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Deb Haaland’s (Laguna Pueblo) political star rose fast, from heading her state party to congresswoman to U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Each step of the way she blazed a trail for Native women. As the head of the agency that oversees Indian Affairs, Haaland championed a first-of-its-kind documentation of the U.S. Government’s role in the Indian Boarding School Era, drawing on both public records and first-hand testimony from survivors and their descendants. Now, she aims to become the first female Native American governor in her home state of New Mexico. We’ll hear from Haaland about her legacy as Interior Secretary and her hopes for the future.

We’ll also get perspectives on the historic agreement between the federal government and Northwest tribes to protect endangered salmon, and the equally historic decision by President Donald Trump to rescind that agreement. We’ll discuss what it means for salmon and the trust in the federal government.

GUESTS

Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), former U.S. Secretary of the Interior

Erik Holt (Nez Perce), chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe Fish and Wildlife Commission

Jeremy Takala (Yakama), member of the Yakama Nation tribal council and the chair of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

 

Break 1 Music: On the Road Missing Home (Corn Dance) (song) Sheldon Sundown (artist) Hand Drum/Smoke N’ Round Dance (album)

Break 2 Music: The Wild One (song) Link Wray (artist)

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The stage drama “Unto These Hills“, put on by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is celebrating 75 years of telling southeast American history from a Native American perspective. It is a major tourism draw every summer to the outdoor Mountainside Theatre on the Qualla Boundary.

One enterprising Navajo entrepreneur is helping out southwest tourism destinations, connecting travelers with the places they want to go while tribal businesses can hang on to more of their money.

What better time than the Summer Solstice to look around at Native American tourism draws for the season?

GUESTS

Laura Blythe (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), program director for the Cherokee Historical Association

DeAnnethea Long (Diné and San Carlos Apache), director of operations for Moenkopi Developers Corporation

Wyatt Gilmore (Navajo), CEO and owner of Laguna Creek and Native American Tours

Robert Hall (Blackfeet), Blackfeet Native American studies instructor at the Browning School on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation

 

Break 1 Music: The Wild One (song) Link Wray (artist)

Break 2 Music: Maybe (song) Mogley & the Zoniez (artist) Better Late Than Never (album)

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Tulsa, Okla. Mayor Monroe Nichols is championing a $105 million reparations package for the survivors and families of his city’s 1921 Race Massacre. It’s a philanthropy-driven city and housing rejuvenation project to offset the continuing repercussions from the coordinated attack more than a century ago. At the time, thousands of white residents besieged what was among the most successful and affluent Black communities in the early 20th century. Three hundred Black people died and more than a thousand homes and businesses were destroyed. Years of efforts to compensate descendants for the violence have failed. We’ll get perspectives from Freedmen descendants about the importance of this ambitious effort to set things right.

Also, we’ll learn about a swamp with connections to Indigenous people going back thousands of years. On the homelands of the Nansemond Indian Nation in Virginia, the Great Dismal Swamp was a safe space for tribes. It also became a refuge for Black freedom seekers escaping slavery. Federal officials are exploring it as a new National Heritage Area.

GUESTS

Hannibal B. Johnson, author, attorney, and consultant

Saché Primeaux-Shaw (Ponca, Yankton Dakota, Seminole, and Chickasaw Freedman), historian and genealogist

Sam Bass (Nansemond Indian Nation), Chief Emeritus of the Nansemond Indian Nation

 Alexandra Sutton (African American and Yesàh), co-founder of the Great Dismal Swamp Stakeholder Collaborative and executive director of Indigenous East

Eric “Mubita” Sheppard, co-founder of Mubita LLC

 

Break 1 Music: Healing Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 Music: Maybe (song) Mogley & the Zoniez (artist) Better Late Than Never (album)

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A new study finds the death rate for Native Americans — which was already higher than other groups — is much higher than previously thought. The analysis just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) finds the gap in life expectancy between Native Americans and Alaska Natives and the national average is almost three times wider than what official statistics say it is. The researchers point to the fact that more than 40% of death certificates misidentify Native Americans and Alaska Natives. One of the study’s researchers says the discrepancies indicate “statistical erasure” in routine public health data has obscured the severity of a mortality crisis among Native people. We’ll get a handle on the new study and what is behind the numbers.

GUESTS

Michael Bird (Kewa Pueblo and Ohkay Owingeh), past president of the American Public Health Association and past national consultant for AARP

Stephanie Woolhandler, distinguished professor at the City University of New York – Hunter College

Dr. Alec Calac (Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians), American Indian Health Policy Scholar and medical student at University of California-San Diego

 

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

Break 2 Music: Maybe (song) Mogley & the Zoniez (artist) Better Late Than Never (album)

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If you’re one of the 1.9 million people who still get a paper tax refund check from the federal government, you will need to make a change in the coming months. It’s the same for those who still count on Social Security checks in the mail rather than electronic direct deposit. A presidential executive order requires those and other transactions by the federal government to go completely electronic by September 30. The White House claims paperless transactions will save taxpayers as much as $657 million. At the same time, it poses a significant challenge for the high percentage of Native Americans who choose not to utilize conventional banks.

GUESTS

Cory Blankenship (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), executive director of the Native American Finance Officers Association

Josh Lucio (Zuni), marketing director for World Financial Group

Nathan King (member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin), vice president of Bay Bank

 

Break 1 Music: Intertribal Song (song) Black Lodge Singers (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs Recorded Live at Coeur D’Alene (album)

Break 2 Music: Maybe (song) Mogley & the Zoniez (artist) Better Late Than Never (album)

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President Donald Trump is expected to reverse President Joe Biden’s designation of two national monuments in California supported by area tribes. The Department of Justice issued an opinion that it is in the president’s purview to do away with Chuckwalla National Monument and Sáttítla Highlands National Monument. There is additional pressure to at least reduce the side of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase Escalante as President Trump did during his first term. The changes to national monuments also come as Republicans in Congress propose selling millions of acres of federal land, some of which is important to nearby tribes. We’ll get a rundown of the likely land moves and how it affects people.

We’ll also hear about the final piece in a land transfer to the Yurok Tribe that comprises the largest return of land to a tribe in California history. Nearly all of the Yurok’s traditional land — 90% — was taken during the time known as the California Gold Rush.

GUESTS

Joseph Mirelez (Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians), chairman of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians

Davina Smith (Diné), co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

Matthew Campbell (Native Village of Gambell), deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund

Tiana Williams-Claussen (Yurok), wildlife director for the Yurok Tribe

 

Break 1 Music: Honoring The Homeland (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album)

Break 2 Music: Maybe (song) Mogley & the Zoniez (artist) Better Late Than Never (album)

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Two Native nations, the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, are suing the federal government over what they say is mismanagement of funds related to Indian Boarding Schools. They claim the U.S. Government is on the hook for $23.3 billion by failing to live up to the Treaty and Trust Responsibility. Meanwhile, boarding school survivor advocates are concerned that years of research and narratives shedding light on the Boarding School Era have vanished from federal government sources. We’ll discuss the importance of these recent updates.

GUESTS

Vice President Tasha Mousseau (Wichita and Affiliated Tribes)

President J.C. Seneca (Seneca Nation)

Lori Quigley (Seneca Nation), professor and department chair for the Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy program at Niagara University and educational consultant

Samuel Torres (Mexica and Nahua), deputy CEO for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Amy Sazue (Sicangu and Oglala Lakota), executive director of Remembering the Children

 

Break 1 Music: Hindsight 20/20 (song) Cris Derksen (artist)

Break 2 Music: Shawnee Stomp Dance (song) Little Axe Singers (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)

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The city of Anchorage plans to clear a large encampment of homeless people at a park in mid-June following years of complaints and public safety problems. The park has seen two fatal shootings and a large fire in recent months. The city’s move is one of dozens of encampment “abatements” around the country following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows such law enforcement actions. Some cities have multi-pronged strategies to help homeless residents further displaced when officials clear encampments. We’ll explore where solutions may lie in the balance between compassion and public safety.

GUESTS

Jim LaBelle (Iñupiaq), member of the Anchorage Native Community Council

James Lovell (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), chief community development officer for the Chief Seattle Club

Rene’ Williams (Colville), director of strategic initiatives for the California Native Vote Project

Reva Stewart (Diné), owner of Shush Diné Native Shop, founder of Stolen People, Stolen Benefits, and founder of Turtle Island Women Warriors

 

Break 1 Music: Push Come to Shove (song) Bruce Cockburn (artist) O Sun O Moon (album)

Break 2 Music: Shawnee Stomp Dance (song) Little Axe Singers (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)

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President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to quell protests in Los Angeles has upped the ante when it comes to the response to direct action. Native Americans turned to civil disobedience during high profile protests at Standing Rock and following George Floyd’s death more recently, and during the formation of the American Indian Movement more than a half century ago. Will the equation for direct action include confrontations with the U.S. military from now on? We’ll discuss what Native activists see for the future of public protests.

GUESTS

Dr. Robert Warrior (Osage), Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kansas

Jacob Johns (Hopi and Akimel O’Odham), executive director of A Wisdom Keepers Delegation

Joel Garcia (Huichol), artist and cultural organizer and director of Meztli Projects

 

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

Break 2 Music: Shawnee Stomp Dance (song) Little Axe Singers (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)