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A place where Maori first settled and thrived in New Zealand is the site of a proposed housing development. Protesters have been camping out at Ihumatao for almost three years. They want to halt plans to sell off the land that Maori people say was illegally seized by the government more than a century ago. Auckland city officials are in talks to try and resolve the dispute. At the same time, demonstrators are also calling for a change in the country’s child welfare system that puts Maori children in state care at a far greater rate than the rest of the population. We’ll hear more about New Zealand Maori people speaking out to protect sacred land and culture.

Guests:

Rata Elmore – cultural advocate and educator

Sarah Smith (Ngāti Kuri, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Rehia, Ngā Puhi and Te Aupōuri) – founder and director of Mokoism Inc.

Denise Wilson (Ngati Tahinga of the Tainui iwi) – professor of Māori Health and director of the Taupua Waiora Māori Research Centre at Auckland University of Technology

Break 1 Music: Tānerore (song) NRG Rising (artist) Say Yes to Life (album)

Break 2 Music: Pangaea (song) Visionaries (artist) Pangaea (album)

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Alaska higher education officials are breathing a relative sigh of relief after they worked out a budget deal with the governor. The University of Alaska system will not accommodate the $136 million state funding cut this year that Governor Mike Dunleavy first dished out in a series of vetoes. But the system still faces significant funding reductions over the next three years. We will talk with university officials and students to see what they are learning from the recently averted crisis and how they plan to include the needs of Alaska Native students as they move forward.

Guests:

Evon Peter (Gwich’in and Koyukon) – vice chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Kathryn Milligan-Myhre (Inupiaq) – Assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage

Margaret Rudolf  aka Ananaq (Inupiaq) – UAF PhD student

Break 1 Music: Tarvautnauramken (Traditional Blessing Song) (song) I Sing, You Dance (artist) I Am Yup’ik (album)

Break 2 Music: Pangaea (song) Visionaries (artist) Pangaea (album)

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Kanaka Maoli and their allies are entering their fifth week of demonstrations to prevent construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii. They’re determined to stop further desecration of the sacred Mauna Kea. It’s the latest high profile effort to protect sacred places around the country. Others include the Blackfeet Tribe’s renewed defense of Badger Two Medicine in Montana against the reopening of oil and gas development plans. We’ll check in with some of the notable efforts to protect sacred places across Native America.

Guests:

Pua Case (Kanaka Maoli) – teacher, mother and one of many who is fighting for Hawaii

Klee Benally (Diné) – coordinator Protect The Peaks and works with Clean Up the Mines and Haul No

Fawn Douglas (Las Vegas Paiute) – artivist

Lauren King (Muscogee (Creek) Nation) – partner at Foster Pepper PLLC

Break 1 Music: Keep It Hopping Remix (feat. Cris Derksen) (song) Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie (artist) Keep It Hopping (Remix) [feat. Cris Derksen] (single)

Break 2 Music: Pangaea (song) Visionaries (artist) Pangaea (album)

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Almost 340 years later, the Pueblo Revolt remains a source of pride for the pueblos of New Mexico. Lead by Popé, the pueblo people summoned their combined strength on August 10, 1680 to drive Spanish soldiers and settlers out of the province. Freedom from Spanish oppression was short-lived but the victory was an important turning point for the preservation of pueblo culture and language. We’ll take time to revisit the history of the revolt and its significance for the pueblos of New Mexico.

Guests:

Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo) – artist

Jennifer Marley (San Ildefonso Pueblo) – organizer with Red Nation

Matthew Barbour – regional manager for the Coronado and Jemez Historic Sites

Break 1 Music: Popay Runner (song) Robert Mirabal (artist) Taos Tales (album)

Break 2 Music: Butterfly Clouds (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

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Voter identification laws, redistricting, and restricted access to polls continue to threaten full Native voter participation. Voting rights advocates are currently looking ahead to potential problems in advance of the 2020 election. High profile issues like the voter I.D. law in North Dakota and the violation of the Voting Rights Act in San Juan County, Utah have voting rights advocates on high alert heading into the election season. We’ll talk with the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission about their efforts to count every vote and get updates on where other potential problems might occur.

Guests:

Leonard Gorman (Diné) –  executive director of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission

Jacqueline De Leon (Isleta Pueblo) – staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund

OJ Semans (Rosebud Sioux) – co-founder of Four Directions

Break 1 Music: Corn Pollen Boy (song) Sharon Burch (artist) Colors Of My Heart (album)

Break 2 Music: Butterfly Clouds (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

 

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Métis artist Jaime Black calls her REDress Project an aesthetic response to a critical national issue. Her installations of donated red dresses symbolize missing women, with numbers reaching into the thousands. Quilter Susan Hudson (Navajo) also depicts women’s clothes and moccasins as a reminder of the women who disappeared or were murdered. The upcoming Santa Fe Indian Market organized by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts is focusing on female strength and resilience and has a number of events dedicated to raising awareness of MMIW. As politicians and women’s advocates work to change local and national policy, so too are artists reminding people of a troubling legacy. We’ll talk with some of them who are exploring the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Guests:

Elizabeth Kirk (Isleta Pueblo/Navajo) – chairwoman of the board of directors for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts

Sheridan McKnight (White Earth Chippewa/ Hunkpapa Lakota) – contemporary plains artist

Susan Hudson (Diné) – contemporary ledger art quilter and activist

Angela Two Stars (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) – director of All My Relations Arts

Break 1 Music: Red Dress (feat. Chantal Kreviazuk) (song) Amanda Rheaume (artist) Red Dress (feat. Chantal Kreviazuk) (single)

Break 2 Music: Butterfly Clouds (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

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Selected tribes are getting the ability to share data designed to prevent sexual violence on reservations. The U.S. Department of Justice is giving eligible tribes expanded access to the FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry. Those tribes can enter their own information and get comprehensive access to the FBI’s database. The program is an expansion of the 2015 Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP) now available for about 72 tribes. We’ll learn what this means for tribes working to stop sexual violence.

Guests:

Yahya Fouz – senior policy advisor for the SMART Office in the U.S. Department of Justice

Marcia Good – senior council to the director of the Office of Tribal Justice within the Department of Justice

Edward Reina (Salt River Pima Maricopa) – tribal administrator for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony

Break 1 Music: The Phaser Is Broken (song) Khu.éex’ (artist) Heen (album)

Break 2 Music: Butterfly Clouds (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

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The first feature-length fictional film in the Haida language, SGaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife), tells a story of a 19th Century Haida man who retreats to the wilderness. The documentary “Words from a Bear” is a biography of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist N. Scott Momaday. In “Warrior Women”, the role of women in the American Indian Movement. These are just a few of the 53 films at this year’s Native Cinema Showcase. We’ll talk with some filmmakers to get a behind-the-scenes look at their films and hear about what else to expect from this year’s event.

Guests:

Cindy Benitez – program manager for Native Cinema Showcase

Christina D. King (Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma) – director and producer of Warrior Women

Dr. Elizabeth A. Castle (Pekowi band of the Shawnee) – director and producer of Warrior Women

Jeffrey Palmer (Kiowa) – director and producer of Words from a Bear

Gwaai Edenshaw (Haida) – director of SGaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife)

Break 1 Music: Red Line (song) Kayla Briët (artist) Red Line (single)

Break 2 Music: Butterfly Clouds (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

 

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Bird songs are an ancient tradition from tribes in Southern California and parts of Arizona. They’re characterized by men singing in a line to the beat of gourd rattles. They are meant to restore balance in the community and encourage respect for all living beings.  Some songs are sung in sequence and some tell stories of migration.We’ll talk with bird singers about the history of the music and efforts to bring up a new generation of singers.

(Photo courtesy Albert Chacon, director of We are Birds)

Guests:

Ray Huaute (from the Chumash and Cahuilla tribes) – member of the Cahuilla bird singing group

Zion White (Quechan) – bird singer

William Madrigal Jr. (Cahuilla) – bird singer

Albert Chacon (Apache/Cahuilla/Cupeno) – director and video editor of We are Birds and a bird singer

Break 2 Music: Let’s Hop to It (song) Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie (artist) Round Dance & Beats (Powwow) (album)