Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:25 — 38.7MB) | Embed

Parades and powwows are gearing up to honor Native American veterans around the country. Native military service dates to well before Native Americans were considered citizens of the United States. In addition to financial and educational benefits, Native people look to the military as a source of honor in line with tribal traditions. We’ll celebrate Native military service and assess how Native veterans are included when it comes to understanding cultural traditions, Friday on Native America Calling with Shawn Spruce.

GUESTS

Elouise Brown (Diné), TseAlnaozti’i Veterans Organization secretary and Northern Navajo Veterans Organization secretary  

“Truckee” Bob Tilton (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe), combat foreman with the 7th Marine Corps in Vietnam   

Maryann Parker (Kiowa from the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma), curatorial specialist at the First American Museum

Raquel Painter (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; Santee Sioux descent), President/Chief Professional Officer of United Way of Onslow County, Marine veteran (26 years), and North Carolina’s 2021 Combat Female Veteran of the Year

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

Break 2 Music: Crossroad Blues (song) Lakota John (artist) Lakota John and Kin (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:55 — 39.8MB) | Embed

Native American activists are speaking out in solidarity with Palestine as the U.S. continues its official stance supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Many Native observers have long connected tribal history in this country and Palestine’s resistance against Israel’s aggressive colonial actions. Some others see parallels between tribes and Israel’s defense of sovereignty and homeland.

GUESTS

Riley Yesno (Eabametoong First Nation), Anishinaabe writer and commentator  

Chase Iron Eyes (Oglala Lakota), activist, attorney, politician, member of the Lakota People’s Law Project, and co-founder of Last Real Indians

Nick Tilsen (Oglala Lakota), president and CEO of the NDN Collective

Boaz Atzili, associate professor at the School of International Service of American University

Break 1 Music: Intertribal Song (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs Recorded Live at Coeur D’Alene (album)

Break 2 Music: Crossroad Blues (song) Lakota John (artist) Lakota John and Kin (album)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Last Real Indians (@last.real.indians)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:34 — 38.2MB) | Embed

After a stellar, groundbreaking career as a musician and advocate for Indigenous people and causes, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s stated connections to any tribe in Canada or the U.S. appear to be completely made up. The revelations in an investigation by the CBC’s The Fifth Estate are a heartbreaking disappointment to her fans who saw her as a trailblazer in an industry with so little positive Native representation. At least one Indigenous group is calling for a recent Juno Award for best album to be rescinded. Others like the Piapot First Nation, the Cree tribe Sainte-Marie identified with for more than a half century, stand behind her. Does she deserve complete outrage? Or can we, as Cree author Michelle Good asks, “remember the power that was there regardless of her deception?”

GUESTS

Dr. Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Environment and a professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta

Michelle Good (Red Pheasant Cree Nation), author, retired lawyer, and activist

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Pakosiyimitan (album)

Break 2 Music: Crossroad Blues (song) Lakota John (artist) Lakota John and Kin (album)

Watch Sainte-Marie address the investigation here:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Buffy Sainte-Marie (Official) (@buffystemarie)

In a 2022 interview with Native America Calling, Buffy Sainte-Marie talked about her personal history, including her adoption by the family who raised her.

@nativevoiceoneEXCLUSIVE: Watch Native America Calling host Shawn Spruce asks Buffy Sainte-Marie some poignant questions about her personal history, as part of a never-released pre-show conversation conducted in November 2022. This Tuesday, Shawn hosts a special edition of Native America Calling. https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/tuesday-november-7-2023-buffy-sainte-marie-the-weight-of-the-truth♬ original sound – Native Voice One

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:21 — 38.0MB) | Embed

Four northern tribes won a historic $59 million settlement with the federal government after a legal battle dating back three decades. The substance of the Pembina Tribes’ lawsuit is rooted in a treaty in the mid-19th Century. We’ll talk about what it takes to hold the United States accountable for dishonorable actions and the slow, difficult process to finally prevail against the odds.

GUESTS

Leslie Ann Wilkie Peltier (Pembina of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), Peltier v. Haaland lead plaintiff representative 

Melody McCoy (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Native American Rights Fund staff attorney

Chairman Jamie Azure (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians)

Break 1 Music: Migwitch Mahnomen (song) Chippewa Pow-Wow Drum Group In Ball Club, Leech Lake Reservation (artist) Songs of the Chippewa, Vol. 1 – Minnesota Chippewa Game and Social Dance Songs (album)

Break 2 Music: Crossroad Blues (song) Lakota John (artist) Lakota John and Kin (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:25 — 38.7MB) | Embed

The increase in unprecedented damage from wildfires knows no boundaries and International Indigenous fire management experts see global participation as a solution. At the heart of their work is recognition that climate change is a major contributing factor.  They’re bringing traditional fire knowledge to a new generation who are inheriting some of the worst conditions for destructive wildfires in history. We’ll talk with some of those gathered for this year’s Indigenous Peoples Burning Workshop.

GUESTS

Charity Battise (Alabama Coushatta), student at the University of Oklahoma  

Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, and Yurok), Indigenous fire practitioner

Victor Steffensen (Tagalaka descendent), lead fire practitioner of the Firesticks Indigenous Alliance

Break 1 Music: Fire (song) Jimi Hendrix (artist) Are You Experienced? (album)

Break 2 Music: Bear Beats (song) Cheevers Toppah (artist) True Melodies (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:10 — 38.6MB) | Embed

Since time immemorial, the Kuskokwim River in Southwest Alaska has fed Native families. Now, after years of failed salmon runs, Native families are confronting the potential loss of this vital resource. At the same time they are caught in the middle of a legal battle between the federal government and the state over how best to manage fishing in rivers that flow through both jurisdictions. The Alaska Federation of Natives just joined several tribal groups, taking he federal government’s side in the fight. We’ll look at what’s at stake for Alaska Native residents in this latest chapter in the evolving fight over subsistence fishing.

GUESTS

 Curt Chamberlain (member of the Native Village of Aniak), assistant general counsel for the Calista Corporation

Serena Fitka (Yup’ik), executive director of the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association

Dr. Mike Williams (Yupiaq), vice chair of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Break 1 Music: Qalurru (Dip Netting) (song) Pamyua (artist) Drums of The North: Traditional Yup’ik Songs (album)

Break 2 Music: Bear Beats (song) Cheevers Toppah (artist) True Melodies (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:03 — 38.5MB) | Embed

A non-Native woman in Alaska refuses to abide by a tribal court order to turn an Alaska Native foster child over to the girl’s family members. It’s a blatant disregard of tribal sovereignty even after a notable re-affirmation of the Indian Child Welfare Act by the U.S. Supreme Court. The woman took custody of the child, named Chanel, at the request of the girl’s father, right before he was convicted of murdering Chanel’s mother during a domestic dispute. We’ll look at that case, as well as efforts to bolster ICWA compliance elsewhere.

GUESTS

 Antonia Commack (Iñupiaq from the Native Village of Shungnak), best friend of Baby Chanel’s mother 

Bossii Opsal (Iñupiaq from the Native Village of Koyuk), Sacramento State University student and social media influencer 

Simona Bearcub (citizen of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes), community defense and land defender 

Matthew Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), law professor at the University of Michigan Law School and author of the “Turtle Talk” blog

Sydney Tarzwell, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund

Break 1 Music: Son of the Sun (song) Willie Dunn (artist) Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, And Country 1966-1985 (album)

Break 2 Music: Bear Beats (song) Cheevers Toppah (artist) True Melodies (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:25 — 38.7MB) | Embed

One way Indigenous cultures keep kids in line is with frightening traditional stories that have a moral or practical lesson. They include tales of children being dragged underwater for wandering too close to the sea or getting haunted by bad spirits if they don’t respect their parents. We’re gathering around the microphone, turning off the lights, and listening to spooky stories from Cherokee, Muskogee, Inuit, and other storytellers, with special guest host Alyssa Yáx̱ Ádi Yádi London.

GUESTS

Choogie Kingfisher (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma), storyteller and 2019 Cherokee National Treasure

Chris “Honka” Hill (Muskogee Creek), co-host of the Spirit Talkers Podcast

Break 1 Music: I Saw the Witch Cry (song) Anasazi (artist)

Break 2 Music: My Island Home (song) Warumpi Band (artist)