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Canada is airing an enviable number of TV shows produced by and starring aboriginal talent. The shows include dramas, comedies, news, animation and documentaries. Many take place on First Nations reserves. The shows aren’t available on regular U.S. television. But the push is on to get U.S. distributors like Comcast to carry Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. The Canadian government launched APTN in 1999. Would you watch a show about 20-something Mohawk girls? How about a show built around Native cooking?

Guests:

Chris Eyre (Cheyenne & Arapaho) – filmmaker, Smoke Signals, Skins and Edge of America

Steven Paul Judd (Kiowa and Choctaw) – filmmaker and artist

Frank Blanquet (Mayan) – chief content manager for FNX

Also mentioned on the show today I Want My APTN USA website

Break music:  Braves Against the Machine (feat. Marla Nauni) (song) Quese Imc (artist) Defover30 (album)

 

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The International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee is mounting another campaign to convince President Barack Obama to grant Peltier clemency before he leaves office. Peltier was convicted of murdering two FBI agents in 1977. He was denied parole in 2009. Amnesty International calls for his release, citing serious concerns about the fairness of the legal case against him. But others, including the federal government, maintain that he is guilty and must continue to pay his debt to society. February 6^th is the International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier. Should he be granted clemency?

Guests:

Lenny Foster (Diné) – program supervisor for the Navajo Nation Corrections project and volunteer spiritual advisor for the state and federal prison system, and Leonard Peltier’s spiritual advisor

Peter Clark – co- director of the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

 

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A militia group in Oregon continues its stand-off near Burns Paiute tribal land.  President Obama’s State of the Union Address skirts Native American issues, while the National Congress of American Indian’s status report praises progress since the Nixon administration. And the Supreme Court takes a look at Nebraska v. Parker, a case about tribal jurisdiction and liquor sales. These topics and sports are on our monthly news round up.

Guests:

Lori Edmo-Suppah (Shoshone-Bannock) -editor of Sho-Ban News

Mark Trahant (Shoshone Bannock), journalist with TrahantReports.com and Charles R. Johnson Endowed Professor of Journalism at the University of North Dakota

Suzette Brewer (Cherokee) – investigative journalist with Indian Country Today Media Network

Brent Cahwee (Pawnee and Euchee) – co-founder and editor of ndnsports.com

Break music:  Peace & Love (song) Shelley Morningsong (artist) Love Medicine (album)

 

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Violence, car crashes and other accidents are causing traumatic brain injuries in Native Americans at a higher rate than other groups. One National Institutes of Health study finds young Native Americans adults have much higher incidences of brain injury than their white counterparts. Why do Native Americans have such high rates of traumatic brain injury? What burden does it place on families and communities? Is there a way to turn around the trend?

Guests:

Dr. Molly Fuentes (Warm Springs and Wasco from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs) -Acting Instructor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital

Lyn Wilson-King (Diné) -Program Coordinator for the Native American initiative of New Mexico Brain Injury Resource Center

Break music:  New Women Song (feat. Jennifer Kreisberg) (song) Cris Derksen (artist) Cris Derksen: Orchestral Powwow (album)

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Missing school affects more than a student’s attendance record. It can hamper success in school and everything that comes after. The education advocacy group Attendance Works links chronic absenteeism to low graduation rates and reduced likelihood of entering college. The National Assessment of Education Progress finds Native American students have the highest rates of school absenteeism. Why are Native kids missing so many days of school? How can parents, teachers and schools get Native students back in classrooms?

Guests:

Yatibaey Evans (Ahtna, Athabaskan from the Village of Mentasta) -President Elect for the National Indian Education Association and the Alaska Native Education Program coordinator

Tana Atchley (Modoc and Paiute and enrolled at The Klamath Tribe) -Vice President of the Oregon Indian Education Association

Danielle Grant (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) – Executive Director for the Educational and Cultural Services and Indian Education with Minneapolis Public Schools

Break music: Sisters (song) Tribe Called Red (artist) Nation II Nation (album)

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Fruity notes, citrus accents and a woody finish. If those descriptions sound familiar then you know about the artistic pursuit of making wine. From Mihila Kawna Wines in California to the Native Vines Winery in North Carolina several tribes are getting into the business and they’re producing some of the best-tasting wine money can buy. We will explore the history of wine making and where the practice is spreading in Native America today.

Guests:

Loretta Barrett Oden (Potawatomi) -Potawatomi chef from Oklahoma, creator and host of “Seasoned with Spirit: A Native Cook’s Journey,” an Emmy award-winning PBS mini-series, and food editor for Native People Magazine

Thomas Baldonado (Mescalero Apache) – Regional Manager for Cedar Band Corporation Beverage Company which is the creator of Twisted Cedar Native American Wine

Marshall McKay (Yocha Dehe-Winton Nation) – Chairman Emeritus of the Yocha Dehe-Wintun Nation and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles

Break music: Gold Skies (Neon Natives Remix) (song/single) Neon Natives (artist)

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Lawmakers in Wisconsin propose opening up protected effigy mounds to the possibility of mining and other development. The mounds are considered sacred by the Ho-Chunk and many other tribes. The bill would allow excavation unless there’s evidence of human remains. Hundreds of protesters showed up at the state Capitol to help persuade legislators to put the brakes on the Wisconsin Landowner Rights Act for now. The fight comes down to protecting sacred places or maximizing private property rights. Who do you think should control the land?

Guests:

David Greendeer (Ho-Chunk) – District 2 Legislator for the Ho-chunk Nation

Boye Ladd (Ho-Chunk and Zuni) -Cultural Advisor

Break music: Soar (song) Injunuity (artist) Spirits (album)

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A La Junta, Colorado Boy Scout troop calls their performance “Winter Night Dances.” The Hopi Office of Cultural Preservation calls it cultural exploitation. After the Hopis complained, Boy Scout Troop 232 cancelled their annual event. But their leaders maintain it’s a “misunderstanding” that they’ll be able to clear up once the Boy Scouts can convey the “respect for their solemnity, dignity and cultural significance” in staging the sacred dances. The Boy Scouts of America have incorporated Native American imagery, dress and terms in their activities for more than 100 years. The Order of the Arrow is among their highest individual honors. Is there room for the Boy Scouts to continue the dances if their intentions are sincere?

Guests:

Leigh Kuwanwisiwma (Hopi) – Director for the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office

Shawn Price (Dine) -Founder of the Facebook Group Sacred Preservation

Shirley Pino (Tamaya) – Co-founder of the Facebook group Sacred Preservation

Break music: Pisa Ay Sobeli (band) The GrayHawk Band (artist) Worth The Wait (album)

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The debut album from Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band, is—as they say—heavy on the guitar. “Fantasyland” offers blues and rock melodies filled with relatable lyrics about life and love. The band reflects everyday life including the tangled world of social media. Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band is the first Music Maker of 2016.

Guests:

Daniel “Danny T” Talache (Nambe Pueblo) – Band member

Bruce King (Oneida) – Band member

Break music: Alligator Boots (song) Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band (artist) Fantasyland (album)

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The Glaucoma Research Foundation counts more than 3 million Americans with the disease. Many people don’t know they have it at first because its progression is so slow and subtle at first. That’s why it’s called “the sneak thief of sight.” Glaucoma is a genetic condition that damages the optic nerve. There is no cure, but early detection allows treatments that can help save a person’s vision. January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month—and officials urge Native Americans to get checked for glaucoma.

Guests:

Dr. James Tsai – President of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, System Chair of Ophthalmology for the Mount Sinai Health System, Chair of the Glaucoma Subcommittee and member of the National Eye Health Education Program planning committee of the National Institutes of Health

Dr. David Macarty (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) – Optometrist and founder of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation optometry clinic

Information for Healthy Vision by the National Eye Institute

 

Break music:  Headstone – Teen Girl’s Southern Traditional (song) Gathering Of Nations Powwow (artist) A Spirit’s Dance (album)