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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)

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A frequent location of summer wildfires, eastern Washington State, is suffering one of the most destructive fires seasons in memory. Fires on the Confederate Tribes of Colville Reservation have prompted evacuations and destroyed more than 50 homes and other structures. They are among the some 700 buildings destroyed in the current fire season in the state. On Oregon’s Warm Springs Reservation, fires started early and were fueled by persistent winds. In addition to coping with the fires, the community is now facing worries about having adequate clean drinking water. Fires in Washington and Oregon have charred more than three million acres so far. We’ll talk with tribal officials working to save people, buildings, and land during an unusually destructive wildfire season.

GUESTS

Monica Simeon (Spokane and Pauquachin First Nation), co-founder of Sister Sky

Dan Martinez (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs), tribal emergency manager for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

Faith Zacherle Tonasket (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), executive director and founder of xa?xa? Indigenous Birth Justice and a board member of the River Warrior Society

Tim Sexton, fire program manager for the Klamath Tribes

Break 1 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

Break 2 Music: Wolastoq Song by Saqatay (song) Mawi Sakolikapuwicik Singers (artist)

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Voters will soon find out whether the bid by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Ojibwe/D-MN) to become the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate clears the primary election hurdle in a hotly-contested race. It is one of the many races with Native candidates that are coming into clearer focus after a summer of primaries. Native women are particularly well represented in national and statewide races and some progressive Democratic wins might offer clues about what’s on voters’ minds. We’ll look at some key national, state, and tribal races as the midterm election draws closer.

GUESTS

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

Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné), digital news director of ICT

Amelia Schafer (Brothertown Indian Nation descendant), north central bureau correspondent for ICT

Break 1 Music: Nakoda Healing Song (song) YB Nakota (artist)

Break 2 Music: Wolastoq Song by Saqatay (song) Mawi Sakolikapuwicik Singers (artist)

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A dangerous secret lurks just under the surface in the play, “Bad Medicine,” making its debut at the Santa Fe Playhouse. Written by P.C. Verrone (Osage and Kiowa) and produced with a largely Native cast, it is a live production that claims elements of both horror and comedy. It comes with a warning that it “sheds light on how settler colonialism dehumanizes and exploits Indigenous peoples.”

Brooklyn, N.Y.’s renowned Spiderwoman Theater is marking 50 years of Indigenous plays, outreach, and education. Rising from the feminist movement of the 1970s, its core leadership under Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel, and Muriel Miguel have built the space into a destination for urban Native storytelling. We’ll talk with the organizers about the the mission and legacy of this groundbreaking theater.

GUESTS

P.C. Verrone (Osage and Kiowa descendant), playwright

Tara Moses (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and Mvskoke), playwright, director, and actor

Muriel Miguel (Kuna and Rappahannock), artistic director of Spiderwoman Theater

Gloria Miguel (Kuna and Rappahannock), founding member of Spiderwoman Theater

Break 1 Music: Jesous Ahatonhia (song) Geneviève Gros-Louis (artist)

Break 2 Music: Aia lā ‘o Pele [Mele Honoring Pele] (song) ‘Iolani Luahine (artist) Ancient Hula Hawaiian Style: Vol. 1 Hula Kuahu (album)

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Two separate instances are putting Native authority related to religious freedom to the test.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe demands the Christian ministry, Foundations Nations Church, leave the Wyoming reservation. The demand comes after video circulated on social media showed one of the church’s pastors characterizing Native sacred practices — including the Sun Dance — as “idol worship” and “demonic.” Top tribal leadership calls the comments “despicable” and link them to past abuses of Native Americans at the hands of Christian church officials. The Foundations Church leaders say they’ll fight the tribe’s efforts to remove them. We’ll hear about what’s next in the dispute.

At the same time, Native American inmates in a Nebraska state prison scored a victory in securing access to religious ceremonies. In a settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit, corrections officials lifted a temporary ban on accessing a place where Native men conducted ceremonies like sweats and smudges. They instituted the ban after finding contraband at the site. We’ll hear about the legal principles behind the outcome.

GUESTS

Keenan Groesbeck (Northern Arapaho), chairman of the Northern Arapaho Business Council

Jesse Crispin (Northern Arapaho), council member of the Northern Arapaho Business Council

Andi Snowball (Muscogee and Winnebago), associate attorney with Big Fire Law and Policy Group LLP

Carter Matt, staff attorney with ACLU Nebraska

Break 1 Music: Northern Arapaho Fast Wolf Dance (song) Otto Hungary, White O. Goggles, Helen Crispin, Francis Goggles, Rose Moss (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)

Break 2 Music: Aia lā ‘o Pele [Mele Honoring Pele] (song) ‘Iolani Luahine (artist) Ancient Hula Hawaiian Style: Vol. 1 Hula Kuahu (album)

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Tribes that collectively make up the largest water rights holders along the Colorado River say the Trump Administration’s newest plan to deal with diminishing water levels is inadequate. Tribal leaders say they were left out of the decision making process and are now in store for serious water use cuts that violate existing water rights agreements as well as the federal government’s trust responsibility. We’ll hear from some of those tribal leaders.

We’ll also find out what’s next following the Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling to deny a permit to the company aiming to construct a new underwater oil pipeline to replace the aging existing structure.

GUESTS

Bidtah Becker (Diné), chief legal counsel for the Office of the President and Vice President of the Navajo Nation

David Gover (Pawnee and Choctaw), managing attorney with the Native American Rights Fund

Governor Stephen Roe Lewis, Gila River Indian Community

Jennifer Smith, director of tribal engagement for Enbridge

Break 1 Music: Water Is Life (single song) Native Roots, Joy Harjo, Def-I & Innastate (artist)

Break 2 Music: Aia lā ‘o Pele [Mele Honoring Pele] (song) ‘Iolani Luahine (artist) Ancient Hula Hawaiian Style: Vol. 1 Hula Kuahu (album)

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The Osage language was declared dead in 2005 after its last fluent speaker died, but revitalization efforts since then have built the number of proficient speakers to about 40. The Caddo Nation continues its extensive language revitalization efforts more than a year after its last fluent speaker walked on. It’s an uphill battle for most tribes in the U.S. to retain their language. The new book, “How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words”, examines the global crisis of cultures losing their languages. In a New Yorker review of the book, philosophy instructor Nikhil Krishnan uses the book’s premise to argue that the death of a language is sometimes “just how things go.” That touched off strong opposition from the language advocacy organization, The Endangered Languages Project. They and other organizations say such fatalistic thinking promotes misleading and harmful narratives and undermines efforts to preserve languages globally. We’ll hear from Indigenous language advocates who argue no expense should be spared to revive languages before we lose them.

GUESTS

N. Ha’alilio Solomon (Native Hawaiian), assistant professor of Hawaiian language at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa

Dr. Myrna Cunningham (Miskito), Indigenous Peoples rights activist and educator

Skyler Kuczaboski (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), grants administration support for the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council

Break 1 Music: Caddo Victory Song (song)

Break 2 Music: Aia lā ‘o Pele [Mele Honoring Pele] (song) ‘Iolani Luahine (artist) Ancient Hula Hawaiian Style: Vol. 1 Hula Kuahu (album)