Artist Spotlight :: Red Eagle ::

RED EAGLE

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Born: Jesse Robbins

Affiliation: Tvshka Homma Choctaw

Although Jesse “Red Eagle” Robbins was born on the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas, he spent most of his life growing up in Oklahoma City. Robbins never met his mother, but had a strong relationship with his father Dr. Rockey Robbins, an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Oklahoma. “Education is a ladder; My dad taught me that early on,” Jesse states.

            Yet the absence of a mother and the harsh experience of being Native American in an unaccepting culture turned Jesse to crime in his teens. Even though Jesse was smart enough to recognize the destruction drugs and alcohol were causing his Native community, he still fell into the trap of joining a gang. “I was confused about what a warrior was,” Jesse admits, “Gangs provide a false sense of belonging for kids. But they don’t protect —they destroy. They provide a false sense of identity. I thought I was being different but I was conforming. Gangs take you outside your culture.” Robbins mentions that most of his gang were Hispanics but even still he thought at the time “they were my clan. I was striving for a tribe, an identity, a warrior role. A gang provided that, or so I thought…” Through his gang involvement, Robbins was dealing drugs and at only 20 years old was convicted of a felony drug charge.

By that time Jesse had realized the error of his ways; he’d “already ‘woken up’” he says, “and finding my Choctaw culture is what saved me.” Robbins feels fortunate that he was instilled with tribal customs from an early age. For instance,  Jesse’s grandfather bestowed him the Choctaw name “Onse Homma” or “Red Eagle” in a traditional naming ceremony: “He walked out into the woods and when he back he told me that was my name,” Jesse states. Red Eagle fears that important traditional ceremonies, such as the naming ceremony, are fading away with today’s youth.

Robbins knows keeping traditions alive are the ultimate form of rebellion and resistance to the dominant culture.  As an avid Choctaw speaker, Stickball player and stomp dancer, Robbins proudly embraces his traditional culture. “I learned about storytelling and our ceremonial songs,” Jesse says, “I used that to elevate myself and now I am trying to elevate the youth above assimilation and conformity.”

Originally writing poetry to deal with his identity frustrations, Jesse has since turned to hip hop as a way to spread his message to the youth. When I first started visiting schools I’d read my poetry but the kids couldn’t really relate to that so I turned to music,” Red Eagle says, “…so I guess you can say hip hop chose me.” Jesse sees himself as the coyote, “a trickster” that can “take the elder’s message and put it in a form the youth [can] relate to and understand… The Choctaw culture is so dope. When kids hear it in the music they understand how cool the culture is… They want me to say it, not some 50-year-old they can’t relate to.”

In music, Red Eagle has truly found his warrior calling: “I am a warrior and I will fight for our culture. Peace and love scare people but a warrior is peaceful. Music is a form of protest and I use it to be an activist for the tribe.” Red Eagle continues to be inspired by his own results. “At my shows there will be kids that come up to me and I can see the spark in their eyes to change. That’s what I hppe they use. Even fore me to give them four minutes of a different idea, a different way out, it allows them to think a little differently, give them a different perspective.”

In his song High Above The Clouds, Red Eagle aggressively rejects dominant-culture’s banishment of Indians as people of the past. Robbins dismisses the diluted history schools teaching of colonization and insists the genocide will not be forgotten. Repeating “I represent the people not treat as equal,” Red Eagle refuses to even identify as American, as this would undermine the sovereignty of Native Nations. “Yeah I read your books so I know my enemies/ Never have your founding fathers ever been a friend to me/ Removal, murder, lies, slavery/ I am not American you can’t erase our memories / Rapists on your dollar, murder on your cents/ Everybody asking me where did the Natives went?” The warrior fights on…