While Indigenous

Dr. James Makokis is a practicing medical doctor from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta. He is a proud member of the LGBTQ2S community, and offers rich perspectives on health, reclaiming traditional ways of knowing, and how to bring our two-spirit and LGBTQ relatives back into the circle of community.  Dr. Makokis is also a marathon runner and is featured with his husband on Season 7 of the Amazing Race Canada.

Indigenous movement is alive and well today in the Twin Cities,  birthplace of the American Indian Movement of the 1970s.  This episode is a conversation with a collection of Indigenous voices in the Twin Cities of Minnesota about how they serve the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Indigenous community and organize for the change.  Guests include MN House Rep. Mary Kunesh Podein, (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), Dr. Kate Beane (Dakota), Carly Badheart Bull (Dakota) and Michael Goze (Ho-Chunk).   

Jeremy Red Eagle and LaVerne Whitebear have chosen a path reconnecting to ancestral teachings. Through learning and teaching the Dakota language, traditional games and the arts, by being good relatives and practicing mindful living, they have shaped their household in a way that has created health and wellness for their family. For the couple, this decolonial shift was prompted by life struggles which are familiar to many Indigenous people throughout Turtle Island. This is their story.

A conversation with Ruth Buffalo, citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota and a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives.  Ruth reflects on her first legislative session where she successfully introduced bills that passed and became North Dakota state law. She also shares some of her family history, her path to becoming a legislator, and she also reflects on the challenges of legislating while Indigenous in a state where Indigenous people are no stranger to racism. 

What does it mean to embody Indigenous matriarchy?

A conversation with Kim Smith (Diné), founder and editor of Indigenous Goddess Gang, an innovative digital magazine that quickly expanded and became a thriving digital community for nourishing the matriarchy, and so much more. Kim shares some of the history of the Indigenous Goddess Gang, the inspiration, and how other social and environmental justice causes are interwoven into the work of an Indigenous matriarch.  

NDN Collective President Nick Tilsen has a conversation with Edgar Villanueva about his new book Decolonizing Wealth and the concepts behind it. Edgar underscores the fact virtually all American wealth stems from the labor and exploitation of Indigenous and black people, then calls out and calls up philanthropy to decolonize their wealth, disrupt capitalism and shift resources back into the hands of the communities that have suffered from colonialism.

Conversation with NDN Collective President and CEO, Nick Tilsen, citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, on a lawsuit that NDN Collective, ACLU, and others, just filed on March 28, 2019, to challenge a recent set of South Dakota laws that function to violate our free speech rights while at the same time, functioning to protect construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Many Indigenous people are actively working toward reconnecting to their original teachings while also decolonizing colonial practices that have conditioned our lives. On this episode, we talk decolonizing the holidays and reconnecting to more meaningful Indigenous winter solstice teachings. Featured Guests: Dr. PennElys Droz (Anishinaabe/Wyandot) and Ella Robertson (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota)

In precolonial Indigenous cultures, women occupied esteemed roles. Colonization changed a lot of that. Here, three Indigenous people from across the U.S. weigh in on the traditional roles of women in their respective Nations. They also share their thoughts on the recent historic election of the first two Native American women to Congress- Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk) and Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo).   Guests: Stephanie Dressen (Navajo), Christina M. Castro (Jemez/Taos/Xicana), and Brandon Stevens (Oneida). 

Indigenous organizers Yolonda Bluehorse, Jade Begay, and Nick Estes weigh in on the issue of "The Spunky Squaw" online boutique, which recently came on the radar of Indigenous social media users for its use of the dehumanizing "S-word." While the efforts to shut down the page haven't (yet) resulted in the intended outcome, this issue has galvanized Indigenous social media users and has also led to discussing larger topics of both the value and limitations of online activism. Here, our guests discuss solutions, and what can be done when it seems like online efforts to change minds and hearts, falls short.