Native America Calling

After the initial grief of losing her daughter to a hit-and-run driver on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Carissa HeavyRunner faced months of inaction by local law enforcement to adequately investigate and charge the person responsible. Her frustration grew into a personal mission to see justice served. HeavyRunner’s story is one of the chief complaints by Native Americans who have lost a loved one and wake up every day without any progress toward getting any answers. We’ll learn about some outstanding Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) cases and the effort to improve the statistics in spite of law enforcement foot-dragging.

An exhibition at The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta celebrates the work of the Indigenous Group of Seven, influential Indigenous artists who, over a period of decades, pushed a new definition of Native art in Canada. We’ll also highlight exhibitions honoring contemporary and up-and-coming Native American artists including the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture exhibition, “Homelands: Connecting to Mounds through Native Art“, and the Institute of American Indian Art’s annual showcase of work by the visual arts graduating class.

Among the 168 people killed in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City was Raymond Lee Johnson (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma). He was volunteering with the Older Native American Program at the time and was heavily involved in education and other issues important to Native people. Cherokee Ballard was a television news anchor and reporter who covered the aftermath and the subsequent trials. And FBI special agent Walter Lamar was on the scene that day helping rescue survivors. He was also part of the FBI’s investigation into the bombing. We’ll hear stories about how the bombing affected the city with one of the highest percentages of Native citizens in the nation.

Greg Biskakone Johnson (Lac du Flambeau), an experienced spearfisher and his tribe’s culture and language instructor, was helping an elder stock up on walleye when four gunshots rang out through the dark night last week. That and other incidents prompted Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) to issue a statement about the state’s responsibility to uphold treaty fishing rights. The incidents come 30 years after the violent confrontations in the state known as ‘The Walleye Wars.”

Among the $1 billion in grants for schools and food programs rescinded by the Trump administration is a $750,000 USDA grant for Day Eagle Hope Project. The non-profit runs a food pantry and food delivery service on the Ft. Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. We’ll hear from its director about the program’s future.

This year marks 100 years since Mount Rushmore was dedicated as a national monument. The stone butte carved with the faces of four presidents has become a patriotic symbol. But the federal government’s broken treaties to take over the land is only the beginning of the famous monument’s troubled history. We’ll hear about Rushmore’s connection to the Confederate South and the ongoing insult of honoring leaders who contributed to efforts to eliminate the sacred land’s original inhabitants.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. promises a “massive testing and research effort” to find the cause of autism. Sec. Kennedy says it will happen by September. That ambitious promise alone, and other comments by Kennedy, are met with skepticism and even backlash by autism advocates and experts. Meanwhile, groups like Diné Parents Taking Action at Northern Arizona University are putting the work in to provide support and raise awareness when it comes to autism among Native Americans and other underserved communities. We’ll go over some of the facts about autism and how the disorder is being addressed among Native people.

It’s a Native America Calling tradition to invite Pueblo musician Jir Anderson and his troupe of songwriters into the studio to play live during their run in Albuquerque. Native Guitars Tour always presents a diverse set of musicians with a focus on guitars. We’ll hear about what’s new with the tour and listen to some live music.

As scores of talented musicians and artists assemble in Albuquerque during the Gathering of Nations Powwow, we’ll sample some of the musical offerings happening on stages around town. We begin with two established and popular shows featuring hip-hop and metal music: the Gathering of MCs and Merciless Savages. We’ll talk with organizers from each of the shows and take in some of the new music and some old favorites.

The PBS program “Frontline” examines the financial, cultural, and human toll of climate change on the western Alaska coastline and the Native people that have always called it home. Hopi producer Patty Talahongva takes a fresh look at the warming temperatures, increasingly destructive storms, and retreating wildlife that are forcing a drastic change in how some Alaska Native live. We’ll hear about the issue from those involved in the documentary.