Past Shows Archives » Native America Calling

Around 200 wildfires are currently burning across the country and nearly 900 are burning in Canada. Large swaths of the northeastern U.S. are blanketed in heavy, hazardous smoke coming from widespread wildfires burning in northern Minnesota and Ontario. In the neighboring Canadian province, three First Nations communities were forced to evacuate after fires ripped through their remote reserves. Significant drought and decades of hands-off wild land management factor into increasingly severe wildfire seasons that impact Indigenous people the most. We’ll get updates from Indigenous fire experts about current wildfire events, smoke impacts, and the vulnerability of Indigenous communities.

GUESTS

Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson (Métis), senior fire advisor for the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and board member of the International Association of Wildland Fire

Arnold Lazare (Mohawk), interim CEO of the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council and the Indigenous fire marshal for Canada

Ferin Davis Anderson (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), natural resources manager for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

Tim Sexton, fire program manager for the Klamath Tribes

Break 1 Music: La Grande Gigue Simple/ Red River Jig/ Big John McNeil (song) Métis Fiddler Quartet (artist) North West Voyage Nord Ouest (album)

Break 2 Music: I Know [feat. Sebastian Gaskin] (song) Shub (artist) Heritage [Pt. 2] (album)

Acclaimed Diné writer and Arizona’s current poet laureate, Dr. Laura Tohe, is working to share her poetry across the state’s rural communities. That includes public readings and uplifting young, emerging poets in the state. Growing up in a remote community on the Navajo Nation, Tohe demonstrated a firm grasp of both Diné bizaad and English at an early age. She attributes that to growing up in a family of storytellers, including her father who was a Navajo Code Talker in World War II. She’s been recognized by some of the top literary organizations and her writing has been translated to multiple languages for an international audience. Tohe joins us for our special feature, Native in the Spotlight, to discuss her career and her work to make poetry more accessible for everyone.

Break 1 Music: Chief Manuelito (song) Vincent Craig (artist) Self-titled Release (album)

Break 2 Music: I Know [feat. Sebastian Gaskin] (song) Shub (artist) Heritage [Pt. 2] (album)

Conservation groups and at least two Pacific Northwest tribes filed lawsuits against the federal government after it redefined “harm” in the Endangered Species Act earlier this month. Now, destruction of habitat is no longer considered “harm” to endangered wildlife. Supporters of the move say it lifts burdensome restrictions to land management and development. Environmental groups and tribes like the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Squaxin Island Tribe say it puts endangered species, like Chinook salmon, and the environment they depend on in even greater danger.

GUESTS

Cheyenne Skye Branscum (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Sierra Club president of the board of directors

Dr. Victoria Sutton (Lumbee), distinguished Horn Professor at Texas Tech University school of Law

Dr. Luhui Whitebear (Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, Huastec and Cochimi), assistant professor and coordinator of Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University

Wyatt Golding, attorney at Ziontz Chestnut for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community

Kristin Boyles, managing attorney with Earthjustice

Break 1 Music: In the River: A Protest Song (song) Raye Zaragoza (artist)

Break 2 Music: I Know [feat. Sebastian Gaskin] (song) Shub (artist) Heritage [Pt. 2] (album)

Tulsa, Okla.-based Cherokee Nation citizen Courtney Jordan used to be a federal prosecutor, but she is now on the other side of the courtroom as a defense attorney specializing in the intersection of federal Indian law and criminal law. Jordan uses TikTok and other social media platforms to inform others about their rights and key cases in Indian Country, while openly sharing her own run-in with the law. She is a convicted felon whose legal career was turned upside down after she led police on a high-speed chase in 2022. Doctors later attributed the incident to adult on-set temporal lobe epilepsy and she eventually got her law license reinstated. She’s now at the head of a burgeoning law practice and joins us for a conversation about her storied career.

Break 1 Music: Cherokee County (song) Kalyn Fey (artist) Garden (album)

Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

Bears Ears National Monument (Photo by Tim Peterson).

President Donald Trump, once again, reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah on Monday. Both monuments were downsized by about 90% opening up nearly three million acres to resource developers. Several tribes have cultural and sacred ties to the respective monument areas and have been fighting to protect them for years. The president’s proclamation also dismantles the Bears Ears Commission, a coalition of five tribes designated by then-President Obama in 2016 and tasked with co-management of monument lands with federal officials. Now, the move puts the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the power to designate monuments, under the legal scrutiny of politicians, conservationists, and tribes that argue the 1906 law can or cannot be used to reduce already established national monuments.

Also, Indigenous Venezuelans are among the thousands of people affected by devastating, back-to-back earthquakes that destroyed hundreds of buildings and homes along the country’s north coast in June. The death toll is currently around 4,700 and Indigenous communities struggle to keep up with traditional burial practices amid recovery and aid initiatives.

GUESTS

Davina Smith–Idjesa (Diné), co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and representative for the Navajo Nation

Keitti Jake (Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah), environmental program coordinator for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah and member of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition

David Hernández Palmer (Wayúu), Wayúu producer and storyteller from Columbia and Venezuela

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

Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

Mohawk DJ and music producer Shub (formerly DJ Shub) is part of the innovative force behind the “Powwow-Step” genre, a fusion of electronic styles like dance, dubstep, hip-hop, and traditional Indigenous music. Shub further explores his signature sound and pushes its potential to new heights on his latest album, “Heritage (Part Two)”. Listeners can expect party-ready tracks, chopped powwow samples, ambient soundscapes, and collaborations with Juno Award-winning Oji-Cree artist Aysanabee and legendary Three 6 Mafia member DJ Paul. 

Heavy electronic musician Aaron Wallace, also known as Darksiderz, blends hard dance and industrial music to create a chaotic soundtrack fit for a vampire nightclub. The Nisenan and Washoe musician grew up in Reno, Nev. where he started playing music in local punk and metal bands. Today, Darksiderz is a popular name in the electronic music scene and he’s performed on some of the biggest EDM stages in the world. He brings a unique, dark, yet danceable sound to his recently released collaborative singles.

Both artists join us to talk about their latest works.

Break 1 Music: Origins (song) Shub (artist) Heritage [Pt. 2] (album)

Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act expanded the Federal Pell Grant, a subsidy for undergraduate students, to cover short-term workforce training programs for the first time. Native education advocates view the new Workforce Pell Grant program as a positive initiative that could help more low-income adults get into high-demand jobs while boosting enrollment at tribal colleges and universities. The program went into effect this month so it’s still too early to tell how tribal institutions will benefit. We’ll discuss the viability of vocational school and training and how the Workforce Pell Grant will take effect at tribal post-secondary institutions.

GUESTS

Leander McDonald (Dakota, Arikara, Hidatsa, and Hunkpapa), president of the United Tribes Technical College

Nyree Kedrowski (Ho-Chunk Nation), managing partner for Five Skies

Moriah O’Brien, vice president of congressional and federal relations at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Break 1 Music: Brown Eyed Handsome Man (song) The Wingate Valley Boys (artist) Navajoland U.S.A. Country Happening (album)

Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

Tribal officials and renewable energy advocates are celebrating a major legal victory after a Minnesota administrative judge ruled in favor of the Upper Sioux Community’s solar-powered casino. The dispute centers on the tribe’s right to supplement its power with on-site solar energy, while also highlighting the friction between tribal sovereignty and local utility monopolies. In federal court, a separate legal battle is underway to reclaim frozen funding from the $7 billion “Solar for All” program. Despite the federal standstill, Minnesota tribes like the Red Lake and White Earth Nations are forging ahead, successfully building their own solar infrastructure to secure energy independence.

GUESTS

Robert Blake (Red Lake Nation), founder and CEO of Solar Bear and executive director of Native Sun Community Power Development

Nathan Mathews, executive director of the White Earth Nation Tribal Utility Commission

Talia Martin (Shoshone-Bannock), co-executive director of Tribal Energy Alternatives

Break 1 Music: Encouragement Pipe Song (song) Joseph Shields, Jr. (artist) Wahancanka [Remember Me Grandfather]  (album)

Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

A new report by the New Mexico Department of Justice says Native students are disciplined more harshly and miss more school days from suspensions than other students at Gallup-McKinley County Schools. The school district has a majority Navajo student population and was the focus of a 2023 news investigation that prompted calls for further investigations.

In South Dakota, education leaders are looking into the state’s licensing exams after research shows a disproportionately low number of Native teacher candidates pass the costly exam. Native teachers are in short supply in the state and Native education advocates say that streamlining licensing requirements could be barrier.

GUESTS

Dr. Wendy Greyeyes (Diné), chair of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and assistant professor of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico

Kevin Mitchell (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education president

Priscilla Benally (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education vice president

Dr. Sherry Johnson (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), education director for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate

Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album)

Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)

Tlingit and Haida Tribes, the Ketchikan Indian Community, and other communities in Southeast Alaska are urging tourists to stop disrespecting unique cultural symbols such as totem poles. Nearly two million tourists visit the region annually and tribal members are reporting an uptick in incidents of tourists mocking Native culture. The message from the tribes remains: all are welcome and respect is not optional. While promoting responsible tourism, the Ketchikan Indian Community is also launching a new initiative for visitors to purchase care packages for the community’s unhoused population. The initiative is also aimed at supporting the tribe’s year-round housing services for unhoused residents. In the Lower 48 states, a Navajo app developer has created Tribal Trailz. It aims to help visitors navigate Diné and Pueblo lands across Arizona and New Mexico and includes historical information and other resources designed to better educate tourists about traveling in ancestral homelands.

GUESTS

Richard Peterson (Tlingit), president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes

Emily Edenshaw (Native Village of Emmonak), tribal administrator and CEO of the Ketchikan Indian Community

George R. Joe (Navajo), cultural consultant and creator of “Tribal Trailz”

Bobbie Conner (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation), director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute

Break 1 Music: Honoring The Homeland (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album)

Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)