Spotlight: Megan Red Shirt-Shaw
This interview took place Wednesday, April 29, 2020 and was conducted by Samantha Jacobson and Jennifer Reres.
Megan Red Shirt-Shaw (Oglala Lakota) earned her bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania in English, her master's from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Higher Education, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development with a focus on Higher Education and a minor in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota. Prior to her Ph.D program, she worked in undergraduate admissions and college counseling. She currently teaches the "College Success Strategies" course and advises at the 7TH GEN Summer Program.
We are thankful to Megan for sharing her time and expertise in higher education and activism with Our Repro Rights Community.
What is a typical morning for you?
I knew I wasn’t going to have a good answer for this (laughs). I’m not a morning person and as a graduate student my schedule is always changing. I’m working on getting back into a normal routine and eating a good breakfast. Starting this summer, I’ll be working with Native students, checking in during the morning and seeing what their needs are for the day. It’s the greatest gift I could ask for and I’m looking forward to it being a normal part of my schedule soon.
How do you manage your time between school and your work?
This is a really beautiful chapter of my life where my graduate studies and daily work are aligned. I work in admissions and counseling for Native youth. It’s a privilege to study in this field and use it first hand with my students. I am really interested in access and barriers in education and the successful models that are created to support Native students. I adamantly support that higher education is a choice and that all students should be able to choose if it is a good fit for them.
What is your vision of reproductive justice?
I want to clarify that I’m representing my perspective and not speaking for all Native communities. I’m inspired by returning to traditional birthing practices. I think we need to be more comfortable discussing Native reproductive rights. There’s a very painful history of sterilizing Native women without consent and it was happening in our healthcare system. We need to return that conversation back to the communities that were impacted and train Native midwives, gynecologists, and doctors.
Luckily with more information and medical services online, people can take care of themselves, but also remain anonymous and not face judgement from their families or communities. Native culture and identity is critically important in the healthcare system, so I’m thankful to the activists leading those conversations.
What is missing from the RJ movement?
First off, I want reproductive justice for ALL. The first female federal prisoner to die from COVID-19 was Native woman named Andrea Circle Bear. She had just given birth and now she is gone. Everyone should have reproductive health access regardless of any circumstances.
Reproductive justice is not new to the Native community. We have had it for thousands of years on this land before it became the United States--birthing practices that are connected to land and community. Native experts need to be in the conversation, specifically focusing on rural communities.
I also would like more standardized health resources for students across tribal nations. I want students to have agency over their choices and to know they have that right. Everything is connected to our reproductive health--the physical and spiritual.
Who inspires you?
My parents inspire me and are my role models. My Dad works in college admissions. My Mom teaches the Lakota language and works with Native students. They are the best of the best. I watched them pursue their passions, and then took both of their careers and combined them to make mine (laughs).They are active and engaged parents and I recognize that it is a level of privilege I have. I wouldn’t be here without them.
My partner John inspires me. He’s also the best of the best, truly my best friend. We get to work together, so I watch his mentorship to students and we always have these really collaborative conversations about our ideas. It’s really special to find someone who sees the world the way you do, who wants to make it better.
Finally, the Native students I’ve gotten to know and work with are powerful inspiration. They challenge me to be a better person.
What is your favorite book? Who is your favorite author?
I love reading John Steinbeck’s writing. There is a letter he wrote to his son that I have hung on the wall in every office I’ve been in. It’s a letter about love. The one line that has always stayed with me: “If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.” This gives me a positive outlook on working in education and with students whose circumstances are always changing. I love that positive belief that “nothing good gets away.”
What does feminism mean to you?
I struggle with the word “feminism.” It’s hard to align what it means to be a Lakota woman with contemporary, mainstream feminism. We had our own ways of knowing what we were before gender stereotypes. Settler colonialism had a huge impact on women’s roles and how they’re perceived. We have traditional teachings that need to be passed on. Indigenous feminism is so different from mainstream feminism--and Indigenous women don’t always get a seat at those tables.
Tuesday, May 5th is National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. How does your work intertwine and hold space for #MMIWG?
The more we do not provide Native women with safe spaces to have agency and power over their own bodies, the more men (it’s predominantly men) see Native women as disposable, especially if there is an addiction issue or sex work involved. No one is disposable. We need to provide platforms to families who can testify on the behalf of family members who have gone missing or been murdered.
There are tribal reservations with a completely separate court from the state itself. Non-Natives can go onto these tribal lands, commit a crime, leave, and tribal courts cannot pursue a case against them. In fact, 70% of violence against Native women and girls is from men outside of the community. I don’t know how we change that, but I know we have to if we are going to support murdered and missing Indienous women and girls.
What are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the community of people that I know and get work with. Through many different phases of my life, I’ve created an incredible network of people who care about the state of the world and the future of students. It feels like I am surrounded by powerful rays of light who together want to create a better, more equitable world.