Native America Calling

Oneida actor Graham Greene said learning the Lakota language for his celebrated role as Kicking Bird was among his greatest challenges. Over the span of nearly five decades, Greene worked in nearly 200 television shows and films where he earned the admiration of audiences and his fellow actors. His many characters included Maximus in the acclaimed series, “Reservation Dogs,” Old Smoke in “Tulsa King,” tribal police Chief Ben Shoyo in “Wind River,” and Edgar Montrose in the Canadian TV comedy series “The Red Green Show.” He was a busy actor who expanded Indigenous representation for both audiences and filmmakers. We’ll hear from some of Greene’s friends and colleagues about how he is remembered. GUESTS Dallas Goldtooth (Diné and Dakota), actor, screenwriter Gary Farmer (Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Mohawk), actor and musician Wes Studi (Cherokee), actor and film producer Vince Schilling (Akwesasne), editor and founder of NativeViewPoint.com and a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic   Break 1 Music: Making A Noise (song) Robbie Robertson (artist) Contact from the Underworld of Redboy (album) Break 2 Music: Bounty (song) Deerlady (band) Greatest Hits (album)

Once plentiful, salmon that return to Alaska’s Yukon River are struggling to survive. The fishery is in the sixth straight year of restrictions, affecting commercial, sport, and subsistence salmon harvests. The reasons for the major decline in fish populations are complex. There’s little agreement on which path to take from here. Alaska Native residents along the Yukon are working to have their voices heard along with the many entities weighing in trying to develop solutions. GUESTS Jazmyn Vent (Iñupiaq and Koyukon), Indigenous communications director & acting administrative assistant for the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Janessa Newman (Rampart Village Council), Indigenous stewardship director for the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Serena Alstrom (Yup’ik and Yupiit of Andreafski Tribal Member from St. Mary’s, Alaska), executive director of Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association Holly Carroll, Yukon River Federal in-season salmon manager for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service   Break 1 Music: Edge of The Rez, Part 2 (song) The Blue Stone Project (artist) Blue Stone (album) Break 2 Music: Bounty (song) Deerlady (band) Greatest Hits (album)

Indigenous Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ artists often add another layer of expression to their work and stories. On top of celebrating their tribal and personal identities, they’re bringing stories and voices forward that aren’t often heard from elsewhere. They can also provide recognition and support for other LGBTQ2+ people searching for connection. We’ll take a look at three new and upcoming Indigenous Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ art exhibits: “Queering Indigeneity” coming to the Minnesota Museum of American Art, “Two-Spirit and MMIW/R Voices” touring Minnesota, and “Two-Spirit and Gender Diversity through History” at the new Orillia Recreation Centre in Ontario, Canada. GUESTS Penny Kagigebi (White Earth Ojibwe), artist and emerging curator Dr. Kate Beane (Flandreau Santee Dakota and Muscogee), executive director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art Arnold Dahl-Wooley (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), national public speaker, advocate for the Two-Spirit LGBTQ+ community, and Twin Cities Pride BIPOC Leader of the Year Jessica Martin (Métis), goldsmith, fiddle player, and yoga instructor Monica Loney, (Métis) visual artist   Break 1 Music: Out Loud (song) Ailani (artist) Heartbroken Bones (album) Break 2 Music: Bounty (song) Deerlady (band) Greatest Hits (album)

The Trump administration is working to remove protections for more than 58 million acres of national forests. A brief public comment period is now open on a plan to rescind the federal government’s 25-year-old Roadless Rule which prohibits road construction and timber harvesting in several states. Environmental groups and leaders of Alaska Native tribes with cultural ties to the Tongass National Forest — the country’s largest national forest — are raising alarms about the plan. The vast temperate rainforest covers 17 million acres and is also the nation’s largest stand of old-growth trees, many of which are at least 800 years old. Advocates warn that road construction and increased commercial logging threaten subsistence hunting, plant harvesting, and fishing. We’ll talk with tribal leaders and others about what’s at stake in Tongass and the future of forest management. GUESTS Chuck Sams (Cayuse and Walla Walla), director of Indigenous Programs at Yale Center for Environmental Justice and former National Park Service director Cody Desautel (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), president of the Intertribal Timber Council and the executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Mike Jones (Haida), president of the Organized Village of Kasaan Ilsxílee Stáng/Gloria Burns (Haida), president of the Ketchikan Indian Community Joel Jackson (Tlingit and Haida), president of the Organized Village of Kake   Break 1 Music: Thick as Thieves (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album) Break 2 Music: Bounty (song) Deerlady (band) Greatest Hits (album)

The Shinnecock Nation in New York is in an ongoing legal battle to have their fishing rights recognized. A lawsuit brought forward by a Shinnecock tribal citizen argues the tribe has never ceded their right to fish in any treaty or agreement. The tribe has no treaty with the federal government, but instead with British colonists from the 1600s. This case could possibly affirm the tribe’s unended aboriginal claim to fish in the Hamptons. We’ll talk with Shinnecock citizens about what’s at stake with the case as it moves forward in federal district court. GUESTS Taobi Silva (Shinnecock), fisherman Riley Plumer (Red Lake Nation), attorney Randy King (Shinnecock), former chairman of the Shinnecock Nation Board of Trustees Ashley Dawn Anderson (Cherokee Nation), Tribal Water Institute Fellow at the Native American Rights Fund   Break 1 Music: C.R.E.A.M. [Instrumental] (song) Wu-Tang Clan (artist) Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers [Instrumentals] (album) Break 2 Music: Bounty (song) Deerlady (band) Greatest Hits (album)

In the comedy thriller “Seeds”, social media influencer Ziggy is offered a lucrative sponsorship contract with a corporate seed and fertilizer company, but she’s also called back to her Mohawk reservation to help out her cousin, which gets her tangled in an all-out battle to save her tribe’s ancestral seeds. Kanienʼkehá:ka Mohawk actor Kaniehtiio Horn is Ziggy. She is also the screenwriter and director for the film. And a new collection of stories by Indigenous authors, “Legendary Frybread Drive-In”, serves up more than just Native comfort food. Each of the stories geared toward young adult readers finds its way to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-in, a place with a helping of elder wisdom about love, grief, culture, and healing. Editor Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) calls it “a hug of a book”. Horn and Smith both join Andi Murphy for “The Menu“, our special feature on Indigenous food sovereignty.   Break 1 Music: Heartbites (song) Kristi Lane Sinclair (artist) Super Blood Wolf Moon (album) Break 2 Music: Bounty (song) Deerlady (band) Greatest Hits (album)

Serving on a school board is not a glamorous position, but it’s an important one that plays a big role in Native American students’ success. Elected members of school boards make decisions ranging annual budgets to what’s allowed in classroom lessons. They are also responsible for representing the community’s values and interests. As such, individual board members are lightning rods for public criticism. We’ll get a look at what school board members encounter on a daily basis and hear about a program designed to support Native school board participation. GUESTS Stacey Woolley (Choctaw), member on Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education Regina Yazzie (White Mountain Apache), member for the Theodore Roosevelt School Governing Board Michele Justice (Diné), owner of Personnel Security Consultants Dr. Chris Bonn, owner of Bonfire Leadership Solutions   Break 1 Music: Totah (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album) Break 2 Music: Bounty (song) Deerlady (band) Greatest Hits (album)

Aquinnah Wampanoag journalist Joseph Lee investigates the difficult subject of Indigenous identity in his new book, “Nothing More Of This Land“. He uses his own family’s story as a jumping off point, exploring the reality of the people who once greeted the Mayflower. The original Wampanoag homeland includes Martha’s Vineyard, the haven for wealthy elites that has become so expensive that at least three quarters of tribal members can no longer afford to live there. Lee branches out from there to find parallels among the Native people and places he’s covered — from Alaska to the halls of the United Nations. We’ll talk with Lee about his new book, journalism, and what it means to be Native in modern America.    

Santa Ana Pueblo is celebrating the return of a clay bowl that was stolen in 1984, but it’s only one out of nearly 150 irreplaceable items taken during a series of burglaries and never recovered. Investigators believe the items were eventually sold to collectors around the world and authorities never tracked them down. We’ll check in on the tribe’s renewed efforts to find and bring the items back home. We’ll also get updates on other repatriation efforts, including tribes and lawmakers putting renewed pressure on the University of California over its failure to return remains and artifacts required by law, and we’ll recount the largest Native Hawaiian repatriation in history with Edward Halealoha Ayau. GUESTS Shannon O’Loughlin (Choctaw), chief executive and attorney of the Association on American Indian Affairs Jack Potter Jr. (Redding Rancheria), chairman of the Redding Rancheria Myron Armijo (Santa Ana Pueblo), Santa Ana Pueblo governor Monica Murrell, tribal historic preservation officer and director of the Santa Ana Historic Preservation Department Edward Halealoha Ayau (Native Hawaiian), executive director of Hui Iwi Kuamo’o   Break 1 Music: Rise Up (song) Big Every Time (artist) Universitile (album) Break 2 Music: Real Things (song) Joe H Henry (artist) Real Things (album)

Miccosukee Tribe of Florida scored at least a temporary legal victory when a federal judge halted construction and ordered parts of the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” removed. The decision comes in the lawsuit by the tribe and environmental groups claiming work on the abandoned airport turned emergency immigrant detention center in Florida violates environmental and national preservation laws. The facility is on traditional Miccosukee land. The Department of Homeland Security and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement along with the state of Florida see the compound as part of ramped-up immigrant deportation efforts. We’ll speak with Chairman Talbert Cypress (Miccosukee). We’ll also hear from Lakota artist Danielle SeeWalker, who settled a lawsuit with the city of Vail, Colo. after officials cancelled a summer artist residency. The cancellation came after she posted a picture of a work criticizing Israel’s actions against the citizens of Gaza.   Break 1 Music: V. Shawi’ [Raccoon] (song) Dover Quartet (artist) Woodland Songs (album) Break 2 Music: Real Things (song) Joe H Henry (artist) Real Things (album)