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The standard elements of a healthy, long-term relationship are well documented: communication, trust, honesty, mutual respect, and practicing healthy approaches for inevitable disagreements. But if combining those elements were easy, there wouldn’t be a need for relationship counselors. Native relationship specialists also often have to navigate differing cultural practices and concerns about relationships outside of one’s tribe. We’ll talk about the common stressors on long-term relationships as well as the roles of culture and community in maintaining healthy relationships.

GUESTS

Roger Kuhn (Poarch Band of Creek Indians), licensed marriage and family therapist and certified sex therapist

Monique Castro (Diné/Xicana), licensed marriage and family therapist and CEO of Indigenous Circle of Wellness

Break 1 Music: This Love (song) Edzi’u (artist) Tunnel Vision (album)

Break 2 Music: Love Affair (song) Pepper (artist) In with the Old (album)

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The wooden boards made by lifelong surfer and cultural practitioner Tom “Pōhaku” Stone (Kanaka Maoli) are heavy and cumbersome compared to the space-age composite boards most modern surfers prefer, but they are a connection to his father, a master board maker, and the generations of Kanaka Maoli surfers before him. Stone is among a growing number of Native Hawaiians nurturing the cultural significance of the sport at a time when many others are focused on technique, expensive gear, and image. Surfing’s rise in popularity means pressure away from the spiritual and healing elements that are so important to Hawaiian culture. We’ll talk with Native surfers about the origins of surfing and how that can map a more meaningful path for the sport’s future.

GUESTS

Kaliko Kahoonei (Kanaka Maoli), waterman

Tom “Pohaku” Stone (Kanaka maoli), cultural practitioner

Sunny Kazama, surfer and college student at the University of San Diego

Break 1 Music: He’eia [A Surfing Chant] (song) Halau Hula Ka No’eau [Hawai’i Arts Ensemble] (artist)

Break 2 Music: Another Night to Cry (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

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Backlash over privacy concerns continues to grow across the country against the use of law enforcement surveillance cameras. The automatic license plate readers, led by private security company Flock Safety, are proliferating as officials look to maximize public safety and traffic violation enforcement. The Navajo Nation is now installing hundreds of Flock cameras to support public safety on its 27,000-square-mile reservation that is notoriously difficult to patrol. Navajo leaders say the cameras will both curb traffic infractions and aid criminal investigations. But as the use of cameras grows, so does criticism by the public. Several cities are now cancelling contracts to use the cameras. Some Navajo Nation citizens say the trade-off is too great. We’ll hear what these cameras could mean for tribes hoping to boost public safety.

We’ll also hear from University of Arizona professor Stephanie Russo Carroll, a leading authority on Indigenous data sovereignty and policy. Carroll is developing frameworks for how tribal data should be protected. Recently she helped develop a policy that regulates how the public health data of tribes in Arizona is collected, shared, and used on the state level.

GUESTS

Carl Slater (Diné), Navajo Nation council delegate

Brandon Benallie (Diné and Hopi), cybersecurity expert

Stephanie Russo Carroll (Native Village of Kluti-Kaah), associate professor at the University of Arizona and co-director of the Indigenous Data Alliance

Break 1 Music: Obsidian (song) Red-209 (artist)

Break 2 Music: Another Night to Cry (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

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Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon M. Jose vows to continue fighting after a federal judge turned down the tribe’s efforts to stop construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Arizona. Jose says O’odham’s heritage, cultural sites, and natural environment are too important to allow unimpeded destruction at the hands of construction crews. At the same time, the Trump administration halted wall construction in Big Bend National Park in Texas after a group filed a lawsuit on religious grounds on behalf of a Native conservation group. We’ll hear about efforts to halt or slow construction that is going forward without regard for environmental, cultural or spiritual protections.

We’ll also get an update on the lack of progress in filling the vacancy at the top of the National Indian Gaming Commission. President Donald Trump has yet to name a new chairman to the regulatory agency. The position has been vacant since January. Without a chairman, casinos cannot move ahead with several basic operations, potentially costing them millions of dollars.

GUESTS

Chairman Verlon Jose (Tohono O’odham)

Jonodev Chaudhuri (Muscogee), principal at Chaudhuri Law

Chez Oxendine (Lumbee), staff writer for Tribal Business News

Christina Hernandez (Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas), founder of the People of La Junta for Preservation and executive director of the Big Bend Conservation Alliance

Roland Gutierrez, Texas state senator and attorney

Break 1 Music: Mountain Song (song) Lorenzo Pablo (artist) Traditional Tohono O’odham Songs (album)

Break 2 Music: Another Night to Cry (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

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Claire Valdez (Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo) is a member of the New York Assembly running for a seat in Congress. She’s also a proud Democratic Socialist, a progressive wing of the party gaining ground in the success of elected leaders like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). U.S. Senate candidate and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Ojibwe/D-MN) is considered a progressive Democrat and won the backing of Sen. Sanders and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez in her decisive primary win in Minnesota. We’ll speak with Native Democratic organizers about how the pressure to move to the left is being received by Native voters and also whether it is a viable long-term strategy.

GUESTS

Kalyn Free (Choctaw), Democratic National Committee (DNC) member from Oklahoma and sits on the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC)

Kevin Killer (Oglala Lakota), co-founder of Advanced Native Political Leadership and former president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe

Judith LeBlanc (Caddo), executive director of the Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund

Break 1 Music: Ten Morning Dance Songs (song) Lowell Wimpy Edmonds & Singers (artist) Songs of the Caddo: Ceremonial and Social Dance Music (album)

Break 2 Music: Another Night to Cry (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

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Elisabeth Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana) was a teenager when Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans in August 2005. Her family’s home was destroyed and they relocated a few hours north to Marksville, La., the hub of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. Miles away, then-principal chief of the United Houma Nation, Brenda Dardar Robichaux, was thrust into the role of helping her community that she says was abandoned by disaster response and recovery efforts. Hurricane Katrina bested local, state, and national emergency response abilities and also exposed racial and socioeconomic inequalities. It also brought to light a gap in how disaster resources are allocated to tribes. We’ll talk with Louisiana tribal leaders and citizens about surviving the 2005 disaster, what it took to rebuild, and what they reflect on 20 years later.

GUESTS

Lora Ann Chaisson (United Houma Nation), principal chief of the United Houma Nation @united_houma_nation

Brenda Dardar Robichaux (United Houma Nation), former principal chief of the United Houma Nation

Elisabeth Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana), cultural specialist for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana

Marshall Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana), chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana

Break 1 Music: 500 Years O’ Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album)

Break 2 Music: Another Night to Cry (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)