Native America Calling

Wednesday, May 29, 2024 – Native Americans and the Republican Party

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Most polls over the years show Native Americans’ substantial support for Democrats. But that hasn’t stopped strong representation in Congress by Native Republicans. That includes U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (Chickasaw Nation/R-OK), who recently took the reins of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. He is also the longest-serving Native congressman in history. We’ll get perspectives from some notable Native Republicans about what they see the party does for their Native constituents in the first of a series of profiles shedding light on political positions heading into the general election.

GUESTS

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (citizen of the Chickasaw Nation), U.S. Representative of Oklahoma’s 4th District

Wes Nofire (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Native American Liaison for the State of Oklahoma

Break 1 Music: Going Back (song) Paula Nelson (artist) C.H.A.N.T. Cherokee Hope and New Traditions (album)

Break 2 Music: Alligator Boots (song) Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band (artist) Fantasyland (album)

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 – The Menu: SW in Portland, Navajo livestock reduction, and cicadas

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Alexa Numkena-Anderson (Hopi, Yakama, Cree, Skokomish) shares a bit of Southwest flare with Pacific Northwest flavors—to match her tribal identity—through her pop-up food business, Javelina: Indigenous Dining in Portland, Ore. A rare confluence of periodical cicadas is a nutritional gift and a reminder of resilience for some tribes in Southeast states. And “Nothing Left for Me,” a new museum exhibit at the University of New Mexico’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, documents Diné perspectives on the devastating effects of the federal government’s 1930s Navajo livestock reduction program. That’s on The Menu on Native America Calling, a feature about Native food hosted by Andi Murphy.

GUESTS

Alexa Numkena-Anderson (Hopi, Yakama, Cree, and Skokomish), chef and founder of Javelina: Indigenous Dining

Dr. Jennifer Denetdale (Diné), professor and chair of American Studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and co-curator of the “Nothing Left for Me” exhibit at UNM’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology

Diosa Hall (St. Regis Mohawk), chef and owner of The Cookhouse LLC and the founder of Seven Generations United Association

Break 1 Music:  Insects Are Beautiful (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

Break 2 Music: Alligator Boots (song) Danny T and the Stealing Thunder Band (artist) Fantasyland (album)

Monday, May 20, 2024 – Native in the Spotlight: Edgar Blatchford

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Edgar Blatchford (Iñupiaq and Yup’ik), former journalist and professor, has served as Alaska’s economic development commissioner for the Frank Murkowski Administration. He was also the mayor of Seward, Alaska. He’s a college educator and oversaw a news publishing network. He’s an outspoken advocate for reforming Alaska Native corporations. We’ll hear from Blatchford about his ideas for improving the world around him.

Break 1 Music: Rise of the Inuk (song) RiverFlowz (artist) Bethel Sessions (album)

Break 2 Music: Fancy Dance (Song) Yellow Hammer (artist) Yellow Hammer (album)

Monday, May 6, 2024 – Native Bookshelf: ‘Moon of the Turning Leaves’ by Waubgeshig Rice

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Ten years since a world-changing blackout, an Anishinaabe community must embark on a mission of discovery if they’re going to survive. First Nations author Waubgeshig Rice revisits the survivors from his first novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, as they search south for sustainable future in his next novel, Moon of the Turning Leaves. We’ll hear from him how he works to bring hope into a post-apocalyptic story. Plus, we’ll be joined by one of Jim Thorpe’s granddaughters about his posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.

GUESTS

Waubgeshig Rice (Wasauksing First Nation), author and journalist

Anita Thorpe (Sac and Fox), Jim Thorpe’s granddaughter

Break 1 Music: Native Blood (song) Testament (artist) Dark Roots of Earth (album)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

Tuesday, April 30, 2024 – The Menu: Euchee food, whale hunting backlash, and young gardeners

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In his book Rabbit Decolonizes the Forest, Euchee judge Gregory Bigler uses a mix of legal analysis, first-hand accounts, and traditional animal stories. He also includes lots of references to food and how Euchee people carried culinary tradition with them from Georgia to Oklahoma. Filmmakers in the new PBS documentary One With The Whale follow a Yupik family who endured a barrage of hate messages after a traditional whale hunt. It shows the disconnection between traditional subsistence hunting in Alaska and outsiders who don’t have to rely on nature for their existence. And some Native school gardens are no longer just a class project, but an established part of the curriculum. That’s on this episode of The Menu on Native America Calling, our regular feature on food sovereignty hosted by Andi Murphy.

GUESTS

Gregory H. Bigler (Euchee and enrolled in the Muscogee nation), author, tribal judge in Oklahoma, and attorney  

Takeva Apassingok (Yupik), father of Chris Apassingok

Julie Garreau (Cheyenne River Sioux), CEO of the Cheyenne River Youth Project

Peter Chelkowski, director of One With the Whale

Break 1 Music: Pisa Ay Sobeli (song) The GrayHawk Band (artist) Worth the Wait (album)

Break 2 Music: Flyer (song) The Zoniez (artist)

Monday, April 29, 2024 – Native in the Spotlight: Jon Proudstar

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Jon Proudstar (Pascua Yaqui, Jewish, and Mexican) is coming off a successful run on the TV series, Reservation Dogs, and a starring role in an all-Native movie set on the Osage Nation. On top of that, his ground-breaking 1996 comic, Tribal Force, is enjoying a triumphant return. We’ll catch up with the Pascua Yaqui actor and learn about the wisdom he’s picked up from his more than 40 films and TV shows.

Break 1 Music: Keep Rising (song) House of Shem (artist) Keep Rising (album)

Break 2 Music: Flyer (song) The Zoniez (artist)

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 – Political leaders target tribes with unfounded claims

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With no supporting information, Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) claimed tribal leaders in her state are “personally benefiting” from the presence of drug cartels. While campaigning for re-election, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) warned about tribes setting up “abortion-on-demand” clinics to subvert the states new abortion laws. No Oklahoma tribe expressed any intention of setting up clinics. We’ll examine the fallout from such unfounded claims by high-ranking officials and what recourse tribal officials have to counter them.

GUESTS

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. (Cherokee Nation)

Frank Star Comes Out (Oglala Lakota), president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe

Ryman LeBeau (Cheyenne River Lakota), chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Richard Monette (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School

Break 1 Music:  Get Up Stand Up (song) Bailey Wiley, Che Fu, King Kapisi, Laughton Kora, Maisey Rika & Tiki Taane (artist)

Break 2 Music: 500 Years O’ Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album)

Monday, April 1, 2024 – Native Bookshelf: ‘The Angel of Indian Lake’ by Stephen Graham Jones

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Bestselling Blackfeet writer Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfeet), author and English professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, caps off his horror trilogy with his new novel, The Angel of Indian Lake. It’s the usual rough ride for protagonist Jade Daniels, a slasher movie buff who keeps finding herself the target of human and supernatural malevolence. Her experiences over the years have given her unique strength and wisdom, but have also taken a physical and emotional toll. Does she have what it takes to fend off the inevitable confluence of evil?

Break 1 Music: Honor Song (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Hear the Beat (album)

Break 2 Music: Sweet Salvation (song) Wayne Garner (artist) School for Savages (album)

Friday, March 29, 2024 — The Menu: State of Native Ag, ramp season, and important Native women 

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The future of Native agriculture depends on educating new generations of farmers and securing tribal water rights. Those are two of the conclusions from this year’s State of Native Agriculture Address. Federal ag agency leaders and Native non-profit ag representatives also praise new federal financial support programs and express the need make sure tribes’ interests are addressed in the overdue Farm Bill. Out on the land, it’s ramp (wild onion) season and time for cooks to share new and traditional wild onion dishes. And, for Women’s History Month, we’re focusing on the mothers, grandmothers, and ancestral matriarchs who keeping Indigenous foods alive. The Menu is our regular feature on Indigenous food sovereignty hosted and produced by Andi Murphy.

GUESTS

Melissa Baehr (Anishinaabe Ojibwe), chef and owner of Indigenous Deliciousness

Elena Terry (Ho-Chunk), executive chef and founder of Wild Bearies

Whitney Sawney, director of communications and policy for the Native American Agriculture Fund  

 

 

Break 1 Music: Come to Life (song) Toni Heartless (artist) Dark Days (album)

Break 2 Music: Back Home (song) Pepper (artist) In with the Old (album)

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 — Native Bookshelf: ‘Whiskey Tender’ by Deborah Jackson Taffa

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In the most compelling way, Whiskey Tender, the memoir by Deborah Jackson Taffa (Kwatsaán and Laguna Pueblo), is both an intimate personal story and Native American history lesson. It reveals her own epiphany over what she and her ancestors are pressured to sacrifice in striving for the American Dream. Her account is both poignant and humorous. Best-selling author Tommy Orange calls Taffa’s story a “drink you didn’t know you were thirsty for.”

Break 1 Music: Bird Song (song) Joe Guachino, JR Holmes, & Wally Antone (artist) Bird Songs of the Colorado River (album)

Break 2 Music: Moody (song) Toni Heartless (artist) Dark Days (album)

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