Native America Calling

Confronting the bitter legacy of boarding schools in the United States is about more than just reconciliation and healing. It’s also about accountability. American Genocide, the new podcast by Illuminative, zeroes in on the Red Cloud Indian Boarding School, which is now a Catholic school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It sparks the difficult conversation about the past and present trauma perpetrated on Native children and who should have a say in how it’s spoken.

The rate of overdose deaths linked to fentanyl is skyrocketing and Native Americans are many times more likely to be affected. The cheap and potent drug is replacing its related cousins — heroin and oxycodone — as the biggest addiction threat. Among the bright spots: the Cherokee Nation is investing in a state-of-the-art in-patient treatment facility to combat the ravages of opioid addiction.

Mortgage interest rates have trended down recently, but they’re still relatively high compared to previous years. Inflation is also going in a positive direction, but remains a factor for those in the market to buy a home. Whatever the outside variables, there are several resources for Native home buyers.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) is readying a new tool to help people search for information about their relatives who attended more than 500 U.S. boarding schools. The online archive will start with digitized versions of 50,000 federal documents. Those organizing the project hope to build on the number and scope of the records over time. Tens of thousands of Native children attended the schools. Some never returned home. What records there are for those children are scattered among various institutions. The NABS’s efforts are among a handful aimed to increasing and consolidating access to information about the boarding school era.

GUESTS

Selena Ortega-Chiolero (Tarahumara), museum specialist for the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council

Fallon Carey (Cherokee Nation), digital archives assistant for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Deidre Whiteman (Meskwaki, Dakota, Ojibwe, Hidatsa), director of research and education for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Shelly Lowe (Diné), chair of the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation offers online college-level language courses. They’re among the efforts to bring new life to Bodéwadmimwen, with only four fluent speakers remaining. And a private Salish immersion school is working with elders to develop lessons. School administrators say they’ve produced dozens of new speakers of their language, both young and old. We’ll hear from Native language educators about the classroom’s role in revitalizing languages.

GUESTS

LaRae Wiley (Sinixt Arrow Lakes Band), Salish School of Spokane executive director 

Christopher Parkin, Salish School of Spokane principal 

Robert Collins (Citizen Potawatomi), Potawatomi Language Professor at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center

Dr. X̱’unei Lance Twitchell (Lingít, Haida, Yup’ik, and Sami), Professor of Alaska Native Languages at University of Alaska Southeast

Every weekday in Gualala, Calif., radio listeners can tune into the long-running show "Peggy’s Place" on KGUA to learn about their neighbors and the rest of the world. The show is just one of the many projects spanning the 50-year radio career of its host, Peggy Berryhill. She started with the show "Living on Indian Time" on KPFA in Berkeley, Calif. in 1973. She has since worked at National Public Radio, helped develop Native stations, mentored Native broadcasters, and founded the Native Media Resource Center. She has picked up numerous awards and accolades along the way. We’ll get her take on her notable accomplishments and the future of Native radio.

GUEST

Peggy Berryhill (Muscogee [Creek] Nation), General Manager of KGUA

Taking on motherhood-by-marriage comes with its own rewards and challenges. The bond between a woman and her partner’s children is often strong and fulfilling. But it might take some informed effort to get there. We take a special focus on stepmothers as we head into Mother’s Day.

GUESTS

Paula Johnson-Jefferson (Samson Cree), small business owner, wife, and stepmother   

Nico Williams (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), chef and stepmother

Dr. Roger Kuhn (Poarch Band of Creek Indians), licensed marriage and family therapist and college professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University

Rebecca Spradlin (Prairie Band Potawatomi), student and storyteller working in media

It’s the time of year for graduations in small, reservation high school auditoriums, big city convention centers, tribal college quads, and manicured Ivy League grounds. It will be a year with and without regalia, depending on where you are. Native graduates are taking the next step in their educational journey.

GUESTS:

Dr. Lennon Audrain (Cherokee and Shawnee), assistant research professor at Arizona State University and high school teacher at Mesa Public Schools

Keely Jones Aliseo (Lumbee), UNC Pembroke graduate and recent Army ROTC second lieutenant

Jay Locklear (Lumbee), bachelor's in mass communication

Dr. Johnny Poolaw (Delaware, Chiricahua Apache, Comanche, Kiowa), Director of Student Success for American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)

AJ Begay (Diné), recent graduate of Ft. Lewis College 

Indigenous activists in Central and South America are literally putting their lives on the line trying to protect their land and culture. Places like Brazil, Honduras, Colombia, and parts of Mexico are rife with murders and disappearances of Indigenous people speaking up to save their land and people from large scale mining operations, logging, and other extractive industries. In many cases, those responsible are never brought to justice. We’ll explore the factors that contribute to the threat to Indigenous people standing up against corporate development.

GUESTS

María Martin, award-winning multimedia journalist, founding executive director of Latino USA, and director of GraciasVida Center for Media

Nati Garcia (Maya Mam), capacity building manager for Cultural Survival

Edson Krenak (Krenak), Cultural Survival lead on Brazil

Karla Mendes, investigative and feature reporter for Mongabay and a Rainforest Investigations Fellow with the Pulitzer Center

For more than 30 years, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act has been an important tool for protecting the authenticity and economic value of work produced by Native Americans. It also helps buyers know they’re getting what they pay for. Now the U.S Department of Interior is reviewing the law and among the outstanding questions is whether it goes far enough. Should artwork from state-recognized tribal artists be excluded as authentic? How should artwork from Native Hawaiians be identified?

GUESTS

Chuck Hoskin Jr. (Cherokee Nation), Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Dr. Sylvia Hussey (Native Hawaiian), chief executive officer for Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)

Rachel Cushman (member of the Chinook Indian Nation), tribal secretary and treasurer for the Chinook Indian Nation

Dr. Joe Candillo (Pascua Yaqui), owner of Authentic Native America Arts