Native America Calling

Is there really a mass of Chinese immigrants forming an army within the United States? Are there legions of ineligible voters deciding elections? Are the people you disagree with politically getting influenced by Russian agents? Anymore, news consumers can choose where they get their facts from - and increasingly those facts are in dispute. A new poll by the Media Insight Project finds 53% of those asked think news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation about the upcoming election. We will get some clues about what Native news consumers should look out for, and what news organizations could do to restore trust in their products.

U.S. citizenship was not a given for the people who occupied the land before there was a United States. Nor was the idea universally welcomed by all Native nations. Citizenship ensured the right to vote in national elections and equal protection under the Constitution. But it also required relinquishing a measure of sovereignty, something the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee refuse to recognize to this day. A century after President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, we’ll look at the strengths and sacrifices of becoming American citizens.

Basketball fans are glued to their teams’ performance in the NBA conference finals, with at least two Native players still battling for the title. And the WNBA just started its season, welcoming Minnesota Lynx draft pick Alissa Pili (Iñupiaq and Samoan) onto the court. We’ll hear from Pili, as well as University of Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson (Lumbee), who the AP just named Coach of the Year, along with some other perspectives on Native representation on the court.

Most polls over the years show Native Americans’ substantial support for Democrats. But that hasn’t stopped strong representation in Congress by Native Republicans. That includes U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (Chickasaw Nation/R-OK), who recently took the reins of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. He is also the longest-serving Native congressman in history. We’ll get perspectives from some notable Native Republicans about what they see the party does for their Native constituents in the first of a series of profiles shedding light on political positions heading into the general election.

Alexa Numkena-Anderson (Hopi, Yakama, Cree, Skokomish) shares a bit of Southwest flare with Pacific Northwest flavors—to match her tribal identity—through her pop-up food business, Javelina: Indigenous Dining in Portland, Ore. A rare confluence of periodical cicadas is a nutritional gift and a reminder of resilience for some tribes in Southeast states. And “Nothing Left for Me,” a new museum exhibit at the University of New Mexico’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, documents Diné perspectives on the devastating effects of the federal government’s 1930s Navajo livestock reduction program. That’s on The Menu on Native America Calling, a feature about Native food hosted by Andi Murphy.

Sasquatch, also called Bigfoot, has captured the popular collective imagination around the globe for decades. But in addition to their pop icon status, Sasquatch have a deeper meaning for many Native American cultures. The name that’s often used most likely comes from the Coast Salish word “Sasq’ets.” The Sts'ailes First Nation in Canada consider Sasquatch to be a caretaker of the land. A new exhibition at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore. showcases work by Native artists inspired by Sasquatch. We’ll get a peek at the exhibition along with some context of the enduring cultural connection.

The world is gearing up for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Of course, that decisive military action by Allied forces was more than just one day and was supported by actions across Europe. We’ll hear about what the war was like for Native Americans who served, and get a profile of one of the infantry divisions that had among the highest percentage of Native enlisted members in the military.

Child support payments could be cut for hundreds of Native American mothers. The looming change revolves around a debate in Congress over access to private IRS information. Child support enforcement efforts use that information to garnish tax refunds going to non-custodial parents. It's a system that reroutes some $2 billion across the country every year. But tribes fall into a special category that would prevent them from solutions that non-tribal agencies are able to use. North Dakota tribes have already had such child support payments cut off because of an IRS directive, but that decision is now reversed. We'll hear about the complex issue of child support enforcement for tribes.

Reindeer weren’t always in Alaska, but now there’s a strong connection for Alaska Native herders. It all started in 1891, when the U.S. Government signed onto a plan by a Presbyterian missionary to recruit Indigenous European Sami people in order to spark economic development and relieve food insecurity in Alaska. The program took off, but was greatly hampered by subsequent policy decisions. Somewhere along the way, the Arctic reindeer herding lifestyle meshed well with the state’s Iñupiaq and Yup’ik residents.

There’s something for everybody on the summer reading lists by our expert panel of Native super-readers. From supernatural slashers to memoirs to poetry, there is an abundance of Native literature available right now to put in your backpack or beach bag. From the usual big names and a few hidden treasures, we’ll have ideas for you to stock up on the printed word.