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

While it still happens in some places, Native tourism is moving far beyond selling rubber tomahawks, chicken feather headbands, and other trinkets. Tribes and Native-owned businesses are realizing the valu

e for authentic, Native-made works and meaningful traveler experiences. The time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is prime tourism season. We’ll find out how tribes are making the transition to culturally sustainable tourism development.

Also, MSNBC is airing a roundtable discussion among accomplished Native women about culture, identity, and representation in a society that so often treats Indigenous people as invisible. It’s an intimate and frank conversation hosted by Alyssa London and airs on the Peacock Network. We’ll hear from Alyssa about how the show came about and what it can do to hear powerful Native women voices.

GUESTS

Richardson Etsitty (Navajo), CEO and founder of Antelope Hogan and CEO and manager of Antelope Hogan Canyon Tours

Laura Blythe (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), program director of the Cherokee Historical Association

Sherry Rupert (Paiute and Washoe), CEO of the American Indian and Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA)

Alyssa London (Tlingit), MSNBC contributor and host of The Culture Is: Indigenous Women on the Peacock Network

Break 1 music: Honoring the Homeland (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album)

Break 2 music: Blackbird Song (song) Emma Francisco, Frances Manuel, Joaquin Garcia & Lorenzo Pablo (artist)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:14 — 38.6MB) | Embed

Every weekday in Gualala, Calif., radio listeners can tune into the long-running show Peggy’s Place on KGUA to learn about their neighbors and the rest of the world. The show is just one of the many projects spanning the 50-year radio career of its host, Peggy Berryhill. She started with the show Living on Indian Time on KPFA in Berkeley, Calif. in 1973. She has since worked at National Public Radio, helped develop Native stations, mentored Native broadcasters, and founded the Native Media Resource Center. She has picked up numerous awards and accolades along the way. In this encore show, we’ll get her take on her notable accomplishments and the future of Native radio.

GUEST

Peggy Berryhill (Muscogee [Creek] Nation), General Manager of KGUA

Break 1 music: Stomp Dance (song) Various Artists (artist) Stomp Dance Songs Of The Muscogee Nation, Volume 1 (album)

Break 2 music: The Spin of the Earth (song) Keith Secola (artist) Portals (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:50 — 38.3MB) | Embed

At 77, Simeon Gipson is preparing to embark on a bicycle journey of more than 1,000 miles from Tahlequah, Okla. to Pittsburgh, Pa. Once there, he plans to compete in the National Senior Games. The thousands of miles Gipson has covered over the years started when he was nearing 70 with a last-ditch attempt to improve his declining health. He’s one of many Native elders and others that embark on epic journeys and inspire the rest of us along the way.

GUESTS

Simeon Gipson (Cherokee and Choctaw), 77 year-old bicyclist

Chief Gary Harrison (Ahtna-Athabascan), chief of Chickaloon Village

Dustin Martin (Diné), executive director of Wings of America

Kelly Linklater (Pukatawagan Cree Nation), canoeist

Jolie Varela (Tule River Yokut and Paiute), founder of Indigenous Women Hike

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

Break 2 music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:35 — 38.2MB) | Embed

The less glamorous side of writing for television shows and movies is coming to the surface during the strike by the Writers Guild of America. The union says the pay for many of its 20,000 professional writers is low and remains stagnant, even while the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers continues to reap new profits from streaming and other platforms. Production on most daily shows has ground to a halt, and the strike potentially threatens work on Reservation Dogs, Dark Winds, and other shows popular with Native audiences. We’ll hear from Native writers about what the strike means for audiences.

GUESTS

Sierra Teller Ornelas (Diné), screenwriter  

Vera Starbard (Tlingit and Dena’ina), writer  

Jana Schmieding (Mniconjou and Sicangu Lakota), writer and performer

The Association of Motion Picture and Television Professionals declined to appear on NAC, but instead provided this document that details their position on the ongoing contract negotiations.

Break 1 music: The Phaser Is Broken (song) Khu.éex’ (artist) Heen (album)

Break 2 music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:08 — 38.5MB) | Embed

It was a simple, but contested, proposition: The Cherokee Nation would relinquish its land in the southeast United States in exchange for $5 million and a new homeland in what is now Oklahoma. The document that sparked the Trail of Tears was steeped in fraud and bad faith by the federal government, but remains on the books. On the anniversary of its ratification, we re-look at the Treaty of New Echota and the promises the government has yet to deliver, including a Cherokee delegate to Congress.

GUESTS

Kimberly Teehee (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Cherokee Nation Delegate-Designee to U.S. House of Representatives

Julie Reed (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), associate professor in history at Penn State University

Candessa Tehee (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), associate professor of Cherokee and Indigenous Studies at Northeastern State University and a Cherokee Nation councilwoman

Catherine Foreman Gray (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Cherokee Nation history and preservation officer

Break 1 music: Cherokee Morning Song (song) Walela (artist) Walela (album)

Break 2 music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:48 — 127.7MB) | Embed

Confronting the bitter legacy of boarding schools in the United States is about more than just reconciliation and healing. It’s also about accountability. American Genocide, the new podcast by Illuminative, zeroes in on the Red Cloud Indian Boarding School, which is now a Catholic school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It sparks the difficult conversation about the past and present trauma perpetrated on Native children and who should have a say in how it’s spoken.

GUESTS

Lashay Wesley (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), director of communications and storytelling for Illuminative and co-host of the American Genocide podcast

Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma), executive director of Illuminative and co-host of the American Genocide podcast

Break 1 music: Healing Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 music: Beautiful Flower (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Kihtawasoh Wapakwani (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:00 — 38.5MB) | Embed

The rate of overdose deaths linked to fentanyl is skyrocketing and Native Americans are many times more likely to be affected. The cheap and potent drug is replacing its related cousins — heroin and oxycodone — as the biggest addiction threat. Among the bright spots: the Cherokee Nation is investing in a state-of-the-art in-patient treatment facility to combat the ravages of opioid addiction.

GUESTS

Chairwoman Angela Elliott-Santos (Manzanita Band of Kumeyaay Nation), chairwoman of the Manzanita Band of Kumeyaay Nation

Juli Skinner, senior director of behavioral health for the Cherokee Nation

Dr. Joseph Gone (Aaniiih), professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University

Joseph Friedman, researcher at UCLA

Break 1 music: We Are (song) DiggingRoots (artist) We Are (album)

Break 2 music: The Spin of the Earth (song) Keith Secola (artist) Portals (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:36 — 38.2MB) | Embed

Mortgage interest rates have trended down recently, but they’re still relatively high compared to previous years. Inflation is also going in a positive direction, but remains a factor for those in the market to buy a home. Whatever the outside variables, there are several resources for Native home buyers. We’ll get the latest trends on what is typically the largest single purchase in peoples’ lives.

GUESTS

Jonelle Yearout (enrolled at the Nez Perce Tribe), executive director of the Nimiipuu Community Development Fund

Rudy Soto (Shoshone-Bannock), USDA Rural Developoment Idaho State Director

Pamela Ranslam, homeownership services manager for Nixyáawii Community Financial Services

Dave Castillo, CEO of Native Community Capital

 

Break 1 music:  Going Home (song) Ulali (artist) Heartbeat: Voices of First Nations Women (album)

Break 2 music: The Spin of the Earth (song) Keith Secola (artist) Portals (album)

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

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) is readying a new tool to help people search for information about their relatives who attended more than 500 U.S. boarding schools. The online archive will start with digitized versions of 50,000 federal documents. Those organizing the project hope to build on the number and scope of the records over time. Tens of thousands of Native children attended the schools. Some never returned home. What records there are for those children are scattered among various institutions. The NABS’s efforts are among a handful aimed to increasing and consolidating access to information about the boarding school era.

GUESTS

Selena Ortega-Chiolero (Tarahumara), museum specialist for the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council

Fallon Carey (Cherokee Nation), digital archives assistant for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Deidre Whiteman (Meskwaki, Dakota, Ojibwe, Hidatsa), director of research and education for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Shelly Lowe (Diné), chair of the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities

Break 1 music: Intertribal Song (song) Dakota Nation (artist) Home of The Champions (album)

Break 2 music: The Spin of the Earth (song) Keith Secola (artist) Portals (album)