Given the spread, severity, and potentially devasting consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic situation in the-midst of stay-at-home ordinances, school and employment closures, etc. throughout the Los Angeles and Orange County regions in southern California, three very important urban Indigenous community members join us for the hour to report on how the larger the urban Los Angeles Indigenous community is being impacted by the COVID-19 debacle, how community members are responding to the COVID-19 epidemic situation throughout the region, what work the guests, colleagues, and community members are performing in this dire time of need, and the guests provide insightful and import information on certain critical services Indigenous organizations provide to Indigenous peoples in the Los Angeles/Orange County areas.

Guests:

Pat Lopez (Taos/Tiwa Pueblo Nations), community organizer and activist, a Los Angeles City and County Native American Indian Commission County Supervisor appointee (http://www.lanaic.org/commission/committee-to-commissioners/), an OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner (CRNP, MSRN) working as a clinician at the United American Indian Involvement Community Clinic since 2006 (https://uaii.org/health-clinic/).

Dr. Andrea Garcia, M.D. (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara Nations) is an appointed commissioner with the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission (http://www.lanaic.org/commission/commissioners/), works with Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health/American Indian Counseling Center (https://locator.lacounty.gov/health/Location/3181175/american-indian-counseling-center), and is a board member for the United American Indian Involvement, Inc. (UAII) (http://uaii.org/about-us/leadership/).

Monique Castro (Dine’ Nation), founder and CEO of Indigenous Circle Wellness (www.icowellness.com).

December 29th of this year marks the 129th year anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre whereby the United States 7th Calvary stopped Spotted Elk, Miniconjou and Lakota Ghost Dancers, and community members from returning home to Pine Ridge, now located in South Dakota.

Near the Wounded Knee Creek, Spotted Elk and community members were stopped by the United States 7th Calvary during a time when the United States government essentially banned all Native American traditions. Shortly after the initial encounter, a scuffle ensued and resulted in the U.S. 7th Calvary open firing and killing over 300 Indigenous women, children, and men.

The Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 is often inaccurately characterized as the last battle between American settler colonialist and Indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations.

However, throughout the generations until early 1973, with little to moderate change of Indigenous peoples’ conditions, Native Americans continued to struggle as the United States continuously failed to honor any of its signed and ratified treaties while sustaining protracted policies of genocide and assimilation.

In a response to rampant civil and human rights violations of Pine Ridge residents, over 200 members of the American Indian Movement and supporters occupied Wounded Knee in the Lakota Nation from February 27th, 1973 to May 8th, 1973 in a 67-day military standoff with tribal and U.S. government officials, which quickly drew international and domestic support from people, organizations, and foreign governments throughout the world.

At the time, the American Indian Movement and supporters were responding to traditional Lakota community members request for protection from elected tribal chairman, Richard “Dickie Wilson”, whose administration, along with United States government’s support, was rife with corruption, nepotism, and violence.

Subsequently, the 67-day standoff eventually resulted in a negotiated settlement between the American Indian Movement and the United States government on May 8th, 1973.

Thankstaking Special: A Day of Mourning.

Georgianna Sanchez and George "Tink" Tinker both revisit the racist Thanksgiving Day Holiday, the propaganda surrounding settler colonial imagery and understandings, state-sponsored hate speech day, plus more.

Valentin Lopez, Amah Mutsun Nation, is Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Nation, one of three historic California Indigenous Nations that are recognized as Ohlone. Valentin is Mutsun, Awaswas, Chumash and Yokuts (http://amahmutsun.org/governance/tribal-council) and he joins us for the entire program to discuss what California Governor Newsom’s Executive Order #1519, a soft public apology “on behalf of California to California Native American Peoples for the many instances of violence, mistreatment and neglect inflicted upon California Native Americans throughout the state’s history” means to California Indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations. Valentin covers numerous perspectives including the State of California’s public apology from a non-federally recognized California Indigenous Nation perspective as well as how non-federally recognized California Indigenous Nations are excluded, thus far, from the establishment of the Truth and Healing Council – a forced-federalism model of government-to-government colonial relationship, plus a lot more.

“Update: In the Heart of the Hawaiian Nation: Protecting Mauna Kea from the $1.4 Billion Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Project”

Liko Martin and Laulani Teale (Hawaiian Nation). Liko Martin, Haku Mele, is one of Hawai’i’s renowned songwriters and activist; founder or co-founder of many Indigenous organizations; a farmer, fisherman, general cultural practitioner, peacemaker and veteran; a Kupuna Advisor for Ho’opae Pono Peace Project, plus more. Laulani Teale is a musician, artist, cultural practitioner, public health practitioner, web/social media developer, and coordinator for the Ho’opae Pono Peace Project, plus more.

Liko Martin and Laulani Teale join us for this exclusive one-hour interview regarding protecting Mauna Kea, an Indigenous Hawaiian sacred site, from the $1.4 Billion Thirty Meter Telescope Project. Our guest address the November 8th, 2019, the University of Hawaii action assuming title over the Mauna Kea lands and the university supporting a new memorandum prohibiting the Kanaka access the Mauna Kea, the thousands of Indigenous Hawaiians and supporters gathered at Mauna Kea, and the scores of arrest since earlier this year which includes those peoples’ daily risking and facing arrest and mass incarceration, plus more.

The University of California along with the California Institute of Technology (Cal-Tech), the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan, the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Department of Science and Technology of India, and the National Research Council (Canada); the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy are members of The TMT International Observatory LLC (TIO), the non-profit organization responsible for the TMT Project threatening Mauna Kea.

Dr. Henrietta Mann (Southern Cheyenne Nation), elder, activist, scholar, founder of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College, Professor Emeritus at Montana State University (www.montana.edu/nativeamerican/henrietta_mann.html), and current Board Chair of the Board of Directors for the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, Inc. (7genfund.org/dr-henrietta-mann), was the keynote speaker at the Keeping the Homefires Gathering, in the Schitsu’umsh territories (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho), in 2015. Dr. Mann provides elderly words of wisdom of “Being a Good Ancestor”.

Thursday, 9/26/2019, on American Indian Airwaves, 7pm to 8pm (PCT) Listen at: http://www.kpfk.org

“Urban Indigenous Los Angeles Series: The Ancestors Walk and The 15th Many Winters Gathering of Elders”

Part 1:_________________________________________________________

Rebecca Robles (Ajachemen/Juaneno Nation), joins us for the first segment of today’s program to discuss the importance of sacred sites, the upcoming Ancestor Walk: 22nd Annual Pilgrimage of the Tongva & Ajachemen People, Carrying Prayers for Our Ancestors and Future Generations happening this October 5th, 2019 (Saturday); and the cultural significances of each traditional village site along the Ancestor Walk route. From Panhe, Puthuidem, Genga, the Village of Genga, Bolsa Chica, Motuucheyngna to Puvunga, our guest provides illuminating and insightful historical and contemporary accounts of struggle regarding each sacred place and the importance of the cultural and community gathering. For more information regarding the Ancestor Walk: 22nd Annual Pilgrimage of the Tongva & Ajachemen People, Carrying Prayers for Our Ancestors and Future Generations happening this October 5th, 2019, please contact Rebecca Robles via email at: [email protected].

Part 2:_________________________________________________________

Sarah Moreno (Chumash Nation) and Louie Robles (Ajachemen/Juaneno Nation), The 15th Many Winters Gathering of Elders (MWGOE) Committee Members, joins us for the second part of today’s program to discuss the forthcoming Concert to Benefit The 15th Many Winters Gathering of Elders. The MWGOE benefit concert is happening on September 29th, 2019 from 5pm to 10pm at the Peoples Place, 365 W. 6th St., San Pedro, CA 90731. Artist include: Sara Koyo, Aztlan Underground, El Vuh, Sallee Free & the Mourners, plus more. For additional information, please visit the Facebook event site at: (https://www.facebook.com/events/375102250108113/).

Sarah and Louie additionally share with listeners the importance of the community, cultural, and free MWGOE event happening this October 10th-13th, 2019 at Chowingna (Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro, CA 90731). Moreover, our guest share several intergenerational family experiences in relationship to the MWGOE and growing up an living in the settler colonial Los Angeles and Orange Counties areas, how California Indigenous peoples along with the larger urban Indigenous Los Angeles population growing participation has led to expanding the circle of culture and community at MWGOE; what participants will experience this year at the MWGOE such as Indigenous elders and native speakers sharing songs, stories, and struggles from throughout Turtle Island; community, plus a lot more. For more information regarding the MWGOE, people can visit the website: https://mwgoe.org/ or visit the Facebook site at: https://www.facebook.com/events/204421047111904/.

The MWGOE was created on October 12, 1992 - in opposition to the quincentennial celebrations of Columbus Day, as means to reclaim traditional spaces, dismantle the myth of Manifest Destiny, and to heal from historical and intergenerational trauma. The MWGOE location, Angels Gate Cultural Center, is a place that unites art, community and culture through creative discovery, exploration and enlightenment. The Center is open to the public, Monday through Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 12-5pm. AGCC is located at 3601 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA, 90731, and admission is always free.

“The Pathway for Indigenizing Mexico’s New Constitution: Respecting Indigenous Peoples and Afromexican Rights in the Constitutional Reform Process”

Marcos Aguilar, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Academia Semillas del Pueblo and Head Of School at Anahuacalmecac International University (http://www.dignidad.org/), joins us for this special program to provide listeners a critical and in-depth update: on the Final Forum on the Consultation for the Legal and Constitutional Reform to Address the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Afromexicans in Mexico held on August 4, 2019 at the UCLA Labor Center, the complications and successes so far in the constitutional reform process, what the potential implications are for Indigenous peoples and Afromexicans, the possibilities and struggles for a major paradigm shift towards a plurinational state in Mexico, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigeneity, Indigenous pedagogical practices as part of the “Schools” participation in the Final Forum on the Consultation for the Legal and Constitutional Reform to Address the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Afromexicans in Mexico, plus more.

The settler colonial state of Mexico’s estimates the Indigenous population is 17 million, or a little over 20% of Mexico’s population is Indigenous. The Afromexican population, Indigenous people of African descent, is approximately 1.38 million people, and Mexico has the largest Indigenous population in the Americas with 78 distinct indigenous peoples, communities, and/or nations according to the country’s Census Bureau. Moreover, in Los Angeles County, CA -where the school is located- there is an estimated one-million, plus Indigenous peoples from different original locations on Mother Earth. Thus, the trajectory, process, and struggle for reforming and Indigenizing Mexico’s constitution potentially could impact millions of Indigenous peoples throughout Mexico and surrounding Indigenous lands.

American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast every Thursday from 7pm to 8pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angeles, CA; FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, CA; FM 99.5 in China Lake, CA; FM 93.7 in North San Diego, CA; FM 99.1 KLBP in Long Beach, CA (Mondays 4pm-5pm); WCRS FM 98.3/102.1 in Columbus, OH, and on the Internet at: www.kpfk.org.

Archived American Indian Airwaves programs can be heard here: https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/american-indian-airwaves/, https://www.kpfk.org/archives/, and https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp.

Dr. Robert A Williams Jr. (Lumbee Nation), is the E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Chair of the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program. Professor Williams received his B.A. from Loyola College (1977) and his J.D. from Harvard Law School (1980). He was named the first Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (2003-2004), having previously served there as Bennet Boskey Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of Law.

He is the author of The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest (1990), which received the Gustavus Meyers Human Rights Center Award as one of the outstanding books published in 1990 on the subject of prejudice in the United States. He has also written Linking Arms Together: American Indian Treaty Visions of Law and Peace, 1600-1800 (1997) and Like a Loaded Weapon: The Rehnquist Court, Indian Rights and the Legal History of Racism in America (2005). He is co-author of Federal Indian Law: Cases and Materials (6th ed., with David Getches, Charles Wilkinson, and Matthew Fletcher, 2011). His latest book is Savage Anxieties: The Invention of Western Civilization (Palgrave Macmillan 2012). The 2006 recipient of the University of Arizona Koffler Prize for Outstanding Accomplishments in Public Service, Professor Williams has received major grants and awards from the Soros Senior Justice Fellowship Program of the Open Society Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the National Institute of Justice. He has been interviewed by Bill Moyers and quoted on the front page of the New York Times. He has represented tribal groups and members before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, the United States Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Professor Williams served as Chief Justice for the Court of Appeals, Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation, and as Justice for the Court of Appeals and trial judge pro tem for the Tohono O'odham Nation. He was named one of 2011's "Heroes on the Hill" by Indian Country Today for his human rights advocacy work as Lead Counsel for the Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group of Canada before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He lives and works in Tucson, Arizona. https://law.arizona.edu/robert-williams-jr

Tonight’s broadcast is from a 2013 presentation on why the United States initially voted against the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“Surviving the System: From Survival Mode to Renewal”

Part 1:_______________

Deborah Sanchez(Chumash and O’odham Nations), Community Organizer, Cultural Language Practitioner, and Professor, joins us for the hour in a one-hour exclusive on “Surviving the System: From Survival Mode to Renewal”. She recently spoke as the first keynote speaker at the World Indigenous Law Conference: Rights, Responsibilities & Resilience in traditional territories of the Acjachemen & Tongva Traditional Territories at University of California, Irvine (UCI) this past October 19th-22nd, 2016.

The World Indigenous Law Conference is held every two years and was hosted in North America for the first time by Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, Inc. (http://7genfund.org/). The Conference is an international forum aimed at gathering Indigenous lawyers, practitioners, academics and those interested in furthering their understanding of issues facing Indigenous Peoples.

Deborah Sanchez discusses a variety of critical contemporary issues facing Indigenous peoples globally on Mother Earth, how we got here to where we are going, plus a lot more.