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The Grand Canyon is considered a national treasure. It’s also sacred to many tribes. There are projects proposed to increase tourism dollars and create economic development for areas surrounding the canyon. The Grand Canyon Escalade would bring a river walk and gondola ride to the northeast corner of the canyon, located on the Navajo Nation. Supporters say the project will bring much-needed economic development. The opposition says the project will encroach on sacred areas and damage the environment. Would you take a tram ride into the Grand Canyon?

Guests:

Albert Hale (Navajo) – former president of the Navajo Nation and partner at Confluence Partners

Jason Nez (Diné) – archeologist and is with Save the Confluence

Herman Honanie (Hopi) – Chairman of the Hopi Tribe

Break music: Unity (song) Native Roots (artist) Most High (album)

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A school in Kotzebue has immersed elementary students in the Inupiaq language for more than 25 years. Before then,their exposure to the language in public school was limited to 20 minutes a day. We’ll talk to educators with Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat Immersion School and an Ojibwe school about how emphasis on language helps students succeed.

Guests:

Tarruq Pete Schaeffer (Inupiaq) – one of the founders of the Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat immersion school

Agnik Polly Schaeffer (Inupiaq) – one of the founders of Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat

 Leslie Harper (Ojibwe) – Founding member and former director of Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s Ojibwe language immersion school, Niigaane

Break music: Ho Ho Watanay (song) Dawn Avery (artist) Our Fire Native American Contemporary Songs (album)

Have a couple seconds to share your thoughts on coverage of language immersion programs on Native America Calling? Take this quick Facebook survey. It takes less than a minute and you offer your insights into the decisions that go into producing the show.

 

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The U.S. was in the grip of civil rights struggles in the 1960s. Among the sit ins and protests that led to legislation such as the Voting Rights Act, another civil rights struggle over fishing rights was gaining national attention. It was a period of time commonly known as the “fish wars.” Activists like Billy Frank Jr. (Nisqually) risked arrest to exercise their right to fish in what at least one treaty called ‘usual and accustomed places.’ We’ll speak with individuals closest to the fishing wars about what we can learn from this past experience.

Guests:

Willie Frank III (Nisqually) – 7th councilmember for the Nisqually Tribe, and the son of Billy Frank Jr.

Tom Keefe – the lawyer who represented the “Salmon Scam” and legal counsel for Kauffman and Associates Incorporated

Break music: Clearing the Path (song) Swinomish Canoe Family (artist)

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There are not a lot statistics about missing Native Americans. When a loved one, a friend or a neighbor disappears, it throws communities into a world of anxiety and grief. To acknowledge the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls on May 5, we explore what happens in the family, in the tribal community and in the police station when someone goes missing.

Guests:

Carla Cheyenne (Oglala Lakota) – the aunt of Emily Blue Bird (paternal)

Karen Red Star (Oglala Sioux) – Oglala Sioux Tribe health education programs director

Caroline LaPorte (immediate descendent of Little River Band of Ottawa Indians) – DC senior native affairs policy advisor for National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and the StrongHearts Native Helpline

Jacqueline Agtuca (Cherokee descendent) – editor of the “Restoration” magazine and public policy and law consultant with the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center

Break music: Break Music: Rolling Stone (song) Burning Sky (artist) A Simple Man (album)

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Native American lawyers represent 0.4 percent of the total list of active lawyers in the U.S., according to the American Bar Association. That’s the smallest number and it hasn’t changed since 2007. A recent survey by the National Native American Bar Association reports a lack of support and full inclusion in the law profession for Native lawyers. What can be done to attract more Natives to the law profession?

Mentioned on the show: Pre-Law Summer Institute

Native American Law School Admissions Workshop

Guests:

Veronica Hill (San Carlos Apache/Jicarilla Apache/Laguna Pueblo) – attorney

Robert Williams (Lumbee) – E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies and the faculty co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona

Sarah Crawford (Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe) – first year law student at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law

Break music: Beat Goes On (song) Donna Kay (artist) The Journey (album)

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As Native students across the country get ready for graduation day, some will have to double-check school policy before adding traditional regalia when they accept their diplomas. Last month, Montana enacted a new law that ensures traditional tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies. It’s one of the bright spots in the yearly conflicts between Native students showing their Native pride and strict school administrators.

Guests:

Cheska Not Afraid (Crow and Navajo) – graduating senior at Sky View High School

Jennifer Smith (member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, descendent of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa ) – director of Indian Education for Billings Public Schools

Dorothy Alther (Oglala Sioux) –  executive director of California Indian Legal Services

Break Music:  In The Balance (song) Sharon Burch (artist) Touch The Sweet Earth (album)

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We’re moving our studio down the street to Expo New Mexico in Albuquerque so we can give you a taste of the 34th Gathering of Nations Powwow. This annual powwow is one of the largest in the world and it attracts thousands of Indigenous people and dancers from across Turtle Island. In this program, we’ll give you a snapshot of the events and hear from some of the participants.

Guests:

Dr. Frank Mirabal – director of collective impact in the office of the Mayor of Albuquerque and director of the project

Danielle Ta’Sheena Finn (Citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) – Miss Indian World 2016-2017

Larry Yazzie (member of the Meskwaki Nation) – world champion fancy dancer and founder of Native Pride Dancers

 

Break music:  Big Crow (feat. Black Lodge Singers) (song) DJ Shub (artist) PowWowStep – EP (album)

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“The Woman Who Married A Bear” by Standing Rock Sioux Nation author and poet Tiffany Midge is racking up awards including a recent 2017 Western Heritage Award. The book filled with poetry about Native identity and culture allows readers to celebrate both the simplicity and complexity of our emotions and relationships. Tiffany Midge is our March Book of the Month author.

Guests:

Tiffany Midge (Hunkpapa Lakota) – Poet

Break music: Song Of Encouragement (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)

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High school graduation rates in New Mexico are up, with an average of 71 percent completing high school in four years. But the state Public Education Department lists Native American students as having a graduation rate of only 66 percent. We’ll continue our look at what it takes to help Native students succeed in school and graduate. With the help of the American Graduate public media initiative and New Mexico PBS program New Mexico in Focus, we’ll include a conversation about Native educators and stakeholders about exactly what it takes to help students cross the graduation finish line at a time when resources are increasingly scarce.

Guests:

Dr. Daisy Thompson (Diné) – director of Indian Education at Albuquerque Public Schools

Break music: Old School Hop (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Pakosiyimitan (album)