[music] We don't want to be defined by genocide.

We don't want to be the definition of who we are.

We're all still here, we're still vibrant, we're working, we're moving forward, we're growing, and now, we have a project with the city that's willing to share this story.

The project came to us; it was like a boardwalk project.

You come off of all these big windy roads, and then it opens up into this canyon where there's jetties, long strips, some fun breweries.

Right along that, there's going to be eight installments of different stories that are being told to one of the key aspects, as they want to do stories through video.

We were hired as a production company to come in and facilitate the video side of things.

There's going to be 10 videos, and you're going to be able to access them through a QR code.

There's going to be eight different modules that you get to walk around and then experience different parts of the park.

Well, we're in Crescent City, California.

It's the most northern city on the coast of California.

This county is very rural.

It's a logging town and a former fishing town.

It's a very small community, but very connected to the region.

It's a place that you can fall in love with in an instant.

Say you just go in for a hike in the redwoods, and you get lost in the redwoods, you're in the most magical place that I think there is on this earth.

You can be on a beach where you're the only one there.

When you come back, it's only your footprints coming back, and you just don't find places like that.

I'd also say it's a challenged community when it comes to economic development.

There are a lot of people that are struggling here.

Growing up here in Crescent City, I had Tolowa friends.

At that time, I understood they were Native Americans, but I didn't know the history, and it really wasn't taught.

The more I talked to people, especially people my age and older, they don't know the history either.

One of the first things that we did is we set our sights on a grant.

There was a Prop 68 grant that was out there, and part of that was how do you engage with your community?

We had a big town hall.

We were asking people, "What do you want?"

Through those conversations, it was identified that the tribal population might be underrepresented in these projects.

That gave us an opportunity to look at and work together, all the tribes in the city, to tell our story, to let everyone know that tribes are here, they haven't gone anywhere, and they'll continue to be here.

As Sam and I were able to come up one of our trips, we'd done our first installment of filming, and then there was a second trip.

Our first day, we went to another meeting in a super cool community they built.

We brought in some of the key people that wanted to contribute to the story.

We literally threw it up on a big projector.

We had this desktop there, and we were editing on the fly with them.

It was very discussion-based.

It was a hard process, but I think it was done in the correct manner.

We're such a small piece of the puzzle, and there's 400 other pieces.

We all came in together, we all worked equally, and built this great thing.

That's why I hope it's like they can take their seven generations to go see these videos of like, "Hey, your great-grandpa was a part of this process to tell these stories."

My name is Charlenne Storr.

I'm a citizen of Tolowa Nation.

Most of my stories deal with the community working together and supporting each other.

I've discovered over the years, our kids don't always know what's going on.

I think this project is a perfect opportunity for those who don't know the history, don't have family members who will share with them, or the people around them, to share that they can come and learn a little bit of their history here.

In telling a story, what best way to tell it other than in person?

Audio-video is just a substitute for an in-person telling account of a story.

I don't know of a better way to do it that's more accessible.

Having stories passed down through generations does indeed connect you directly to those places.

We've had to adjust, and we've tried to live the best we can in this world today.

I always tell everybody I grew up in the three Rs era, recycle, reuse, or reinvent.

We used the deer skin for everything; we do the deer hooves for everything.

The intestines were used to make sausage-type things.

We never had waste.

I try to let people know that when you see something you like, take care of it.

This is our world, so we need to do what we can to keep it clean, keep it balanced, and get rid of the bad stuff.

We would meet on a regular basis to discuss all the ins and outs of getting this project off the ground, and from funding to design, whether or not tribes or we all were in agreement.

It's just like everything else, people get along or they don't get along, or they like this, or they don't like that.

We just have to learn to compromise.

We need to learn to listen to each other, and we need to hear what is being said.

I see things shifting.

I see things growing.

I see this ability now to work together and support each other's projects as proof of that.

There's still more work to do.

There's still always additional outreach that we can do as a city, but having your community feel engaged and included is vital to that process.

If you look at really what makes this community special, it's the people, and it's the people now coming together.

It makes me really optimistic towards the future because in order to reach our true potential, we've got to reach full inclusion.

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