Native America Calling

The death of a 14-year-old San Carlos Apache girl is spurring questions nationally about what could have been done to prevent the tragedy. Emily Pike’s remains were found three weeks after she went missing from a Mesa, Ariz. group home. A candlelight vigil over the weekend honored her memory. At least one other community event is scheduled. Her death also comes after authorities identified the remains found at a Winnipeg landfill as one of the women suspected to be a victim of a serial killer. We’ll hear about both cases in context of pressure to improve the outcomes for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

GUESTS

Mary Kim Titla (San Carlos Apache), executive director of United National Indian Tribal Youth

Jolyana Begay-Kroupa (Diné), chief executive officer of the Phoenix Indian Center

Kim Wheeler (Anishinaabe and Mohawk), journalist and host of The Kim Wheeler Show on Sirius XM

Sandra DeLaronde (Cross Lake First Nation and Métis), MMIWG2S advocate

Kyra Wilson (Long Plain First Nation), Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs

Break 1 Music: Women’s Honoring Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 Music: Old Alberta (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

Military veterans make up just under a third of the thousands of federal job cuts that the White House has imposed since January. On top of that, the Trump Administration indicates it intends to cut 80,000 jobs from Veterans Affairs. We’ll explore how those cuts are being felt by the population that traditionally has the highest military participation compared to any other group.

GUESTS

Dean Dauphinais (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), business owner, entrepreneur, and Marine Corps veteran

Robert Hunter Sr. (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Northern Cheyenne), director of MHA Veterans Affairs and Army veteran

Break 1 Music: Flag Song (song) Black Lodge (artist) Veteran’s Honor Song (album)

Break 2 Music: Old Alberta (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

Native Americans have a lower risk of developing skin cancer than their white counterparts. But a more comprehensive look at the disease over ten years’ time shows gaps in how skin cancer among Native people is counted. It also signals problems in awareness, diagnosis, and treatment among people who live in poverty or in rural areas. We’ll look at the links between Native Americans and skin cancer, and get a reminder about what to look for.

GUESTS

Dr. Anna Chacon (Maya), board certified dermatologist

Dr. Rachel Asiniwasis (Plains Cree and Saulteaux First Nations), dermatologist and clinician researcher

Melissa Buffalo (Meskwaki Nation), Chief Executive Officer at American Indian Cancer Foundation

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Pakosiyimitan (album)

Break 2 Music: Old Alberta (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

Tribal and state public health efforts in New Mexico are credited with cutting the Native American suicide rate in that state by 43% over a year’s time. It’s even more notable in that the percent reduction is more than five times that of the rest of the population. There are still troubling statistics, including a study that shows Native American young people at most risk. We’ll hear from suicide prevention experts about where problems persist and what is being done to offset them.

GUESTS

Shelby Rowe (Chickasaw), executive director of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center

Dr. Deidre Yellowhair (Diné), research assistant professor in the division of community behavioral health for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of New Mexico

Lynette Hepa (Iñupiaq), director of the department of health and social services for the North Slope Borough

Amanda WhiteCrane (Northern Cheyenne), director of the Native & Strong Lifeline with the Volunteers of America Western Washington

Break 1 Music: Healing Song (song) Judy Trejo (artist) Circle Dance Songs of the Paiute and Shoshone (album)

Break 2 Music: Nîmihito (Dance) [Feat. Northern Cree] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

A play in Burbank, Calif. exposes the frustrations Native Americans often express about the ongoing tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). The largely Native production, Four Women In Red, portrays a group of women who learn they’re largely alone in finding out information about missing loved ones. The play comes at a time of job cuts for Department of Interior officials and federal law enforcement officers. At the same time, the Trump Administration announced new efforts to identify remains of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People and reunite them with their families. Some states, including New Mexico, are making moves to reinforce their efforts to solve MMIP crimes.

GUESTS

Sen. Angel Charley (Acoma Pueblo and Navajo)(D-Acoma, NM)

Laura Shamas (Chickasaw) playwright

LaRenda Morgan (Cheyenne and Arapaho) MMIP chapter chair and government affairs officer for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes

William J. Horton (Choctaw) Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit regional agent in charge

Darlene Gomez, attorney and activist for MMIP

Break 1 music: Red Dress [feat. Chantal Kreviazuk] (song) Amanda Rheaume (artist) Red Dress (feat. Chantal Kreviazuk) (single)

Break 2 Music: Nîmihito (Dance) [Feat. Northern Cree] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

Iowa is testing new legal limits as the first state to remove gender identity as a protected class in the state’s civil rights code. The Trump administration is also removing transgender service personnel from the military. And the State Department is using existing law against fraud to bar foreign transgender athletes from entering the country, something critics worry could be used to ban any trans traveler. After years of progress, Native American trans residents are facing a major rollback of favorable laws and policies. We’ll hear about the current public climate and what might be in store for the future.

GUESTS

Shelby Chestnut (Assiniboine), executive director of the Transgender Law Center

Stephanie Byers (Chickasaw), former Kansas state representative

Vernon Gonzales (Houma), trans advocate

Shuína Skó (Klamath Tribes), Two-Spirit poet, author, & cultural consultant

Break 1 Music: This Love (song) Edzi’u (artist) Tunnel Vision (album)

Break 2 Music: Nîmihito (Dance) [Feat. Northern Cree] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

Among the shows and films touching on Native American themes is the start of season three of the suspenseful Dark Winds crime saga on AMC. The well-received show has new mysteries with Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon), Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) among many other Native characters. The show just got confirmed for a fourth season. The Netflix limited series American Primeval is a violent retelling of the American West with several significant Native storylines and characters. And fresh off its Academy Award nomination, Sugarcane is a hard-hitting documentary about the Canadian residential school system.

GUESTS

Julie O’Keefe (Osage Nation), Indigenous cultural consultant for American Primeval

Vincent Schilling (Akwesasne Mohawk), editor and founder of NativeViewpoint. com and a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic

Dezbaa’ (Diné), SAG-AFTRA union actor, WGA union writer, independent filmmaker, and Helen Atcitty in Dark Winds

Break 1 Music: Conduit of Anguish (song) Geneviève Gros-Louis (artist)

Break 2 Music: Nîmihito (Dance) [Feat. Northern Cree] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

President Donald Trump has promised to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. Education advocates worry about what that means for the $119 billion the federal government sends to public K-12 schools and what becomes of the programs supporting Native American students. We’ll get a sense of what the future for Native primary and secondary education along with concerns from Native educators and policy advocates.

GUESTS

Julia Wakeford (Muscogee and Yuchi), National Indian Education Association policy director

Kimberly Daingkau-Begay (Kiowa, Caddo, and Pawnee), executive officer and president of the Arizona Indian Education Association

Matt Jackson (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma), social studies teacher at Norman North High School

Break 1 Music: I Am the Beginning and the End (song) Dorothy Tsatoke (artist) Native American Healing Songs Come to me Great Mystery (album)

Break 2 Music: Nîmihito (Dance) [Feat. Northern Cree] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

Federal staff layoffs, spending freezes and other executive orders by the Donald Trump administration jeopardize food pathways for tribes and federal grants and loans for Native farmers.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is helping conservation of an endangered fish called the Sicklefin Redhorse. It has a long and traditional relationship with the tribe in the southeast.

The first children’s book by Squamish ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph teaches young about Indigenous plant knowledge and harvesting. This Land Knows Me: A Nature Walk Exploring Indigenous Wisdom is an engaging lesson on the plants around us and the cultural stories that go along with them.

That’s all on The Menu, our regular special feature on Indigenous food hosted and produced by Andi Murphy.

GUESTS

Carly Griffith Hotvedt (Cherokee Nation), executive director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative

Styawat / Leigh Joseph (Skwxwú7mesh). ethnobotanist, knowledge keeper, professor at Simon Fraser University, and owner of Sḵwálwen Botanicals

Dr. Caleb Hickman (Cherokee Nation), supervisor fisheries and wildlife biologist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Break 1 Music: Go Ahead and Try (song) Hataałii (artist) Waiting for a Sign (album)

Break 2 Music: Water by Jim Pepper [Arranged by Jhoely Garay] (song) Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Live at Joe’s Pub, NYC on January 13th, 2024 (performance)

Compensation for college athletics is changing fast. University sports programs are having to adapt to the evolving market for athletes through what is known as name, image and likeness. The issue is being debated in state legislatures and Congress. A settlement between the NCAA and current and former athletes could open the door to schools directly compensating athletes and revenue sharing among institutions. We’ll find out how some Native athletes are navigating the new N.I.L. reality and what some of the potential benefits and pitfalls could be.

GUESTS

Taybor Moss (Cherokee), senior softball player for Piedmont High School

Xavier Guillory (Nez Perce), recent graduate of Arizona State University where he played college football for the Sun Devils

Jaelyn Bates (Navajo and Sioux), junior women’s basketball player

Mark Branch (Kaw Nation), head coach of the University of Wyoming wrestling team

Natalia Chavez (Cochiti Pueblo), women’s basketball player at Abilene Christian University

Break 1 Music: Suplex [feat. Northern Voice] (song) The Halluci Nation (artist) Suplex – EP (album)

Break 2 Music: Water by Jim Pepper [Arranged by Jhoely Garay] (song) Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Live at Joe’s Pub, NYC on January 13th, 2024 (performance)