Native America Calling

Cities are moving to take down monuments, memorials and street signs honoring César Chávez. Organizers are cancelling the annual events planned In honor of his March 31 birthday. While his contributions for migrant farmworkers and Chicano-Americans are indisputable, Chávez’ heroic status among those he fought for is now challenged by troubling allegations surfacing in a New York Times investigation decades after the fact. We’ll discuss the future of the movement Chávez is best known for, likely going forward without his name. We’ll also discuss any lessons his downfall may have for the tendency to build a cause around one man. GUESTS Brenda Nicolas (Zapotec), assistant professor in the Department of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine Arcenio Lopez (Ñuu Savi), executive director of the Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) Desiree Tody (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), Ashland and Bayfield County outreach program coordinator for the Center Against Sexual & Domestic Abuse Joaquín Baca, Albuquerque City Councilor for district 2   Break 1 Music: Healing Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album) Break 2 Music: Hard Times Will Be Coming (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)

Tribes in Michigan oppose Enbridge the Line 5 oil pipeline replacement plan, arguing the environmental risks to their traditional waters far outweigh any benefits. The proposal to replace the 70-year-old pipeline that currently runs through Michigan and Wisconsin has faced many legal challenges over the years. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the state or federal government should have say over how the project proceeds. The decision could set a precedent on how much power tribes and states have in regulating fossil fuel development. We’ll speak with tribal leaders, Native legal scholars, and others about what’s next for the ongoing Line 5 pipeline legal battle. GUESTS Wenona Singel (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa), associate professor of law at Michigan State University College of Law and associate director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center Elizabeth Arbuckle (Bad River), chairwoman of the Bad River Tribe Melissa Kay, Tribal Water Institute fellow at the Native American Rights Fund   Break 1 Music: Nothing New Since 1492 (song) RematriNation (artist) Break 2 Music: Hard Times Will Be Coming (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album) The full statement by Enbridge on the U.S. Supreme Court case: We are encouraged that the U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments and is reviewing the June 2024 decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Sixth Circuit’s ruling conflicts with decisions issued by two other federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court’s review will provide needed clarity by resolving that conflict. For more than six years, the Attorney General has attempted to shut down Line 5 based on perceived safety concerns. However, the safety of Line 5 is regulated exclusively by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation. PHMSA conducts annual reviews of Line 5’s safety compliance across the Straits of Mackinac and has not identified any safety issues with its continued operation. There are also significant implications for energy security and foreign affairs if the Attorney General continues to pursue the lawsuit now in state court. We believe that federal law prohibits the Attorney General from shutting down Line 5. A shutdown of Line 5 would undermine the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty, which prohibits Michigan from impeding the operation of the pipeline. It would also undermine the legal doctrine that reserves foreign affairs matters for the federal government. The lawful operation of the Line 5 Dual Pipelines continues to be vital to provide needed petroleum products, including home heating and transportation fuels, to Michiganders, the Detroit Metro Airport, and the surrounding region.  We value our relationships with all the communities and community members in areas where Enbridge has assets. As we continue to move closer to construction on the Great Lakes Tunnel Project, we remain committed to including Tribes and Tribal citizens in this incredibly important and consequential project and welcome constructive dialogue and engagement. Line 5 is critical energy infrastructure. The Great Lakes Tunnel makes a safe pipeline safer while also ensuring the continued safe, secure, and affordable delivery of essential energy to the Great Lakes region. 

Jody Potts-Joseph is the first Hän Gwich’in woman to compete in Alaska’s famed Iditarod sled dog race. The musher and cast member on the reality TV show “Life Below Zero: First Alaskans“, says she was raised in the basket of a dog sled. She has raced in more than a half-dozen pro dog sled competitions, but this was her first attempt at the grueling 1,000-mile Iditarod. We’ll hear about the race and her work raising sled dogs. We’ll also hear from athletes who competed in the annual Arctic Winter Games, held this year in Whitehorse, Yukon. In addition to common winter events like curling and figure skating, the games include traditional Indigenous competitions including single foot kick, knuckle hop, and stick pull. GUESTS Jody Potts-Joseph (Hän Gwich’in), Iditarod musher, environmentalist, traditional tattooist, and athlete Kyle Worl (Tlingit, Deg-Hit’an Athabascan, and Yup’ik), traditional games coach and athlete Candice Parker (Nome Eskimo Community), Arctic sport coach for Team Alaska Joanna Hopson (Iñupiaq), Arctic games coach and athlete for Team Alaska Emelia Maring (Gwich’in First Nation from the Inuvik Native Band), member of Team Wainman   Break 1 Music: Humma [Feat. Kendra Tagoona & Tracy Sarazin] (song) Sultans of String (artist) Break 2 Music: Lowlands (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

Muslims around the world are marking the end of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. It’s a time of prayer, fasting, and spiritual rejuvenation. Among those participating is a handful of Native Americans who have a unique relationship with Islam. We’ll speak with some Native Muslims about their faith and how they confront renewed animosity toward their beliefs as rhetoric from elected leaders and others increases. We’ll also get Indigenous perspectives on increasing tensions between the United States and Cuba. President Donald Trump threatens to take over the country. A U.S. blockade is exacerbating Cuba’s long-standing energy crisis, shutting citizens off from many of the basics of daily life. GUESTS Megan Kalk (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe), Muslim convert Jamila Southwind (Keeseekoose First Nation), Muslim, mother, and former translator Raymond Matt (Crow Creek Sioux and Salish and Kootenai), Muslim Revert and father José Barreiro (Taíno), journalist, former editor of Akwesasne Notes, and scholar emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution   Break 1 Music: Round Dance (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs (album) Break 2 Music: Lowlands (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

Washington State awarded a number of tribes almost $18 million for clean energy projects — from solar installations to electric fishing and research boat conversions. It is one of the alternative funding sources as tribes and tribal economic development ventures scramble to fill a void following the withdrawal of some $1.5 billion in federal dollars. We’ll get an update on where clean energy infrastructure and development trends are headed in the absence of any new federal money. GUESTS David Harper (Mojave from the Colorado River Indian Tribes), CEO of Huurav Energy John Lewis (Gila River Indian Community), managing director for Native American Energy at Avant Energy Miacel Spotted Elk (Navajo and Northern Cheyenne), Indigenous affairs reporter at Grist Shaun Tsabetsaye (Zuni), head of tribal technical assistance and project development for the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy   Break 1 Music: Lightning Scarred Heart (song) Cheryl L’Hirondelle and Friends (artist) Why the Caged Bird Sings (album) Break 2 Music: Lowlands (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

The American Revolution succeeded in making the 13 colonies independent from Britain, but for Native Americans, the war resulted in displacement from their homelands and an expansion of American encroachment. As the country gears up for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaring its independence, Native reenactors and historians are working to bring Native peoples’ involvement in key moments of this time in history to life. Their work spans events from the Siege of Boston to the divisions the war spurred within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. We’ll hear from Native historians about the effort to better portray the time of the American Revolution with accuracy and authenticity. GUESTS DJ Huff (Seneca), historian Matthew Putnam (Stockbridge-Munsee Community), president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community cultural committee and tribal historian Leon Sam Briggs (Tonawanda Seneca), historical reproduction specialist and traditional teacher   Break 1 Music: The Caucasity (song) Dead Pioneers (artist) PO$T AMERICAN (album) Break 2 Music: Lowlands (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

The words “Sioux”, “Chippewa”, and “Crow” are some of the well-known names in the official lexicon that identify tribes, but they are also among the monikers that arise from mispronunciations, errant assumptions, and even derogatory terms by outsiders that found their way into conventional use. Over the years, some tribes have undertaken the arduous process to change their official names to take back what they have always called themselves. Others simply change how they present their names to the public, without updating the official record. We’ll talk with representatives from tribes who seek to have their names better reflect their own culture and language. GUESTS Jennifer Heminokeky, tribal chairwoman of the Fort Sill Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache Tribe Vivian Juan-Saunders (Tohono O’odham), former chairwoman of the Tohono O’odham Nation Jonathan Hale  (Diné), former tribal leader Jason Salsman (Muscogee), press secretary for the Muscogee Nation   Break 1 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album) Break 2 Music: Lowlands (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

John Ford’s 1956 film, “The Searchers”, is often lauded as a masterpiece. It follows Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) as an unapologetically racist ex-Confederate soldier on an obsessive odyssey to find his niece who was kidnapped by Comanches. The question of what he does when he finds her is a central tension of the plot. It was one of the first films added to the National Film Registry and ranks among the greatest films of all time by the American Film Institute. But its harmful stereotypes and other obvious drawbacks make it difficult watching for modern, informed audiences. As it marks 70 years since its release, we’ll hear from Native filmmakers and others about the place “The Searchers“ holds in film history. Still image from the 2026 film, “Ceremony” (Photo: courtesy Banchi Hanuse) We’ll also hear from Nuxalk filmmaker Banchi Hanuse about her documentary film, “Ceremony“, that premieres this week at South by Southwest. The documentary examines the cultural role of ooligan fish in Hanuse’s community in Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada. GUESTS Sunrise Tippeconnie (Commanche, Navajo, and Cherokee), director of programming at deadCenter Film and co-host of the “Reel Indigenous” podcast Julianna Brannum (Comanche), documentary filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (Inuit), filmmaker Banchi Hanuse (Nuxalk), filmmaker, co-founder of Nuxalk Radio, and director of “Ceremony”   Break 1 Music: Country Man (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album) Break 2 Music: Place I Call Home (song) Native Roots (artist) A Place I Call Home (album)

New Mexico is taking on an investigation into the sterilization of Native American women through coercion, deception, or by merely carrying out procedures entirely without consent. The state is mainly looking at time in the 1970s following the establishment of the federal Office of Population Affairs and a policy change that increased reimbursements for outside doctors contracting with Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities for each procedure. Native Americans were included in groups targeted for sterilizations because of the false impression they were less intelligent and that they were not as productive members of society as other groups. In 10 years, Native American birth rates were more than halved. Other states and Canada have broached the topic of forced sterilization that tried to formalize racist policies in the name of public health. New Mexico is the first to take aim at the role IHS clinics played in carrying out the policies. GUESTS Elena Giacci (Diné), historical trauma trainer and anti-sexual violence advocate Josett Monette (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), cabinet secretary for the State of New Mexico Indian Affairs Department Chief Don Stevens (Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation) Jean Whitehorse (Diné)   Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Pakosiyimitan (album) Break 2 Music: Place I Call Home (song) Native Roots (artist) A Place I Call Home (album)

A 300-page report details the history and ongoing implications of Michigan’s role in the Indian Boarding School era. It includes dozens of interviews, public records, and a list of recommendations for state officials going forward. It details troubling accounts that have become familiar in the discussion about boarding schools — physical and sexual abuse of Native American students, oppressive methods to enforce assimilation, and limited accountability for anyone involved. But the state’s Department of Civil Rights is backing away from the report. After investing almost $1 million, the state is declining to release the final document to the public. It has since been posted online by the news site Bridge Michigan. We’ll talk to those involved about what is in the report and what it means that the state is not backing it. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (Photo: by the U.S. Senate) We’ll also get perspective on the appointment of U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee/R-OK) as the Secretary of Homeland Security. We’ll hear from people who know and are familiar with his work as a longtime elected leader in Oklahoma. GUESTS April Lindala (Mohawk and Delaware), department head for Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University Jo Ann Kauffman (Nez Perce), founder of Kauffman and Associates Wes Nofire (Cherokee), former Oklahoma Native American Liaison, former Cherokee Nation council member, and former professional athlete Allen Wright (Choctaw), president and founder of the Hustings Group Ron French, senior writer at Bridge Michigan   Break 1 Music: Oshki Manitou (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album) Break 2 Music: Place I Call Home (song) Native Roots (artist) A Place I Call Home (album)   Here’s more from our interview with Allen Wright (Choctaw). Wright describes the high-level of scrutiny Sen. Mullin faces with his nomination for Department of Homeland Security Secretary. https://nativeamericacalling-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/031126-Allen-Wright-Pre-Record-web.mp3