Native America Calling

After years of discussions, Taos, N.M. decided to remove Kit Carson’s name from a widely used park in the center of town. Carson’s renown as a Western frontiersman grew from greatly exaggerated tales in pulp novels and newspaper articles. Only later did his violent exploits against Navajos and other tribes emerge. He was among the main figures in the Long Walk, the forced march of 10,000 captive Navajos. More than a third of them died.

In Michigan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed a Washington Monument-style obelisk commemorating the construction of shipping locks on Lake Michigan. The obelisk sat atop the remainder of a burial ground. Lock construction destroyed the main part of the sacred area but the Bay Mills Indian Community and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians continue to hold ceremonies there. We’ll talk with tribal advocates about their years-long work to change how their histories are viewed by the public.

Paiute and Shoshone tribes in California’s Owens Valley are facing a shortage of water — an issue that spans decades, but is now exacerbated by climate change. The city of Los Angeles, more than 200 miles away, is guzzling one-third of the groundwater in the region. The city’s diversion of water from the valley began in 1913. L.A. drained Owens Lake dry within a decade. The land, once lush with springs and streams, is now a parched landscape that hinders tribes’ access to culture and economic development.

Also, we’ll hear about how a proposed weakening of federal protections for the majority of the country’s wetlands could affect tribes. Tribes manage millions of acres of wetlands. The Trump administration seeks to limit the EPA’s authority on how it regulates pollution under the Clean Water Act. Scaling back those protections has potential consequences for much of the country’s sources of clean drinking water.

December is a traditional time for feasts, family, and giving, but the financial and time burdens of the holiday-heavy month, combined with the change of seasons and other factors, also make it a time ripe for breaks in a person’s mental health. We’ll find out how connections — with other people, cultural traditions, or spiritual foundations — can be a way to mitigate the added stresses of December — or any time.

Crow leadership are working toward revamping their tribal citizenship requirements. If their proposal goes through, any currently enrolled tribal citizens would be designated as having 100% Crow blood. The St. Croix Ojibwe Tribe in Wisconsin is seeing their first tribal enrollment gains in years after they got rid of their blood quantum requirement. They are among the tribes looking down the road and mapping a future away from the Indian blood requirement.

Cuts in grants and operating funds, federal staff reductions, and department disorganization – and the federal government shutdown – all took a toll on the work done by tribal museums this year. Tribal museums are a source of economic development for many tribes, but more than that they offer an authentic and more comprehensive picture of Native culture and history than their non-Native counterparts. As Tribal Museums Week gets underway, we’ll check in with tribal museums about their work and what they hope to accomplish in the current unpredictable environment for so many cultural institutions.

State by state, tribes are staking out a share in the burgeoning online sports betting business. Places like Colorado, California, Wisconsin, and Michigan all have ongoing legal and political disputes involving tribes’ ability to expand casino enterprises into online sports books. We’ll look at how the clash between states, private companies, and tribes are raising complex questions over sovereignty, regulation, and jurisdiction.

Nine out of ten people seeking jobs say they have a side hustle — a second or even third job. An Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll from October 2025 also says a higher percentage of younger job-seekers — Gen Z and Millennials —expect to be able to overlap their side jobs on company time. Money is a major factor – and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported this year that more employers are cutting hours. We’ll talk with some of those who are working multiple jobs about the ups and downs of juggling a side hustle.

A one-time allocation for Tribal Colleges and Universities unexpectedly just doubled the federal allocation compared to the previous year. And a small handful of colleges are rejoicing over multi-million-dollar windfalls from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. But that doesn’t mean officials at any of those institutions are breathing a sigh of relief. Instead, the unpredictable nature of federal funding and other factors — including the Trump administration’s stated plan earlier this year to all but eliminate their funding, has tribal higher education administrators scrambling. We’ll speak with some of them about the educational institutions that thousands of Native students depend on.

“Braids” by director, writer, and editor Elise Aachix̂ Qağaduug Beers (Unangan) tells the story of a Native student who contends with bullying and uninformed school policy. It’s a modern-day tale with a long historical reach.

“Guts,” a comedy by Elias Gold (Diné), is a story of a drifter who wreaks havoc on the Navajo reservation in search of a particular traditional food.

We’ll talk with both filmmakers and also get an update on a new initiative to elevate Indigenous voices across film and TV.