Native America Calling

Leonard Peltier calls on Native Americans to come together in the ongoing fight for many of the same issues he championed in the early days of the American Indian Movement. After President Joe Biden commuted his life sentence in the deaths of two FBI agents, Peltier emerged from nearly a half century in federal prison to a hero’s welcome by his supporters and dismay by federal law enforcement officials and other detractors. In many respects, he picks up where he left off, speaking up for equitable treatment for Native people and defiance against a system he says is stacked against them. We’ll hear from Peltier about his life now beyond a prison cell and also discuss the coordinated effort that finally secured his release.

Tribal officials are among those pushing back against President Donald Trump’s plan to cut off some $500 million dollars in federal funds used for tribal housing, business development and infrastructure projects. The National Congress of American Indians calls the action by Trump related to the federal government shutdown “a critical threat to our communities’ economic future.” Trump’s intended elimination of the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund is the latest blow from the government shutdown that could have series consequences for Native Nations.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) predicts many of the more than 2,000 people uprooted by historically damaging storms may not be able to return to their villages for more than a year and a half. In at least one village, officials say 90% of the residences are destroyed – and, as their lives are suddenly and drastically changed, the mostly Alaska Native inhabitants of the hardest-hit areas face the possibility of increasingly severe weather as the climate changes. We’ll get updates on the current efforts to provide relief and assess the long-term options for the people who have always lived there.

We’ll also hear about how a new influx of $15 million in federal money over the next five years will help the StrongHearts Native Helpline, which provides culturally specific outreach for Native domestic violence survivors. The money comes at a time when the federal government is cutting back and eliminating staff for many other social programs.

It’s been almost a full century since Ojibwe hockey player Taffy Abel first set foot on the ice as a New York Rangers defenseman. It was a historic moment that was not acknowledged at the time in the professional hockey world or even by Abel himself. At the time, he kept his Native American identity a secret — at first to escape the forced attendance at Indian Boarding Schools, then later to avoid the discrimination that could hinder his career. Now, his descendants want him recognized, after the fact, as the man who broke the pro hockey color barrier. Abel carried the American flag in the first Winter Olympics in 1924. He went on to help both the Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks win Stanley Cup championships.

The Trump administration just gave the final approval for a new 211-mile road that punches across the Brooks Mountain Range and the expansive wilderness that surrounds it. Ambler Road promises to clear the way for several mining operations, providing minerals like copper, cobalt and gold that President Trump says is needed to “win the AI arms race against China.” But at least 40 Alaska Native tribes have officially lined up against the controversial project citing subsistence hunting habitat among other concerns. We’ll hear about that – and get an update on struggles over tribal control over hunting permits in Oklahoma.

The stories and written documentation on boarding schools, Indian Agents, and even the fictional character, Paul Bunyan, all have an influence on how we view history. The Western History Association Conference in Albuquerque, N.M., this week assembles a number of discussions led by Native American historians on those and other topics, gauging how well Native perspectives are taken into account. We’ll hear from some of those historians about the changing influence of Native historical scholarship.

After an intensive two-year adult immersion program, the number of fluent Spokane Salish language speakers nearly doubled. Some of those program graduates will be hired on as full-time language teaching staff as the tribe expands its language revitalization efforts. And the Yuchi Tribe in Oklahoma has established a unique partnership with an Australian Aboriginal nation to exchange ideas for revitalizing both of their endangered languages. We’ll hear about these two recent success stories.

We’ll also hear about a five-part talk show, “Rematriated Voices”, centered on Haudenosaunee culture and principles. The first episode airs on Indigenous Peoples Day on New York PBS affiliate WCNY.

In the Tara Moses play, “Haunted,” two Native ghosts are caught in a seemingly endless cycle of haunting the prospective owners of a house, while also being haunted in return by racist stereotypes. The Millennial siblings have a penchant for the soundtrack of their youth that leans heavily on Britney Spears. Along the way they find themselves on a journey to a higher calling. We’ll hear from Moses about her work that comes to the stage in Los Angeles.

We’ll also hear from artists recognized with a $100,000 prize for the 2025 SHIFT – Transformative Change + Indigenous Arts Awards by the Native Arts + Culture Foundation for works that address social change through a Native lens.