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The prime minister of Denmark apologized for the forced contraception of thousands of Indigenous women in Greenland dating back to the 1960s. The Danish government is also ending problematic parent competency tests associated with disproportionately high numbers of babies being taken away from Indigenous mothers. Both milestones come as Greenland — an autonomous territory of Danish rule — is making strides toward independence. The Trump administration has also made public comments about exerting U.S. control over the mineral-rich territory occupied almost entirely by Indigenous Inuit residents. We’ll talk with Greenlanders about how these developments address Denmark’s complicated past and what remains to be done.

GUESTS

Najannguaq Hegelund, chair for SILA 360

Johannes Geisler (Inuk), Greenlandic parent

Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, Member of the Parliament of Greenland

Ujammiugaq Engell, museum director for the Nuuk Local Museum

 

Break 1 Music: Ikitaa (song) PIQSIQ (artist)

Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:00 — 39.1MB) | Embed

During the brief time it was open, the Turtle building in Niagara Falls, N.Y. served as the Native American Center for the Living Arts. It was designed by Northern Arapaho architect Dennis Sun Rhodes. Now it stands vacant and is in the way of a proposal for a high-rise hotel. It is on the most recent list of Most Endangered Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Another place on the list is the Pamunkey Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders say their land will be underwater within the next 65 years. We’ll hear about some of the threatened historic places and the efforts to save them.

GUESTS

Chief Kevin Brown (Pamunkey)

Shaun Wilson (Mohawk), president of the board of directors for the Friends of the Niagara Turtle

Emma Wilson (Mohawk), student and social media manager for the Friends of the Niagara Turtle

Charles Vaughn (Hualapai), council member and former chairman of the Hualapai Tribe

 

Break 1 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)

Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

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The holiday gift-giving time is when many retailers make a bulk of their annual profit. Several Native entrepreneurs have just opened their doors and are hopeful that this season will propel them forward, despite some indications that shoppers are cautious. Others are veterans of the business world, but are also pinning a lot of hope on the public’s ability to make the most of holiday shopping. We’ll hear from both rookies and long-time Native retailers about what it takes to start and stay in business.

GUESTS

Amy Denet Deal (Diné), founder of 4KINSHIP

Ruth-Ann Thorn (Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians), entrepreneur and owner of Native Star

Jeremy Arviso (Diné, Hopi, Akimel O’odham, and Tohono O’odham), artist, designer, and entrepreneur

 

Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album)

Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:15 — 38.6MB) | Embed

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.

GUESTS

Jeremy Lujan (Taos Pueblo), Taos Pueblo tribal secretary

Jesse Winters (Taos Pueblo), Taos Pueblo second sheriff

Dr. Gregorio Gonzales (Comanche and Genizaro), tribal historic preservation officer for the Pueblo of Cochiti

Paula Carrick (Bay Mills Indian Community), tribal historic preservation officer for Bay Mills Indian Community

 

Break 1 Music: Take Your Troubles to the River (song) Vincent Craig (artist) Self-titled Release (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:38 — 38.2MB) | Embed

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.

GUESTS

Daniel Cordalis (Diné), staff attorney with Native American Rights Fund and leads the Tribal Water Institute

Teri Red Owl (Bishop Paiute), executive director of the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission

 

Break 1 Music: The Four Essential Elements [Diigo Bee’iináanii] (song) Radmilla Cody (artist) K’é Hasin (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:48 — 38.3MB) | Embed

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.

GUESTS

Dr. Pamela End of Horn (Oglala Lakota), national suicide prevention consultant for the Indian Health Service

Kristin Mitchell (Diné), assistant project director for Project AWARE Wildcats (PAWS)

Dr. Jessica Saniguq Ullrich (Nome Eskimo Community and Native Village of Wales), assistant professor at the Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH) at Washington State University

 

Break 1 Music: Little Sunflower (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:39 — 38.2MB) | Embed

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.

GUESTS

Levi Black Eagle (Apsáalooke), secretary of the Crow Tribe

Conrad St. John (St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin), chairman of St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin

Jill Doerfler (White Earth Anishinaabe), professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth

Cheyenne Robinson (Omaha), treasurer for the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska

Jonaye Doney (Aaniih), student at the University of Montana

 

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Confederacy Style (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)