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Navarre Scott Momaday (Kiowa) introduced the world to Ben Benally and Abel in his first novel “House Made of Dawn”. He also established himself as a literary force with a distinctly Native American voice, winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He published some 20 other works of fiction, poetry, and essays, earning many more awards and accolades and will always be known as the artist who cleared a path for a new generation of Native writers. We’ll remember Momaday with some of those who he knew and inspired.

GUESTS

Jill Momaday (Kiowa), writer, actor, and filmmaker

Jacob Tsotigh (Kiowa), vice chairman of the Kiowa Tribe

Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), Author 

Heid E. Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), Poet

Jeffrey Palmer (Kiowa), associate professor of performing and media arts at Cornell University and director and producer of the PBS American Masters profile “Words From A Bear”

Break 1 Music: Kiowa Flag Song (song) Boll Koomsa, Sr (artist) Kiowa – Traditional Kiowa Songs (album)

Break 2 music: The Lake (song) Sunburnt Stone (artist) El Navaho (album)

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Members of the Yurok Tribe told California lawmakers that state’s first year using an alert system specifically for missing Native people is making a difference. The Feather Alert system issues public messages similar to the widely used the Amber Alert process. Yurok officials say the new alerts are widely used by tribal members and other Native residents, increasing the chances of finding people who go missing. The California effort is one of the tools in the constant battle against human trafficking that disproportionately affects Native Americans and other people of color.

Anyone who has information about a potential human trafficking situation or a person who may be experiencing human trafficking should contact the FBI, local law enforcement, or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 (text: 233733)

GUESTS

Nicole Matthews (White Earth Band of Ojibwe), executive director of Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition

Rebecca Balog (Oglala Lakota, Mohawk, Romani), training and technical assistance program development coordinator for Mending the Sacred Hoop

Bonnie Clairmont (Ho-Chunk), victim advocacy specialist for the Tribal Law and Policy Institute

Break 1 Music: Never Run Out of Road (song) Rickey Medlocke (artist)

Break 2 music: The Lake (song) Sunburnt Stone (artist) El Navaho (album)

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One of the biggest changes for your tax return hasn’t happened yet. Congress is still mulling over a child tax credit that could very well send more money back to families and would apply retroactively to 2023 returns. Although more modest than the 2021 credit tied to pandemic relief, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says Native American families will be among the groups that would benefit most. We’ll discuss child credits and help clear up the confusion that comes with every federal income tax season.

GUESTS

Sunny Guillory (Standing Rock Sioux), financial literacy coordinator at Northwest Indian College and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site coordinator

Luella Brien (Apsáalooke), volunteer tax preparer since 2016 through the Chief Dull Knife College Extension Office’s VITA program

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Sweetgrass (artist) Follow the Trail (album)

Break 2 music: The Lake (song) Sunburnt Stone (artist) El Navaho (album)

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This month marks 30 years since the Zapatista Army of National Liberation attracted worldwide attention with their rebel uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, demanding, among other things, rights for Indigenous residents. The uprising is credited with spurring several beneficial changes in Mexico. At the same time, support for the rebel group has waned in the decades since. We’ll explore the Zapatista movement’s influence toward awareness of Indigenous rights in the three decades of their existence.

GUESTS

Dr. Alan Shane Dillingham (citizen of the Choctaw Nation), associate professor of history at Arizona State University and author of Oaxaca Resurgent: Indigeneity, Development, and Inequality in Twentieth-Century Mexico

Dr. Alexander Aviña, associate professor of Latin American history in the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University

Dr. Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo, professor and senior researcher at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) and a 2023-2024 Perrin Moorhead Grayson and Bruns Grayson Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute

Break 1 Music: People of the Sun (song) Rage Against the Machine (artist) Evil Empire (album)

Break 2 Music: Ancestor Song (song) Various Artists (artist) Chumash Story and Song Collection (album)

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Kansas City’s NFL team either goes to the Super Bowl or plays its final game of the year on Sunday. The team has weathered sustained pressure that has seen other sports teams, like the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Commanders, change their names and mascots. Activists have gone so far as to publicly appeal to Taylor Swift, girlfriend of Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, to speak out against the controversial “tomahawk chop” performed by fans. We’ll assess the wins and … lack of wins … in the ongoing awareness campaign for respectful names and mascots.

GUESTS

Rhonda LeValdo (Acoma Pueblo), founder of Not In Our Honor

Laurel Davis-Delano, professor of sociology at Springfield College

Peggy Larney (Choctaw), founder of the American Indian Heritage Day state law in Texas

Break 1 Music: I’m Not a Mascot, I’m Not a Stereotype, I’ve Been Watching… (song) Michael Bucher (artist)

Break 2 Music: Ancestor Song (song) Various Artists (artist) Chumash Story and Song Collection (album)

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There’s a driving demand for more renewable energy projects such as wind and solar. In the rush to build, important cultural resources are threatened. The news outlet ProPublica wrote about an instance in Washington state where an archaeological survey paid for by the wind developers failed to list potential cultural sites that were obvious to state regulators. Tribes in Arizona are at odds with a solar project that would put a power transmission line across traditional cultural places. We’ll look at the intersection of sustainable energy and sacred and important sites.

GUESTS

B. “Toastie” Oaster (citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), staff writer at High Country News  

Noah Oliver, geographer and archaeologist for the Yakama Nation’s Cultural Resources Program

Skylar Begay (Diné, Mandan, and Hidatsa), director of tribal collaboration, outreach, and advocacy for Archaeology Southwest

John Welch, director of the landscape and site protection program at Archaeology Southwest and archaeology professor at Simon Fraser University

Break 1 Music: Rebel Music (song) Quese Imc (artist) Bluelight (album)

Break 2 Music: Ancestor Song (song) Various Artists (artist) Chumash Story and Song Collection (album)

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Artists like Fritz Scholder and T.C. Cannon are among the masters who inspired new generations of Native artists to express their stories and images through printmaking. The art form has a long history in Asian and European cultures, but is a relatively new tradition among Native practitioners. We’ll talk with Indigenous artists who find turn to prints as part of their creative process.

GUESTS

April Holder (Sac and Fox, Wichita, and Tonkawa), multi-disciplinary artist

Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq (Inuit), master printer at Kinngait Studios, a print studio in Kinngait 

John Hitchcock (member of the Comanche Nation), artist and the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Break 1 Music: Mr. Tambourine Man (song) T.C. Cannon (artist)

Break 2 Music: Ancestor Song (song) Various Artists (artist) Chumash Story and Song Collection (album)

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As dangerously bitter winter weather takes hold of the country, some efforts to help unsheltered Native Americans face closure. City officials forced an emergency shelter set up in Rapid City, S.D., to shut down. Successful shelters in Seattle and Minneapolis that cater to unsheltered Native residents face pressure by outside forces that intend to develop the sites for other uses. And Anchorage continues a troubling ongoing trend of homeless fatalities. We’ll look into some of the ongoing struggles to help unhoused relatives.

GUESTS

Sunny Red Bear (Cheyenne River Sioux Miniconjou, Hunkpapa, and Oglala), associate director of organizing with the NDN Collective 

Nicole Mason (enrolled Red Lake Ojibwe), organizer for Nenookaasi Healing Camp

Derrick Belgarde (Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians/Chippewa Cree), executive director of the Chief Seattle Club

Samuel Johns (Ahtna and Gwich’in Athabascan), founder of Forget Me Not and hip hop artist

Hermus Bettelyoun (Oglala Lakota), local organizer with the NDN Collective

Break 1 Music: Solstice Echo (song) PIQSIQ (artist)

Break 2 Music: Ancestor Song (song) Various Artists (artist) Chumash Story and Song Collection (album)

 

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Diabetes drugs known as GLP-1 agonists, like Ozempic, are riding a wave of popularity right now. But the high cost and short supply because of their popularity as a weight loss remedy are putting the drugs out of reach for those who need them. Native Americans struggle with diabetes disproportionately. Now, is there a disparity when it comes to viable treatments?

GUESTS

Dr. Matthew Clark, chief medical officer for the Alaska Area Native Health Service and chair of the IHS National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee 

Tarah Nelson, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Florida

Jason Hale (Prairie Band Potawatomi), senior research scientist and director for Indigenous community engagement with the Institute for Indigenous Studies at Lehigh University

Break 1 Music: Dancin’ on the Run (song) Inez Jasper (artist) Burn Me Down

Break 2 Music: Laugh Out Loud (song) Hataałii (artist) Singing into Darkness (album)