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The good news is high school sports injuries are decreasing, according to a study released this year by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The bad news is the severity of those injuries are getting worse. As fall seasons get underway, Native trainers are responding to new awareness of the dangers of life-long injuries from high school sports. Young athletes could encounter serious injuries including concussions, broken bones, ruined joints, and even anxiety and other mental health problems. The one-time advice to “walk it off” is replaced with sophisticated attention to long-term health.

GUESTS

John Sunchild (Chippewa Cree from Rocky Boy Reservation), athletic trainer

Jasmine Velasquez (Mvskoke), athletic trainer

Drew Babcock (Amskapi Pikuni), American Indian and Alaska Native outreach coordinator, Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana

Plus, we ended today’s program with breaking news from Alaska, where Gene “Buzzy” Peltola died in a plane accident. Shawn Spruce spoke with his longtime friend LaMont Albertson about his life and legacy. Photo and reporting by Rhonda McBride.

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

Break 2 Music: Everything’s Gonna Be All Right (song) Twice As Good (artist) That’s All I Need (album)

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The Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe just took ownership of almost 900 acres of ancestral land in Virginia, thanks, in part, to $3 million in federal funds. And legislation in Minnesota would transfer a state park to the Upper Sioux Community in a historic act recognizing atrocities committed by state and federal officials against the Dakota people that culminated in the mass execution of 38 Dakota men in 1862. Those are two examples of a trend in governments, organizations, and individuals facilitating the return of important land to tribal control.

GUESTS

Chief Frank Adams (Upper Mattaponi)

Michelle Vassel (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), tribal administrator for the Wiyot Tribe

Dr. Amber Annis (Cheyenne River Lakota), director of Native American Initiatives at the Minnesota Historical Society 

Scott Roemhildt, regional director for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources southern region

Break 1 Music: “Sovereign Land” – Summit Dub Squad (song) The Native Movement Native Music Compilation (artist) Written in Blood (album)

Break 2 Music: Everything’s Gonna Be All Right (song) Twice As Good (artist) That’s All I Need (album)

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Many of the roads, hiking trails and even railroads that crisscross the landscape began thousands of years ago as trails by Indigenous hunters and traders. Many tribes have since lost their connections to those trails. But some are trying to re-connect their strong cultural links to the ancient routes, and tell their own stories about what they mean.

GUESTS

Wade Campbell (Diné), archaeologist and assistant professor at Boston University

Shannon Holsey (Mohican), president of the Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Band

Kevin Belle, rail-to-trail project manager for the Great American Rail-Trail

Break 1 Music: This Land (song) Keith Secola (artist) Native Americana – A Coup Stick (album)

Break 2 Music: Everything’s Gonna Be All Right (song) Twice As Good (artist) That’s All I Need (album)

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A number of Native-led live productions are taking the stage. They include an all-Indigenous production about Canadian residential schools written by a First Nations playwright – and the Rolling World Premiere of “Where the Summit Meets the Stars” by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse (Tlingit) at the Autry Museum of the American West‘s Wells Fargo Theater in Los Angeles. We get a look at upcoming theater productions.

GUESTS

Dr. Spy Dénommé-Welch (Algonquin-Anishinaabe), librettist and co-composer for “Canoe” 

Frank Henry Kaash Katasse (Tlingit), playwriter, educator, and actor  

Kim Gleason (Diné), artistic director of Two Worlds Native Theater

Break 1 Music: Pomok naka Poktoinskwes (song) Jeremy Dutcher (artist) Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa (album)

Break 2 Music: Memory Lane (song) Nitanis “Kit” Largo (artist) Serenity (album)

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The state of Alaska released its first-ever list of missing Alaska Natives and Native Americans. The list also includes basic details about each case, including whether or not it’s suspicious. The report includes 280 names going back to 1960. It’s part of the state’s efforts to address the disproportionate percentage of Native people among missing persons cases. Meanwhile, two years after Oklahoma passed a law to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, the effort remains largely unfunded. We’ll assess how some specific programs are progressing after a high profile push to address law enforcement disparities.

GUESTS

Charlene Aqpik Apok (Inupiaq), executive director of Data for Indigenous Justice

Kendra Kloster (Tlingit), co-director of law and policy at the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center

LaRenda Morgan (Cheyenne and Arapaho), cousin of Ida Beard and advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

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

Break 2 Music: Memory Lane (song) Nitanis “Kit” Largo (artist) Serenity (album)

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Many low-income families got an unwelcome surprise after supplemental COVID food security programs expired earlier this year. Funds available for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dropped to a fraction of what they were previously. Suddenly, people didn’t have enough to eat and no remedies in sight. Those cuts hit Native American families hardest, as they have a much higher percentage of SNAP participation than the population as a whole.

GUESTS

Karmela Martinez (San Ildefonso), director of the income support division at the New Mexico Human Services Department

Toni Stanger-McLaughlin (Colville Tribe), CEO of Native American Agriculture Fund and board member of Feeding America

Break 1 Music: Ch’iya’a’n Biyiin/Native Food Song (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album)

Break 2 Music: Memory Lane (song) Nitanis “Kit” Largo (artist) Serenity (album)

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Ada Deer was a pioneer in education as a lecturer and researcher in social work and Native American Studies at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. She was also renowned for her tireless advocacy and policy work. She was instrumental in achieving federal recognition for Alaska Native villages, her own Menominee Tribe and several others. Along the way, she helped dismantle the federal Termination Era. She was the first Native woman to run for Congress in Wisconsin. She lost the election, but went on to hold a number of influential positions including Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

GUESTS

Gwen Carr (Cayuga Nation), executive director of the Carlisle Indian School Project

Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community), Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior

Chief Mike Williams Sr. (Yupiaq)

Joe Deer (Menominee Tribe), nephew of Ada Deer, retired coast guard captain, Iraq War veteran, and commercial pilot

@nativevoiceone Remembering Ada Deer: Listen to #NativeAmericaCalling and check out her UN speech #RIP ♬ original sound – Native Voice One

Break 1 Music:  Enaemaekisaeh (song) Wayne Silas Jr (artist) Infinite Passion (album)

Break 2 Music: Losing Control (Song) Qacung (Artist) Miu (Album)