Native America Calling

Depression and anxiety disorders are on the rise — and there is little progress in reducing the effects of historical trauma among Native Americans. There are, however, a number of potential solutions that are providing results in relieving what has become a mental health crisis. Art therapy is an effective means to relieve mental health trauma, particularly among people who have difficulty expressing their concerns verbally. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce hears about efforts to use artistic expression as a mean to help Native Americans’ mental health with First Nations art educator Michael “Cy” Cywink (Odawa); Carey MacCarthy, founder and CEO of Start Up! Art Therapy and the Indigenous Healing Arts Alliance; and Danielle Rose (Sioux), clinical social worker, addictions counselor, and auricular acupuncturist.

The Native American Rights Fund and other organizations filed a legal challenge against the state for discounting ballots in a way that disproportionately affects Alaska Native voters. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld voter restrictions in the state constitution originally instituted by white supremacists specifically to limit participation by people of color. Thursday on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce gets a rundown of the evolving landscape of voter restrictions that affect Native Americans with Megan Condon, staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund; O.J. Semans Sr. (Rosebud Sioux), co-executive director of Four Directions Vote; and Nicole Donaghy (Lakota), executive director of North Dakota Native Vote.

Just in time for the mid-term elections, President Joe Biden announced his executive action to extend the current student loan payment pause until January and forgive up to $20,000 of debt. It's a compromise between the full forgiveness pushed for years by progressive Democrats and the inflationary concerns of moderate Democrats and conservative Republicans. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce gets an assessment for what’s in the student loan forgiveness plan, who qualifies, and what it might do for current and future Native college students with Carmen Lopez (Navajo), executive director of College Horizons and Graduate Horizons, and Carrie Billy (Navajo), CEO of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.

The volcanic eruptions near Tonga, Japan, and Ecuador are all making headlines and remind us of the role they play in Indigenous culture. Native Hawaiians have a direct spiritual connection to the explosive giants while many tribes in the continental U.S. have their own stories and links. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce learns more about these mystical mountains with Robert "Robby" Goldman (Native Hawaiian), PhD. candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow, and Dr. Jon Major, scientist-in-charge of the U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory.

L.A. Williams is a prominent Navajo language sports announcer, calling everything from high school games to the Super Bowl along with a few rodeos, WNBA seasons, and the 2002 Winter Olympics. Now she's calling Phoenix Suns games in Navajo. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with the trailblazing broadcaster as part of our ongoing feature Native in the Spotlight.

The Farm Bill is a huge piece of legislation dealing with every aspect of agriculture and nutrition and it’s set to be reauthorized in 2023. That’s a chance for Native food advocates to insert critical policies, change old policies, and promote food sovereignty. Plus, tribes are getting a big funding boost from the Inflation Reduction Act with millions of dollars dedicated to Indigenous climate resilience and adaptation projects in tribal fisheries and hatcheries. Friday on Native America Calling, Andi Murphy serves up a new helping of “The Menu,” our regular roundup of the Indigenous food movement, with attorney Carly Griffith Hotvedt (Cherokee), associate director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law and committee member of the Oklahoma state office for the Farm Service Agency; Alexander Ashley (Navajo), chef, owner, and operator of Bidii Chidi; and Michael Orcutt (Hupa), fisheries department director for the Hoopa Valley Tribe.

There’s a fair amount of romanticizing historical outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James. A fistful of Native Americans like Cherokee Bill, Willie Boy, and Henry Lowry were among the criminals who terrorized citizens on their own or as part of a gang of ne’er-do-wells. Some were lawless marauders out for their own gain. Others were folk heroes who railed against Colonial oppression. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with Nancy Fields (Lumbee), director and curator at The Museum of the Southeast American Indian; elder John Anderson (Potawatomi), great-grandson of a Bly gang victim and chairman emeritus and director at F&M bank in central Oklahoma; elder Matthew Leivas Sr (Chemehuevi), member of The Cultural Conservancy; and author and historian Art T. Burton.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History is the latest institution going through a repatriation process starting this month. The museum, which has dozens of human remains and hundreds of Indigenous funerary objects in its collection, hasn’t been in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection & Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990. And in Montana, several items were repatriated from the University of Missoula and will now be in the care of the Fort Peck Interpretive Center. Several other institutions still have collections containing thousands of human remains and objects that fall under NAGPRA but it’s been slow work to get actual objects back into the care of tribes. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce talks with Steve Murray, director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History; Shannon Keller O’Loughlin (Choctaw), executive director of the Association on American Indian Affairs; and Dyan Youpee (Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota), Fort Peck Tribes cultural resource director and tribal historic preservation officer about current efforts.

The new legislation just signed into law includes unprecedented investment into measures intended to reduce climate change. It sends millions of dollars to tribal projects, but also keeps in place reliance on polluters. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce finds how the Inflation Reduction Act is a boost for the planet with Pilar Thomas (Pascua Yaqui), partner in the Quarles and Brady law firm’s Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Practice Group and a law professor at Arizona State University; Jordan Harmon (Muscogee Creek), policy analyst and legislative advocate for the Indigenous Environmental Network; Brett Isaac (Diné), executive chairman at Navajo Power; and Jill Sherman-Warne (Hoopa), executive director for the Native American Environmental Protection Coalition and a Hoopa tribal councilmember.

The resurgence of language revitalization helps keep cultural connections and exercise sovereignty. Those connections are diminished somewhat for those who are visually impaired and can’t read the written page. But there are those who are taking on the work of merging Native languages with braille, extending the full power of their culture to more of their citizens. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with Carol Begay Green (Diné), teacher of students with visual impairments at Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind; students Heather Joe and Bryant Becenti (Diné); and Christine Muise, contract Braille transcriber and tactile illustrator.