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The Trump Administration is backtracking on some of the looming changes at the Social Security Administration (SSA) after widespread complaints from the public, advocates, and elected leaders. But staffing and budget cuts are already creating backlogs and delays for recipients. SSA is delaying for two weeks a new requirement for in-person identity checks, but significant changes are still on the way. We’ll talk about what those changes are for Native American elders and how they can prepare for them.

GUESTS

Rosalind Asetamy (Comanche), chairperson for the elder council of the Comanche Nation

Larry Curley (Navajo), grant writer and consultant

Judith Kozlowski, elder justice consultant and is a consultant with the International Association for Indian Aging

Michael Bird (Santo Domingo Pueblo and Ohkay Owingeh), past president of the American Public Health Association and past national consultant for AARP

 

Break 1 Music: 500 Years O’ Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album)

Break 2 Music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)

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Vaccines for the coronavirus have reduced the scope and severity of COVID-19 infections, but for as many as a third of the people who contract COVID, symptoms of the disease persist and cause potentially disabling affects day after day. Long COVID affects as many as 23 million Americans. Symptoms include persistent headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath, and memory and concentration problems. In addition to the personal and medical burdens, several studies indicate the global financial drain from long COVID is anywhere from $1 trillion to $6 trillion. The Trump administration just announced it is closing the federal office that facilitates research and information-sharing among medical institutions on long COVID.

GUESTS

Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee), writer, advocate, host of the podcast This Land, and author of By the Fire We Carry

Rita Bilagody (Navajo), activist and grandma

Troy Montserrat-Gonzales (Lumbee and Chicana), mental health therapist and health care consultant

Dr. Ivy Hurowitz, associate professor Division of Infectious Diseases at University of New Mexico Department of Internal Medicine

Dr. Douglas Perkins, professor of Medicine and director of the Center for Global Health in the University of New Mexico Department of Internal Medicine

 

Break 1 Music: Healing Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 Music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:38 — 38.2MB) | Embed

The unpredictable availability of salmon and other fish in Alaska is putting additional pressure on the practice of subsistence fishing for Alaska Native residents. A federal board just opened up subsistence fishing and hunting — something reserved only for rural residents — to all 14,000 residents of Ketchikan. The State of Alaska is fighting a federal panel’s approval of a COVID-era emergency subsistence hunt for citizens in Kake. Meanwhile, stakeholders are closely watching a legal conflict over fishing on the Kuskokwim River that has implications for decades of legal precedents over subsistence fishing access.

GUESTS

Ilsxílee Stáng / Gloria Burns (Haida), president of the Ketchikan Indian Community

Nathaniel Amdur-Clark (Citizen Potawatomi), partner at Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller, and Monkman, LLP

 

Break 1 Music: They Sing to Each Other (song) Pamyua (artist) Side A Side B (album)

Break 2 Music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)

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Ahtna Athabascan elder Katie John’s efforts to get the state of Alaska to open up subsistence fishing in her Native Village of Batzulnetas turned into a series of legal and policy decisions that continue to protect Alaska Native fishing rights to this day. Daring Chickasaw aviator and legislator Eula Pearl Carter Scott was the youngest person in the country to fly an airplane solo. By age 14, she was working as a commercial pilot. She retired from flying to go on to work as the tribe’s Community Health Representative, and later as a tribal legislator. We’ll learn about the contributions of these and other notable Native women.

GUESTS

Jeannie Barbour (Chickasaw Nation), Chickasaw Nation creative development director

Heather Kendall-Miller (Dena’ina Athabascan [Curyung tribe]), Native American Rights Fund attorney

Liz Lovejoy Brown, executive director of the Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte Center

 

Break 1 Music: Grandmother’s Song (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

Break 2 Music: Honor Song (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Hear the Beat (album)

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The Donald Trump Administration is using the full force of the federal government to compel colleges and universities to do away with scholarships, recruiting, academic programs and any other initiatives that help Native students succeed. Schools risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding in addition to defending against investigations by the Department of Justice and other agencies. At least 50 schools are facing such investigations for what the U.S. Department of Education calls “race exclusionary” practices. We’ll get a look at the sweeping changes the Trump Administration is bringing about and how Native education advocates are responding.

GUESTS

Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sicangu Lakota), president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund

Carrie Billy (Diné), education consultant and former president and CEO of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Zonnie Gorman (Diné), historian and daughter of Dr. Carl Gorman, one of the original Navajo Code Talkers

 

Break 1 Music: Mean Things Happenin’ in This World (song) Blackfire (artist) Woody Guthrie Singles (album)

Break 2 Music: Honor Song (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Hear the Beat (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:29 — 38.1MB) | Embed

Two Native students are among the recent winners of one of the most prestigious science research competitions for high school students. Logan Lee (Native Hawaiian) and Ava Grace Cummings (Lumbee and Coharie) placed in the top 10 among thousands of contestants in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. It’s the first time two Indigenous students were awarded prizes in the competition’s 83-year history. We’ll hear about their drive for science excellence.

We’ll also check in with the author of Kindred Spirits: Shilombish Ittibachvffa. It’s a children’s book by Leslie Stall Widener and illustrator Johnson Yazzie highlighting the enduring connection between the Choctaw Nation and Ireland.

GUESTS

Ava Grace Cummings (Lumbee and Coharie), senior at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

Logan Lee (Native Hawaiian), senior at ‘Iolani School

Leslie Widener (Choctaw), author of Kindred Spirits: Shilombish Ittibachvffa

 

Break 1 Music: Eagle Dance REMIX (single) Jason Brown/Decontie & Brown (artist)

Break 2 Music: Honor Song (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Hear the Beat (album)