization of purpose, sense of who we are, coming with it, that's always, that's always been big part of the goal, I guess. And I hope that's what an audience that is not indigenous takes from it is. We have one world and we are part of a very big picture. We're kind of brought up in Western, Western society to believe we're at the top of a hierarchy, but we're really part of an ecosystem and restoration of that and acknowledgement of that humbling ourselves that we're animals too. And we're a pretty pitiful species when you look at it. We have, we have a lot to learn from being what we're meant to be, which is stewards of a world that is way bigger, way more connected, way more powerful than we are.

[A]

Such an important message right now. Lily Gladstone, I, I, to me, you are such a role model and it's, it's so amazing and important that you have emerged as this incredible star right now and you're, you're using that platform to tell the story of your people. And I think it's so wonderful that PBS is part of this too. Yay. Public broadcasting we love. But Lily, I'm a huge fan. I know you're so busy doing these interviews, so I won't hold you up too long, but kudos to you, honestly. Way to go. Amazing stuff.

[D]

Thank you so much for giving us the time to talk about this too. Just means so much.

[A]

You bet. The great Lily Gladstone, who will be seeing for years to come. I promise you, everybody, we're going to be seeing Lily doing amazing projects for your years to come. Thank you so much. Really great to talk to you.

[D]

Appreciate it. Thank you.

[A]

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