Native America Calling

For their most important public gathering in the presidential election, Democrats have chosen to meet on the traditional lands of the Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ojibwe, Odawa, and a handful of other nations. The state has no established federally recognized tribes, but the number of Chicago citizens who identify as Native American has more than doubled in the past ten years. We’ll be in Chicago, talking with Native Chicago residents who are also clued in to the Democratic political process about what the party is doing to reach Native voters and what sets them apart from their political rivals.

Distinctly Native American artwork, fashion, and films converge again for the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, with at least 1,000 booths and somewhere around 100,000 visitors. Native America Calling is live from Santa Fe, hearing from Southwestern Association for Indian Arts representatives, 2023 Best In Show winner Jennifer Tafoya, curators from the Native Cinema Showcase, and others to get a preview of the largest juried Native art market in the world.

Violinist, composer, and producer Geneviève Gros-Louis has a busy schedule of solo and group performances and discussions leading up to the release of her new album that celebrates Wendat culture and talent. She captivated the audience at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival with a piece composed specifically for the premiere of the film, Killers of the Flower Moon. She also composed the score to a season of National Geographic’s series, Life Below Zero: First Alaskans. Gros-Louis returns to the Native America Calling studio with live performances of her work. Plus, we’ll catch up with organizers of the Pathways Indigenous Arts Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico this weekend. We’ll talk about the Native art, music and film being featured this weekend.

The Yaqui people fought for centuries against Spanish missionaries, miners, slave-traders, and the iron-fisted, anti-Indigenous rule of the Mexican government in the latter part of the 19th Century. Once the dominant culture in what is now Sonora, Yaqui populations were eventually diminished from conflict, disease, and even deportation out of their homelands. They eventually won back a significant portion of their traditional homeland in 1930. We recognize the Yaqui people on the anniversary of a significant battle alongside Mexican revolutionaries against both Mexican and American forces.

As an Ojibwe language teacher and expert on Native American history and issues, Anton Treuer has penned more than a dozen books that are required reading for some Native studies college courses. But Treuer turns to fiction in his newest work, Where Wolves Don’t Die. His first novel is for young readers and focuses on Ezra, a young Ojibwe teen living in Minneapolis. A serious crime prompts his family to move him to live with his grandfather on the Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. There he encounters new insights into his family and culture as he navigates the consequences of circumstances beyond his control. Treuer joins us as the Native Bookshelf featured author.

The Navajo Nation deployed its police department to hold back trucks hauling uranium ore across tribal land. The action comes after the recent resumption of uranium mining at the Pinyon Plain (formerly Canyon) Mine in northwest Arizona. It is one of 600 uranium mines considered dormant because they aren’t financially viable. They are tied to numerous health conditions by citizens of Navajo and other nearby tribes. But new interest in nuclear energy is improving prices for raw ore. We’ll hear about tribes leveraging sovereignty to halt the mining and transport of uranium.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes, Paul Bunyan, and Tater Tot hotdish is also home to 11 federally recognized tribes. A citizen of one of those tribes, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Ojibwe/D-MN) is already the highest ranking female Native elected executive in the country. Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate, Lt. Gov. Flanagan is one presidential election victory away from becoming the first Native female governor. We’ll hear from current and former political leaders from Minnesota and the Upper Midwest about any contributions or detriments the state's Native elected leaders bring to the national stage.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy won 17 Academy Awards and its legacy endures nearly 25 years after the first film’s release. The trilogy’s success has put its filming location, New Zealand, on the industry map. The motion picture business contributes at least $2.12 billion a year to New Zealand’s economy. That’s also been a boon for Indigenous cinema. Māori film critic and programmer Leo Koziol calls it a “renaissance". The recent Māori-led film The Convert, directed by Lee Tamahori, is garnering critical acclaim. We’ll talk with Koziol and hear from Māori creatives who worked on Lord of the Rings about progress on Māori representation in film since then.

Losing a loved one is a traumatic experience. The burden of paying funeral costs for a befitting honor for that person’s life can add to the stress. There are a number of alternatives in either direction, but the National Funeral Director’s Association reports the median cost of a funeral in 2024 is $7,848. More families are turning to crowd funding sites like GoFundMe to cover expenses, especially for the sudden deaths of loved ones. The website says it raised some $330 million for funerals last year. We’ll talk about ways to anticipate inevitable end-of-life costs in a culturally and financially feasible way.

Wildfires on tribal lands have already claimed at least two lives and destroyed dozens of homes in New Mexico and Arizona. Multiple fires just forced the evacuation of hundreds of people on the Nez Perce reservation in northern Idaho. Tribal wildfire response and emergency management operations are kicking into high gear as wildfires threaten lives and property, especially in the parched West. We’ll talk with tribal officials and emergency management experts about the new and increasing threats in more than a dozen states.