Morgan Taylor/Reporter
OKMULGEE, Oklahoma – Award-winning journalist, advocate and writer Rebecca Nagle was invited to the College of Muscogee Nation to speak to the students on November 30.
Nagle hosts and writes a popular podcast show called “This Land” where she discusses issues in Indian Country. Her first series focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court case originally known as Murphy v. Oklahoma, which would eventually lead up to McGirt v. Oklahoma.
The podcast’s second series, which released in August, takes on Brackeen v. Haaland, a case that originated in Texas questioning the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
Tribal Leadership Circle Faculty Advisor Colton Wood had reached out to Nagle about presenting to the students.
Nagle spoke to the students about issues of misrepresentation in mainstream media. She claimed to speak to students on the topic often.
A prime example of misrepresentation, according to Nagle, is when CNN’s live election coverage included a graphic table of voter percentages that listed Native Americans as “something else.”
As a Two-Spirit Cherokee woman Nagle began her advocacy for Native rights and Native representation after surviving domestic abuse and sexual assault.
Nagle said as simplistic as it may sound, she is very passionate about the truth of information.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there about the laws and about what’s happening on the ground,” she said. “Here in Oklahoma, we have a state that is, whether it’s in legal documents or the press, citing numbers of how many cases that are going to be overturned and things like that, that aren’t based in data or fact.”
She believes it is the right of every Oklahoman and tribal citizen to know what is happening with the transfer of criminal jurisdiction.
Some of Nagle’s writings regarding the Murphy case have been featured in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, The Huffington Post and more.
Nagle can found on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. “This Land” can be listened to on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, Tune in, Google Podcast, and at: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/.
