Raye Zaragoza speaks about how her music reflects on Indigenous women's issues
We spoke to Raye Zaragoza about her music and its connections to the social issues important to her.
Video Transcript
RAYE ZARAGOZA: I just, I really would love if any of my songs could inspire other young women, especially women of color, to feel a little less ashamed. You know? That's exactly what I want to do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi, everyone. I'm Raye Zaragoza. I'm a singer/songwriter/composer, I guess, for children's television, and it's so great to be here. I feel like being a woman of color and an indigenous woman is something that's so often left out of what feminism has been historically kind of classified as. There was just something that like really kind of boiled my skin, and when I wrote this song "Fight Like a Girl," to me it was an anthem to acknowledge all of the women of color, like the unsung heroes of feminism, and so many of the indigenous women in my life.
When I was a kid-- we were all child actors, and I remember going into a casting office with a manager or agent or something, and they said, girls like you will always be the best friend. So we need to focus on making sure you're kind of like the funny sideline girl, because you're never going to be a lead. And definitely something that stuck with me of just constantly thinking myself as, like, the side character.
When I was in high school, I used to wake up an hour early and put lemon juice all over my skin to try to lighten my skin pigmentation. And everyone would be like-- would make fun of me, and I was like, oh gosh, I got to make sure my skin is not too dark. But looking back on it, I really do feel like it's this symptom of living in a society that lacks a lot of diversity in media and representation. We've come so far from the '90s, when I was growing up. It definitely all has to do with that.
I feel like I've played a lot of festivals, especially when I was first starting out, where folks would put me at the world music stage. You know, I'm an acoustic folk Americana artist, but they put me there because of what my music is about and because of the way I present myself and the topics that I sing about, and I just thought that was kind of weird.
"Red" is one of those songs that I honestly don't even play it live as often because I get so emotional playing it. I try to-- I try to play it as much as I can because it's a very important topic. I think a lot of times, we hear so much about women who go missing, and then if it's an indigenous woman, no one hears about it. And so oftentimes, it's not documented, and I think we all just need to understand that first and then realize that we need to have more systems in place to protect indigenous women.
Because it's something that-- it's-- is an emergency, and I will spend every minute of my life with the through line that I want to make a difference. But if I can't do that, at least maybe I can provide community with the people who are alongside me feeling frustrated through music. I just, I really would love if any of my songs could inspire other young women, especially women of color, to feel a little less ashamed. You know? That's exactly what I want to do.
