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President Donald Trump has promised to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. Education advocates worry about what that means for the $119 billion the federal government sends to public K-12 schools and what becomes of the programs supporting Native American students. We’ll get a sense of what the future for Native primary and secondary education along with concerns from Native educators and policy advocates.
GUESTS
Julia Wakeford (Muscogee and Yuchi), National Indian Education Association policy director
Kimberly Daingkau-Begay (Kiowa, Caddo, and Pawnee), executive officer and president of the Arizona Indian Education Association
Matt Jackson (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma), social studies teacher at Norman North High School
Break 1 Music: I Am the Beginning and the End (song) Dorothy Tsatoke (artist) Native American Healing Songs Come to me Great Mystery (album)
Break 2 Music: Nîmihito (Dance) [Feat. Northern Cree] (song) Sultans of String (artist)
As an extension to this topic, please consider doing a show on the removal of the term, “Alaska Native,” from the University of Alaska ANSEP’s website. ANSEP’s acronym stands for Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, but the University Board of Regents voted–every regent except the student regent–to obey in advance and comply with Trump’s anti-DEI sentiments and executive orders. Native people, as you stated, are a political class, so these sentiments and executive orders should not apply to us, and the University should have stood their ground. Bethel Regional High School students walked out in protest on February 28th. Quyana. Thank you.