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The battle over transgender rights is playing out in school bathrooms, sports fields, and doctors’ offices. States are enacting strict rules over gender-affirming care, and trans athletes, and even dress codes. Many of the laws face legal challenges over constitutional bans on discrimination. Native trans and Two-Spirit people look at how the new trend could play out.

GUESTS

Mattee Jim (Diné), trans advocate  

Stephanie Byers (Chickasaw), former Kansas state representative for district 86   

Montana Wilson (Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and Sioux), vice chair for Western Native Voice

Break 1 music: Two Spirit (song) Tony Enos (artist)

Break 2 music: The Beautiful Dance (song) Black Eagle (artist) Flying Free (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:56 — 38.4MB) | Embed

Earl Old Person was a respected Blackfeet leader and strong proponent of cultural preservation. He was the longest serving elected tribal official in the country. He was an advocate for education up until his death in October 2021 at the age of 92. He lived by example, embodying the language, culture, and accomplishments of the Blackfeet Nation.

GUESTS

John Murray (Blackfeet), Blackfeet tribal historic preservation officer

Erlina Old Person (Blackfeet), daughter of Chief Earl Old Person

Sen. Susan Webber (Blackfeet), Montana State Senator (D-MT 8th)

Break 1 music: Honor Song (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Hear the Beat (album)

Break 2 music: The Beautiful Dance (song) Black Eagle (artist) Flying Free (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:05 — 38.5MB) | Embed

Twitter is one of the social media outlets that help individuals connect with each other – and is a tool for outlets like Native America Calling to connect with the public. But Twitter has been making some erratic decisions lately, some of which are giving people misleading information. And some could be dangerous. Are they crossing the line for some Twitter users?

GUESTS

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

Raven Payment (Ojibwe and Mohawk), member of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force of Colorado

Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné), editor for Indian Country Today and member of the board of directors for the Native American Journalists Association

Break 1 music: Meegwetch (song) Tamara Podemski (artist) Tamara (album)

Break 2 music: Buffalo (song) Algin Scabby Robe (artist) Along the Way: Round Dance Songs (album)

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

Ojibwe inventor Danielle Boyer is on a quest to make technology more accessible to interested Native students. She’s given away some 8,000 robots through her program Every Kid Gets A Robot. She’s also developed a low-cost, wearable robot that helps teach Indigenous languages. She’s among groups of creative, science-savvy Native young people working to make connections between robots and education. 

GUESTS

Danielle Boyer (enrolled citizen of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), robotics inventor 

Myra Mendez (Mescalero Apache and Gros Ventre), elementary secretary for Mescalero Apache Schools 

Nate Raynor, high school science teacher for Mescalero Apache Schools

Break 1 music: Standing Rock (feat. Nick Ørbæk Jacobsen) (song) Uyarakq (artist) Miseraq (album)

Break 2 music: A Song for Mosom (song) Fawn Wood Featuring Alan DiPerna (artist) Kikāwiynaw (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:56 — 38.4MB) | Embed

The Shinnecock Nation is seeing their first cannabis dispensaries opening. They are among a rush of weed businesses among New York tribes as the state starts welcoming recreational use sales. The same is happening all across the country—in Minnesota, New Mexico, California, and Nevada—as tribes see new economic development opportunities in places where cannabis is no longer prohibited by state law.  

GUESTS

Mary Jane Oatman (Nez Perce and descendant of the Delaware Tribe), founder of the Indigenous Cannabis Coalition & THC Magazine and the executive director of the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association 

Rob Pero (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), founder and president of the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association and owner of Canndigenous

Chenae Bullock (enrolled member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation), managing director of Little Beach Harvest

Gary Farmer (Cayuga, Tuscarora and Mohawk), actor and musician

Break 1 music: Let’s Get High (song) Gooder Kind (artist) The Inter-Tribal Hustle (album)

Break 2 music: Cadillacs Don’t Care (song) Gary Farmer & the Troublemakers (artist) Fool for Love (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:49 — 38.3MB) | Embed

As the nation continues to debate restrictions on guns, a number of Native nations have their own gun laws that visitors aren’t always aware of. A number of tribes, including the Navajo Nation, prohibit possessing guns of any kind, even in vehicles on their reservations. Violating the law could mean permanently forfeiting your firearms.  At the same time, proposed federal legislation would make it easier for tribal citizens to acquire guns using only their tribal ID.

GUESTS:

• Joe Talachy (from the Pueblo of Pojoaque), owner and founder of Indigenous Arms
• Katherine Florey, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis
• Ann Tweedy, professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law

Break 1 music: Peace Calls (song) Robert Mirabal (artist) The River (Album)

Break 2 music: A Song for Mosom (song) Fawn Wood Featuring Alan DiPerna (artist) Kikāwiynaw (album)