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Voting rights advocates say a bill to overhaul elections could disenfranchise millions of Americans, especially Native American and other minority voters.  Among other things, the SAVE Act requires all voters to prove their U.S. citizenship, either with a passport or a birth certificate. Numerous studies show Native Americans are less likely to have a valid passport or other documents readily available that prove their place of birth than other groups. It would have major implications for mail-in ballots. The bill passed the House. President Donald Trump added new pressure on members of his own party in the Senate, saying he will not sign any other legislation until the SAVE Act clears Congress. We’ll find out the details of the legislation and look ahead to how this and other measures might complicate the Midterm Elections.

We’ll also hear from Allison Renville (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota) about her decision to suspend her campaign for governor of South Dakota. Renville was running as an independent voice in the state that also elected Kristi Noem as governor. She cites the enormous cost of running a major campaign as a deterrent to welcoming diverse political voices.

GUESTS

Jacqueline De León (Isleta Pueblo), senior staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund

Lenny Fineday (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians

Jaynie Parrish (Diné), executive director and founder of Arizona Native Vote

Allison Renville (Sisseton and Hunkpapa Lakota and Omaha and Haudenosaunee), activist and political strategist

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For many Native American survivors, a cancer diagnosis is more than just a biological battle. It is a matter of balancing modern oncology with community and cultural context. American Cancer Society data show a historic 70% five-year survival rate across the general population, but Native Americans continue to face unique hurdles, from geographic isolation to chronic underfunding of the Indian Health Service. Despite these disparities, survivors are reclaiming their narratives by integrating traditional healing practices with cutting-edge science. We’ll hear from Native survivors in the context of the ongoing advancements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

GUESTS

Shannon Martin (Gun Lake Potawatomi), cancer survivor

Jamie Gomez (Tlingit and Haida), executive director of the Tlingit and Haida Foundation and American Indian Cancer Foundation board member

Alicia Mitchell (Cherokee), Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention board member and American Indian Cancer Foundation board member

Nicole Hallingstad (Tlingit), cancer survivor

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A select few Native American artists choose to express their cultural and creative passions in miniature. An exhibition starting this month at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures celebrates those artists who make distinctive pottery, baskets, and carvings on a decidedly downsized scale.

The top Indigenous beaders, potters, painters, and weavers are headed to the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz. for that institution’s 68th annual Indian Art Fair and Market. The Heard welcomes more than 600 artists from all over the world for what has become one of the must-go events for both artists and collectors.

We’ll hear from organizers and artists from both of these events.

GUESTS

Marcus Monenerkit (Comanche descendant), director of community engagement at the Heard Museum

Barbara Teller Ornelas (Diné), master Navajo weaver

Aydrian Day (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Dakota and Lakota and an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation), artist

Sydney Pursel (Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska), curator at the Spencer Museum of Art and an advisory group member for the “Native Arts in Miniature” exhibition

Amy McKune, curator and senior manager of collections at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures

 

Break 1 Music: Crossroad Blues (song) Lakota John (artist) Lakota John and Kin (album)

Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)

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The Seneca Nation in New York is working to correct longstanding confusion over law enforcement on their land. A nearly 80-year-old federal statute handed the state control over certain crimes on Seneca Nation’s territory. A bill in Congress could chart a path to resolving that conflict.

In Oklahoma, a Muscogee Nation citizen argues that those who work and live on the tribal land do not have to pay state income taxes. That argument could now be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The issue comes nearly six years after the landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that confirmed Muscogee authority over criminal matters on tribal land. This current battle would extend that authority to civil cases.

And the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe tribe in Wisconsin is facing off with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi over outside access to a road that traverses tribal land. Bondi backs an effort to force the tribe to reimburse a nearby town for fees to access the road. We’ll find out the potential implications of these cases.

GUESTS

J.C. Seneca (Seneca), president of the Seneca Nation

Jonodev Chaudhuri (Muscogee), principal at Chaudhuri Law

Jason Salsman (Muscogee), press secretary for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation

Richard Monette (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), professor emeritus and former director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center at the University of Wisconsin Law School

 

Break 1 Music: Keep On Keeping On (song) Tall Paul (artist) The Story of Jim Thorpe (album)

Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)

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Advocates working to accurately portray Native Americans in the K-12 education system in Texas scored a victory when the State Board of Education renewed a curriculum that was years in the making. The approval came at a time when the Trump administration and state officials pushed hard to scrub any hint of diversity from public school classrooms. Among other things, opponents of the Texas Native Studies course worried instruction about the Catholic Church’s role in Indian Boarding Schools might demoralize Christian students. We’ll look at what saved the Texas lessons and get a status update on some other states wrestling with efforts to accurately depict Native Americans throughout history.

GUESTS

Cheyenne Rendon (Apache and Navajo), senior policy officer for the Society of Native Nations, a member of American Indian Movement of Central Texas

Stephen Silva-Brave (Sicangu Lakota), parent, licensed social worker, and Ph.D student

Sashay Schettler (Hidatsa and Nueta from the MHA Nation), assistant director in the office of Indian and Multicultural Education for the North Dakota Office of Public Instruction and a member of the National Johnson-O’Malley Association board of directors representing Region 5

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

 

Break 1 Music: Groove Warrior (song) Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)

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Two new healing centers count on location, cultural practice, and family connections to break the destructive effects of substance abuse. In Lodge Grass, Mont., organizers plan an integrated foster care facility to complement a campus designed to support families affected by addiction. The non-profit organization behind the center estimates that number reaches as high as 60% of residents in the small town on the Crow Reservation. The Pawnee Nation in Oklahoma is also expanding adult residential and outpatient services close to home, as well as support for children whose lives are disrupted. We’ll hear about a promising focus on cultural treatment options, harm reduction, and strengthening families to break addiction’s generational cycles.

GUESTS

Mary Blackowl (Cheyenne and Arapaho, Pawnee, and Comanche), tribal opioid response prevention specialist for the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma

Karaya Fritzler (Apsáalooke, Aaniiih, and Lakota), certified behavioral health peer specialist for the Mountain Shadow Association

Megkian Doyle, executive director of the Mountain Shadow Association

Mike Ortiz, program coordinator for the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma’s substance abuse program

 

Break 1 Music: Buc Wild Intertribal (song) Buc Wild (artist) Oneida Powwow: 40th Anniversary (album)

Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)

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Typhoon Merbok swept buildings, boats, and tons of trash into the sea off the west coast of Alaska in 2022. The city of Chevak is one of many coastal Alaska Native communities tasked with helping to find and recover that and other marine debris clogging the coastal waters and shorelines. With federal funding help, the ongoing cleanup is aimed at making the waterways safe for people and marine animals. A similar project is underway in Hawai’i, where the non-profit Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project works year-round, pulling tons of debris from around the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a place sacred to Native Hawaiians. Coastal tribes are an important piece of the puzzle for solving the growing problem of derelict nets, ropes, boats, and other trash that threaten marine ecosystems. In this program, we’ll talk with some of the people involved in the cleanup about what it takes to rid marine areas of unsightly and dangerous debris.

GUESTS

Richard Tuluk (Cup’ik), project manager for the City of Chevak

Jacquie Foss, commercial fisherman and works with Alaska Sea Grant and the Alaska Center for Marine Debris

Grant Ka’ehukai Goin (Kānaka ʻŌiwi), cultural specialist and lead marine debris tech for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project

 

Break 1 Music: Heavy (song) Kee’ahn (artist) For Me, For You EP (album)

Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)

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Honeycreepers only live in Hawai’i and the birds are interwoven into Native Hawaiian culture. Feathers from the strikingly colorful birds are a key part of ceremonial cloaks and other regalia. The birds themselves are prominent in cultural stories, but of the more than 50 original species of honeycreepers, only 17 survive — and those are threatened with extinction. Several factors contribute to the population decline, but a pressing concern is a mosquito-borne avian malaria. We’ll hear from Native Hawaiian conservationists on the efforts to save these unique and important birds.

GUESTS

Bret Mossman (Native Hawaiian), director of Birds Hawai‘i Past Present

Ben Catcho (Native Hawaiian), Indigenous communications and outreach specialist for the American Bird Conservancy and outreach lead for Birds Not Mosquitoes

Keoki Kanakaokai (Native Hawaiian and Athabascan), natural resource manager for The Nature Conservancy Maui Terrestrial Program and co-lead of the Nature Conservancy Native Network

Hina Kneubuhl (Native Hawaiian), translator, storyteller, and kapa maker

 

Break 1 Music: Prologue (song) Kūka’ilimoku (artist) Creation Chant (album)

Break 2 Music: Intertribal Song (song) Black Lodge Singers (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs Recorded Live at Coeur D’Alene (album)