Native America Calling

Thursday, June 6, 2024 – Native Americans and the Democratic Party

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Native Americans, in general, have traditionally supported Democrats, and that has made a significant difference in a few key races. Some candidates are reaching out to the Native vote to get them into office, or to keep them in. The historic election of U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) brings the number of Native Democrats in Congress to the highest it’s ever been: two. We’ll hear from some notable Native Democrats about the issues they see as important to Native voters.

GUESTS

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Band of Ojibwe), Minnesota Lieutenant Governor

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk), U.S. Representative of Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik), U.S. Representative of Alaska

Clara Pratte (Navajo), CEO of Strongbow Strategies and the Democratic National Committee Native American Caucus chair

 

Listen to an interview with Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK):


 
Listen to an interview with Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS)

 

Break 1 Music: Ojibwe Honor Song (song) Darren Thompson (artist)

Break 2 Music: Bigfoot (song) Bobby Bullet (Artist) Bigfoot (album)

Also on the show: an interview with Lloyd Miller, partner with Sonosky Chambers Law, about the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of tribes, including his client, the San Carlos Apache Tribe, seeking to recover millions of dollars in funds for administering Indian Health Service overhead costs.

 

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 – Correcting Hawaii’s correctional system disparities

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After a report in 2011 report on disparities in Hawaii’s criminal justice system, that state has been working on ways to provide more equitable treatment of Native Hawaiians and other people of color. Those include inmate education efforts, cultural outreach, and programs to help inmates re-enter society. As they wait for a pending update to that initial report, organizers of those initiatives say they are making strides in improving the statistics while making their communities safer.

GUESTS

Shawn Kana’iaupuni (Kanaka Maoli). president and CEO of the Partners in Development Foundation

Jamee Mahealani Miller (Kanaka Maoli), co-founder of Ekolu Mea Nui

Kimberly Takata, forensic peer specialist for the Pu’a Foundation

Break 1 Music: Ke Aloha I Ka Pu’uwai / He ‘Ili ‘Ula Au a He Hawai’I (song) Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu (artist) Call It What You Like (album)

Break 2 Music: Bigfoot (song) Bobby Bullet (Artist) Bigfoot (album)

Tuesday, June 4, 2024 – Summer Playlist: new pop and hip-hop

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A good playlist makes the summer heat bearable and sets the mood on an invigorating road trip. In his new album titled STANKFACE STANDING SOLDIER, composer and hip-hop artist Mato Wayuhi brings listeners along on his journey with beats that range from relaxing to energetic and melodic stories that keep you thinking. Toni Heartless mixes hip-hop, punk, and goth genres in a danceable and edgy new album called DARK DAYS. And Juno-award winning artist Celeigh Cardinal summons personal strength in a couple of new singles just ahead of the June 21 release of her newest album, Boundless Possibilities. We’ll talk with Mato, Toni, and Celeigh about new music that you can add to your summer road trip playlist.

GUESTS

Mato Wayuhi (Oglala Lakota), composer, musician, and rapper

Toni Heartless (Diné, Choctaw, Filipino) artist

Celeigh Cardinal (Cree Métis), artist

Break 1 Music: Feels Like (song) Nataanii Means (artist)

Break 2 Music: Bigfoot (song) Bobby Bullet (Artist) Bigfoot (album)

Monday, June 3, 2024 – Prepare for election misinformation

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Is there really a mass of Chinese immigrants forming an army within the United States? Are there legions of ineligible voters deciding elections? Are the people you disagree with politically getting influenced by Russian agents? Anymore, news consumers can choose where they get their facts from – and increasingly those facts are in dispute. A new poll by the Media Insight Project finds 53% of those asked think news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation about the upcoming election. We will get some clues about what Native news consumers should look out for, and what news organizations could do to restore trust in their products.

GUESTS

Cristina Azocar (Upper Mattaponi), professor of journalism at San Francisco State University

Jason Begay (Navajo), associate professor at The University of Montana School of Journalism

Angel Ellis (Muscogee [Creek] Nation), director of Mvskoke Media, treasurer for the Indigenous Journalists Association, Oklahoma Media Center board member, and co-host of the Pretendians podcast by Canadaland

Break 1 Music: Rainbow Gratitude (song) Joy Harjo (artist) Red Dreams, A Trail Beyond Tears (album)

Break 2 Music: Bigfoot (song) Bobby Bullet (Artist) Bigfoot (album)

 

Friday, May 31, 2024 – 100 years of American citizenship

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U.S. citizenship was not a given for the people who occupied the land before there was a United States. Nor was the idea universally welcomed by all Native nations. Citizenship ensured the right to vote in national elections and equal protection under the Constitution. But it also required relinquishing a measure of sovereignty, something the Onondaga Nation and the Haudenosaunee refuse to recognize to this day. A century after President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, we’ll look at the strengths and sacrifices of becoming American citizens.

GUESTS

Dr. Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee), president of the Morning Star Institute and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Robert Miller (Eastern Shawnee), professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and tribal judge

Sam Deloria (Yankton Dakota enrolled in Standing Rock), former director of the American Indian Law Center and American Indian Graduate Center

Allison Neswood (Navajo), staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund

Break 1 Music: Intertribal Song (song) Dakota Nation (artist) Home of the Champions (album)

Break 2 Music: Alligator Boots (song) Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band (artist) Fantasyland (album)

Thursday, May 30, 2024 – Basketball is in the air

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Basketball fans are glued to their teams’ performance in the NBA conference finals, with at least two Native players still battling for the title. And the WNBA just started its season, welcoming Minnesota Lynx draft pick Alissa Pili (Iñupiaq and Samoan) onto the court. We’ll hear from Pili, as well as University of Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson (Lumbee), who the AP just named Coach of the Year, along with some other perspectives on Native representation on the court.

GUESTS

Alissa Pili (Iñupiaq and Samoan), Minnesota Lynx player

Kelvin Sampson (Lumbee), University of Houston coach

Dominic Tiger-Cortes (citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation), basketball trainer and founder and creative director of Hoop Medicine

L.A. Williams (Diné), sportscaster and radio talent

Break 1 Music: Half Time (song) DDAT (artist) DDAT (album)

Break 2 Music: Alligator Boots (song) Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band (artist) Fantasyland (album)

Wednesday, May 29, 2024 – Native Americans and the Republican Party

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Most polls over the years show Native Americans’ substantial support for Democrats. But that hasn’t stopped strong representation in Congress by Native Republicans. That includes U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (Chickasaw Nation/R-OK), who recently took the reins of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. He is also the longest-serving Native congressman in history. We’ll get perspectives from some notable Native Republicans about what they see the party does for their Native constituents in the first of a series of profiles shedding light on political positions heading into the general election.

GUESTS

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (citizen of the Chickasaw Nation), U.S. Representative of Oklahoma’s 4th District

Wes Nofire (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Native American Liaison for the State of Oklahoma

Break 1 Music: Going Back (song) Paula Nelson (artist) C.H.A.N.T. Cherokee Hope and New Traditions (album)

Break 2 Music: Alligator Boots (song) Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band (artist) Fantasyland (album)

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 – The Menu: SW in Portland, Navajo livestock reduction, and cicadas

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Alexa Numkena-Anderson (Hopi, Yakama, Cree, Skokomish) shares a bit of Southwest flare with Pacific Northwest flavors—to match her tribal identity—through her pop-up food business, Javelina: Indigenous Dining in Portland, Ore. A rare confluence of periodical cicadas is a nutritional gift and a reminder of resilience for some tribes in Southeast states. And “Nothing Left for Me,” a new museum exhibit at the University of New Mexico’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, documents Diné perspectives on the devastating effects of the federal government’s 1930s Navajo livestock reduction program. That’s on The Menu on Native America Calling, a feature about Native food hosted by Andi Murphy.

GUESTS

Alexa Numkena-Anderson (Hopi, Yakama, Cree, and Skokomish), chef and founder of Javelina: Indigenous Dining

Dr. Jennifer Denetdale (Diné), professor and chair of American Studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and co-curator of the “Nothing Left for Me” exhibit at UNM’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology

Diosa Hall (St. Regis Mohawk), chef and owner of The Cookhouse LLC and the founder of Seven Generations United Association

Break 1 Music:  Insects Are Beautiful (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

Break 2 Music: Alligator Boots (song) Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band (artist) Fantasyland (album)

Monday, May 27, 2024 – Finding Sasquatch

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Sasquatch, also called Bigfoot, has captured the popular collective imagination around the globe for decades. But in addition to their pop icon status, Sasquatch have a deeper meaning for many Native American cultures. The name that’s often used most likely comes from the Coast Salish word “Sasq’ets.” The Sts’ailes First Nation in Canada consider Sasquatch to be a caretaker of the land. A new exhibition at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore. showcases work by Native artists inspired by Sasquatch. We’ll get a peek at the exhibition along with some context of the enduring cultural connection.

GUESTS

Frank Buffalo Hyde (Onondaga Nation, Beaver Clan, and Nez Perce), painter, mix media sculptor, and art writer  

HollyAnna CougarTracks DeCoteau Little Bull  (Yakama, Nez Perce, Cayuse, and Cree), artist

Rocky LaRock (Sts’ailes Coast Salish)

Break 1 Music: Welcome Song (song) Salish Spirit Canoe Family (artist) Keep Singing, Keep Dancing (album)

Break 2 Music: Muskwa Dance [feat. Quinton Tootoosis & Dawn Desmarais] (song) Dallas Arcand (artist) Modern Day Warrior (album)

Friday, May 24, 2024 – Remembering Native American World War II veterans

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Portrait of Donald Gover painted by Brummett Echohawk. Both Gover and Brummett were Pawnee Nation citizens and both served in the 45th Infantry Division during World War II. (Courtesy Oklahoma National Guard Museum)

The world is gearing up for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Of course, that decisive military action by Allied forces was more than just one day and was supported by actions across Europe. We’ll hear about what the war was like for Native Americans who served, and get a profile of one of the infantry divisions that had among the highest percentage of Native enlisted members in the military.

GUESTS

Dr. Denise Neil (Cherokee Nation), Executive Director of the Oklahoma National Guard Museum

G.M. “Choc” Charleston (Choctaw Nation), 100-year-old World War II veteran

Charles Shay (Penobscot Nation), 99-year-old elder, writer, and veteran of World War II and the Korean War

Break 1 Music: Veteran’s Honoring Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 Music: Fancy Dance (Song) Yellow Hammer (artist) Yellow Hammer (album)

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