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Leadership, initiative, dedication. Those are the three words inscribed on the National Center for American Indian Economic Development’s 40 Under 40 badge. The organization is celebrating this year’s inductees who exemplify those qualities, including the Yup’ik, Global Director of the Nature Conservancy, the Choctaw executive at Microsoft, and the Lakota legislative assistant for U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer. We’ll hear from members of this year’s class of 40 inspiring Native leaders under the age of 40.

Guests:

Stacia Morfin [Nimiipuu (Nez Perce)] – chief executive officer of Nez Perce Tourism, LLC

Brian Tanner (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes / Rocky Boy Cree) – Director of Development, Potlatch Fund

 

Break 1 music: Victory Song (song) Thunder Hill (artist) Relentless (album)

Break 2 music: Astronomar (song) Astronomar (artist)

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Academic studies continue to find much higher rates of brain injuries among Native Americans than any other group in the United States. Accidents at home and in cars are one of the main drivers. Now, health advocates are working to lower that statistic with prevention and awareness efforts. And advancements for recognizing and treating brain injuries offer hope for brain injury survivors and their families.

 

 

Guests:

Sixtus Dominguez (Raramuri and Apache) – tribal injury prevention program coordinator for the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center-Aztec

Molly Rutledge – pediatric speech-language pathologist

Alyssa Fredericks-Tafoya (Hopi) – athletic trainer at Hopi junior and senior High School

Break 1 music: Song Of Encouragement (song) Porcupine Singers (artists) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)

Break 2 music: Drum Battle (song) Robert Mirabal (artist) Music From A Painted Cave [Live] (album)

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The Biden Administration is forming a working group on Indigenous Traditional and Ecological Knowledge. That is among the innovations announced at the recent White House Tribal Nations Summit. It’s also a sign of increasing awareness about the value of Native knowledge and science. We’ll talk with Indigenous scholars about acceptance and recognition of Indigenous knowledge and science in academia in light of so many past efforts to suppress them.

 

 

Guests:

Lorisia MacLeod (member of the James Smith Cree Nation) – learning services librarian at the Alberta Library

Dr. Gregory Cajete (Santa Clara Pueblo) – professor emeritus and former director of Native American studies at University of New Mexico

Dr. Shandin Pete (Salish and Navajo) – assistant professor of teaching at the University of British Columbia in the earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences

 

Break 1 music: The Road (feat. Black Bear) (song) The Halluci Nation (artist) Nation II Nation (album)

Break 2 music: Drum Battle (song) Robert Mirabal (artist) Music From A Painted Cave [Live] (album)

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Districts with predominantly Native voters are targets as states start redrawing boundaries. Large blocks of Navajo voters in Arizona were instrumental in putting that state in the ‘blue’ column in the last presidential race. Now, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota and Montana are among the states where tribal leaders and voting rights advocates are urging officials not to weaken Native voting power as the legislative and congressional district lines are being drawn.

 

 

Guests:

Jacqueline De Leon (Isleta Pueblo) – staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund

Kee Allen Begay Jr. (Navajo) – Navajo Nation council delegate representing five chapters of the Navajo Nation

Jaylyn Suppah (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs) – creator of Papalaxsimisha

Bobbi Blacketer (Enrolled Skokomish) – executive secretary for the Skokomish Indian Tribes tribal council

 

Break 1 music: Get Up Stand Up (song) Bailey Wiley, Che Fu, King Kapisi, Laughton Kora, Maisey Rika & Tiki Taane (artist) Get Up Stand Up – Single (album)

Break 2 music: Drum Battle (song) Robert Mirabal (artist) Music From A Painted Cave [Live] (album)

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As the nation commemorates 80 years since the Japanese surprise invasion of Pearl Harbor, or Wai Momi, we’ll take a moment to also reflect on the lasting legacy for the Indigenous people of Hawaii. The islands remain a strategic U.S. military post. But militarization before and since the attack has had deep and pervasive effect on the culture and sovereignty of Kanaka Maoli.

 

 

Guests:

Kyle Kajihiro – professor in the department of geography and environment and the department of ethnic studies at the University of Hawaii at Monoa

Manu Ka’iama (Hawaiian national) – professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa teaching at the Shidler College of Business and the Center for Hawaiian Studies

Dr. Keanu Sai (a Hawaiian subject) – political scientist

 

Break 1 music:  Ke Aloha I Ka Pu’uwai / He ‘Ili ‘Ula Au a He Hawai’I (song) Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu (artist) Call It What You Like (album)

Break 2 music: Drum Battle (song) Robert Mirabal (artist) Music From A Painted Cave [Live] (album)

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It’s the time of year many small Native businesses rely on for a major portion of their annual income. There are always challenges to stand out among the big box stores and online retailers during the gift-giving season. In addition to the ongoing pandemic, many small merchants have to also cope with difficulties getting materials through a supply chain slowdown. We’ll check in with some Native sellers about the joys and difficulties of this time of year.

Guests:

Carrie McCleary (member Montana Little Shell Chippewa Tribe as well as decedent from the Anishinaabe & Cree people) – Plains Soul owner and artist

Melanie Luger (Hidatsa) – owner of Coulee Creek

Tessa Sayer (Turtle Mt. Band of Chippewa) – Director Marketing and Program Development, American Indigenous Business Leaders / owner My Soul Curiosity online sales

 

Break 1 Music: RAINBOW MEDICINE – randy b feat smog (song) Randy Boogie (artist) THE BLESSINGWAY BOOGIE (Deluxe Edition) (album)

Break 2 music: Porcupine Singers’ Song (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)

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The Oneida and Lummi nations and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium are among those taking part in an effort to operate their own federal commodity food programs, known as “Commods”. The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservation’s Self-Determination Demonstration Project offers authorization to tribes under Public Law 93-638 to select foods included in program food packages for the first time. It’s a big step toward tribal food sovereignty and a move that could boost local and tribal food economies.

Guests:

Lexie Holden (member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) – associate director of policy and government relations for the Intertribal Agriculture Council 

Erin Parker – director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law

Daniel Guzman-King (Oneida) – councilman of the Oneida Nation

Gregory Nothstine (member of the Native Village of Wells) – Food Distribution Program manager for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) – chef, CEO and co-founder of NATIFS, North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, and The Sioux Chef

 

Break 1 music: Gold Skies (Neon Natives Remix) (song/single) Neon Natives (artist)

Break 2 music: Porcupine Singers’ Song (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)

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Researchers in Nebraska have worked for years to find and organize documents from the Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial School. Part of the project includes identifying students who were buried on school grounds whose records were lost over the years. As the federal government begins its scrutiny of the country’s boarding schools, we’ll hear about what it takes to adequately uncover the truth about the 300 schools aimed at forced assimilation of Native children.

Guests:

Judi gaiashkibos (enrolled Ponca and Santee Sioux) – descendent and survivor of the Genoa Indian Industrial School, executive director of the Nebraska Commission of Indian Affairs, co-chair of the Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project

Terry Sloan (Diné and Hopi) – City of Albuquerque intergovernmental tribal liaison

Dr. Samuel Torres (Mexica and Nahua) – director of research and programs for The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

 

Break 1 music: Ascend (song) Piqsiq (artist) Live from Christ Church Cathedral (album)

Break 2 music: Porcupine Singers’ Song (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)