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The Aboriginal people of Australia have cemented a historic agreement with the state of Victoria that could provide a blueprint for recognizing Indigenous peoples and incorporating their voices and cultures into the political process going forward. The treaty is a first for Australia and comes after years of research, negotiation, and a failed political referendum in 2023. Among other things, those crafting the treaty look to avoid the pitfalls of federal treaties with Native Americans and First Nations peoples of Canada. In this encore show, we’ll hear from those who worked to make the treaty happen and what about their hopes and concerns following this historic action.

GUESTS

Dr. Julian Rawiri Kusabs (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Maru [Hauraki], and Tainui), research fellow at the University of Melbourne

Dr. Nikki Moodie (Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, and Gamilaraay), professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne

Travis Lovett (Kerrupmara Gunditjmara, Boandik), inaugural executive director of the Centre for Truth Telling and Dialogue at the University of Melbourne

Lidia Thorpe (Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung), Independent Senator for Victoria and represents the Blak Sovereign Movement

 

Break 1 Music: Talkin’ Treaty (song) Blackfire [Australia] (artist) Regeneration (album)

Break 2 Music: Burn Your Village to The Ground (single) The Halluci-Nation (artist)

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On the cusp of what could be a new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), some researchers are urging caution and the need for deliberate controls to keep the developing technology from robbing Indigenous people of their cultures and sovereignty. A project with three universities provides a framework of standards to prevent AI from stripping Native Americans and all other Indigenous peoples of their right to control images, language, cultural knowledge, and other components of their identities they’ve worked so hard to retain. We’ll hear about the potential benefits and threats of AI to Native people.

GUESTS

Danielle Boyer (Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), robotics inventor

Randy Kekoa Akee (Native Hawaiian), Julie Johnson Kidd Professor of Indigenous Governance and Development at Harvard University

Michael Running Wolf (Lakota and Cheyenne), community leader in AI research

Crystal Hill-Pennington, professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks

 

Break 1 Music: Diyin Creates Sound (song) Randy Boogie (artist) The Blessingway Boogie (album)

Break 2 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)

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Social worker and political newcomer Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu will take office in January 2026 as Gallup, N.M.’s first Diné city council member. Notably a city along Route 66 and on the edge of the Navajo Nation, Gallup’s population is more than half Native American. Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu is one of a number of Native candidates filling local elected seats since the mid-term elections. We’ll talk with some of them about what their hopes are for their coming term of elected public service.

GUESTS

Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu (Diné), city member-elect for the city of Gallup

Ed Lowery Jr. (Lumbee), mayor-elect of Parkton, N.C.

Chris Roberts (Choctaw), mayor of Shoreline, Wash.

David Holt (Osage), mayor of Oklahoma City, Okla.

 

Break 1 Music: C.R.E.A.M. [Instrumental] (song) Wu-Tang Clan (artist) Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers [Instrumentals] (album)

Break 2 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)

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Family, friends, and tribal officials rallied to help after authorities in Iowa notified Leticia Jacobo she would be handed over to federal immigration officials instead of being released from jail. Jacobo is a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. After extensive pushback, authorities admitted her U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer was a clerical error. We’ll hear Jacobo’s story. We’ll also hear about what was behind the Nisqually Tribe’s public announcement that it would not house immigrant detainees at their tribal corrections facility. Tribal officials say it is against their values of treating people with dignity and respect.

GUESTS

Leticia Jacobo (Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community), resident of Des Moines, Iowa

Maria Nunez (Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community), Leticia’s aunt

Gabe Galanda (Round Valley Indian Tribe), managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman

David Leslie (Iñupiaq), Iñupiaq activist in Fairbanks, Alaska

 

Break 1 Music: Native Blood (song) Testament (artist) Dark Roots of Earth (album)

Break 2 Music: Treemen (song) Digger Jonez (artist)

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As 200 nations from around the globe meet on the edge of the Amazon rainforest to hammer out cooperative goals on climate change, Indigenous people are making their presence known. They are included in discussions but have no negotiation power outside of the official representation from the countries they reside in. Many Indigenous attendees have organized marches, experienced civil disobedience, and even clashed with security officials in order to have their voices heard. Notably absent from this year’s talks is any senior Trump administration delegation. We’ll hear Indigenous perspectives about their role at COP30.

We’ll also hear from Cree journalist Brandi Morin, who spent months reporting on conflicts between Indigenous communities in Ecuador and Canadian mining companies. Currently, Ecuador’s president is working on reforming the country’s constitution to open up more natural resources for extraction.

GUESTS

Taily Terena (Terena), Indigenous climate and land activist

Andrea Carmen (Yaqui), executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council

Edson Krenak (Krenak), Brazil program manager for Cultural Survival

Brandi Morin (Cree, Iroquois, and French), journalist

 

Break 1 Music: Guerra (song) XOCÔ (artist) XOCÔ (album)

Break 2 Music: Treemen (song) Digger Jonez (artist)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:25 — 38.7MB) | Embed

Access to land for hunting, fishing, and gathering are foundational provisions in so many treaties between tribes and the federal government, but individual hunters and anglers are frequently challenged when out exercising those treaty rights. The legal justifications were settled decades ago following landmark rulings such as the Boldt Decision in Washington State and, more recently, in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judgement in favor of tribal hunting access on ceded lands in Idaho. We’ll review some of the history of hunting rights and how those continue to be scrutinized.

GUESTS

Dr. Cleve Davis (Shoshone-Bannock Tribes), a Ph.D in environmental science and the author of “So Long As Game May Be Found Thereon”

Charlie Smith (Fond Du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa), advisor for Indigenous Business Consulting firm and a member of the Fond du Lac Band Ceded Territory conservation committee

Derrick James (Choctaw), reporter for NonDoc.com

 

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

Break 2 Music: Treemen (song) Digger Jonez (artist)