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New Mexico is the center of arts celebrations this weekend, starting with the music, art, fashion, dances, and panel discussions at Pojoaque Pueblo. It’s the third year for the event that already attracts hundreds of artists. We get the rundown of the festival from organizers and some of the participants.

GUESTS

Karl Duncan (Arikara, Hidatsa, Mandan & San Carlos Apache), executive director of the Poeh Cultural Center

Josie Kie (Laguna Pueblo), contemporary and traditional potter

Sage Mountainflower (Ohkay Owingeh, Taos Pueblo, and Navajo), fashion designer

Jacob Shije (Santa Clara Pueblo), marketing coordinator at Poeh Cultural Center (and musician)

Cougar Vigil (Jicarilla Apache), outreach coordinator at Poeh Cultural Center

Break 1 Music: Indigenous Life (song) Fiji (artist) Indigenous Life (album)

Break 2 Music: Riders on the Storm [Live] (song) Keith Secola (artist) Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg, NY 7​/​20​/​19 (album)

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The unprecedented fires on Maui are blamed for a rising human toll and destroyed homes, property and cultural touchstones. The island’s original kingdom capital, Lahaina, was hard hit, losing a 200 year-old church and the Hawaiian language immersion school Pūnana Leo, among other cherished structures. We’ll get a picture of the destruction and what’s next for residents. 

GUESTS

Dr. Sydney Iaukea (Native Hawaiian), author of The Queen and I: A Story of Dispossessions and Reconnections in Hawai’i and Kekaʻa: The Making and Saving of North Beach West Maui.  

Eric Enos (Kanaka Maoli), executive director of Ka’ala Farm and Cultural Learning Center 

Carmen Hulu Lindsey (Kanaka Maoli), representative of Maui as a chair of the board of trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs  

Clay Trauernicht, assistant specialist in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa 

Break 1 Music: E ʻOni a Paʻa (song) Hawane (artist) E ʻOni a Paʻa – Single (album)

Break 2 Music: Riders on the Storm [Live] (song) Keith Secola (artist) Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg, NY 7​/​20​/​19 (album)

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One of four dams on the Klamath River is already mostly demolished. Crews predict the other three will be gone by the end of next year. It’s the largest dam removal project in U.S. history and tribes along the river were instrumental in making it happen. The tribes say the dam removal will rehabilitate native salmon runs that are greatly diminished and restore sacred land that has been underwater for more than a century.

GUESTS

Barry McCovey Jr. (Yurok), Yurok Fisheries Department Director 

Brandi Hatcher (Klamath Tribes), treasurer of Klamath Tribes

Chairwoman Frances Charles (Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe), chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe

Mark Bransom, chief executive officer of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation

Break 1 Music: Wake Up Song (song) Voices of Salish & Ped d’Oreille Women (artist) Heart of the Bitterroot (album)

Break 2 Music: Riders on the Storm [Live] (song) Keith Secola (artist) Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg, NY 7​/​20​/​19 (album)

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A pilot program in a handful of New Mexico schools aims to cut down on the high number of Native American expulsions. It uses conflict resolution and restorative justice methods to both build a sense of community and hold students accountable for bad behavior. Proponents hope the program in the schools can mirror successes in other institutions. It comes after reports by New Mexico In Depth and ProPublica that Native students are expelled at a higher rate than others.

GUESTS

Dr. Pandora Mike (Diné), principal at Tsé Bit A’í Middle School and 2023 New Mexico national distinguished principal of the year

Dannell Yazzie (Diné), assistant principal at Tsé Bit A’í Middle School

Bryant Furlow, New Mexico In-Depth reporter and member of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network

Emma Green, restorative practices practitioner and consultant at New Mexico Public Education Department

Break 1 music: The Move (song) DDAT (artist) DDAT (album)

Break 2 music: Riders on the Storm [Live] (song) Keith Secola (artist) Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg, NY 7​/​20​/​19 (album)

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Cases of the sexually transmitted bacterial infection syphilis are surging around the globe. In the U.S., Native Americans have the highest rates of syphilis than any other group. So much so, that the Indian Health Service is urging tribal leaders and health facilities that work with Native populations to institute a series of measures to fight the spread of the disease. We’ll explore why syphilis, that was once on decline, is making a dramatic comeback and what health officials are doing to fight it.

GUESTS

Dr. Loretta Christensen (Navajo), chief medical officer for the Indian Health Service

Jessica Leston (Tsimshian), HIV and STI clinical programs director at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board

Dr. Meghan O’Connell (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), chief public health officer for the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board

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As the famed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally gears up for its closing weekend, a group of bikers is carrying a message on their two-wheeled machines. Along with their black leather jackets, the bikers who make up the Medicine Wheel Ride wear red to raise awareness of the ongoing problem of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. Many of the riders are Native women who organize events to get the message out.

GUESTS

Prairie Rose Seminole (Three affiliated Tribes – Arikara, Northern Cheyenne, and Dakota), co-director of the We Ride For Her documentary and MMIP Advocate

Sheela Farmer (Sicangu Lakota from Rosebud Sioux Tribe), retired civil servant with Department of the Interior and a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast

Crystaline Bauer (Cheyenne River), receptionist for Indian Motorcycles in Sturgis, S.D.

Shawnee Red Bear-Keith, Oglala Sioux tribal veteran service officer, Red Spirit WRMC member, and Marine Corps veteran

Lorna Cuny (Oglala Sioux Tribe), founding member of Medicine Wheel Ride

 

Break 1 Music: Rumble (Remastered) (song) Link Wray (artist) Rumble (Remastered) (single)

Break 2 Music: Chase the Child (song) Raye Zaragoza (artist) Fight for You (album)

 

 

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Whether they’re strays or have attentive caretakers, the dogs that occupy reservations have a bad reputation. Advocates for rez dogs are working on a number of fronts to turn that around. Mindful of the occasional safety issue, advocates for dogs are organizing veterinarian visits, spay, neuter clinics, and even dog shows, all as a way to prevent more drastic measures and to promote safer environments.

GUESTS

Tadraschell Murray (Shoshone-Bannock), recreation manager for Fort Hall Department of Recreation 

Chantal Wadsworth (Navajo), founder of RezRoads Rescue

Podzy Wolf Granillo (member of Klamath Tribes), Warm Springs Dog Lady

Break 1 Music: Cedar & Willows (song) The Northwest Kid (artist)

Break 2 Music: Chase the Child (song) Raye Zaragoza (artist) Fight for You (album)

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Public pressure is mounting to search a municipal landfill in Winnipeg for two missing Indigenous women. Police indicated last December the privately run landfill could be where the bodies of the women ended up. Police investigators say they believe the two are victims of a serial killer, but officials all the way from the city on up to the provincial premiere are preventing the search, saying it’s much too expensive and dangerous. The victims’ families and supporters say it’s another example of officials’ lack of will to deliver justice for Indigenous crime victims.

GUESTS

Faye Joseph (Coast Salish), member of the Circle of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Students at the Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador chapter

Grand Chief Cathy Merrick (Pimicikamak Cree Nation), Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs  

Chief Kyra Wilson (Ojibway and Dakota), Chief of the Long Plain First Nation

Eleanore Sunchild (Thunderchild First Nation), Indigenous human rights attorney with Sunchild Law; part of the Redrum Motorcycle Club 

Grand Chief Jerry Daniels (Long Plain First Nation), Southern Chiefs’ Organization

 

Break 1 Music: MMIW (single) Antone George with Arrangement by Mark Nichols (artist)

Break 2 Music: Chase the Child (song) Raye Zaragoza (artist) Fight for You (album)

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A quarry in Minnesota has been a reliable source for the stone used in ceremonial pipes for dozens of tribes throughout the central U.S. and Canada. Other tribes elsewhere found their own local sources for making pipes. We’ll talk about the importance of pipes and the methods for making them passed down through the centuries.

GUESTS

Robert Sweeney (Ponca Tribe of Nebraska), Northern Ponca spiritual leader

Bud Johnston (Anishinaabe), president of the Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers 

Gabrielle Drapeau (Yankton Sioux Tribe), cultural resource specialist and park ranger at Pipestone National Monument

Travis Erickson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), pipemaker and Pipestone Indian Shrine Association board member

Chief Looking Horse (Lakota/Dakota/Nakota), 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe

 

Break 1 Music: Smoke dance remix (song) Chief Rock (artist)

Break 2 Music: Chase the Child (song) Raye Zaragoza (artist) Fight for You (album)

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A handful of tribes are venturing into the realm of family fun in the form of water parks, amusement parks, or theme parks. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians just opened a $70 million expansion to its giant Alabama Gulf Coast water park that also offers restaurants and live entertainment venues. The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians has a $75 million deal for a Tennessee theme park that will also feature an interactive look at Cherokee military heroism. As the days of summer vacations begin to wane, we’ll take a look at the draw — and business — of tribal family destinations.

GUESTS

Major Robinson (Northern Cheyenne), owner and principal at Redstone Project Development

Kristin Hellmich, director of external communications for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians

Dennis Bunner (Muskogee Creek), parks and recreations director for the 4 Bears Casino & Lodge

 

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

Break 2 Music: Dm Yootu Stukwliin (song) Saltwater Hank (artist) G̱al’üünx Wil Lu Holtga Liimi (album)