Native Voice One Podcast

Antonia Gonzales interviews Senator Lisa Murkowski at AFN. (2009)

Thursday, October 15:

2:00 pm – 9:00 pm (EDT)

Friday, October 16:

2:00 pm – 9:00 pm (EDT)

Saturday, October 17:

12:00 pm – 8:00 pm (EDT)

Newscast and Translations - October, 17, 2015

English

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123118/AFN-151017low.mp3

Yup’ik

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123122/Yupik_101715low.mp3

Inupiaq

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123121/Inupiaq_101715low.mp3

Athabascan

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123120/Atha_101715low.mp3

Tlingit

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123119/Tlingit_101715low.mp3

Newscast and Translations - October, 16, 2015

English

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123139/151016-AFN-Newscast-low.mp3

Yup’ik

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123125/Yupik_101615_low.mp3

Inupiaq

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123123/Inupiaq_101615_low.mp3

Athabascan

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123124/Atha_101615_low.mp3

Tlingit

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123123/Tlingit_101615_low.mp3

Newscast and Translations -  October, 15, 201

English

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20123140/151015-AFN-Newscast-2.mp3

Yup’ik

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.

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So what's going on with Congress? This is Trahant Reports.

One Speaker of the House retires. Another says he’s in — until he’s out. And it’s hard to keep track of what all this means for Indian Country.

Let’s break it down.

As I have said before there are really three parties in Congress: Democrats, Republicans and a right-wing splinter group either called the Freedom Caucus or the Tea Party. On many issues the right wing votes and calls themselves Republicans. But not always. On some issues they think Republicans are wobbly and not conservative enough. Indeed, one of the reasons that Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy decided not to run for Speaker of the House was a list of impossible demands from this caucus. The public demand is that the House give more power to rank-and-file members and the committee process. But it’s also about making certain that the House doesn’t let either the Senate or President Obama dictate the outcome of key fiscal and policy issues.

The magic number in Congress is 218 votes. That’s what it takes to pass legislation (or for that matter) to elect a new Speaker. That means you need at least some votes from 2 of 3 factions in Congress.

Now what does this mean for Indian Country? There are a couple of ways this imbalance in Congress could play out.

The best alternative is that the current Speaker of the House John Boehner will end his career working for the good of the country, pushing through difficult legislation such as the budget and a lifting of the debt ceiling. He can only do this by working with Democrats. This is what occurred with the bill that funds the government through December 11. Only 91 Republicans voted for the bill, but it passed easily after 186 Democrats voted yes. This could be a model for getting things done.

Ideally Boehner would reach a deal with the Senate and the president and come up with a two-year budget deal. That would keep federal funding stable through the election.

That’s optimistic, but there is another possibility and that’s for more chaos. The Freedom Caucus could get its way and there would not be enough votes to pass a budget or raise the debt ceiling.

We already know how bad a government shutdown is for Indian Country. But the debt issue could have dire consequences, too.

The United States is able to borrow money at extraordinary rates, under 3 percent. But if the right wing gets its way and allows the U.S. Treasury to default, even for a moment, those rates could go up. Think about it this way: The payment of the debt is one budget item that’s non-negotiable. If interest rates rise, debt costs go up, that's money that will likely come out of existing programs.

And that's already a huge number. Some $231 billion last year. As I said, big numbers.   The chaos in Congress is about real policy choices — and the direction that’s chosen will impact Indian Country for decades to come. I am Mark Trahant reporting.

A rally on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature October 4th called attention to the 1,200 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Canada’s election day is October 19 and many Native groups are hoping a strong turnout will result in a national investigation and proposed solutions.

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This is Trahant Reports. A similar story was told across Canada this weekend: Too many Native women have gone missing or have been murdered.

In Winnipeg, one event organizer, Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, put it this way:

"As well as Aboriginal women, Indigenous women and girls we all deserve to be loved and valued and to feel safe. That we shouldn't have to live in a society and worry about if we're next. If we are going to be next to be murdered or to go missing. We need to feel safe. It's our right to feel safe. "

So on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature many rows of bouquets — shaped as a butterfly. Each flower a reminder of of so many loved ones who have been victims at of violence.

This is the tenth year of vigils; a tragedy that’s compounded by how little has changed since the movement began.

In a few days Canada will elect a new government. The hope is that through the ballot box the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls will take on new importance — and at the very least there will be a serious national inquiry.

Three of the four major political parties have agreed that there should be a major investigation and solutions put forward to the end epidemic of violence. But the party that said “no” is the current government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Indeed some have called the Harper years a “war” on First Nations because of his emphasis on resource extraction and budget cuts that disproportionately impact native communities.

Prominent Aboriginal Canadians from musician and broadcaster Wab Kinew to the new Mrs. Universe, Ashley Callingbull, have urged Native people to turn out and vote. Perry Bellegarde, grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, recently told the CBC that he will vote in this election, ending his long time practice of abstention so that a new government might close the “gap between First Nations people and Canadians.”

Aboriginal Canadians are a higher percentage of the population than voters in the states — representing 4.3 percent of the country’s population.

All four major parties have Native candidates running for parliament. According to the nonpartisan IndigiPoll: Twenty-two Native people are standing for office representing the New Democrats, 18 as Liberals, 9 as Greens and 5 conservatives. In a parliamentary form of government, the parties elect the national leader.

One concern about this election is a new voter law that may make it difficult for First Nations residents. The law requires two forms of identification, including one with an address and that’s a thorny problem when many reserves do not have street names.

Canada’s election is October 19th.

One election in Canada (or the US for that matter) won’t automatically improve lives. But it can be a way to turn out a government that’s been hostile ...

Pope Francis speaking in the Congress. Oh his way to the chamber, the pontiff stopped to bless a statue of Junipero Serra, a controversial Spanish missionary. (House of Representatives photo)

 

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Pope Francis spent the week in the United States — and in a solemn ceremony named Father Junipero Serra a saint. A saint? That’s a troubling idea for many in Indian Country.

The pope went on top praise Serra's treatment of Native people, saying the missionary “sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it. Mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.”

But that’s where the historical record is hard to reconcile with the story of Serra as a saint.

Many American Indians — especially those from California — say how can any “saint” be a part of such a brutal regime. Indeed, the numbers of dead California Natives are staggering. During those years of the missions, more than two-thirds of the Native people died. Historian and author Elias Castillo once called the missions “death camps run by friars where thousands of California’s Indians perished.” And in his own letters, Serra described indigenous people as “barbarous pagans.”

CLOSING TIME? The Capitol is under reconstruction, but how much work will continue if the government closes on Oct. 1.

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Once again Congress is having a hard time passing a budget -- and time is running out. The federal government spends money and runs its programs from October 1st through the end of September. So every year the House and the Senate are supposed to enact appropriations and then pass on that legislation to the president for his signature.

That is how it is supposed to work.

But right now the entire process is chaotic. Think of Congress this way. There are really three-parties in the House and in the Senate; Republicans (the party in charge), Democrats and Tea Party supporters. It’s this third group who are holding up the budget by saying “no” at every opportunity. Congress could get out of this by letting Republicans work with Democrats on moderate spending bills -- something that does happen in state Legislatures from time to time. And that might be the only route ahead.

There are several issues dividing Congress ranging from the amount of debt the country has (think of a credit card limit) to how much money flows from government checks to Planned Parenthood. That last item is the big one this time. Some conservative members of Congress say they will not support any budget that includes Planned Parenthood. It's all because of a series of videos that purport to show illegal activities. But Planned Parenthood does many other things -- such as distribution of birth control pills -- and federal money already cannot be used for abortion. So it’s unlikely the president will agree to any budget that doesn’t continue funding women’s health programs and that includes Planned Parenthood.

Pretty much everyone in Washington says they do not want a government shutdown. But there is really no incentive to get beyond those words. One budget expert recently told Politico magazine that there is a seventy-five percent chance of a shutdown.

Closing down government, even briefly, is rough.  Two years ago the government closed from October 1 through October 16, 2013. Some 800,000 employees were furloughed and another 1.3 million had to work for those days without pay.

Across Indian Country a government shutdown not only impacts federal employees, but it means tribes have less money and have to lay off employees as well. Two years ago, for example, Montana’s Crow Tribe had to lay off some 300 people as well as closing essential reservation programs. Even some health clinics (which are supposed to be protected) had to close temporarily.

One idea in Congres is to fund Indian health, and even better, tribal schools as well, a year in advance. Then when Congress cannot do its job, at least Indian Country won’t suffer needlessly. But Congress didn’t get around to that idea either.

So here we go again with another waste of time and money.

 

Navajo voters line up to cast ballots in both tribal and Arizona elections in November 2012. (Photo by Jaynie Parrish)

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Tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton’s email server? This is Trahant Reports.

After Labor Day it's the unofficial start of the 2016 campaign.

So we’ll be getting more debates, more absurd policy pronouncements and more theater.

And this season begins as Congress launches into new debates about shutting down government. But the only way to improve Congress is to elect new people. We need members of Congress who are willing to be politicians and govern by making choices about the options ahead.

We should start by focusing where there are the most Native Americans: Arizona’s First Congressional District. There are twelve tribes located within this district, including the Arizona side of the Navajo Nation. (Navajo doesn’t have quite enough people for its own district, even if you include Utah and New Mexico.

Arizona’s first congressional district is the nearest thing to an American Indian majority district. (Arizona did all it could to prevent Native Americans from voting. It’s only been since 1970 when a court opened up election rolls.) The population of the district is 724,868; and 23.2 percent of that is American Indian. Four years ago that number was about 22 percent and unless the district lines change, those numbers will continue to rise.

Two Native women have already run for this seat, Mary Kim Titla in 2008 and Wenona Benally Baldenegro in 2012. Titla, San Carlos Apache, is now the executive director of the tribal youth organization, UNITY, INC. Baldenegro is a Navajo and a Harvard-educated attorney.

Both lost in the primary — and that’s the challenge for this district.

Statewide only 11.9 percent of those eligible cast ballots (and less than 29 percent of registered voters). But if the Native vote could turnout in higher numbers during primary elections, then the results will be different. That sentence is easy to write, and yet so difficult to do.

However in last the general election Native voters did turnout successfully. Some ten million dollars were spent trying to win this “swing” district for Republicans. It was the top House district for so-called “dark” money or third-party spending that ran mostly negative ads. Two groups alone spent roughly $2.6 million supporting Republicans, the American Action Network and Young Guns Network. But big money lost. The Native vote trumped and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick won re-election by rolling up significant margins in precincts with Native voters in Apache and Navajo counties.

However Kirkpatrick’s win stirs another issue and that’s the disappointment many feel after she supported the sneaky transfer of forest land for the Rio Tinto mine. (She’s now running for the U.S. Senate; Sen. John McCain is running for reelection and he engineered the mine transfer by attaching it to a must-pass bill.)

And that’s exactly why a Native candidate is needed. It will take about 35,000 votes to win the primary next August and probably about 120,000 votes to succeed in the general election.

Expect a lot of candidates to run because it’s an open seat. Roll Call lists the Arizona district as one of thirty “toss up” seats. There should also also be a long list of American Indian candidates for this race, there are lots of people who could put together the resources to win. This is the ideal moment for Arizona’s tribal communities to have a representative in Congress — and so every obstacle should be removed to make this so.

It’s time.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler speaking at the Brookings Institution recently. #FCCGov (Photo by Paul Morigi, courtesy of Brookings)

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The Federal Communication Commission has a novel idea: Redrawing "Indian Country" boundaries in Oklahoma by using a map from another century. This is Trahant Reports.

So where did this idea come from? The Federal Communication Commission has been rethinking the rules for its Lifeline program. This 1985 program is supposed give poor people have access to telephones, essential tools for finding and keeping jobs, connecting with family, or calling a clinic to make a doctor’s appointment.

The nature of life in this digital age means that American Indians and Alaska Natives need to find a way to be connected. But even simple ideas run up against the complexity of history and the challenges of defining tribal lands and sovereignty.

The Lifeline program became a pipeline for fraud because it was phone companies that determined eligibility, even filling out paperwork for clients.  So a couple of years ago the FCC scaled back the number of eligible consumers.

The FCC says Oklahoma is a particularly thorny problem because some two-thirds of the state was considered on “Indian land” and so people were eligible whether or not there they had ties to a tribe.

The FCC’s solution is to invent a new definition of tribal lands in Oklahoma.

Defining tribal lands is easy in a reservation setting. (Or at least it should be.) But it is far more complex in Oklahoma, Alaska, Nevada, and other regions where the history is different. The FCC proposal uses a map from 1870 to 1890 to identify “former” reservation lands. Only tribal citizens within those century-old boundaries will be considered eligible for the subsidy.

Brian Howard, a legislative analyst for the National Congress of American Indians, says that the use of these maps are problematic because they’re not real boundaries. There is not even a map that can be plotted with Geographic Information Service data.

What’s more: This Oklahoma map has no statutory authority. It’s an invention of the FCC. A second proposal would eliminate “urban” areas, even in tribal lands, could impact other Native communities in Arizona, Nevada and Alaska. The FCC is especially interested in eliminating residents of Tulsa from their tribal lands’ definition.

The important thing to remember is that tribes were not involved with fraudulent subsidies for Lifeline. Those crimes came about because private telephone companies were helping people enroll as well as producing the supporting documents. Yet instead of working with tribes to come up with a solution to the problem, the FCC has set in motion a new rule that weakens both tribal authority and control over boundaries.

At its most recent meeting, the National Congress of American Indians asked the FCC to work with tribes — Instead the FCC is stuck on inventing new law.

I am Mark Trahant reporting. This story is a partnership with Native Public Media.

 

Markers throughout Exit Glacier show how much it's receded over time.  -bo (Instagram, whitehouse.gov)

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You have to say this about Barack Obama. He has been a regular and active visitor to Indian Country, starting with his 2008 presidential campaign. As president he has engaged with more Native communities than any other U.S. leader. By far.

The president’s latest visit to Alaska is a case in point. His first act, well, as he wrote on Twitter,  “Today we’re returning Mount McKinley to its native name -- Denali, a step to reflect the heritage of Alaska Natives.”

The president also met with a panel from indigenous communities to hear first hand about the impact of climate change. This is an important junction because more federal resources will be required to adapt to climate changes that are already occurring such as rapidly rising temperatures, dangerous fires, fierce storms, thawing permafrost, shrinking sea ice, erosion and dramatic shifts in where wildlife and fish sustain themselves.

As the president put it: What’s important here is that the climate debate itself is changing. So the federal government will have to invest money in adaptation; making certain that people and communities survive in this new era. But that will be especially difficult when Congress (and many Alaskans, including Native corporations) continue to reject what science says about climate change. Most of the debate, until now, has been about “mitigation.” That means using less oil and shrinking the amount of carbon that goes into the atmosphere. But more and more the debate now will be about “adaptation.” That means spending money on building higher sea walls, preventing erosion, fighting more fires, or treating new infectious diseases. These are all “impacts” that are in our future.

Congress can pretend all it wants that climate change is not man-made and not real. But when a village has to be moved because of a rising sea -- well -- the funding has to be found. That’s why the president calls Alaska the frontline for climate change, representing one of the greatest challenges facing the nation.

I am Mark Trahant reporting.

 

 

 

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It’s long past time for Indian Country to have a say in how the government of the United States runs. Why? Because this country cannot be the democracy it purports to be as long as indigenous people do not have a real voice in the political conversation.

Remember the entire premise of the U.S. political system is that tribes are governments. Tribes are political entities enshrined in the Constitution. Yet, and this is huge, tribes are the only such political entity that does not include even minimal, structural representation in Congress.

The thing is Congress makes up its own rules for Delegates. So it would be easy to add American Indians and Alaska Natives to the mix.

Governor Bill Walker and Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Davidson announcing the expansion of Medicaid in Alaska. (Picture from video feed.)

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These days “new” money is hard to find. That’s the kind of money that’s added to a budget, money that allows programs to expand, try out new ideas, and look for ways to make life better. Most government budgets are doing the opposite: Shrinking. There is a demand for program managers and clients alike to do more with less.

That’s why recent news from Alaska is so exciting: Alaska’s new governor announced the expansion of Medicaid and this will significantly boost money for the Alaska Native medical system.

The Affordable Care Act continues to evolve — and improve. But more important, steps that states are taking to expand Medicaid are adding real dollars to the Indian health system.