Past Shows Archives » Native America Calling

Before Indian self-determination became federal law, a cohort of angry and disillusioned Native college students, including a young Ponca student named Clyde Warrior, helped lay the foundation for the Red Power movement and inspire the American Indian Movement. Warrior became a pivotal co-founder of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), an activist group that protested federal termination policies and rejected assimilation and government paternalism. He and other members participated in the March on Washington and the fish-ins in the Pacific Northwest, and met with U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-New York, to discuss Native education. Through fiery speeches, Warrior inspired Dennis Banks and others to become activists and take pride in their Native identity. We’ll talk about the late Clyde Warrior and the groundwork laid by NIYC.

GUESTS

Della Warrior (Otoe-Missouria), former chairperson of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, president and CEO of the Multi-Indigenous Community Action (MICA) Group, and wife of the late Clyde Warrior

Darius Lee Smith (Diné), executive director of the National Indian Youth Council

John Redhouse (Diné and Ute), longtime Native American activist

Break 1 Music: Ponca War Dance Song 1 (song) Albert Waters, Alice Cook, Harry Buffalohead, Joe H. Rush, Lamont Brown, Louis Yellow Horse, Lucy C. F. Ribs, Russell Rush (2), Stella Yellow Horse, Sylvester Warrior (artist) War Dance Songs Of The Ponca – Vol. I (album)

Break 2 Music: KuuPua (song) The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Incarnadine (album)

Across the country, tribes are coming up against resistance to having their voices heard on issues involving water. In California, tribes say they feel betrayed by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s vetoes of legislation that would have given the tribes more say in access to the state’s dwindling surface water supply. The Karuk Tribe and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians were instrumental in drafting the legislation. On the East Coast, tribes just pulled out of a coalition planning a clean-up strategy for the Chesapeake Bay. After a year of negotiation, the tribes say the other regional elected leaders refused to give them equal status in the clean-up talks.

We’ll also hear from attorney Fatima Abbas, the first director to lead the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Tribal and Native Affairs, which aims to streamline tribes’ access to federal funding and economic development.

GUESTS

Chairman Russell “Buster” Attebery (Karuk)

Frankie Myers (Yurok), CEO and co-founder of Fix the World Consulting and former vice chairman of the Yurok Tribe

Fatima Abbas (Haliwa-Saponi), attorney and former director of U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Tribal and Native Affairs

Melissa Ann Ehrenreich, executive director of the Indigenous Conservation Council

Break 1 Music: Klamath River Water Song (song) Franklin Thom (artist)

Break 2 Music: KuuPua (song) The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Incarnadine (album)

A handful of tribes just finalized an agreement with the National Park Service, clearing the way for foraging in the Yosemite National Park. Tribal members will collect acorns, yarrow, wild onions, and numerous other plants for food and medicine on land their tribes have always been connected to. It’s the latest agreement since a 2016 law cleared the way for more traditional plant collections by tribal members on land that was previously restricted. We’ll hear about how tribes in California, southern Arizona, and Washington state are utilizing access to National Park land.

GUESTS

Mary Cruz (North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California), culture bearer

Tanisha Tucker Lohse (Tohono O’odham), Saguaro harvester

Andrew Gobin (member of the Tulalip), director of treaty rights and government affairs for The Tulalip Tribes

Break 1 Music: Edge of The Rez, Part 2 (song) The Blue Stone Project (artist) Blue Stone (album)

Break 2 Music: KuuPua (song) The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Incarnadine (album)

The new poetry collection “Cloud Runner” from Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) is the culmination and curated expression of her own personal grief. The poems spring from the aftermath of her daughter’s death in 2023 and range from devastating to hopeful. Harjo, musician, artist, and the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, explores a mother’s anguish and the time and work it takes to reconcile it. Harjo’s talent for expressing that grief in the most personal way is an instrument in the process that connects the writer with the reader. Along the way, she considers how art and culture can transform historical and collective wounds. On Indigenous Peoples Day, we’ll hear from Harjo about “Cloud Runner” and her many other creative projects.

Break 1 Music: Rabbit (song) Joy Harjo (artist) Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace (album)

Break 2 Music: KuuPua (song) The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Incarnadine (album)

The rape allegations by a former Cornell University student that administrators and law enforcement officials failed to follow up on shine a new light on college campus safety. Sexual assault prevention advocates have long faulted colleges and universities with poor protocols and inconsistent reporting. The organization End Rape on Campus finds that Native college students and students of color experience especially high rates of sexual violence on college campuses. We’ll discuss how higher education institutions can better support victims, as well as why sexual assault cases are frequently mishandled.

GUESTS

Bonnie Clairmont (Ho-Chunk), longtime advocate

Ashley Cole (Citizen Potawatomi), associate professor of psychology at Oklahoma State University

Nicole Matthews (Anishinaabe), chief executive officer of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition

Kim Benally (Diné), director of tribal sexual assault services at New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs

Break 1 Music: Women’s Honoring Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

The number of books dropped from school reading lists and public library shelves is the highest since the organization, PEN America, started keeping track. Fueled mainly by conservative pressure groups and elected leaders at the school board and state legislative levels, the challenges to books target what opponents consider obscenity and themes that are too mature for younger readers. But books by Native writers that cover issues like race, social justice, and historical accounts that go against more patriotic portrayals are also caught up in the attempts to control what people can read. We’ll hear about the trends for removing books for public view.

GUESTS

Allison Waukau (Menominee and Navajo), American Indian Library Association member at large

Joaquin Muñoz (Pascua Yaqui Tribe), professor of Indigenous education at the University of British Columbia

Odia Wood-Krueger (Métis), educational consultant at Wood Krueger Initiatives, LLC

Casandra Hanson (Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs), owner of Sahaptin Stories

Break 1 Music: Groove Warrior (song) Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

Composer, singer, and ethnomusicologist Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik) is taking his music on an international tour that includes performing in Taiwan and Japan with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Dutcher’s music continues to draws fans around the world following the release of two acclaimed albums in his Native language, featuring his distinctive tenor voice. His latest album, “Motewolonuwok“, won the Polaris Music Prize. We’ll catch up with him about his latest projects, including the soundtrack to the film “Sk+te’kmujue’katik” (“The Place of Ghosts”), a Mi’kmaq supernatural thriller that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Automatic” is the upcoming second solo album from musician Mali Obomsawin (Odanak First Nation). Obomsawin pushes her avant-garde jazz and experimental sound further than she did on her debut album, “Sweet Tooth”. The new album is bold, explosive, colorful, and ambient with a haunting closing track. We’ll discuss the new album as well as her work with the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, her rock-shoegaze band Deerlady, and her attempt to “make a record institutions can’t own.”

Break 1 Music: Pomawsuwinuwok Wonakiyawolotuwok (song) Jeremy Dutcher (artist) Motewolonuwok (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

Track 1 – Take My Hand (song) Jeremy Dutcher (artist) Motewolonuwok (album)

Track 2 – Automatic (song) Mali Obomsawin (artist) Automatic [release date Oct 16, 2026] (album)

Track 3 – Malian (song) Mali Obomsawin (artist) Automatic [release date Oct 16, 2026] (album)

The Trump administration’s proposal to remove questions about a person’s race for the U.S. Census is sparking alarm among tribal leaders, voting rights advocates, and social service providers. They say it will significantly impede tribes’ political representation at the state and federal levels and reduce access to federal resources, adding up to a serious erosion of tribal sovereignty. Counting the racial makeup of the country has been a function of the constitutionally mandated decennial census since it started in 1790. The Census Bureau proposes changing it to help improve response rates. We’ll hear what changes are potentially in store from the U.S. Census and what the implications are for Native residents.

GUESTS

Gwynne Evans-Lomayesva (Hopi), Ph.D candidate in sociology and demography at the University of Pennsylvania

C. Matthew Snipp (Cherokee), professor of sociology at Stanford University and the director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity

Larry Wright Jr. (Ponca), executive director for the National Congress of American Indians

Aaron Payment (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), tribal councilman, former chairperson for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and a member of the executive board for the National Congress of American Indians

Break 1 Music: Hopi Basket Dance (song) David Taliewiftema, Hopi Singers from Second Mesa (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

At a time when tribes across the country are working to shut down prediction market companies, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana is embracing them by launching its own mobile app with the help of industry giant, Kalshi. The Tunica-Biloxi chairman says his tribe is “creating a new source of economic opportunity and doing it on its own terms.” That is decidedly counter to the other tribes that argue the prediction market platforms pose a direct threat, siphoning off gaming revenue, and sidestepping the strictly regulated federal laws governing Indian casinos. We’ll hear about the plans for the new app — and potential hurdles.

We’ll also hear from entrepreneur, writer, and computer programmer Miguel Douglas (Puyallup Tribe of Indians) about his work to improve visibility for Native-owned businesses with his latest app, Nativepreneurs.

GUESTS

Marshall Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi), chairman and CEO of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana

Chez Oxendine (Lumbee), staff writer for Tribal Business News

Miguel Douglas (Puyallup), developer of the Nativepreneurs app, chief technology officer at Bella & Belle, and editor-in-chief of American Indian Republic

Break 1 Music: Fire On the Bayou (song) Big Chief Alfred Doucette (artist) Rollin’ Wit Da Legends & Marie Laveau (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

From the original Cherokee syllabary to banners waved by Native American demonstrators, graphic works by Native people carry a thread through the centuries that operate within their own design framework. A new book and accompanying gallery exhibition, “Designed to be Red”, documents and celebrates that thread of visual works by Native designers that exert agency and authority over their own stories. The project compiles examples of purposeful visual rhetoric by Native Americans meant to teach, persuade, resist, and share within an environment that so often dismisses Native input. We’ll talk with Native designers about the project and the unique role Native designs play.

GUESTS

Brian Johnson (Monacan Indian Nation), partner of Polymode design studio

Heidi Brandow (Kanaka Maoli and Diné), editor of “Designed to be Red”, artist, and curator

Dr. Jessica Moore Harjo (Otoe-Missouria, Osage, Pawnee, and Sac & Fox). interdisciplinary artist and graphic designer

Kevin Coochwytewa (Isleta Pueblo and Hopi), freelance graphic designer and creative director

Break 1 Music: A Turtle’s Honour Song [NDN Jazz] (song) Mwalim (artist)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)