Excavating Truths

not have bodily autonomy. We will have a patchwork of care in this country that really will come down to your economic status and your ability to be able to get on planes and buses and trains in order to

access the type of care that you need. But in some places like Texas and Tennessee and Florida, you that action of leaving your state to receive reproductive care can amount to a jail sentence, can amount to your loved ones or friends or colleagues who may be hard up for cash, throwing you under the bus so that they can get a ten thousand dollars or more bounty for being able to dime you out to authorities. Oh, I don't think that they left the state to go on vacation.

I think it was something much more nefarious than that. We have often said on this show and in other places and spaces that what the religious, radicalized right wing party wants in this country is Gilead. And you know, when I say that, I say it tongue in cheek. But the reality is is that if you are a person of color in this country that knows even just the surface of America's history, you know that Gilead has already been forced sterilization, forced abortion for women of color

and indigenous women in this country. That has been the norm, and there has been no recourse Roe v. Wade, and that decision allowed women and now also people with uterus is to be able to access that freedom and that power. Now it's going to be taken away. The thing is is that this isn't going to end there. This is about full and complete control. When I talk about abortion,

I'm also talking about voting rights. I'm also talking about school careerulum and the fight against critical race theory, which by the way, still is not taught in K through twelve schools. I'm talking about the anti trans bills, the numerous, the hundreds that have been put out across the country, all of This is about control. It is about toxic masculinity, It is about every type of phobia that you could

think of. It is about the desire to turn the clock back, the desire to have ownership over other people's lives and their bodies, and that if they aren't like you, operate like you, then they don't deserve to exist. It's as simple as that when we look at these manifestos that we've seen pop up, whether with the Buffalo white nationalist shooter, whether with the Proud Boys or the oath Keepers, whether it is the gunmen in New Zealand who basically

all pull from the same place. Fox News Donald Trump putin these figures right of people who have decided that their way is the only way. I try and say that we have options, that there is still hope, but the reality is is that I am not completely sure of that fact. My next guest, who's coming up shortly tells of a story that is so heartbreaking and was really challenging to listen to. Dawn Tyree is a person who supports her LGBTQA community, and she was robbed through

a child forced marriage. She was robbed of her sexual orientation. She struggled for years with self harm because of the oppression, and just recently, at the age of forty nine, has come out and decided to reclaim the power that has been taken away from her as identifying as a pansexual at the age of forty nine. What how are these things linked unless somebody is doing harm to you or

to themselves. And I mean real harm, not the perceived harm that Greg Abbott thinks that parents of trans children are doing by caring for and loving their children by giving them gender affirming surgery. No, no, I'm not talking about that harm. I'm talking about real harm. Who are we to tell people how they should show up, how they should identify, how they should love, how they should exist.

The freedom supposedly around religion, the freedom of bodily autonomy, was for us to be able to move without shackles, whether they be literal or figurative, for us to be able to move and understand and grow into ourselves without the harsh spotlight or shame that other people project onto us. Freedom of religion was about being able to practice right. It was not supposed to be about the religious radicalized rights ability to prescribe their interpretation of their Bible onto

the rest of us. This is a story about power, and frankly, we have moved to a space where it isn't a conversation about differing ideologies. It is about good versus evil. It is about seeing all people's humanity, regardless of if it mirrors your own. At the core of it, what we are saying when we talk about progressive politics, when we talk about progression, it is a fact that when we were writing the forefathers were writing this constitution,

I was considered chattel. Women did not have the right to vote, we didn't have the right to exist, to speak, to be queer. People were hung burned at the stake. Isn't it a good thing that we've evolved from that place that we can continue to try and perfect this very imperfect union. But here we are in this moment where there is a real power struggle that is at hand. And again the media allows for Republicans to continue to hide behind ideology, but it isn't around oh well, I'm

a fiscal conservative and I'm this and i'm that. No, if you don't call these people what they are and buy their name white supremists, Christian fundamentalist, Christian fascist like the group in Dallas that decided to try and enter into a gay bar and cause harm. Why would they travel to this space? Ain't nobody invite them? Why can't you just allow people to be and find community where they are. Why do you see yourself as the one

that gets to dictate what makes sense. If you don't want your kids learning about queer people, black people, Latin X people, indigenous people, pull them out of school, send them to the fucking Catholic school, send them to Christian school, fucking homeschool. But you don't get to dictate what curriculum looks like for the rest of us because you only want to see the world through a white, cis hetero mail lens. But we don't ever push back, We just cower.

And so I think that this conversation with Dawn Tyree is one that is illuminating because her experience didn't come through Trumpism, It was decades prior to that. It was about the fundamental treatment and mistreatment and abuse of girls

and of women in this country. So when we say oftentimes this is not who we are, we don't really have a strong foundational understanding of who we are because all America has ever known is violence, is hatred, is misogyny, is homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, patriarchy, and if we don't excavate these true then they will keep repeating themselves. So coming up next my conversation with survivor Dawn Tyree. Hey there, I want to tell you about another podcast I think

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a new episode. Folks, I am very excited to welcome to Woke a f Daily Dawn Tyree, who is an author, activist,

and survivor of child marriage. Dawn, you know your story was a part of an A and E documentary that was done and you in this space talk about how you were forced to marry your abuser at the young age of thirteen when you were pregnant, and I want you to explain to the Woke AF audience what child marriage is and why it's a conversation that we should be having in this country as we're hearing places like Tennessee and others working to lower the age of marriage, right,

would they apparently want to lower the age of everything for you? To get an assault rifle for you to be able to get married. But God forbid you be able to have bodily autonomy. That's something that you need all different kind layers of consent for. So tell us a bit more about your story. Well, my story is that I was forced to marry at thirteen years old. It was a family friend who had actually been my

legal guardian, who I referred to as my nanny. He had been sexually abusing me for two years, and when I became pregnant, the fix all was for us to get married. It saved him from a prison sentence and saved my parents from child abuse and neglect charges, so it basically saved all the adults and put me in servitude as a sex slave to my abuser. Oh God, Dawn, can you tell us what state was this happening in. It happened in Texas, and a lot of people would say, oh,

of course it did. But you know, there are nine states today that have no minimum age for marriage, so it could have easily happened, and California is one of them. And we actually lived in California before we moved to Texas, so we were really only in Texas for a couple

of months before the marriage took place. Do you even what was your mindset during this time of I imagine that in order to get married at the age of thirteen, you had to have parental consent, right, so what can you walk us through what that yeah, what that process is, and what that looked like from from what you Recallum, So it typically takes parental consent or you know, a judge discretion, and in my case, it only took my father's signature to marry UM. What that looked like to

me at that time? UM, I was cohersd. I would you know, I didn't have a say in what was going on? Who as a child? A child you know, defined by the law as anyone under eighteen years old. So at thirteen years old, I really did have a say. I was groomed to marry him for two weeks before the marriage took place. I mean I was getting the input from him that he was saving me from a

bad situation, that it was in my best centrist. My stepmother was reinforcing that with that I couldn't stay at home with a baby, and that you know, we needed to be married. It was going to save him and you know, I'm not sure where my father was standing in this. I think he was under a lot of influence, you know, by my stepmother, and so he went ahead and gave consent to this marriage to my rapists who was I was thirteen and he was thirty two years old.

It was clearly, you know, a statutory rape, and in marriage in the United States to a minor overrides the federal law of statutory rape. So at that point that no charges, not not during the marriage or even after. When I was trying to escape, I tried to file police reports, and because of the marriage, it totally saves him and exonerates the perpetrator from any charges. So let me ask you this. You're thirteen years old, this man this I mean, I would refer to him as a rapist,

but I don't want to put words in your con is. Yeah, it's thirty five years old. You go before whom in order to have this marriage a judge, right, that's correct. You know, you have to go before the judge. So the clerk will issue the license and you go before

the judge. And in some states, the judge, you know, may have some discernment and there may be an investigation which, in my opinion, an investigation by the court is just a band aid or you know, it's only for the consciousness of the court to put a rubber stamp on the marriage. It's saying, look, we've done this safety you know, check and everything's fine. And in our experience, in my experience,

it doesn't matter. M You know, when social services steps in and there's an investigation, most children are not going to out their family out their parents are out their abuser. Um. And so it really serves no purpose. In fact, it puts a children more at risk because they have to go home with these people that have threatened them, you know, emotionally, physically and otherwise. UM to not speak against the family.

How long did this, this this marriage? This this this trap for you right, how long did this this last? I was I was trapped for a little over three years, UM. And it is a trap. So thank you for referring to it as a trap. Miners that mary have no legal recourse. I mean I tried to go to a shelter. They turned me away because we were miners. Try to rent an apartment, you can't sign a lease, Try to hire a lawyer. Lawyer won't go into contract with you, I couldn't rent a hotel room. Yeah, I mean it's

a joke, you know. Here I am at sixteen years old, I have two children in tow. We're trying to escape a very violent situation, and the shelters turned us away. We literally couldn't go to a women's shelter or a homeless shelter. And it's that way right now today across the nation. So let me get this straight, right, because this is just this is the insanity of a country that says that we love and protect children. Right, We're watching children get gunned down in their classrooms and lawmakers

say they can't do anything about it. And you're telling me that basically, you're able your parent, one parent is able to sign over your bodily autonomy yourself as a child, because in the eyes quote unquote of the law, you are a miner until you reach the age of eighteen, right, And so they sign over your bodily autonomy, your authority over self to your abuser. And then in the eyes of the law, you were married, but you are not a woman to be able to go into a shelter

with your two children. You got that one, correct, you know, And not only that, like by losing it my bodily autonomy. I was expecting my second child at fourteen years old, you know, and not one time when I, you know, went to my prenatal appointments or was seeing the physician or my doctor or whomever, did someone stop and asked me if this was a choice that I would that I was okay with or I don't recall ever being

educated about birth control or anything like that. And so, you know, you just you're completely removed from any self governing. Did you think that you had done something wrong? Oh? Absolutely, it felt like that. And I gohead, it really felt like I had done something that, um, you know, I brought this all upon myself. And because I was hearing that from my stepmother and things like that, so the negative voices kind of go, you know, their own repeat um.

And so I felt like I deserved the situation that I was in, that I had brought it upon myself, and you know, the only the only thing that I could do for myself was to figure out how to get out of this situation. And that's I mean, that's a whole other can of worms. It's like when the miner decides or wants out of the abuse of the situation. I'm getting a little bit paidback. Sorry. Um. When the minor wants out of the abusive situation, often the family

will disown them. So now you have not only the community turning this this child away with their children or not. Um, you don't have any family support. UM, So you really are alone. And it's it's quite a shame that even the community looks down upon, you know, child brides. It's almost like, UM, it's it's shameful, and it is put on on us that it was our fault when in

fact we didn't have any choice when it happened. What how did you go, Dawn, from being a sixteen year old with two children trying to flee an abuser, no family to run to that was that was going to open their doors in their arms to you to be to where you are now, to becoming an activist and an author. What was that arc? Who? Um? Part of you know, the emotional change and kind of the awareness wake up call, if you will, for me, was after my daughter was born and I began to worry about

her safety as an infant. I mean, this is just repulsive. But at fifteen and sixteen years old. I did not want him changing her diaper. And that's when I began to plot my way out, like try to figure out how am I going to get out of this situation. And we had to, you know, my family unit how to be separated because it wasn't possible. As I had mentioned, we were turned away from shelters and you know, just had had no means or resources to get out of

that situation. And so my children actually stayed with his parents while I stayed with an anonymous family member to get my feet on the ground. And then on one of the visits, I would go visit my children on the weekends, and on one of those visits, I packed him up and I took them and it was very messy.

And again because my husband at that time, so I'm sixteen years old, he is my husband and my legal guardian, even though I was an emancipated minors, so he had the rights to report me as a runaway, and when law enforcement caught up to me, they would threaten to

return me to my rapists. So I mean this, it's a violent, perpetual circle of being trapped and authority and control and manipulation, you know, and so I was able to kind of stay undercover, you know, and and fly under the radar for our safety until I got my feet on the ground. And that is it was very difficult.

I would move into I'd find a roommate, you know, apply for the room, put the down payment on the room, move in, and then two weeks later, kind of you know, fake it and say, oh my goodness, you know, I'm really sorry. I have two children and I need to suddenly they had to come and live with me suddenly. Um. And and that was something that I would repeat over and over and over so that we would have a place to live because it was hard to find it.

I couldn't rent a place, but I could find a roommate, you know, a situation that would be willing to let me move in, and then I would move my children in. And it's you know, the poverty and the things that we went through, um for many years, at least a decade, where we would, you know, live without electricity at times, living without basic essential needs, you know, toilet paper, toothpaste, things like that. And you know, my children they don't

know any different. When you're raising your children, it's like that's just life. It's life that we don't have toilet paper and we're you know, using other means to keep ourselves to to you know, have hygiene and things like that. The the the forfeited education increases, the poverty with child brides, the chances of IPv increases like fourfold for child brides. It's really sad how we set this is a setup for failure. You had mentioned the divorce rate in the

nation is like fifty percent. For child marriages, it's over eighty percent. So how many dawn now that you have, I mean gone through, my God so much? How did your activism start and wear? And if you have any statistics or numbers, how many girls in this country that says that they care about girls, that says that they care about children are in similar situations. We know that three hundred thousand children were married between two thousan twenty

eighteen in the United States. Some sixty thousand of those marriages could have been punishable by statutory rate laws and given a prison sentence. I mean, that is just extraordinary. And we have places right now in this country that are looking to lower the age, as I said at the top, like in Tennessee, to lower the age of marriage. And so when you talk and you share your story, what is it that you're trying to get people, including our lawmakers to understand. I think we use our voices

for the voiceless. I mean, you know, I felt like my situation was a very isolated situation. And you know, in twenty eighteen, when I myself started to investigate child marriage and United States was totally blown away that it was legal in all fifty states that year twenty eighteen. And so using our voices, we're trying to influence change and protect children from child marriage. We're learning that it's connected to human trafficking, sex trafficking, child labor. I mean,

there's an overlap there that's frightening. Hearing that other states want to lower the age for marriage is terrifying. We have nine states in the US right now that have no minimum age for marriage. I just don't I Like, you say this to me, and I'm like, how how is that something that that could even stand? Is it? Do you believe it's because people don't know? Like And when I say people, I mean, like the masses don't

know this fact. Or is it that we know and we just don't care, Like what's your opinion on that. I think my opinion. Okay, First of all, people are shocked to learn, you know, about child marriage in the US. So it's true that a lot of people just don't know and are unaware, and even lawmakers, legislators are surprised when they find out that, you know, it's happening in

their state. And so we bring awareness to it. We try to educate the legislators and then influence change because of the archaic laws that are in place, those are the little loopholes that allow it. And then we come up against opposition where they want to keep those in place because we believe that you know, Romeo and Juliet deserve to be married, and we believe that the sixteen or seventeen year old that got pregnant deserves, you know,

to not have a bastard child. And so that's how the stories of survivors will get you know, an override and those laws will stay in place. I mean, we had this is really interesting just recently in the state of Alaska. We had a senator, you know, actually demand to go on record to state that she herself, at fifteen years old, was as mature as at twenty five year old and believes that a fifteen year old can get married a mature one, a mature fifteen year old

can get married. I mean, and you know, my grandkid is fifteen years old, and I look at them and I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no no, you should not be married. And it's astonishing the opposition that

we get. Do you think that's the opposition tied to some perverse ideology with regard to Christian fundamentalism, Like is it is it religion that is what you find to be where the obstacles are because I mean, I don't talk to me about the state of Alaska and the people politicians that they've produced, but um, you know, but I'm just thinking, like, is this tied in ways to religiosity? In some cases, yes, it is, and in others it's not.

I mean, we get human rights activists that are saying this is you know, um it human rights activists that will say this, this is an infringement on reproductive rights or the right to be married, or the right to practice a culture, the right to practice their religion. And so as you can see, we can get it from both sides. Where of the fundamentalists, you know, this is by practice and by nature, and then also by human rights.

You have the freedom of religion and culture practices. So Dawn Um, you also are you know, on top of all of the work and the writing and the things that you've done, you're an advisory board member for the Resiliency Foundation. So I just want to give you an opportunity as we close out to tell folks about the Resiliency Foundation and how they can get involved. Thank you well.

Genevieve Meyer is the founder of the Resiliency Foundation and offers support and resources to survivors survivors of child marriage. And right now I'm working mainly with Global Hope three sixty five, who is fighting child marriage globally, human trafficking globally and here in the States, with a primary focus on ending child marriage in California. I want to take it all the way up and down the West Coast because we know that's a corridor for trafficking and child marriage.

But you can go to the California Coalition and Child Marriage Dot Org and we can help you draft a resolution in your state, in your county city, state, just to take a stand against child marriage. Don I you know your story is extraordinary. Your own resilience is extraordinary, and I just thank you so much for joining wik f and providing insight into an issue we've never delved

into on this show. And I thank you so much for opening my eyes to more of the hypocrisy and the trauma that we inflict on kids in the United States. So we appreciate you, and thanks so much. Thank you for having me, Danielle, Thank you. Get up behind the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes deeper with the notable guests and experts from the Emmy Award

winning series. Together, they use comedy to tackle current topics from gentrification to gun laws and take a closer look at how and why these topics matter. Listen to Beyond the Scenes from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast wherever you get your podcast, New episodes every Tuesday. That is it for me today Here folks on Woke app as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and

stay woke as fuck. Get a behind the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes deeper with the notable guests and experts from the Emmy Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to tackle current topics from gentrification to gun laws, and take a closer look at how and

why these topics matter. Listen to Beyond the Scenes from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. New episodes every Tuesday.