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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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The Citizen Potawatomi Nation offers online college-level language courses. They’re among the efforts to bring new life to Bodéwadmimwen, with only four fluent speakers remaining. And a private Salish immersion school is working with elders to develop lessons. School administrators say they’ve produced dozens of new speakers of their language, both young and old. We’ll hear from Native language educators about the classroom’s role in revitalizing languages.

GUESTS

LaRae Wiley (Sinixt Arrow Lakes Band), Salish School of Spokane executive director 

Christopher Parkin, Salish School of Spokane principal 

Robert Collins (Citizen Potawatomi), Potawatomi Language Professor at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center

Dr. X̱’unei Lance Twitchell (Lingít, Haida, Yup’ik, and Sami), Professor of Alaska Native Languages at University of Alaska Southeast

Break 1 music: Wake Up Song (song) Voices of Salish & Ped d’Oreille Women (artist) Heart of the Bitterroot (album)

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

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Taking on motherhood-by-marriage comes with its own rewards and challenges. The bond between a woman and her partner’s children is often strong and fulfilling. But it might take some informed effort to get there. We take a special focus on stepmothers as we head into Mother’s Day.

GUESTS

Paula Johnson-Jefferson (Samson Cree), small business owner, wife, and stepmother   

Nico Williams (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), chef and stepmother

Dr. Roger Kuhn (Poarch Band of Creek Indians), licensed marriage and family therapist and college professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University

Rebecca Spradlin (Prairie Band Potawatomi), student and storyteller working in media

Break 1 music: Grandmother’s Song (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

Break 2 music: Women’s Honoring Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

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It’s the time of year for graduations in small, reservation high school auditoriums, big city convention centers, tribal college quads, and manicured Ivy League grounds. It will be a year with and without regalia, depending on where you are. Native graduates are taking the next step in their educational journey.

GUESTS:

Dr. Lennon Audrain (Cherokee and Shawnee), assistant research professor at Arizona State University and high school teacher at Mesa Public Schools

Keely Jones Aliseo (Lumbee), UNC Pembroke graduate and recent Army ROTC second lieutenant

Jay Locklear (Lumbee), bachelor’s in mass communication

Dr. Johnny Poolaw (Delaware, Chiricahua Apache, Comanche, Kiowa), Director of Student Success for American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)

AJ Begay (Diné), recent graduate of Ft. Lewis College

 

Break 1 music: Sisters (song) The Halluci-Nation (artist) Nation II Nation (album)

Break 2 music: Women’s Honoring Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

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Indigenous activists in Central and South America are literally putting their lives on the line trying to protect their land and culture. Places like Brazil, Honduras, Colombia, and parts of Mexico are rife with murders and disappearances of Indigenous people speaking up to save their land and people from large scale mining operations, logging, and other extractive industries. In many cases, those responsible are never brought to justice. We’ll explore the factors that contribute to the threat to Indigenous people standing up against corporate development.

GUESTS

María Martin, award-winning multimedia journalist, founding executive director of Latino USA, and director of GraciasVida Center for Media

Nati Garcia (Maya Mam), capacity building manager for Cultural Survival

Edson Krenak (Krenak), Cultural Survival lead on Brazil

Américo Mendoza–Mori, scholar who teaches Indigenous and Latinx issues at Harvard University

 

Break 1 music: Mundo Enganador (song) Quetzal Guerrero (artist) Coiza Boa (album)

Break 2 music: Women’s Honoring Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)