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Native Americans are among the populations with the lowest rate of vaccinations, whether it’s for flu, measles, COVID-19, or hepatitis B. Health professionals urge parents to immunize their infants against more than a dozen serious diseases including polio, pertussis, diphtheria, and mumps. But poverty, lack of health insurance, and distance to health providers are among the barriers that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says keep rates for Native Americans low. On top of that, misinformation and confusion about vaccines creates additional hesitation for parents. We’ll talk with doctors about the factors that might improve immunization rates as a way to improve overall health.

Break 1 Music: Wiconi (song) Primeaux & Mike (artist) Road to Peace (album)

Break 2 Music: Come to Life (song) Toni Heartless (artist) Dark Days (album)

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Drones are for more than just appealing aerial videos. Native drone pilots are building careers using drones for scoping out landscapes for construction, searching for lost hikers, and even assessing potentially sacred areas. One First Nations enthusiast sees the novelty factor of drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, as a means to attract young Native people into STEM fields. We’ll talk to Native drone pilots about how they’re using their skills for enterprise and to help make their communities better.

GUESTS

Jacob Taylor (Curve Lake First Nation), CEO of Indigenous Aerospace  

James Grimsley, executive director of Advanced Technology Initiatives for the Choctaw Nation

Robert Hart (Ho-Chunk and Ojibwe), owner and chief pilot of L.I.D.A.R. Drone Services

Break 1 Music: Eagle Dance REMIX (single) Jason Brown/Decontie & Brown (artist)

Break 2 Music: Come to Life (song) Toni Heartless (artist) Dark Days (album)

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Two Native sisters venture out of their Native community to chase their dreams, only to run head on into the threats of urban life in the new film,

The Heart Stays. The Native-made drama is produced by a Native multi-arts organization and features a Native cast including Nathalie Standingcloud, Jon

Proudstar, and Irene Bedard. Another film by Spirit Lake Dakota artist Marlena Myles is her own account of creating an augmented reality installation in St. Paul, Minn. And Bad River documents a Wisconsin tribe’s struggle with efforts to build an oil pipeline through their reservation.

 

GUESTS

Diane Fraher (Osage and Cherokee). writer, director, and producer  

Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota), Spirit Lake Dakota artist

Mary Mazzio, producer, writer, and director of Bad River

Allison Abner, producer of Bad River

Break 1 Music: Ghost (song) Sierra Spirit (artist)

Break 2 Music: Come to Life (song) Toni Heartless (artist) Dark Days (album)

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Citing a troubling disparity for Native youth suicides, two tribes are suing the country’s most prominent social media companies. The lawsuit by the Spirit Lake Dakota Tribe and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin alleges the addictive pull of the platforms is driving a mental health crisis for young people – and Native youth are particularly vulnerable. They join a long list of states and other entities taking on social media corporations saying they are degrading the country’s mental health. We’ll discuss how to recognize when social media is becoming a problem and some ideas for a healthier approach.

GUESTS

Marisa Duarte (Pascua Yaqui Tribe), associate professor in the Program for Justice and Social Inquiry at the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University

Tim Purdon, partner at Robins Kaplan LLP

Andrea Wiglesworth (enrolled member of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation [Deer Clan] and Shawnee Tribe), doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Minnesota

Alec Calac (Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians), PhD candidate in Public Health at the University of California-San Diego

Break 1 Music: Common Feelings (song) Darksiderz (artist) Ancestors EP (album)

Break 2 Music: Come to Life (song) Toni Heartless (artist) Dark Days (album)

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Ojibwe writer Marcie Rendon takes a break from her popular Cash Murder Mystery series for a new collection of poems, Anishinaabe Songs For A New Millennium. She invokes the plants, animals, wind, and people of her White Earth home. She challenges readers to listen along to the songs of their ancestors. Rendon is among the poets helping us mark National Poetry Month.

GUESTS

Tiffany Midge  (Hunkpapa Lakota ), poet, humorist, and author  

Marcie Rendon (White Earth Ojibwe ), writer and author  

Kimberly Blaeser  (Anishinaabe from the White Earth reservation ), poet, author of Ancient Light, founding director of Indigenous Nations Poets “In-Na-Po,” and MFA faculty member at Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)

Kinsale Drake  (Diné), poet and founder of NDN Girls Book Club

Break 1 Music: The Last House Creeley Left (song) Rd Kla (artist) Streaming (album)

Break 2 Music: 500 Years O’ Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album)

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It’s the time of year when Native nerds, cosplayers, comic geeks, and gamers assemble for the first and biggest convention devoted to them. IndigiPopX is back at the First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City for the second year, featuring panel discussions, vendors, musicians, a glowstick ball match, and a whole day devoted to the TV series Reservation Dogs. Amid the festival fun is the message that Native Americans enjoy Mandalorians just like everybody else. We’ll hear what’s new from the IPX organizers.

GUESTS

Dr. Lee Francis IV aka Dr. Indiginerd (Laguna Pueblo), CEO and founder of Native Realities

Tom Farris (Otoe-Missouria and Cherokee), director of retail operations for FAM

Kristin Gentry (Choctaw), director of community engagement and outreach for Native Realities, artist, photographer, writer, and curator

Connor Alexander (Cherokee Nation), owner of Coyote & Crow Games

Sarah Wilkinson (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), oil painter and illustrator

Break 1 Music: Big Crow (feat. Black Lodge Singers) (song) DJ Shub (artist) PowWowStep – EP (album)

Break 2 Music: 500 Years O’ Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album)

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Numerous studies over the years point out the overrepresentation of Native American women in U.S. prisons. The Sentencing Project found a 525% increase over more than 20 years in the incarceration of women and girls. Juvenile Native American girls had the highest rate, at more than four times that of their white counterparts. We’ll talk about the factors driving a growing trend and what advocates are doing to turn the numbers around.

GUESTS

Dr. Carma Corcoran (Cree), director of the Indian Law Program at the Lewis and Clark Law School and adjunct professor in the Indigenous Nations Studies program at Portland State University

Dr. Laurie Walker, assistant teaching professor at the Department of Native American Studies at Montana State University  

Dean Williams, independent consultant

Break 1 Music: Plains Cree Prisoner’s Song (song) William Burn Stick (artist) Indian Music of the Canadian Plains (Album)

Break 2 Music: 500 Years O’ Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album)

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The Lummi Nation is among the tribes that continue to face serious threats from the ongoing opioid epidemic, despite their best efforts. Lawmakers in Washington State are poised to allocate millions of dollars in opioid litigation settlement money to Lummi and other tribes in an effort to stem troubling statistics that show Native Americans are overwhelmingly affected by opioid abuse. All across the country, tribes are working to find the most promising opioid treatments funded by dozens of settlements with pharmaceutical giants. We’ll check in with the ongoing problem of Native opioid addiction and the best prospects for the $1.5 billion earmarked to help solve it.

GUESTS

Chairman Anthony Hillaire (Lummi)

Andrea Medley (Haida), research associate with Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health 

Tim Purdon, partner at Robins Kaplan LLP

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Sweetgrass (artist) Follow the Trail (album)

Break 2 Music: 500 Years O’ Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album)

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Most tribes have important traditional connections to the stars and other celestial bodies in the night sky. But increasing encroachment from artificial lights is diminishing those connections. A handful of tribes are supporting a dark skies initiative to preserve what night sky visibility is left and promoting methods to limit light pollution. In the process, they’re raising awareness of their own night sky traditions.

GUESTS

S.D. Nelson (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), author and illustrator of children’s books

Travis Novitsky (Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), nature photographer

Daniel Bulletts, cultural resource director for the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians and director of the Southern Paiute Consortium

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

Break 2 Music: Sweet Salvation (song) Wayne Garner (artist) School for Savages (album)