Welcome to First America
6/5/20264 min
Welcome to First America: the true story of how the United States came to be, and how our current political moment is 250 years in the making. Dropping June 22nd, with early episode releases for Pushkin+ subscribers.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRebecca Nagle· Host0:00
I'm Rebecca Nagle, [speaking Native language], citizen of Cherokee Nation. Are you guys big Chiefs fans?
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:07
Hell yeah. Yes.
Rebecca Nagle· Host0:08
This past year, I've been out traveling the country- Chiefs on three.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:12
One, two, three. Chiefs!
Rebecca Nagle· Host0:14
... to try to understand something about America.
Speaker 4· Soundbite0:17
Oh!
Rebecca Nagle· Host0:18
I feel like that's gonna happen a lot. About where Native people fit in. Do you know who Native Americans are?
Speaker 5· Soundbite0:24
Yes. They're the people, the f- they're the first people to live here.
Rebecca Nagle· Host0:30
Do Native Americans still exist?
Speaker 5· Soundbite0:32
Maybe. I don't really think so.
Rebecca Nagle· Host0:35
And the history we've pushed aside. Do you think most people who come to this spot, do you think that they come here to honor the atrocity that happened here?
Speaker 6· Soundbite0:45
No, they're doing winter sports.
Rebecca Nagle· Host0:47
Going all the way back to how the United States began.
Speaker 7· Soundbite0:51
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
Speaker 8· Soundbite0:59
The Declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about Enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it.
Speaker 7· Soundbite1:08
The merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of great- If we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself.
Rebecca Nagle· Host1:27
[dramatic music] So it's been 250