American Indian Airwaves

The second weekend of September 2022 marks the 20th Anniversary Tomol Crossing which is a Chumash 26-mile voyage across the Santa Barbara Channel, off the coast of Santa Barbara County, CA. to the island of Limuw (also known as the Santa Cruz Island). This year signifies the 20th cross-channel voyage in over 150 years and the tomol, a Chumash word for “canoe,” are ceremoniously constructed by Chumash canoe masters and Chumash community members. Today on American Indian Airwaves we speak with three tomol captains that have been foundations for the Chumash Nations, instrumental in keeping the maritime traditions alive, and pivotal in organizing the annual Tomol crossing. Part of today’s program includes discussing the significance of the 20th Anniversary Tomol Crossing, the cultural responsibilities of being a tomol captain, community organizing and sacrifices, perseverance, celebration, and thrivance in lived experiences for future generations.

For more information regarding advocating for changing Santa Cruz Island formally back to its original name, Limuw, please click here to sign the petition.

Guest:

Marcus Lopez (Chumash Nation), tomol captain; Reggie Pagaline (Chumash Nation), tomol captain and canoe master, and Steve Villa (Chumash Nation), tomol captain.

On July 25th, 2022, Pope Francis apologized Canada's Indigenous peoples on their land for the Church's role in residential schools where indigenous children were starved, beaten for speaking their Indigenous languages, violently and sexually abused, endured various forms of forced cultural assimilation such as mandatory Christianization, plus more in what Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission called "cultural genocide”.

The address to the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people was the first apology on Canadian soil by the pope as a part of tour to heal deep wounds that rose to the fore after the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools last year. It is estimated that between 1881 and 1996 more than 150,000 indigenous children were separated from their families and brought to residential schools that were sanctioned by the Canadian government and operated by various Christian missionaries.

In the United States, Native American nations, communities, and families endure a similar fate as Indigenous peoples in Canada. Beginning with the Indian Civilization Act Fund of March 3, 1819, and the Peace Policy of 1869, and with the urging of several denominations of the Christian Church, the U.S. government adopted an Indian Boarding School Policy intended to implement cultural genocide against all Indigenous peoples. Between 1869 and the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Native American children were forcefully removed from their homes and families and placed in boarding schools operated by the federal government and the churches. And, by 1926, nearly 83% of Indian school-age children were attending boarding schools.

There has been a lot of discussions and reactions to the Pope’s apology, but what does the pope’s apology mean for Indigenous peoples and for California Indigenous peoples? What is the Vatican’s role in the creation of the Mission System? Will the Vatican do more besides apologize, ask for forgiveness, or will there be substantial actions holding the Vatican accountable for its violent colonial legacy of cultural genocide still impacting Indigenous peoples today? Tune for an in-depth interview regarding a California Indigenous perspective on Pope Francis’ recent apology.

Guest:

Dr. Dena Dart, Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, is the former curator of the Native American Collection at Portland Art Museum, and the founder of Live Oak Museum Consulting in Eugene, Oregon, an organization committed to reshaping museum narratives and assisting institutions in their efforts to be more accountable and responsive to Native communities.

For close to over 50 years, Dr. John M. Anderson has been researching into and writing on the Chumash history and culture since the early 1970s at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His includes the Tejon Reservation in CA and the Treaty with the Castake, Texon, Etc., of 1851 between several California Indigenous nations whose lands range from presently what is known as Santa Maria to Lompoc to Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Long Beach — and stretching eastward into the Mojave Desert to a point between Barstow and Las Vegas. Marcus Lopez, Chumash nations, and executive director and co-host of American Indian Airwaves starts with part one of our continuing series titled “Beyond Missions: The History of the Chumash Nation” starts with Dr. John M. Anderson. For more information on the Chumash, visit https://johnandersonlibrary.org/

Today’s program focuses exclusively on the Tejon Chumash, their history, and how it relates to today.

Guest:

Dr. John M. Anderson, PhD in Philosophy, historian, and archivist. He has been researching into and writing on the Chumash history and culture since the early 1970s at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Click here for archived American Indian Airwaves programs on the KPFK website within the past 60-days only or click on (below) after 8pm for today’s scheduled program.

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Part 1

From the majestic peaks of the snow-capped Sierras to the parched valley of Payahuunadü, “the land of flowing water,” (Owens Valley, CA) Manzanar Diverted: When Water Become Dust is a brand new documentary having its national broadcast premiere on PBS’s POV on July 18th, 2022. The film recounts more than 150 years of history, showing how Payahuunadu (Owens Valley, CA) is tied to the city of Los Angeles and how the forced removals of two peoples -the Nüümü (Paiute) and the Newe (Shoshone) who were marched out of the Valley in the 1860s and the Japanese Americans who were forcibly brought to Manzanar from their West Coast homes and incarcerated in a World War II concentration camp are intergenerationally connected. In addition, the film’s central character is piyah (water) and the film’s narrative weaves the intergenerational telling of settler colonialism violence, stolen waters from the Nüümü (Paiute) and the Newe (Shoshone) nations, cultural genocide, and more given the severe drought impacting Mother Earth and all that she provides. Payahuunadu (Owens Valley, CA) is beginning point of the Los Angeles Aqueduct that channels water to Los Angelenos. Tune in for this and more.

Today’s panelists discuss not only the film’s importance but also how it relates to the ongoing water and environmental issues to protect all life that Mother Earth provides. In addition, there is a July 17th, 2022, Day of Action Impact: Remembering Forced Removals; Uplifting Water and Land Protectors. For information, visit the Manzanar Diverted website.

Guests:

• Kathy Bancroft (Nüümü [Paiute] Nation), and Anne Kaneko, director and producer of Manzanar Diverted: When Water Become Dust, and Jin Yoo-Kim join us for the first segment of today’s program to provide listeners an critical and in-depth and intergenerational history of water in relationship to the Nüümü (Paiute) and the Newe (Shoshone) nation, Japanese Americans incarcerated at Manzanar, the City of Los Angeles, the importance of water as life, the corresponding day of action, and where listeners can watch the film.

Part 2

For close to over 50 years, Dr. John M. Anderson has been researching into and writing on the Chumash history and culture since the early 1970s at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His includes the Tejon Reservation in CA and the Treaty with the Castake, Texon, Etc., of 1851 between several California Indigenous nations whose lands range from presently what is known as Santa Maria to Lompoc to Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Long Beach — and stretching eastward into the Mojave Desert to a point between Barstow and Las Vegas. Marcus Lopez, Chumash nations, and executive director and co-host of American Indian Airwaves starts with part one of our continuing series titled “Beyond Missions: The History of the Chumash Nation” starts with Dr. John M. Anderson. For more information on the Chumash, visit https://johnandersonlibrary.org/

Guest:

Dr. John M. Anderson, PhD in Philosophy, historian, and archivist. He has been researching into and writing on the Chumash history and culture since the early 1970s at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Click here for archived American Indian Airwaves programs on the KPFK website within the past 60-days only or click on (below) after 8pm for today’s scheduled program.

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On 2/27/2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Report was released with participation from Indigenous scholars, academics, and scientist in still a relatively new phenomenon (eight to ten years). For more sixteen years, Indigenous peoples were largely excluded in participating in the previous IPCC assessment reports. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988. In 1990, the IPCC’s First Assessment Report (FAR) was published. However, in 2007, the IPCC and former U.S. President Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize while Indigenous peoples were absent and often locked out of the IPCC and WMO process.

Today’s guest is one several Indigenous academics, scholars, and scientist to participate and contribute to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Tune in for summary and update on the report’s highlight in Protecting Mother Earth.

Guest:

Dr. Kyle Whyte, Potawatomi Nation, PhD, is a George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability and Affiliate Professor of Native American Studies and Philosophy at the University of Michigan, teaching in the SEAS environmental justice specialization. Dr. Whyte’s research addresses environmental justice, focusing on moral and political issues concerning climate policy and Indigenous peoples, the ethics of cooperative relationships between Indigenous peoples and science organizations, and problems of Indigenous justice in public and academic discussions of food sovereignty, environmental justice, and the anthropocene.

Click here for archived American Indian Airwaves programs on the KPFK website within the past 60-days only or click on (below) after 8pm for today’s scheduled program.

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Part 1

For close to over 50 years, Dr. John M. Anderson has been researching into and writing on the Chumash history and culture since the early 1970s at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His includes the Tejon Reservation in CA and the Treaty with the Castake, Texon, Etc., of 1851 between several California Indigenous nations whose lands range from presently what is known as Santa Maria to Lompoc to Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Long Beach — and stretching eastward into the Mojave Desert to a point between Barstow and Las Vegas. Marcus Lopez, Chumash nations, and executive director and co-host of American Indian Airwaves starts with part one of our continuing series titled “Beyond Missions: The History of the Chumash Nation” starts with Dr. John M. Anderson. For more information on the Chumash, visit https://johnandersonlibrary.org/

Guest:

Dr. John M. Anderson, PhD in Philosophy, historian, and archivist. He has been researching into and writing on the Chumash history and culture since the early 1970s at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Part 2

William I. Robinson’s new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic, is a big picture synthesis of a global capitalism in a state of deep crisis that is cascading social, political, and cultural conflicts all over Mother Earth with dire implications for not only Indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations, but also the futures of lives unless massive structural changes immediately occur. One major factor to the inordinate concentration of political, economic, and cultural power is a much more advanced digitalization of the entire global economy and society and of the social and political during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; and Robinson contends the pandemic lockdowns served as dry runs for how digitalization may allow the dominant groups to step up restructuring time and space and to exercise greater control over the global working class. The global capitalist system is now pushing toward expansion through militarization, wars, and conflicts, through a new round of violent dispossession, and through further plunder of the state. All this and more in part one of a three-part interview with William I. Robinson on Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022).

Guest:

William Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), affiliated with the Latin American and Iberian Studies Program, and with the Global and International Studies Program at UCSB. He is the author of the new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022), and The Global Police State (2020), Global Capitalism and the Crises of Humanity (2014) and We Will Not Be Silenced (2017). Robinson joins us for the first part of three-part interview on his brand-new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022).

American Indian Airwaves programs are also available on the KPFK website within the past 60-days only or click on (below) after 8pm for today’s scheduled program.

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Thursday, 5/12/2022, on American Indian Airwaves, 7pm to 8pm (PCT)

“Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic, Part 2“

Part 1

William I. Robinson’s new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic, is a big picture synthesis of a global capitalism in a state of deep crisis that is cascading social, political, and cultural conflicts all over Mother Earth with dire implications for not only Indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations, but also the futures of lives unless massive structural changes immediately occur. One major factor to the inordinate concentration of political, economic, and cultural power is a much more advanced digitalization of the entire global economy and society and of the social and political during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; and Robinson contends the pandemic lockdowns served as dry runs for how digitalization may allow the dominant groups to step up restructuring time and space and to exercise greater control over the global working class. The global capitalist system is now pushing toward expansion through militarization, wars, and conflicts, through a new round of violent dispossession, and through further plunder of the state. All this and more in part one of a three-part interview with William I. Robinson on Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022).

Guest:

William Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), affiliated with the Latin American and Iberian Studies Program, and with the Global and International Studies Program at UCSB. He is the author of the new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022), and The Global Police State (2020), Global Capitalism and the Crises of Humanity (2014) and We Will Not Be Silenced (2017). Robinson joins us for the first part of three-part interview on his brand-new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022).

Click here for archived American Indian Airwaves programs on the KPFK website within the past 60-days only or click on (below) after 8pm for today’s scheduled program.

Soundcloud Apple Podcast Google Podcast iHeartRadio Pocket Casts Spotify Podcast Stitcher Podcast Tunein Podcast

William I. Robinson’s new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic, is a big picture synthesis of a global capitalism in a state of deep crisis that is cascading social, political, and cultural conflicts all over Mother Earth with dire implications for not only Indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations, but also the futures of lives unless massive structural changes immediately occur. One major factor to the inordinate concentration of political, economic, and cultural power is a much more advanced digitalization of the entire global economy and society and of the social and political during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; and Robinson contends the pandemic lockdowns served as dry runs for how digitalization may allow the dominant groups to step up restructuring time and space and to exercise greater control over the global working class. The global capitalist system is now pushing toward expansion through militarization, wars, and conflicts, through a new round of violent dispossession, and through further plunder of the state. All this and more in part one of a three-part interview with William I. Robinson on Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022).

Guest:

William Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), affiliated with the Latin American and Iberian Studies Program, and with the Global and International Studies Program at UCSB. He is the author of the new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022), and The Global Police State (2020), Global Capitalism and the Crises of Humanity (2014) and We Will Not Be Silenced (2017). Robinson joins us for the first part of three-part interview on his brand-new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022).

Click here for archived American Indian Airwaves programs on the KPFK website within the past 60-days only or click on (below) after 8pm for today’s scheduled program.

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Part 1

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is a high- level advisory body to the Economic and Social Council. The Forum was established on 28 July 2000 with the mandate to deal with indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health, and human rights. Since 2000, Indigenous peoples throughout the world have been and continue participating in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues as an international mechanism for articulating our grievances to the international, settler colonial, nation-states.

From April 25th, 2022, to May 6th, 2022, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is being held at the UN headquarters in New York. This year’s theme is “Indigenous peoples, business, autonomy and the human rights principles of due diligence including free, prior and informed consent”. In the first segment of today’s program we hear excerpts from the UN Press Conference Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues held on April 25, 2022, and the call for the United Nations to launch a formal investigation into the Canadian government's role in violating the human rights of Indigenous peoples and their First Nations associated with Canada’s violent legacy of residential schools and committing acts of genocide.

Guests:

RoseAnne Archibald (Taykwa Tagamou Nation), the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), and the first female National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations speaking at the April 25th, 2022 press conference.

Part 2:

The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other developed country. In fact, in March 2020, before many COVID-19-related releases took place, about 2.3 million people were imprisoned in state, federal, military and U.S. territory prisons; local and federal jails; juvenile and immigration detention centers; Indian Country jails; civil commitment centers and state psychiatric hospitals. In addition, before the 1970s, 100 people out of every 100,000 were incarcerated. In 2018, 655 people out of 100,000 were behind bars.

Native American, American Indians, Native Hawaiians, etc., often are disproportionately incarcerated at higher rates compared to “other” populations. In some states, such South and North Dakotas, Alaska, etc., Native Americans comprise of ~10% of the state’s overall population but represent ~38% of the prison population. Nonetheless, the prison-industrial-complex system has consistently grown since early 1970s when former U.S. President Nixon declared the “War on Drugs”.

In the state of California, over 5,300 mostly non-white incarcerated peoples are serving life without parole despite not committing murder. Senate Bill 300, The Sentencing Reform Act of 2021, passed the California senate in 2021, but still needs to pass the California state assembly. Tune in to hear our second guest, a long-time social justice advocate, inform listeners about the need for judicial reform in helping stop incarcerated peoples serving life without parole who never murdered anyone, but did commit misdemeanors felonies. SB 300 would provide California state judges judicial powers and discretion in stopping this human rights injustice in the California judicial system.

Guest: Geri Silva, founder and coordinator of Families United to End Life Without Parole (FUEL).

Part 1

The People of the Red Mountain are an Indigenous led grassroot organization comprised of Paiute & Shoshone peoples, surrounding Indigenous nations, and supporters working to protect Pee’hee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass) from the possible construction of the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine in northwest Nevada. If the mine is built it would be the United States largest source of lithium supply generating 60,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate annually. The People of the Red Mountain are calling for support in demanding the U.S. Department of the Interior to rescind the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine Project Final Environmental Impact Statement, Record of Decision, and Plan of Operations.

Lithium Nevada Corp. is a subsidiary of the Canadian corporation Lithium Americas Corp. which proposes to build the open pit lithium mine with a project area of almost 17,933 acres that will use 5,200 acre-feet per year of water (equivalent to an average pumping rate of 3,224 gallons per minute) in one of the driest regions in the nation. Lithium Nevada Corporation characterizes the mine as a “green” project, despite estimates the mine will produce an estimated 152,703 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year and will cause irreversible harm to the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Nation, ancestral massacre sites, the water, air, medicines, culturally important wildlife relations, and everything else the land and waters culturally sustain for the Peoples. The Bureau of Land Management approved the mine on January 15, 2021, without adequately consulting our tribal members. Tune in on how support and Pee’hee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass).

The People of the Red Mountain (https://peopleofredmountain.com/) are having action on April 24th, 2022, at Ildewild Park, Reno, NV from 11:00am to 5:00pm.

Guests:

Gary McKinney (from the Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute Nation and Fort McDermitt) of the People of the Red Mountain.

Joshua Dean Sr. (Western Shoshone, Walker River Paiute Nation), of the People of the Red Mountain.

Part 2:

On 2/27/2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Report was released with participation from Indigenous scholars, academics, and scientist in still a relatively new phenomenon (eight to ten years). For more sixteen years, Indigenous peoples were largely excluded in participating in the previous IPCC assessment reports. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988. In 1990, the IPCC’s First Assessment Report (FAR) was published. However, in 2007, the IPCC and former U.S. President Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize while Indigenous peoples were absent and often locked out of the IPCC and WMO process.

Today’s guest is one several Indigenous academics, scholars, and scientist to participate and contribute to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Tune in for summary and update on the report’s highlight in Protecting Mother Earth.

Guest: Dr. Nikki Cooley (Dine’ Nation), Co-Manager, Tribes & Climate Change Program

Interim Assistant Director of Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals:

Office of Native American Initiatives Northern Arizona University. www7.nau.edu/itep/main/tcc/

Click here for archived American Indian Airwaves programs on the KPFK website within the past 60-days only or click on (below) after 8pm for today’s scheduled program.

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