Native America Calling

The new Hulu show “Chefs vs. Wild” dropped this week and it pits a handful of chefs, some of whom are Indigenous, against each other in cooking challenges in the wilderness. On Canadian TV, Mohawk chef Tawnya Brant will compete on “Next Level Chef Canada.” And a new Spokane restaurant called Indigenous Eats serves up customers’ choices of ingredients on top of a large fluffy frybread. Today on Native America Calling, our resident foodie Andi Murphy cooks up another helping of the Native culinary world on our regular feature "The Menu" with Valerie Segrest (Muckleshoot), co-host and judge for “Chefs vs. Wild” and co-founder of Tahoma Peak Solutions; Jenny Slagle (Yakama and Northern Arapaho), owner of Indigenous Eats; and Senator Joe Williams (Swinomish), Swinomish shellfish community liaison.

Native athletes helped kick off football’s popularity in the early days and there are a number of talented Native NFL players. The sport attracts a large Native following despite problematic mascots, tomahawk chops, and headdresses. The season is still young, rivalries are heating up, and fans have their sights set for a post-season appearance. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce huddles with Marlin Fryberg (member of the Tulalip Tribes), 7G Foundation northwestern states region board member; Levi Horn (Northern Cheyenne), former Chicago Bear and current drug and alcohol counselor; Eric Brock, athletic director for Santa Fe Indian School; and Joseph Claunch (Puyallup), dean of students and head football coach at Hózhó Academy.

Some tribes are already finding economic opportunities with clean energy. Now the Biden Administration is appealing directly to tribes to add wind, solar, and other clean alternatives to help boost their budgets. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce finds out why more tribes are willing to take a chance on these burgeoning technologies with Daniel Wiggins Jr. (Bad River Band citizen), Air Quality Technician with the Bad River Band Natural Resources Department; Liliana Napoleon (Native Hawaiian and a Cherokee descendant), program director for Ho’ahu Energy Cooperative; Robert Blake (tribal citizen of the Red Lake Nation), owner of Solar Bear, executive director for Native Sun Community Power Development, and chief executive officer for Indigenized Energy Initiative; Tanksi Clairmont (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota tribal member and Sicangu Lakota), managing director of the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund; and Dr. Suzanne Singer (Diné), co-founder of Native Renewables.

Post-pandemic burn out, persistently low pay, and a disparaging political climate are helping fuel a high number of teacher vacancies. Some school districts have an easier time recruiting teachers from other countries than finding candidates from within their own borders. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce looks at how rising class sizes, decreased attention on cultural connections, and the shifting political pressures mean Native students are at an increasing disadvantage with Jerad Koepp (Wukchumni), a Native Student Program Specialist and 2022 Washington state teacher of the year; Joe Carrier (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), American Indian education program coordinator for Detroit Lakes Public Schools; and Dr. Casie Wise, senior program director for the National Indian Education Association.

The Biden Administration says it wants to work with tribes to co-manage federal land that is also sacred or culturally important. Tribal leaders are talking with officials in the Interior and Agriculture departments about what that might look like. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with Dr. Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee), advisor for the “Sacred Places Project” from the Native American Rights Fund, founding trustee of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, president of the Morningstar Institute, and the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; Oglala Lakota Tribe President Kevin Killer (Oglala Lakota); and head councilman Joe Garcia (Ohkay Owingeh), advisor for the Sacred Places Project from the Native American Rights Fund.

Tlingit clan houses are both physical structures and important traditional entities encompassing family, ceremony, and connectedness. In Sitka, clan houses are slowly disappearing, caught between Tlingit custom and conventional legal constraints. But now there’s new hope on the horizon with the repatriation of one of the properties in Sitka. It’s reviving awareness and the possibility of finding solutions to preserve these important cultural touchstones. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with Jerrick Hope-Lange (Tlingit); Louise Brady (Tlingit); Chuck Miller (Tlingit), caretaker of the Platform House; and James Poulson, architecture historian and photo editor for the Daily Sitka Sentinel.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) is seeking federal disaster funds after a major storm battered a thousand-mile stretch of the state’s western coastline. The storm caused flooding and wind damage that destroyed homes, roads, power lines, and other infrastructure – and displaced hundreds of residents. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce hears about the immediate effects of the storm and measures to help residents with Jan Olson (Yup'ik), tribal administrator for the Native Village of Hooper Bay; Peter Tuluk (Kashunamiut), general manager for KCUK Radio; and Rick Thoman, climate specialist for the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy. Plus, Gualterio Alomar (Taino), president of the Organization for Culture of Hispanic Origins, provides an update on the Hurricane Fiona disaster in Puerto Rico.

The story of the Dust Bowl often focuses on the plight of European settlers whose agricultural promise descended into absolute ruin during decades of drought, but the nation’s most infamous climate disaster also precipitated the needless forced slaughter of masses of Native-owned livestock and subsequent land and water use policies to the detriment of many tribes. Today on Native America Calling, Andi Murphy reflects on the Dust Bowl's legacy for Native Americans with Dr. David Chang (Native Hawaiian), professor of history and American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota; Dr. David Wilkins (Lumbee), professor at the University of Richmond; Larry O’Dell, director of communications at the Oklahoma Historical Society; and Greg Scott, Oklahoma Conservation Commission soil scientist and geomorphologist.

Today on Native America Calling, as summer wanes, Andi Murphy welcomes the beginning of autumn with a look at some brand-new music from established Indigenous musicians and newer acts that get us excited like rapper Nataanii Means (Oglala Lakota, Diné and Omaha) with his new album “GROWTH”; singer-songwriter Wayne Garner (citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) with his new album “School for Savages”; and vocalist Nico Williams (Cherokee) and guitarist Kyle Williams (Ponca, Otoe, and Ioway) from Medicine Horse, who have dropped a few songs from their upcoming debut album.

Just as courts are working through jurisdictional boundaries for the other tribes in Oklahoma, a district court judge determined the Osage Nation reservation does not exist. The judge asserts Congress disestablished the Osage reservation. Lawyers for the tribe and the criminal defendant in question promise to take the issue to a federal appeals court. It’s part of the ongoing legal push-and-pull in Oklahoma over criminal jurisdiction that has far-reaching implications. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with Billy Keene (Osage), Osage Nation Congress member; Elizabeth Homer (Osage), attorney and associate justice on the Osage Nation Supreme Court; and Matthew Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), law professor at the University of Michigan Law School and author of the “Turtle Talk” blog.