Past Shows Archives » Native America Calling

Sweeping legislation in Congress is aimed at lowering the cost of housing. The fate of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is still questionable, but if it is approved it would, among other things, remove some barriers to housing construction, especially in major cities. While the bill enjoys relatively rare bipartisan support, Native American affordable housing advocates say it is a missed opportunity to address long-standing issues faced by a population disproportionately affected by housing affordability. It includes provisions for tribal housing improvement, but Native housing experts say it falls far short of what’s needed. Mostly, Native advocates are pushing for reauthorizing the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), the block grant program driving the construction and repair of thousands of homes in Native communities over the last three decades. It’s authorization expired more than a dozen years ago. We’ll discuss recent progress and ongoing needs in affordable housing.

GUESTS

Jackie Pata (Tlingit), president and CEO of the Tlingit and Haida Regional Housing Authority; First Vice President of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska; co-chair of the HUD Secretary’s Tribal Intergovernmental Advisory Committee; and board member of the National American Indian Housing Council

Derrick Belgarde (Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and Chippewa Cree), executive director of the Chief Seattle Club

Lenny Fineday (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians

Griffin Hagle-Forster, executive director of the Association of Alaska Housing Authorities

Break 1 Music: Kunax yak’ei gayshagook (song) Khu.éex’ (artist) Siy​á​adlan (album)

Break 2 Music: Feels Like [feat. Sheena Shandea] (song) Nataanii Means (artist)

Citizens of Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other tribes are making their way to Montana to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Greasy Grass, also known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn. They are going there to mark a milestone for one of the most significant battles on U.S. soil. Many of them can directly trace their lineage to the warriors who were there. Among them is Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, whose great-great grandfather, Bear With Horns, died in the fight. His story was preserved by his younger sister Lucy Poor Buffalo, who was seven years old and witnessed the battle. Spotted Bear and others from the online news site, Buffalo’s Fire, are collecting the stories in a Memorial Wall to pay tribute to the Native warriors. We’ll hear from Spotted Bear and other descendants whose stories have been handed down over the generations.

GUESTS

Ernie LaPointe (Lakota), great-grandson of Sitting Bull and veteran

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear (Mandan, Hidatsa and Mniconjou Lakota), executive director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance and editor-in-chief of Buffalo’s Fire

Donovin Sprague (Miniconjou Lakota), historian, archivist, and professor at Sheridan College

Break 1 Music: Remembering The Warrior (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)

Break 2 Music: Feels Like [feat. Sheena Shandea] (song) Nataanii Means (artist)

The Declaration of Independence infamously contains the phrase, “merciless Indian savages”, an indication of just where Native Americans fit into this year’s celebration of the founding document’s 250th anniversary For much of that time, the federal government, colonial historians, and the general public have fetishized a version of Native culture, all while working to extinguish that culture from continued existence. Acclaimed Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle takes on the semiquincentennial from the Native perspective in her new six-part podcast, “First America“. Nagle is also the creator of the podcast, “This Land”, which earned a Peabody Award nomination and won the 2020 American Mosaic Journalism Prize, and she wrote the national best-selling book, “By the Fire We Carry”. We’ll hear from Nagle and some of the historians and academics who provided insights on the Native influences on early democracy and the uneasy balance between Native people and America ever since.

GUESTS

Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee), creator and host of the “First America” podcast; author of “By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land”; and creator of “This Land” podcast

Philip Deloria (Yankton Dakota), professor of history at Harvard University

Dr. Nick Estes (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe), associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota

Break 1 Music: Old Hallicrafter Radio (song) Samantha Crain (artist) Gumshoe (album)

Break 2 Music: Feels Like [feat. Sheena Shandea] (song) Nataanii Means (artist)

“Rainwater and Whiskey” and “Empty Hands” are the latest singles off Mohawk singer-songwriter Logan Staats‘ forthcoming third album. These songs further explore Staats’ vintage country, soul and blues sound that were showcased on his 2023 Juno-nominated album, A Light in The Attic. His songwriting often centers on Indigenous rights and reclaiming identity. He continues to build on his mainstream success from winning a national Canadian music competition television series in 2018.

Cherokee and Muscogee singer-songwriter Kalyn Fay‘s new album, “Garden”, channels quiet, rural life in Oklahoma. Fay waited two years before releasing the album because they “wanted to give the songs time to breathe.” The songwriting on the album is both personal and confessional, drawing inspiration from their family, their Native community, and the landscapes of Oklahoma.

Billboard Music: Seven (song) Kalyn Fay (artist) Garden (album)

Break 1 Music: Holy Man (song) Logan Staats (artist) A Light In the Attic (album)

Break 2 Music: Round Dance (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs (album)

Sweden’s surging demand for electricity to power its mid 20th Century modernization had life-changing consequences for the country’s Indigenous Sámi people. In her new novel, “The Home of the Drowned”, Elin Anna Labba tells the fictional account of a family forced out of their village by the construction of a series of hydroelectric dams that flood their village. It’s based on the real account of the creation of Lake Akkajaure that displaced hundreds of Sami people. Through the eyes of 13-year-old Iŋgá, readers live through the Sami struggle to adapt to a way of life that is removed from their traditional herding culture. “The Home of the Drowned” is a heartbreaking account of Indigenous resilience in Sweden. Elin Anna Labba joins us for our Native Bookshelf feature.

Break 1 Music: Ancient Forces (song) Berit Margrethe Oskal (artist) Fargga (album)

Break 2 Music: Round Dance (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs (album)

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.

GUESTS

Leo Bercier (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), boxer and owner of Bushido Fight Series

Josh Oxendine (Lumbee), boxer, MMA fighter, and owner of Oxfitness

Wilma Bearshield-Robertson (Sicangu Lakota), historian and artisan

Leo Killsback (Northern Cheyenne), professor at the University of Arizona and author

Here’s an extended version of an interview with historian Dr. Leo Killsback (Northern Cheyenne). Killsback discussing the events leading up to the Battle of Rosebud:

Break 1 Music: Sacrifice (song) Bloodline (artist)

Break 2 Music: Round Dance (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs (album)

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.

GUESTS

Elizabeth Woody (Warm Springs, Navajo, and Yakama), executive director of The Museum at Warm Springs

Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs, Wasco, and Yakama), artist

Gabriel Fray (Passamaquoddy), artist

Tracy Goodluck (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and Muscogee), executive director of the Center for Native American Youth

Emma Alcazar (Chickasaw), a designer for the Quilt Along

Break 1 Music: This Land (song) Keith Secola (artist) Native Americana – A Coup Stick (album)

Break 2 Music: Round Dance (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs (album)

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.

GUESTS

Tom Eagle Staff (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe planning coordinator for the 150th Anniversary of Battle of Little Bighorn

Dave West (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), director of the Cheyenne River Lakota Cultural Center

Dion Killsback (Northern Cheyenne), Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s camp coordinator for the 150th Anniversary of Little Bighorn and an attorney

Break 1 Music: A War Chief I Have Been (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)

Break 2 Music: Round Dance (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs (album)

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.

GUESTS

Jamin Zuroski (ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation, Polish, Ukrainian), artist

Tamia Overes (səlilwətaɬ [Tsleil-Waututh Nation]), artist

Chelsea Hendrickson (citizen of the Northern Arapaho Nation, and Cup’iq), survivor leader

Hope Sandstrom (Puyallup), digital media manager for the Puyallup Tribe of Indians

Abigail Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), executive vice president of Seattle Indian Health Board and director of Urban Indian Health Institute

Break 1 Music: Seattle Theme x FIFA World Cup 26 (song) Sango (artist)

Break 2 Music: Beauty Way (song) Summit Dub Squad (artist) The Beauty Way (album)

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.

GUESTS

Brad Parry (Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation), vice chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation

Seth Makepeace, hydrologist for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Donella Miller (Yakama), fish science manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Hannah Freeze, Great Salt Lake deputy commissioner

Break 1 Music: Prayer Song (song) Salish Spirit Canoe Family (artist) Keep Singing, Keep Dancing (album)

Break 2 Music: Beauty Way (song) Summit Dub Squad (artist) The Beauty Way (album)