Native America Calling

Leonard Peltier’s release after nearly 50 years in federal prison tops our list for the most momentous events of 2025. We’ll explore what the unrepentant elder activist’s relative freedom (he remains under house arrest) means nearly a year after President Joe Biden commuted his sentence. We’ll also revisit some of the other top news events including how President Donald Trump’s first year touched everything from Native health care to federal contracts, and federal recognition for the Lumbee Nation.

GUESTS

Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné), managing editor of ICT

Graham Lee Brewer (Cherokee), national reporter for The Associated Press

Levi Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation), publisher and editor of Native News Online and Tribal Business News

Melanie Henshaw (Mvskoke), Indigenous affairs reporter for InvestigateWest

“Cruel Joke”, the new album by Cherokee singer-songwriter Ken Pomeroy, scored celebratory reviews from Rolling Stone and NPR’s World Café among many other outlets. Chickasaw classical composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate puts an Indigenous twist on classical music, teaming up with the Dover Quartet, which BBC Music magazine calls one of the greatest quartets of the last 100 years. And the popular First Nations powwow group Northern Cree released two singles with Juno-award winning blues duo Blue Moon Marquee. They are among the countless talented Native musicians who are mastering their craft and reaching new audiences in 2025. We’ll review some of the notable music from this past year.

The prime minister of Denmark apologized for the forced contraception of thousands of Indigenous women in Greenland dating back to the 1960s. The Danish government is also ending problematic parent competency tests associated with disproportionately high numbers of babies being taken away from Indigenous mothers. Both milestones come as Greenland — an autonomous territory of Danish rule — is making strides toward independence. The Trump administration has also made public comments about exerting U.S. control over the mineral-rich territory occupied almost entirely by Indigenous Inuit residents. We’ll talk with Greenlanders about how these developments address Denmark’s complicated past and what remains to be done.

During the brief time it was open, the Turtle building in Niagara Falls, N.Y. served as the Native American Center for the Living Arts. It was designed by Northern Arapaho architect Dennis Sun Rhodes. Now it stands vacant and is in the way of a proposal for a high-rise hotel. It is on the most recent list of Most Endangered Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Another place on the list is the Pamunkey Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders say their land will be underwater within the next 65 years. We’ll hear about some of the threatened historic places and the efforts to save them.

The holiday gift-giving time is when many retailers make a bulk of their annual profit. Several Native entrepreneurs have just opened their doors and are hopeful that this season will propel them forward, despite some indications that shoppers are cautious. Others are veterans of the business world, but are also pinning a lot of hope on the public’s ability to make the most of holiday shopping. We’ll hear from both rookies and long-time Native retailers about what it takes to start and stay in business.

After years of discussions, Taos, N.M. decided to remove Kit Carson’s name from a widely used park in the center of town. Carson’s renown as a Western frontiersman grew from greatly exaggerated tales in pulp novels and newspaper articles. Only later did his violent exploits against Navajos and other tribes emerge. He was among the main figures in the Long Walk, the forced march of 10,000 captive Navajos. More than a third of them died.

In Michigan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed a Washington Monument-style obelisk commemorating the construction of shipping locks on Lake Michigan. The obelisk sat atop the remainder of a burial ground. Lock construction destroyed the main part of the sacred area but the Bay Mills Indian Community and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians continue to hold ceremonies there. We’ll talk with tribal advocates about their years-long work to change how their histories are viewed by the public.

Paiute and Shoshone tribes in California’s Owens Valley are facing a shortage of water — an issue that spans decades, but is now exacerbated by climate change. The city of Los Angeles, more than 200 miles away, is guzzling one-third of the groundwater in the region. The city’s diversion of water from the valley began in 1913. L.A. drained Owens Lake dry within a decade. The land, once lush with springs and streams, is now a parched landscape that hinders tribes’ access to culture and economic development.

Also, we’ll hear about how a proposed weakening of federal protections for the majority of the country’s wetlands could affect tribes. Tribes manage millions of acres of wetlands. The Trump administration seeks to limit the EPA’s authority on how it regulates pollution under the Clean Water Act. Scaling back those protections has potential consequences for much of the country’s sources of clean drinking water.

December is a traditional time for feasts, family, and giving, but the financial and time burdens of the holiday-heavy month, combined with the change of seasons and other factors, also make it a time ripe for breaks in a person’s mental health. We’ll find out how connections — with other people, cultural traditions, or spiritual foundations — can be a way to mitigate the added stresses of December — or any time.