Radmilla Cody:

Two Cultures, One Voice

by Felix Contreras

May 10, 2010

Download radmilla.mp3

 

John Running/Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian

Radmilla Cody and her grandmother, photographed in 2006.

Her first audience was the sheep. Her inspiration came from what she saw and heard around her.

"When you're way out in the middle of nowhere, and you're herding sheep, and you're spending time jumping over the salt bushes and sitting around listening to all the beautiful sounds of nature, something's going to make you open your mouth," Cody says.

Cody's voice is bicultural. Her mother was Navajo, her father African-American. Now, she sings folk songs in the language of her Native American ancestors — with a twist.

Two In One

Her mom was just a teenager when Radmilla was born, so she was raised by her Navajo grandmother. There was no electricity or running water, and young Radmilla Cody lived a very traditional life, learning to herd sheep, spin wool for clothing and cook meals using only what they grew or raised.

That traditional Navajo foundation was augmented by one additional cultural factor: Cody's grandmother was Christian.

"I always remember one particular time, the church had this choir from I don't recall where," Cody says. "But man, they sounded so good. And I remember thinking in my mind, 'That's what I want to do, that's what I want to sound like!' "

Cody's two cultures come together on her albums. There are traditional songs as well as songs written by her uncle, Herman Cody.

Speaking from his home near the center of the 26,000-square-mile Navajo reservation, Herman Cody says the songs he writes for his niece are secular interpretations of sacred ceremonial songs. From the beginning he had one goal.

"We're going to make these albums just as grandpa would walk behind the hogan, sit down, start making a moccasin," Herman Cody says. "And then, he just goes at it."

That singing usually comes from a man, and it's usually a monotone, with almost no flourishes. Radmilla projects more and uses techniques like bending notes: common among blues, jazz and pop singers.

Herman Cody says her voice brings together the traditional and the contemporary.

"She tends to blend both of them in there to where she can sing a traditional song and give it a soulful approach," he says. "That's what makes it sound so unique."

It adds what he calls "Navajo soul" to Navajo spirituality.

"I think the soul comes in from the black side," Radmilla says, laughing, "and with the Navajo [side], just the beauty and the language in itself."

Keeping The Spirit Alive

Radmilla Cody's connection to singing deepened during the 18 months spent in prison for not reporting a boyfriend's drug dealing.

"The music did not desert me," she says. "It remained there in my life. And I think that in a lot of ways it was because the spirit in those songs knew that I needed — I needed them."

Cody says she was afraid to report her boyfriend because he hit her. Today, she lends her voice to help other victims of domestic abuse and to help keep the Navajo language alive.

She has her grandmother to thank for that connection to the language. Dorothy Cody is 95 years old now. She still lives in the same house where she raised Radmilla.

She says she is proud her granddaughter is taking the Navajo language well beyond the reservation. Radmilla translated for her.

"She said it's good," Radmilla says. "She said it's good, you being able to sing in the Navajo language, it's a good thing. And then, of course, you being able to sing in English and speak English is good, too."

For Radmilla Cody it comes down to two languages, two cultures and one voice.

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Black, Red and Proud

Radmilla Cody's crowning as Miss Navajo Nation in 1997 triggered an outcry and a conversation about what it means to be Native American. Now she's featured in a museum exhibit showing the rarely told history of African-Native Americans.

By: Cynthia Gordy | Posted: February 22, 2011 

In a 1920 edition of the Journal of Negro History, Carter G. Woodson observed, "One of the longest unwritten chapters in the history of the United States is that treating of the relations of the Negroes and the Indians."

"Red/Black: Related Through History," a new exhibit at Indianapolis' Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, illuminates this rarely told story. Since the first arrival of enslaved Africans in North America, the relationships between African Americans and Native Americans have encompassed alliances and adversaries, as well as the indivisible blending of customs and culture.

"It's not received a lot of attention because it's not the dominant culture's story, although it's very important to the dominant culture's bigger view of the past," says James Nottage, curator of the exhibit, which includes narratives of enslaved blacks who traveled the Trail of Tears with their Native owners; slaves who intermarried into Native tribes as an escape from bondage; and the largely African-featured members of the Shinnecock tribe of New York, as well as shared traditions in food, dress and music.

Radmilla Cody, 35, a Native American Music Award-winning singer and anti-domestic violence activist, is also featured in the exhibit. The daughter of a Navajo mother and an African-American father, Cody was raised by her grandmother in the Arizona Navajo community, initially speaking only the Navajo language. In 1997 she was crowned Miss Navajo Nation, sparking controversy from some members who refused to accept her.

As one disapproving letter to the editor of the Navajo Times put it, "Miss Cody's appearance and physical characteristics are clearly black, and thus are representative of another race of people. It appears that those judges who selected Miss Cody have problems with their own sense of identity."

Cody, also the subject of a 2010 documentary, Hearing Radmilla, talked to The Root about growing up both black and Navajo, and how she handles frequent "Wow, you don't look Indian" comments.

The Root: The experience of having your Miss Navajo Nation reign challenged calls to mind the debate over the Cherokee Freedmen. Is this a common issue across the Native community, of African-Native Americans having trouble finding acceptance?

Radmilla Cody: I grew up having to deal with racism and prejudices on both the Navajo and the black sides, and when I ran for Miss Navajo Nation, that especially brought out a lot of curiosity in people. It's something that we're still having to address as black Natives, still having to prove ourselves in some way or another, because at the end of the day, it all falls back to what people think a Native American should look like.

But there's been many times when people have said to me, "Oh, my great-great-grandmother was an Indian." I'll ask them if they know what tribe, and they don't. It's very important because in order to be acknowledged as a tribal member, you have to be enrolled. So I can see where Native people are protective about defining who's a tribal member, and are questioning of people claiming Native ancestry.

TR: What motivated you to enter the Miss Navajo Nation pageant?

RC: I've known since I was in the seventh grade that I wanted to run for Miss Navajo Nation. We had a day at school where we were all dressed up in our traditional attire, and I remember seeing the woman who was Miss Navajo at that time. I thought she was so beautiful, and thought it was so neat that she represented the whole Navajo tribe.

Our society, as most Native societies, is matrilineal. Miss Navajo exemplifies the essence of First Woman, White Shell Woman and Changing Woman, which are deities in our culture. From that point it became a goal of mine, and I talked about it all the time. When I got older, I spent the summer before the pageant preparing for it.

TR: What does that preparation entail, exactly? I understand it's not a typical pageant.

RC: Basically you're tested on your knowledge of the Navajo government, the culture, the stories, the songs and the Navajo philosophy of life. You're tested on butchering a sheep and making fry bread and other traditional foods of the Navajo people. It usually lasts about a week. What separates our pageant from the Miss USA pageant is the bikini -- we don't have a swimsuit category!

TR: What was the overall reaction in the Navajo community when you won?

RC: As soon as I was crowned, it was in the newspapers. But every negative newspaper article that came out about me holding the title of Miss Navajo was outnumbered by support letters for me. The people who disagreed with me being selected were a small group of individuals, versus the majority of the Navajo people who were in favor and looked past the color line. They decided that I was able to represent our people because of the knowledge that I had.

TR: Were you surprised by the backlash that you received?

RC: I wasn't surprised. I knew it was going to happen. Right before I left to go to compete in the pageant, my grandmother sat down with me. She said to me, "My child, I just want you to know that there are going to be some people who are not going to be accepting of this."

Growing up, I was taunted at school with racial slurs and would come home in tears. My grandmother would be there, waiting to console me. She always said, "Let 'em talk. You are a Navajo woman. This is your land. This is how I raised you. You be proud of who you are." Every time, that's what she would say.

So this day before the pageant, when she cautioned me about people who wouldn't be accepting of me participating, I turned around and told her, "Let 'em talk, Grandma. I'm a proud Navajo woman, remember?" She had a big smile on her face. I think she felt content that I was ready for what I was going to be challenged with.

TR: Do you have any connection to African-American culture and community?

 RC: I spent more time in the Navajo community growing up because my grandmother raised me. When I would come into town in Flagstaff, Ariz., to see my mom, who had black friends, and my dad's relatives, I was in the black community more. I went to high school in Flagstaff, and one day a friend was wearing a T-shirt with a big "X" on it. I said, "That's cool! I should get one that says 'R' for Radmilla!" I didn't know anything about Malcolm X. He told me to join the black student organization. I had a lot to educate myself about and embrace, because I come from two beautiful cultures.

In the black community I also had my challenges. I was always told, "You think you're cute because you got that long, fine hair," and I would have to stand up for my Navajo side because of stereotypes placed upon the Navajo. When I'd go back to the Navajo community, I would have to stand up for my black side because of stereotypes.

It's a challenge sometimes, but I've gotten past the initial state of frustration and just use those opportunities to educate people and let people know about my culture as a Navajo woman. I think this exhibit at the Eiteljorg Museum is a wonderful opportunity for people to gain some understanding about black Natives. We exist, we're here, and through this exhibit we have an opportunity to be acknowledged and recognized.

Cynthia Gordy is The Root's Washington reporter.

>via: http://www.theroot.com/views/black-native-american

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