Native America Calling

For decades, Leo “Bushido” Bercier (Ojibwe) balanced a full-time job and a family as he worked to make a name for himself as a professional fighter. Now, he’s hoping the controversial sport of bare-knuckle boxing will afford new opportunities. Along the way, he’s helping other amateur fighters in Great Falls, Mont. Similarly, across the country, Joshua Oxendine (Lumbee) is lining up bouts while also teaching traditional boxing at a gym he owns with his wife outside Charlotte, N.C. We’ll speak with both fighters about their passion for the sport that was banned for more than a century.

We’ll also get perspectives on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Rosebud. Chief Crazy Horse and Lakota and Cheyenne warriors successfully turned back the U.S. Army column led by Gen. George Crook, cutting off the re-enforcements heading to the fateful Battle of Greasy Grass eight days later.

Oregon’s only contribution to a time capsule organized for the America250 commemoration is a pin by Lillian Pitt, an artist from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs known for her focus on Native Americans’ 12,000 years of history. In a statement, Pitt says she’s gratified that the work will remind the people who open the capsule 250 years from now “of those who have made this land their home since time immemorial.” The National Museum of the American Indian is compiling a quilt with panels created in a series by different artists offering interpretations of the country’s history through a Native lens. They are among the many contributions by Native individuals and organizations during the nation’s semiquincentennial.

Once overshadowed by the myth of “Custer’s Last Stand”, Native Americans have successfully reclaimed the narrative of the Battle of Greasy Grass. 150 years after the defeat of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th U.S. Cavalry, northern Plains tribes plan numerous events over multiple days to commemorate the historical milestone and to explore the ways the unexpected victory by a coalition of tribes continues to reverberate today. The sesquicentennial is less about celebrating past military dominance and more about a unified, multi-tribal declaration that, despite a century and a half of forced displacement, Indigenous cultures and identities remain vibrantly alive.

Tribes in Washington State and Vancouver, British Columbia are presenting their culture and history to soccer fans all over the world. The Puyallup Tribe’s partnership with FIFA is the first time an Indigenous nation is formally represented at the World Cup for the games in host city, Seattle. The Musqueam Indian Band and Squamish Nation also have hosting and planning agreements in Canada. They are all contributing cultural events, visual arts, and music during the matches that are attracting fans from all over the world.

At the same time, Native victims advocates like the Seattle Indian Health Board are preparing resources to combat the expected increases in Indigenous human trafficking that inevitably accompanies such large, high-profile events.

A site of tragedy for the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation has become a place of renewal and promise. The tribe has worked for the past seven years to revitalize the land of the 1863 Bear River Massacre. By eradicating invasive species, reviving native plants, and returning water canals to their natural paths, the tribe is significantly boosting both water quality and flow of the river. It is one of the biggest sources of water for the Great Salt Lake, and officials say the tribe's efforts could be part of a solution to preventing the iconic body of water from disappearing amid an increasingly dry climate. And in Montana, The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes continue work as part of a historic compact to revitalize the Jocko River. We’ll discuss how Indigenous knowledge is providing promise against a troubling trend.

As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases its 20-year dredging plan for the Columbia River, tribes say they want more of a say in how the operation affects their fishing and cultural priorities. The Corps acknowledges that its ongoing work to maintain the 43-foot deep channel is detrimental to salmon and other species. The Trump administration, which cancelled a historic river co-management agreement with tribes, now wants to facilitate larger, more powerful shipping barges on the river that already transports more than 26 million tons of grain a year. But the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Cowlitz Tribe, and others say the waterway is more than just a highway for agricultural exports. They want their voices reflected in future river dredging decisions.

A racial discrimination lawsuit by a non-Native resident of Hawaii threatens to dismantle a Native Hawaiian land benefit established by Congress more than a century ago. The suit challenges the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921, a federal law reserving more than 200,000 acres of land in a public trust for Hawaii's Native population. Residents need to prove they have a 50% blood quantum to qualify for 99-year lease. The plaintiff argues he was denied a lease based on an unconstitutional racial preference. It is one in a series of challenges for similar benefits including school admissions and a health studies scholarship, all giving preference for Native Hawaiians, who do not share the same political protections as Native Americans. We’ll discuss how the lawsuits brings issues of equity, blood quantum, and historic land dispossession to the forefront.

Overall support for many key LGBTQ+ issues remains overwhelmingly high among Americans, but a new survey shows that support declining for the first time in years. Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey shows 69% of those surveyed favor same-sex marriage, for instance. But that is down from 71% two years ago. The new direction comes as more anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation are surfacing. A handful of cities and states are opting to show support for traditional families rather than back Pride events. At the same time, annual parades, events and public discussions show no signs of slowing down. We’ll get a view of what Pride means in 2026.

A major housing and retail development proposal in Virginia threatens to pave over the birthplace of one of America’s most influential historical leader. Paramount Chief Powhatan is the notable late-1500s leader who united local tribes into what became known as the Powhatan Confederacy to face the first waves of English settlers. He was the being father of Matoaka, also known as Pocahontas. The nonprofit organization Preservation Virginia placed the site on its 2026 list of most endangered places. Tribal leaders are actively working to halt the development project, saying it would be "an immeasurable loss to tribal communities and the Commonwealth of Virginia." We'll hear from tribal leaders about Powhatan's birthplace and his enduring legacy.

As the nation commemorates the 100th anniversary of historic Route 66, some historians, scholars, and curators are offering a different perspective of the famed Mother Road. An exhibition just opened at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, Okla. that gives the public a view of the people, culture, and influence arising from the tribal land the road cuts through. A Diné culture educator is giving live presentations of research into the detrimental effects on Native people that the highway brought with it. And the American Indigenous Tourism Association’s Route 66 campaign encourages visitors to look beyond the neon and 1950s pop culture that is synonymous with Route 66, and take time to learn about the ways it transformed Native Americans connection to the rest of the country for the first time.