Native America Calling

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 — Native Bookshelf: Where Wolves Don’t Die by Anton Treuer

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As an Ojibwe language teacher and expert on Native American history and issues, Anton Treuer has penned more than a dozen books that are required reading for some Native studies college courses. But Treuer turns to fiction in his newest work, Where Wolves Don’t Die. His first novel is for young readers and focuses on Ezra, a young Ojibwe teen living in Minneapolis. A serious crime prompts his family to move him to live with his grandfather on the Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. There he encounters new insights into his family and culture as he navigates the consequences of circumstances beyond his control. Treuer joins us as the Native Bookshelf featured author.

Break 1 Music: Little Sunflower (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: Our Mother the Earth [Feat. Dr. Duke Redbird] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

Monday, August 12, 2024 – Navajo Nation clashes with new uranium mining push

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The Navajo Nation deployed its police department to hold back trucks hauling uranium ore across tribal land. The action comes after the recent resumption of uranium mining at the Pinyon Plain (formerly Canyon) Mine in northwest Arizona. It is one of 600 uranium mines considered dormant because they aren’t financially viable. They are tied to numerous health conditions by citizens of Navajo and other nearby tribes. But new interest in nuclear energy is improving prices for raw ore. We’ll hear about tribes leveraging sovereignty to halt the mining and transport of uranium.

GUESTS

Crystalyne Curley (Diné), Speaker of the Navajo Nation

Carletta Tilousi (Havasupai), former councilwoman for the Havasupai Tribe and member of the Uranium Mining Committee

Leona Morgan (Diné), co-founder of Haul No

Donovan Quintero (Diné), freelance reporter

Break 1 Music: Until We Break (song) Klee Benally (artist) Appropriation (album)

Break 2 Music: Our Mother the Earth [Feat. Dr. Duke Redbird] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

Friday, August 9, 2024 – Democrat vice president pick puts new spotlight on Minnesota

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The Land of 10,000 Lakes, Paul Bunyan, and Tater Tot hotdish is also home to 11 federally recognized tribes. A citizen of one of those tribes, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Ojibwe/D-MN) is already the highest ranking female Native elected executive in the country. Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate, Lt. Gov. Flanagan is one presidential election victory away from becoming the first Native female governor. We’ll hear from current and former political leaders from Minnesota and the Upper Midwest about any contributions or detriments the state’s Native elected leaders bring to the national stage.

GUESTS

Judith Le Blanc (Caddo), executive director of the Native Organizers Alliance

OJ Semans Sr. (Rosebud Sioux Tribe), co-executive director of Four Directions Native Vote

Winona LaDuke (White Earth Ojibwe), activist, writer and 1996 and 2000 Green Party vice presidential candidate

Robert Lilligren (White Earth Ojibwe), Minneapolis Metropolitan Council member for District 6 and president and CEO of Native American Community Development Institute

Break 1 Music: Ojibwe Honor Song (song) Darren Thompson (artist)

Break 2 Music: Believer (song) Deerlady (artist)

Thursday, August 8, 2024 – From ‘Lord of the Rings’ to ‘The Convert’: How Māori filmmakers are improving representation

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The Lord of the Rings film trilogy won 17 Academy Awards and its legacy endures nearly 25 years after the first film’s release. The trilogy’s success has put its filming location, New Zealand, on the industry map. The motion picture business contributes at least $2.12 billion a year to New Zealand’s economy. That’s also been a boon for Indigenous cinema. Māori film critic and programmer Leo Koziol calls it a “renaissance“. The recent Māori-led film The Convert, directed by Lee Tamahori, is garnering critical acclaim. We’ll talk with Koziol and hear from Māori creatives who worked on Lord of the Rings about progress on Māori representation in film since then.

GUESTS

Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Rakaipaaka), founder of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival, Indigenous editor at Letterboxd, and a programmer for the New Zealand International Film Festival

Lawrence Makoare (Ngāti Whātua), actor

Hammond Peek (Ngāi Tahu and Te Āti Awa), sound recordist and production sound mixer

Ra Vincent (Te Atiawa), production designer and artist

Dr. Tom Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Apakura), Tainui leader and Ahorangi (professor) in the University of Waikato’s Te Pua Wananga ki te Ao Māori and Indigenous Studies

Billboard Music: The Bridge of Khazad Dum (song) Howard Shore (artist) The Fellowship of the Ring [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (album)

Break 1 Music: I Am (song) Stan Walker (artist) I Am [From the Ava DuVernay feature film ‘Origin’] (album)

Break 2 Music: Believer (song) Deerlady (artist)

Outro Music: The Breaking of the Fellowship (song) Howard Shore, Edward Ross (artist) The Fellowship of the Ring [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (album)

Listen to extended interviews…

Dr. Tom Roa
Here’s an interview with Dr. Tom Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Apakura). He’s an elder who has spent decades revitalizing te reo Māori. Here he talks about the current state of the Māori language and why he chose to translate books like “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “The Hobbit.”


Lawrence Makoare
Here’s an extended interview with Lawrence Makoare (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Rakaipaaka). He is an actor whose credits include: Rapa Nui, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, Dead Lands and The Convert. Here he talks more about the importance of Māori representation, turning down Once Were Warriors and his relationship with acting.


Hammond Peek
Here’s an extended interview with Hammond Peek (Ngāi Tahu and Te Āti Awa) sound recordist and production sound mixer. He won two Academy Awards for sound with Return of the King (2003) and King Kong (2005). Here he talks more about his work in sound and the future of Māori representation in media.


Ra Vincent
Here’s an extended interview with Ra Vincent (Te Atiawa). He is a production designer and artist. He’s nominated for two Academy Awards. The first was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) for set decoration and Jojo Rabbit (2019) for production design. Here he talks about his early career start on Lord of the Rings, collaborating with directors Peter Jackson and Taika Watiti (Te Whānau-ā-Apanu) and mentoring others.

Wednesday, August 7, 2024 – The expense people don’t like to think about

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Losing a loved one is a traumatic experience. The burden of paying funeral costs for a befitting honor for that person’s life can add to the stress. There are a number of alternatives in either direction, but the National Funeral Director’s Association reports the median cost of a funeral in 2024 is $7,848. More families are turning to crowd funding sites like GoFundMe to cover expenses, especially for the sudden deaths of loved ones. The website says it raised some $330 million for funerals last year. We’ll talk about ways to anticipate inevitable end-of-life costs in a culturally and financially feasible way.

GUESTS

Grace Bulltail (Crow), assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and member of the Not Invisible Act Commission

Ralph Foster, owner of Foster Funeral Home and Crematory and a licensed mortician of 42 years

Tami Truett Jerue (citizen of the Anvik Tribe), executive director of the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center

Michelle John (Oneida), death benefits coordinator for the Oneida Nation

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) High Noon (artist) Generations (album)

Break 2 Music: Believer (song) Deerlady (artist)

Promo Music: Concerning Hobbits (song) Howard Shore (artist) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (album)

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 – August wildfire threat increases in the West

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Wildfires on tribal lands have already claimed at least two lives and destroyed dozens of homes in New Mexico and Arizona. Multiple fires just forced the evacuation of hundreds of people on the Nez Perce reservation in northern Idaho. Tribal wildfire response and emergency management operations are kicking into high gear as wildfires threaten lives and property, especially in the parched West. We’ll talk with tribal officials and emergency management experts about the new and increasing threats in more than a dozen states.

GUESTS

Emily Sitting Bear (enrolled of the three affiliated tribes), director for the MHA Nation Emergency Operation Center

Celilo Miles, firefighter type one engine boss trainee

Riston Bullock (Nez Perce), lead engine operator for the Nez Perce Tribe Forestry and Fire Program

Bodie Shaw (member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs), deputy regional director for the northwest region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Break 1 Music: Burn Away (song) Sage Bond (artist) Prisoner (album)

Break 2 Music: Believer (song) Deerlady (artist)

Monday, August 5, 2024 – Frustration and skepticism over slow repatriation efforts

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The American Museum of Natural History in New York just announced it’s repatriating remains of 124 relatives and almost 100 Native cultural items from its collection. The museum continues to hold onto remains of some 12,000 other individuals from North America and beyond. It’s among institutions re-examining practices after new rules enacted this year forces museums to consider tribal views more seriously when it comes to remains and public displays. While some tribes are seeing progress, others are expressing frustration over institutions’ lack of compliance with federal law.

GUESTS

Shannon O’Loughlin (Choctaw), chief executive and attorney for the Association on American Indian Affairs

Beth Wright (Laguna Pueblo), staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund

Duane Reid (Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians), NAGPRA coordinator and tribal historic preservation officer

 

Break 1 Music: Too Much of Anything (song) Donita Large (artist)

Break 2 Music: Believer (song) Deerlady (artist)

Friday, August 2, 2024 – The Menu: Celebrating lamprey, meaty mushrooms, and OK tribes share hunting grounds

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The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations of Oklahoma have agreed to recognize each other’s licenses for hunting and fishing on their respective reservation lands. Tribal leaders say the agreement both strengthens their sovereignty and creates a more sustainable fish and wildlife management system. If you know where to look, there is an abundance of edible fungi available on trees and the forest floor. It’s mushroom season in the Southwest and Native foragers are collecting beefsteaks, lobsters, and chicken of the woods. And Columbia River tribes celebrate what is among their oldest food sources: lamprey. These are the topics in the latest helping of The Menu, our regular Indigenous food show hosted by Andi Murphy.

GUESTS

Erik Holt (Nez Perce), chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe Fish and Wildlife Commission

Jaren Bates (Diné), chef and pit master

Matt Gamble, senior manager of Wildlife Conservation for the Choctaw Nation

Break 1 Music: Echoes [Feat. Muskrat Singers] (song) Mike Bern (artist)

Break 2 Music: Canoe Song (song) Chenoa (artist) Spirit of Salishan (album)

Thursday, August 1, 2024 – DOI report on boarding schools: “Acknowledge, Apologize, Repudiate”

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For the first time, the United States is owning up to its role in the deplorable treatment of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children at Indian Boarding Schools over more than a century. The report from the U.S. Department of Interior documents the deaths of nearly 1,000 children at boarding schools—many in collaboration with Catholic and other Christian institutions. The report includes distressing testimony collected at public meetings around the country from boarding school survivors and their relatives, detailing the personal costs of the government’s attempts to eradicate Native cultures and languages. It recommends the federal government not only formally apologize, but also establish a path and funding to account for the wrongs and the continuing harm resulting from it.

GUESTS

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

Ben Barnes (Shawnee Tribe), chief of the Shawnee Tribe and National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition board member

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

Levi Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation), publisher and editor of Native News Online

Break 1 Music: Reservation of Education (song) XIT (artist) Silent Warrior (album)

Break 2 Music: Canoe Song (song) Chenoa (artist) Spirit of Salishan (album)

Native America Calling Live from the Santa Fe Indian Market

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You’re invited to join Native America Calling for a special live broadcast of Native America Calling on Friday, August 16 from the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Native America Calling will be hosting their live broadcast from the Eldorado Hotel and Spa in Santa Fe, N.M. on Friday, August 16 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

We would be delighted to have you join us, where you can also meet and greet the host and producers of Native America Calling.

  • Date: Friday, August 16, 2024
  • Time: 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. MDT
  • Venue: Eldorado Hotel & Spa, 309 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501
  • Refreshments will be provided on a first come first serve basis.

Native America Calling, a live radio show where listeners can call in and discuss issues relevant to Native communities and 2021 National Humanities Medal recipient, will be broadcasting live from the heart of the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Join us as we engage in lively discussions, hear from esteemed guests, and explore the diversity and vibrancy of Native arts, cultures, and current affairs.

We sincerely hope you can join us for this memorable occasion celebrating Native voices and stories.

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