Claim OwnershipNative America Calling
Subscribed: 285Played: 23,543
Subscribe
© Koahnic Broadcast Corporation - All rights reserved - Contact nola@nv1.org for permission
Description
Interactive, daily program featuring Native and Indigenous voices, insights, and stories from across the U.S. and around the world.
1306 Episodes
Reverse
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.
GUESTS
Najannguaq Hegelund, chair for SILA 360
Johannes Geisler (Inuk), Greenlandic parent
Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, Member of the Parliament of Greenland
Ujammiugaq Engell, museum director for the Nuuk Local Museum
Break 1 Music: Ikitaa (song) PIQSIQ (artist)
Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)
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.
GUESTS
Chief Kevin Brown (Pamunkey)
Shaun Wilson (Mohawk), president of the board of directors for the Friends of the Niagara Turtle
Emma Wilson (Mohawk), student and social media manager for the Friends of the Niagara Turtle
Charles Vaughn (Hualapai), council member and former chairman of the Hualapai Tribe
Break 1 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)
Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)
Rodeo announcer Randy Taylor (Cherokee) knows what he’s talking about. He was a bareback rider for nearly 20 years. Forty years ago, the Oklahoma native was the first rider out of the chute at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev. After a stint in college and then as a chiropractor, Taylor turned to announcing. His voice is now recognizable all over and on his nationally syndicated show, “Word With A Champ“. He just received the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. He is also a dedicated advocate for Native American youth. Taylor is our December Native in the Spotlight.
Break 1 Music: Hooked on an 8 Second Ride (song) Chris LeDoux (artist) Chris LeDoux and The Saddle Boogie Band (album)
Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)
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.
GUESTS
Amy Denet Deal (Diné), founder of 4KINSHIP
Ruth-Ann Thorn (Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians), entrepreneur and owner of Native Star
Jeremy Arviso (Diné, Hopi, Akimel O’odham, and Tohono O’odham), artist, designer, and entrepreneur
Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album)
Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)
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.
GUESTS
Jeremy Lujan (Taos Pueblo), Taos Pueblo tribal secretary
Jesse Winters (Taos Pueblo), Taos Pueblo second sheriff
Dr. Gregorio Gonzales (Comanche and Genizaro), tribal historic preservation officer for the Pueblo of Cochiti
Paula Carrick (Bay Mills Indian Community), tribal historic preservation officer for Bay Mills Indian Community
Break 1 Music: Take Your Troubles to the River (song) Vincent Craig (artist) Self-titled Release (album)
Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)
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.
GUESTS
Daniel Cordalis (Diné), staff attorney with Native American Rights Fund and leads the Tribal Water Institute
Teri Red Owl (Bishop Paiute), executive director of the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission
Break 1 Music: The Four Essential Elements [Diigo Bee’iináanii] (song) Radmilla Cody (artist) K’é Hasin (album)
Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)
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.
GUESTS
Dr. Pamela End of Horn (Oglala Lakota), national suicide prevention consultant for the Indian Health Service
Kristin Mitchell (Diné), assistant project director for Project AWARE Wildcats (PAWS)
Dr. Jessica Saniguq Ullrich (Nome Eskimo Community and Native Village of Wales), assistant professor at the Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH) at Washington State University
Break 1 Music: Little Sunflower (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)
Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)
Crow leadership are working toward revamping their tribal citizenship requirements. If their proposal goes through, any currently enrolled tribal citizens would be designated as having 100% Crow blood. The St. Croix Ojibwe Tribe in Wisconsin is seeing their first tribal enrollment gains in years after they got rid of their blood quantum requirement. They are among the tribes looking down the road and mapping a future away from the Indian blood requirement.
GUESTS
Levi Black Eagle (Apsáalooke), secretary of the Crow Tribe
Conrad St. John (St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin), chairman of St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
Jill Doerfler (White Earth Anishinaabe), professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth
Cheyenne Robinson (Omaha), treasurer for the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska
Jonaye Doney (Aaniih), student at the University of Montana
Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Confederacy Style (album)
Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)
Cuts in grants and operating funds, federal staff reductions, and department disorganization – and the federal government shutdown – all took a toll on the work done by tribal museums this year. Tribal museums are a source of economic development for many tribes, but more than that they offer an authentic and more comprehensive picture of Native culture and history than their non-Native counterparts. As Tribal Museums Week gets underway, we’ll check in with tribal museums about their work and what they hope to accomplish in the current unpredictable environment for so many cultural institutions.
GUESTS
CC Hovie (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), public affairs and communications director for the Association on American Indian Affairs
Janine Ledford (Makah), executive director of the Makah Museum
Selena Ortega Chiolero (Tarahumara), museum specialist for the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council’s Culture and Historic Preservation Department
Stacy Laravie (Ponca), Indigenization director for the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers
Break 1 Music: Conduit of Anguish (song) Geneviève Gros-Louis (artist)
Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)
State by state, tribes are staking out a share in the burgeoning online sports betting business. Places like Colorado, California, Wisconsin, and Michigan all have ongoing legal and political disputes involving tribes’ ability to expand casino enterprises into online sports books. We’ll look at how the clash between states, private companies, and tribes are raising complex questions over sovereignty, regulation, and jurisdiction.
GUESTS
Jason Giles (Muscogee), executive director of the Indian Gaming Association
James Siva (Morongo Band of Mission Indians), vice chairman for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and chairman of California Nations Indian Gaming Association
Gary Pitchlynn (Choctaw), professor of law at the University of Oklahoma
Break 1 Music: Rumble [Remastered] (song) Link Wray (artist) Rumble [Remastered] (single)
Break 2 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album)
Nine out of ten people seeking jobs say they have a side hustle — a second or even third job. An Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll from October 2025 also says a higher percentage of younger job-seekers — Gen Z and Millennials —expect to be able to overlap their side jobs on company time. Money is a major factor – and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported this year that more employers are cutting hours. We’ll talk with some of those who are working multiple jobs about the ups and downs of juggling a side hustle.
GUESTS
Mikailah Thompson (Nimiipuu), owner of Beadwork by Mikailah and owner of Indigenous Creatives, LLC
Roberta Begaye (Diné), owner of Bitterwater Galerie
Stephanie Garcia (Santa Domingo, Laguna, and Isleta), owner of Pueblo Creations and Pueblo Collective Enterprise
Roxanne Best (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), businessowner and founder of R. Best Life: Yoga and Coaching
Break 1 Music: Working for the Man (song) Bluedog (artist) Red, White & Blues (album)
Break 2 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album)
A one-time allocation for Tribal Colleges and Universities unexpectedly just doubled the federal allocation compared to the previous year. And a small handful of colleges are rejoicing over multi-million-dollar windfalls from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. But that doesn’t mean officials at any of those institutions are breathing a sigh of relief. Instead, the unpredictable nature of federal funding and other factors — including the Trump administration’s stated plan earlier this year to all but eliminate their funding, has tribal higher education administrators scrambling. We’ll speak with some of them about the educational institutions that thousands of Native students depend on.
GUESTS
Christopher Caldwell (Menominee), president of the College of Menominee Nation
Leander McDonald (Dakota, Arikara, Hidatsa and Hunkpapa), president of the United Tribes Technical College
Manoj Patil, president of Little Priest Tribal College
Break 1 Music: Intertribal Song (song) Dakota Nation (artist) Home of the Champions (album)
Break 2 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album)
“Braids” by director, writer, and editor Elise Aachix̂ Qağaduug Beers (Unangan) tells the story of a Native student who contends with bullying and uninformed school policy. It’s a modern-day tale with a long historical reach.
“Guts,” a comedy by Elias Gold (Diné), is a story of a drifter who wreaks havoc on the Navajo reservation in search of a particular traditional food.
We’ll talk with both filmmakers and also get an update on a new initiative to elevate Indigenous voices across film and TV.
GUESTS
Elise Aachix̂ Qağaduug Beers (Aleut, Unangan), director, writer, and editor of “Braids”
Elias Gold (Diné), filmmaker and operator of the YouTube channel “Native Media Theory”
Joey Clift (Cowlitz), comedian, Emmy-nominated producer and television writer, and the writer and director of “Pow!”
Dr. Shelly Lowe (Diné), president of the Institute of American Indian Arts
Break 1 Music: Chant Ancestral (song) Geneviève Gros-Louis (artist)
Break 2 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album)
Despite promises by elected leaders to address the disproportionate number of Native Americans and Alaska Natives who are murdered or go missing, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) advocates say there is little progress and even steps backward for victims and their families. Advocates say the Trump administration’s removal of the Not One More report from the Department of Justice’s website is a setback for public awareness and the work to fight the ongoing problem. Advocates also complained that Alaska officials are not adequately acknowledging the number of unsolved cases. Since that complaint, state officials added 50 names to the unsolved cases list. Numerous data sources point to the disproportionate rate that Native people are victims of violence and their cases go unresolved.
GUESTS
Charlene Aqpik Apok (Iñupiaq), executive director of Data for Indigenous Justice
Karrisa Newkirk (Caddo), president and founder of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women-Chahta
Cheryl Horn (Nakota and Aaniiih), Fort Belknap MMIP advocate
Break 1 Music: Remember Me (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Kikāwiynaw (album)
Break 2 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album)
In his second cookbook, “Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America,” Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota), James Beard Award-wining chef and restaurateur, dives deeper into the Indigenous culinary communities of 13 regions of North America and Mesoamerica. He shares dozens of recipes inspired by his travels and the people he calls friends, teachers, and leaders that he encounters along the way.
Pyet DeSpain (Prairie Band Potawatomi) was already familiar with traditional everyday foods like frybread, meat pies, and corn soup growing up on the Osage reservation in Oklahoma. And on the Mexican side of her family, tamales, pozole, and atole were a staple. Now a well-known and award-winning chef, DeSpain is sharing that fusion of Native and Mexican cuisine and heritage in her debut cookbook, “Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking.”
Break 1 Music: Hoka Hey (feat. Jayden Paz & Dancin Dave) [Radio Version] (song) DJ krayzkree (artist) Future Generations (album)
Break 2 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)
The Aboriginal people of Australia have cemented a historic agreement with the state of Victoria that could provide a blueprint for recognizing Indigenous peoples and incorporating their voices and cultures into the political process going forward. The treaty is a first for Australia and comes after years of research, negotiation, and a failed political referendum in 2023. Among other things, those crafting the treaty look to avoid the pitfalls of federal treaties with Native Americans and First Nations peoples of Canada. In this encore show, we’ll hear from those who worked to make the treaty happen and what about their hopes and concerns following this historic action.
GUESTS
Dr. Julian Rawiri Kusabs (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Maru [Hauraki], and Tainui), research fellow at the University of Melbourne
Dr. Nikki Moodie (Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, and Gamilaraay), professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne
Travis Lovett (Kerrupmara Gunditjmara, Boandik), inaugural executive director of the Centre for Truth Telling and Dialogue at the University of Melbourne
Lidia Thorpe (Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung), Independent Senator for Victoria and represents the Blak Sovereign Movement
Break 1 Music: Talkin’ Treaty (song) Blackfire [Australia] (artist) Regeneration (album)
Break 2 Music: Burn Your Village to The Ground (single) The Halluci-Nation (artist)
Mel Tonasket (Colville Tribes) is one of the key reasons the Colville Tribes remain thriving today. As a newly elected tribal council member in 1971, he cast the deciding vote against a deal with the federal government that traded cash payouts to individual tribal members for the tribe’s permanent termination. Tonasket credits the mentorship of tribal activist Lucy Covington for guiding his insights and energy to protect the sovereignty of the 12-tribe coalition under the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. He since went on to an ongoing vigilance for hunting, fishing, and other treaty rights. He still serves on the tribal business council after decades of service in many capacities. We’ll speak with Tonasket about the history of his tribe, his own call to leadership, and what’s next for his people.
Break 1 Music: Country Man (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)
Break 2 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)
On the cusp of what could be a new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), some researchers are urging caution and the need for deliberate controls to keep the developing technology from robbing Indigenous people of their cultures and sovereignty. A project with three universities provides a framework of standards to prevent AI from stripping Native Americans and all other Indigenous peoples of their right to control images, language, cultural knowledge, and other components of their identities they’ve worked so hard to retain. We’ll hear about the potential benefits and threats of AI to Native people.
GUESTS
Danielle Boyer (Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), robotics inventor
Randy Kekoa Akee (Native Hawaiian), Julie Johnson Kidd Professor of Indigenous Governance and Development at Harvard University
Michael Running Wolf (Lakota and Cheyenne), community leader in AI research
Crystal Hill-Pennington, professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Break 1 Music: Diyin Creates Sound (song) Randy Boogie (artist) The Blessingway Boogie (album)
Break 2 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)
Social worker and political newcomer Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu will take office in January 2026 as Gallup, N.M.’s first Diné city council member. Notably a city along Route 66 and on the edge of the Navajo Nation, Gallup’s population is more than half Native American. Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu is one of a number of Native candidates filling local elected seats since the mid-term elections. We’ll talk with some of them about what their hopes are for their coming term of elected public service.
GUESTS
Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu (Diné), city member-elect for the city of Gallup
Ed Lowery Jr. (Lumbee), mayor-elect of Parkton, N.C.
Chris Roberts (Choctaw), mayor of Shoreline, Wash.
David Holt (Osage), mayor of Oklahoma City, Okla.
Break 1 Music: C.R.E.A.M. [Instrumental] (song) Wu-Tang Clan (artist) Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers [Instrumentals] (album)
Break 2 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)
New works by two best-selling Cherokee writers intertwine riveting fictional narratives with a dose of Native American historical reality. Vanessa Lillie’s “The Bone Thief” continues the suspenseful trajectory of Syd Walker, a BIA archaeologist first introduced in Lillie’s novel, “Blood Sisters.” This time, the setting for the story is present-day Narragansett territory in New England and colonial mythology about the first Thanksgiving plays a part.
Brandon Hobson’s “The Devil is a Southpaw” takes readers back almost four decades to the heart of Cherokee country, but readers are warned upfront that the memories portrayed now may not be reliable. Hobson takes a surrealistic detour where both Salvador Dali and a character named Brandon H. make appearances. It’s an imaginative character study that propels a gripping story of love and loss.
Break 1 Music: Ghost (song) Sierra Spirit (artist)
Break 2 Music: Treemen (song) Digger Jonez (artist)
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States
Can we hear from more leftist natives? I'm sure there are plenty, but it would be nice to hear from progressives, too. (though I get the DNC is going on now and that's why you're focused on Dems)