Native America Calling

Voter identification laws, redistricting, and restricted access to polls continue to threaten full Native voter participation. Voting rights advocates are currently looking ahead to potential problems in advance of the 2020 election. High profile issues like the voter I.D. law in North Dakota and the violation of the Voting Rights Act in San Juan County, Utah have voting rights advocates on high alert heading into the election season. We’ll talk with the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission about their efforts to count every vote and get updates on where other potential problems might occur.

Métis artist Jaime Black calls her REDress Project an aesthetic response to a critical national issue. Her installations of donated red dresses symbolize missing women, with numbers reaching into the thousands. Quilter Susan Hudson (Navajo) also depicts women’s clothes and moccasins as a reminder of the women who disappeared or were murdered. The upcoming Santa Fe Indian Market organized by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts is focusing on female strength and resilience and has a number of events dedicated to raising awareness of MMIW. As politicians and women’s advocates work to change local and national policy, so too are artists reminding people of a troubling legacy. We’ll talk with some of them who are exploring the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Selected tribes are getting the ability to share data designed to prevent sexual violence on reservations. The U.S. Department of Justice is giving eligible tribes expanded access to the FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry. Those tribes can enter their own information and get comprehensive access to the FBI’s database. The program is an expansion of the 2015 Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP) now available for about 72 tribes. We’ll learn what this means for tribes working to stop sexual violence.

The first feature-length fictional film in the Haida language, SGaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife), tells a story of a 19th Century Haida man who retreats to the wilderness. The documentary “Words from a Bear” is a biography of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist N. Scott Momaday. In “Warrior Women”, the role of women in the American Indian Movement. These are just a few of the 53 films at this year’s Native Cinema Showcase. We’ll talk with some filmmakers to get a behind-the-scenes look at their films and hear about what else to expect from this year’s event.

Bird songs are an ancient tradition from tribes in Southern California and parts of Arizona. They’re characterized by men singing in a line to the beat of gourd rattles. They are meant to restore balance in the community and encourage respect for all living beings.  Some songs are sung in sequence and some tell stories of migration.We’ll talk with bird singers about the history of the music and efforts to bring up a new generation of singers.

Rebounding from serious financial trouble, Bacone College in Oklahoma is reestablishing itself with a charter from the Osage Nation. It’s the state’s longest running university, looking forward to commemorating its 140th year. Leaders are aiming to become accredited as a tribal college with a particular focus on Native arts. The college was once known for producing Native artists who influenced a new style of art in the early to mid 1900s. The current president of the university, Ferlin Clark calls “Bacone Indian Art” the foundation of the Indian art movement. We’ll look at the university's artistic legacy and it's plans for the future.

Installing and maintaining broadband internet on rural reservations is not cost effective. That’s why access to broadband on tribal land lags behind cities and even other rural areas. But some innovative companies are trying out new technologies and are spurring the federal government to update policies and offer incentives to expand into areas that have not been feasible before. Internet access is necessary for commerce, education and economic development. We’ll be live at the state of New Mexico’s first-ever Rural Networks Conference to hear how tribally-owned telecommunications companies are overcoming barriers to bring high speed internet to Native America.

Tourists sometimes don’t bother to learn about tribal customs or wishes before visiting. Other times tourists take things that they shouldn’t or desecrate important places. Sometimes they’re just rude. The Navajo Nation had to specifically ask visitors to stop spreading cremated human remains in the picturesque Monument Valley. Internationally, the Indigenous Anangu are expressing concern over the damage caused by thousands of tourists eager to climb Uluru, a sacred mountain in Australia, before a climbing ban takes effect in October. We’ll get tips on how to be a good tourist and consider questions to think about before traveling to a tribal area.

Award-winning writer Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo) first connected to poetry through music. As an adolescent, he would listen to country and western songs on the radio and write down his own lyrics. Before his decades-long professional writing career, Ortiz served in the military and labored in the uranium mining industry. Both things influenced his writing. We’ll talk with Ortiz about his poetry and prose and how his first language, Keres, shapes his writing and perspective.

Alaska faces severe budget cuts that significantly affect higher education, social services, and public safety, especially in rural villages. We'll get an update on efforts to both prepare for and halt the budget vetoes taking effect. A Navajo man is making a bid for the 2020 presidential race. His platform includes re-writing the constitution. Also authorities continue to clash with protesters in Hawai’i over the pending construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. We’ll get an update from people who are there. And the Red Press Initiative is looking at press freedom in Indian Country. We’ll find out why. We’ll round up the most recent news.