Every year in February the Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits (BAAITS) hosts their Two Spirit Powwow in San Francisco, CA. Jerico Cummings went and had the opportunity to interview two attendees. The interviews focused on each person’s journey to attend BAAITS, what the Two Spirit community means to them, and anything they’re left thinking about now that the gathering has ended. You can read the interviews with Morgan Wallace and Spirit Wildcat below.
Morgan Wallace is from the Chickasaw Nation and the Sac & Fox Nation in Oklahoma. Morgan uses she/they pronouns and identifies as a trans Two Spirit woman.
This was her first year attending BAAITS powwow, but she has been involved in the Two Spirit community since her first gathering in Montana in 2021. Back then, she says, “I wasn’t super involved in my community, even though I grew up in the heartland of the Chickasaw Nation. I knew about the tribe for all the benefits that I got for school, but didn’t really understand the power and appeal behind the community itself, the powwows and things like that.”
Morgan’s auntie suggested she go to Montana for the annual Two Spirit Gathering. “She said, ‘Hey, I bought you a plane ticket. Make sure you’re on this plane, because you’re coming to Montana with us.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, I guess I’m going to Montana.’” At the gathering she met many lovely Two Spirit people, and from then on she’s been very involved with the community. “I’ve been in productions with community members. I’ve expanded on some of my writing because of them.”
When reflecting on the BAAITS powwow, which takes place at Fort Mason, right on the water, Morgan shares, “It’s cloudy and windy but that atmosphere makes it amazing. You go outside and you hear the rain. You hear the drum. It’s just an oasis especially being in San Francisco – a busy loud crazy city. BAAITS is this silent oasis in this colonial world that we live in. I could feel it throughout San Francisco, I could just feel that all those people were there.”
For Morgan, one of the most exciting parts of the BAAITS powwow is the chance to meet and become family with other Two Spirit people. “They’re all so supportive of your journey, they all believe in you. They want you to succeed. They see something in you that the colonial world ignores or cannot see. There’s love there. Friendship. Community, everywhere you go. I don’t have to explain myself. I just get to be me.” This year at BAAITS, Morgan was reminded of the strength of that community, the importance of that space, and her desire to work to ensure that the space continues:
I think a lot about how I can put in work to preserve this community event for future generations. BAAITS has been going on for 12 years this year. It would be amazing if in 50 years it is still going. How do we continue to build our community? What can we learn from the elders and board members running BAAITS now that we can apply later or help adapt to the changing times? Everything’s always changing so how do we contribute to the future? How do I contribute to the future of the Two Spirit community? How do I keep us? safe? How do I represent them?
There are so many valuable stories to learn from each and every person there. I got to hear about the story where the Sweetheart Dancers weren’t allowed to do the sweetheart dance at a powwow, and how they fought for it. That’s a beautiful fucking story. What are ways that I can share those stories?
I’m sad that it’s over. It’s like it’s Sunday, time to go home because school’s tomorrow. There’s excitement about seeing everyone again, wondering where’s everyone gonna pop up next, what’s going to be the next thing that I get to see all these people at?
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Spirit is an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Fort Hall, Idaho. Wildcat identifies as Two Spirit, and when being interviewed Spirit talked about how she loves attending Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) powwow.
“I’m always wary when I go to other powwows, regular powwows within our communities, because people are watching what you do,” says Wildcat. “It’s such a relief at BAAITS to not worry about what people are going to say about you,” she added. She explains that when attending BAAITS someone can walk by and just say “you are beautiful” or “you’re gorgeous.” To her this is a refresher to get off the reservation, to be somewhere else and to be included into the circle. You can be who you are at BAAITS and who you want to be. Wildcat went on to say “you meet up with friends and it’s like no time has passed.”
Spirit has been attending BAAITS for six years now and went to her first BAAITS powwow back in 2014 when she started dancing again, this time as a traditional buckskin dress dancer. Wildcat’s first time attending a Two-Spirit event was also 2014 when she decided to attend the 2014 Montana Two Spirit Gathering. At that same gathering Wildcat was asked by the gathering’s Board if she would like to run for the very first Mr. & Miss Montana Two Spirit pageant. Spirit says, “I won and attended BAAITS as Miss Montana Two Spirit in 2015, then as Miss International Two Spirit in 2016. It was three years – boom, boom, boom.”
Wildcat said, “It was nerve wracking at the time, because I was always running pageants, and now being a representative, a titleholder, I was like, what do I do?” She says that she learned to put herself out there. “You have your speaking and you have your presentations, but there’s also just being a presence for people.” She even talked about how princess royalty acted towards her. While regular queen title holders might be seen as older sisters, Spirit was not looked at as an older sister. She was seen more as an aunty.
“Being a title holder is very humbling. You have to be courageous, believe in yourself, have good self-esteem, but you’re not there just for yourself. You’re not representing just yourself, you’re representing your people, you’re representing your community back home, and the Two-Spirit people, the LGBTQ+ community,” says Spirit. “You’re there to be a presence, to say This is who I am. This is what I do. To say, there is a place for you here, to the youth.” Spirit added, “We need everybody to remember who they are and where they come from. We need to uplift our people.”
Wildcat talked about how BAAITS was solemn this year, because several community members have passed away. Soni Skies (John Sneezy) is one of the Two Spirit people within our community who unfortunately passed away last year in 2022. “She was a good friend. I used to message her almost every day. She had the same mindset as me,” said Wildcat. “I really wanted to make it to the beach this year, because the last time we were at the beach, we were with Soni Skies taking a lot of photos.”
Spirit went on to say that this year when she attended BAAITS she got to meet up with Soni Skies’ drag daughter. She first met Soni’s daughter at the Two Spirit Powwow in Salt Lake. Her daughter was one of the head dancers. “I met her in Salt Lake and over the months we got to chat. After Soni Skies, her drag mother, had passed, I got closer with her online.” Spirit remembers when she was taking Soni’s daughter to the airport so could be on time for her flight. “As we drove, she was deciding what kind of name she wanted for herself as a queen. She was throwing out names, and I’m not gonna say what she decided. It’ll be up to her to introduce herself when the times comes.” Spirit said that as a traditional dancer, and as Soni’s friend, “it felt comfortable to have her daughter by my side.”
Wildcat hopes everybody can attend a BAAITS Powwow or a Montana Two Spirit Gathering or another Two Spirit event in their community. “You’ll gain a lot of experience and learn a lot. Even if it’s not what you want to learn, you’ll learn something about yourself.”
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If you’re interested in learning more about the organizations mentioned above or attending an event, please visit their websites.
Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits (BAAITS) website: https://www.baaits.org
Montana Two Spirit Society website: https://www.mttwospirit.org
