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The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe is embarking on a novel business partnership with a pharmaceutical company. The company pays the tribe to hold the patents for a profitable drug. In exchange, the tribe’s sovereign immunity prevents generic drug makers from getting at the drug’s formula. Some members of Congress are now drafting laws to prevent such agreements. The tribe is also suing business giants Microsoft and Amazon for patent infringement. It’s one of several instances in which tribes leverage sovereignty in business deals. Is this a new and innovative revenue-generating model? Or is the idea headed for a legal defeat? We’ll try and sort out the prospects.

Guests:

Elizabeth Winston – professor of law at The Catholic University of America at the Columbus School of Law

Matthew Compton – attorney at Prebeg, Faucett & Abbott PLLC

David Petite (Fond du Lac Chippewa Tribe) – inventor and founder of Native American Intellectual Property Enterprise Council

Break Music: Fancy Shawl Song (song) BlackStone (artist) Bring Your Feathers In! (album)

 

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Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program expired in September. The $150-million Special Diabetes Program for Indians is getting by on a three-month extension. Now, President Donald Trump ended subsidies to health insurance companies provided under the Affordable Care Act. As the future of federal health care policy remains a question, we’re once again asking: where do Native Americans fit into this fight? We’ll talk with experts to try and sort through the status and future of health care.

Guests:

Stacy Bohlen (Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa) – executive director of the National Indian Health Board

Jerilyn Church (Cheyenne River Sioux) – CEO of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Health Board

Bineshi Albert (Euchee/Chippewa) – one of the founders of the Native American Voters Alliance

Break Music: Cissy (Fish/Smoke Dance) (song) Sheldon Sundown (artist) Hand Drum/Smoke N’ Round Dance (album)

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Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) is among the leading chefs breathing new life into Indigenous cuisine. Now he’s celebrating the launch of his new cookbook, “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen,” filled with creative recipes using traditional ingredients and methods. He’s known for dishes like bison wild rice bowls and roasted duck with sage. He shows how cooking can be an act of reclaiming history and culture. We’ll talk to him about his mission to educate people as well as feed them.

Break Music: Don’t Fear to Tread (song) Scatter Their Own (artist) Taste the Time (album)

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The late Tillie Black Bear (Lakota) is known as the Grandmother of the Battered Women’s Movement. She was a founder with the White Buffalo Calf Women’s society and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center among other things. She is among the people and efforts we will reflect on as we acknowledge Domestic Violence Awareness month. We’ll remember some of the pioneers of the movement and talk with experts about how the approaches to addressing domestic violence in our Native communities have changed through the years.

Guests:

Lori Jump (Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) – assistant director for Strong Hearts Native Helpline

Caroline LaPorte (immediate descendent of Little River Band of Ottawa Indians) – senior Native affairs policy advisor for the Strong Heart Native Help Line and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center

Break music: Inuk (song) Karina Møller (artist) Simplify (album)

 

 

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This time last year, tensions were at an all-time high at the anti-Dakota Access Pipeline camps near the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota. Private security officials had turned guard dogs on protesters, police used water hoses on crowds as temperatures dropped, and protesters and police clashed almost daily. The effort to stop the pipeline construction ultimately failed. But many activists say the movement galvanized a new generation of organizers for environmental justice. A year after a crucial time at Standing Rock, we’ll talk with people about their experiences and the lessons they learned in retrospect. What messages from Standing Rock stay with you?

Guests:

HolyElk Lafferty (Sičháŋǧu, Oglála and Mnikȟówožu Lakota) – advocate

Dan Nanamkin (Colville/Umatilla Nez Perce) – educator

Avis Little Eagle (Standing Rock Sioux) – former vice chairwoman and former councilwoman for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and publisher of the Teton Times

Break Music: Encouragement Song (song) Joseph Shields, Jr. (artist) Wahancanka [Remember Me Grandfather] (album)

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There are simple but meaningful ways to acknowledge the traditional Indigenous inhabitants of the land. A campaign by the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture aims to increase such acknowledgements by educational and cultural institutions the way they are in other countries such as Canada and Australia. They suggest adopting practices like publicly offering recognition and respect and fostering a broader public awareness of history. We’ll hear about the campaign and the possibilities for healing it holds.

Guests:

Mary Bordeaux (Sičháŋǧu Lakota) – co-owner of Racing Magpies

Adam Horowitz – chief instigator with the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture

Ty Defoe (Oneida and Ojibwe ) – co-founder of Indigenous Direction, artist, writer, activist, musician and interdisciplinary artist.

Larissa FastHorse (Sičháŋǧu Lakota) – co-founder and playwright

Break Music: “Sovereign Land” – Summit Dub Squad (song) The Native Movement Native Music Compilation (artist) Written In Blood (album)

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The potlatch ceremony traditionally centers on gift-giving. It remains an important tradition for coastal tribes in the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska. It’s meant as a way to show generosity, promote cooperation, and strengthen social bonds. The practice survived a nearly century-long ban by the government of Canada trying to force assimilation of Indigenous people. We’ll explore how potlatch has evolved over the years and how it fits in with modern culture.

Guests:

Bill Cranmer (Namgis First Nation) – chief of the ‘Namgis First Nation, chair of the board of directors for the U’mista Cultural Centre

Andy Everson  (K’ómoks) – artist, cultural leader

 

Break Music: Dancin’ on the Run (song) Inez (artist) Burn Me Down (album)

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Historically, Indian agents were representatives of the U.S. government who interacted with Native Americans. One member of this month’s Music Maker band, Yéil Ya-Tseen aka Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax) says the efforts of these individuals to oppress the Native way of life—like not permitting singing and dancing—is what inspired his group to pick up the name, Indian Agent. They’ve taken on this title to flip it on its head and do just the opposite of some of the early agents. Indian Agent uses layers of ghostly voice rhythms that echo through suave electronic beats on their new album “Meditations in the Key of Red.” We explore their new album and their effort to use music as a tool to reverse past wrongs.

Break Music: All Over Town (song) Indian Agent (artist) Meditations in the Key of Red (album)

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Southern Arizona is seeing higher temperatures for longer periods and more intense storms. Those are among the effects of climate change in a report last summer by the University of Arizona in Tuscon. Another study last summer published in the journal, Science, predicts Mojave County—home to four reservations—would suffer the state’s largest economic loss because of climate change. We’ll talk with tribal representatives and climate experts about how the climate trends are already affecting the deserts and arid high plains in the Southwest.

Guests:

Phoebe Suina (San Felipe and Cochiti Pueblo) – owner of high water mark, project manager and environment specialist

Karletta Chief (Diné) – assistant professor and extension specialist in water for the University of Arizona

Ann Marie Chischilly (Diné) – environmental lawyer and executive director of the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University

Break Music: Medicine Power (song) Joseph FireCrow (artist) Face the Music (album)

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Zuni fetishes are carvings that represent animals and hold special ceremonial value. They are carved from a variety of materials including marble, pipestone and travertine. Fetishes have become a thriving part of the Native art market. We’ll talk with a few Zuni carvers about the history and practice of creating fetishes.

Guests:

Daryl Shack Sr. (Zuni Pueblo) – artist and fetish carver

Jeff Shetima (Zuni Pueblo) – artist and fetish carver

Sisters (song) A Tribe Called Red (artist) Nation II Nation (album)