Native America Calling

It’s getting harder to stay ahead of cyber criminals. Tribes and tribal businesses are among the entities facing growing security threats. Some have had to pay large sums and shut down their network operations in response to cyber attacks. The newest report from Experian notes an increasing number of attacks and foresees a rise in younger hackers equipped with sophisticated AI technology. Organized foreign criminals are constantly hunting for security weaknesses to steal people’s personal information. The threat requires a response in know-how and financial resources. We’ll find out what’s happening behind the scenes as cyber security experts work to protect your data.

Holiday shoppers are busy nailing down deals on smart TVs, cookware sets, and leather handbags at big-name online and retail stores. Native business owners and individual entrepreneurs offer an alternative during the holiday buying rush with gift ideas that make both an impression for the receivers and a difference for the sellers. We have some experts on gifts made by Native Americans that you might not have thought of.

Representatives from the Canadian government just traveled to northern Quebec to apologize to the Inuit people of Nunavik for the mass killing of sled dogs some six decades ago. The apology comes with $45 million in compensation. The actions are acknowledgement of the government’s callous regard for the wishes, much less the livelihoods, of the Inuit as it carried out the slaughter of more than 1,000 dogs. The money will go toward revitalizing sled dog culture through training and operational support. We'll hear about what brought on the action and how Nunavik Inuit worked to secure accountability.

If you ever buy or sell a parcel of land or build a home or business, you’ll likely need a land surveyor. They are the first professionals on the scene when people need to find and document property lines, reservation boundaries, utilities, and topography. On a bigger scale, much of the American west was originally mapped and named by explorers like Lewis and Clark and John Wesley Powell in the 1800s. It’s now up to Native American surveyors to include their unique understanding of the land going forward. We’ll hear from Native land surveyors about their work and the need to recruit more Native people to their ranks.

The title of Pulitzer Prize-winning Ojibwe writer Louise Erdrich latest book refers to the north-flowing river along the North Dakota-Minnesota border. It’s the geography of The Mighty Red that stretches in all directions from the small town loves and losses that Erdrich’s characters inhabit. Readers follow the teenage Ojibwe protagonist Kismet Poe as she navigates race, class, and an uncertain economy. Along the way, we learn how bison bones were once used to turn beets into sugar. It’s all woven together with Erdrich’s uniquely exquisite prose. We talk with Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) about her newest novel.

The stories she heard as a young girl from her own elder relatives inspired Holly Miowak Guise to research and document the experience of Alaska Native veterans of World War II. Her work is compiled in the book, Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II. Her work encompasses the U.S. Government’s occupation of the Aleutian Islands, the trauma of religious boarding schools, and the historic Alaska Native fight to overcome institutionalized discrimination. We’ll talk with Guise about her work and the people she encountered.

In Navajo origin stories, the turkey is a hero. He gathers up all the seeds from the third world and brings them to the fourth world we live in today. Many other tribes revere turkeys and make use of their feathers. Anishinaabe journalist Leah Lemm documents her own cultural reconnection by gathering wild rice, or manoomin, in her home reservation in Minnesota for the first time. Salmon are coming back to the tributaries of the Klamath River in California for the first time in a century after tribes helped bring about the largest dam removal project in history. And a Diné entrepreneur creates an unlikely fusion of traditional flavors and the increasingly popular boba drink craze. Those are the topics all on The Menu, our regular feature on Indigenous food stories and news.

When Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Te Āti Awa, and Ngāi Tahu) performed a haka on the floor of New Zealand’s Parliament, she brought global awareness of the constant colonial pressure to dismantle established rights for Indigenous people. In the viral video, she dramatically tears apart a proposed bill that would weaken Māori political standing established in a nearly 200 year-old treaty between the Crown and 500 Māori chiefs. She was suspended ... for a bill that may never become law. The fight in New Zealand exemplifies a resurgence in efforts to backtrack on the gains in recognition and respect for established Indigenous rights. Plus, we'll get Indigenous perspectives on the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29 in Azerbaijan that just wrapped up. There is growing concern and dissatisfaction that the concerns of Indigenous people about their vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change are going unheard.

The challenge for teachers this time of year is to approach the history of Thanksgiving without stereotypes and outdated myths about interactions between Native Americans and early settlers. The National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Knowledge 360 education initiative has developed a new curriculum on the First Thanksgiving, to provide teachers with a way to tell a more accurate and respectful story that includes perspectives from the Wampanoag, the tribe that first came in contact with European settlers. We’ll talk with Native educators about the work they’re doing to bring accuracy and balance to classrooms.

As he marks 50 years in journalism, Mark Trahant (Shoshone-Bannock) is stepping down from his leadership role at the Native news organization, ICT. Trahant revived the struggling Indian Country Today newspaper and turned it into a premier non-profit multimedia Indigenous news source. His five decades of reporting and editing news includes interviews with world leaders and having a front row seat to the major events that affect Native people. In that time he has served as a champion and mentor for Native journalists. We’ll hear from Trahant about his work and his hopes for Native journalism.