Native America Calling

Henry is an aspiring ghost hunter on the cusp of social media fame in the novel, “The Whistler“, by Nick Medina (Tunica-Biloxi). As the title suggests, he tempts fate by intentionally whistling into the night, provoking an evil entity that turns his life upside down and forces him to confront his past wrongdoing. Daniel H. Wilson (Cherokee) imagines a frightening alien invasion where first contact happens in the middle of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma in “Hole in the Sky“. And Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfeet) slices open the real horrors of the late 1800s Indian Wars in “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” with a tortured monster that wreaks vengeance on soldiers responsible for the Marias Massacre and the extermination of the buffalo. These are a few new horror novels written by Indigenous authors that we are putting on the Native Bookshelf for this year’s spooky season.   Break 1 Music: Something’s in the Air (song) Hataałii (artist) Waiting for a Sign (album) Break 2 Music: Thunderbird (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

Among the thousands of staff cuts and billions of dollars eliminated from federal programs is support to prevent and respond to domestic violence. Organizations that facilitate women’s shelters, preventative outreach, case managers, and legal help are mostly going it alone without the once-powerful assistance of the federal government. Many are in survival mode after the sudden and unexpected elimination of funding that had been promised. The U.S. Department of Justice has also removed its access to research and recommendations about violence against Indigenous women. We’ll find out how some shelters are working despite the setbacks. Charon Asetoyer, from the Native American Community Board. We’ll also remember long-time women’s advocate Charon Asetoyer. Among other things, she founded the Native American Community Board that works to strengthen women’s health, safety, and justice. Asetoyer walked on September 26. GUESTS Desiree Tody (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), Ashland and Bayfield County outreach program coordinator for the Center Against Sexual & Domestic Abuse Caroline LaPorte (Little River Band of Ottawa Indians descendant), staff attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center and association judge for the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Michelle Sanchez-Higginbotham (Yaqui and Niitsitapi), project specialist for the Rising Together program at the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health Ronni Fischer (Yankton Sioux), director of the Women’s Lodge, a violence prevention program of the Native American Community Board   Break 1 Music: Toxic Masculinity (song) Mystic Priestess (artist) Mystic Priestess (album) Break 2 Music: Thunderbird (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

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. (This show is pre-recorded so we won’t be able to take calls live on the air) GUESTS Leonard Peltier (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Lakota, and Dakota) Holly Cook Macarro (Red Lake Nation), political strategist   Break 1 Music: American Indian Movement Song (song) Blackfire (artist) [Silence] is a Weapon [Double disc] (album) Break 2 Music: Thunderbird (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)    

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. GUESTS Larry Wright Jr. (Ponca), executive director of the National Congress of American Indians and former chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska Sherry Rupert (Paiute and Washoe), CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association Kim Pate (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Mississippi Band of Choctaw), NDN Fund Managing Director Dave Tovey (Cayuse/Joseph Band Nez Perce), Executive Director of Nixyáawii Community Financial Services (NCFS)   Break 1 Music: Song 514 (song) Judy Trejo (artist) Stick Game Songs of The Paiute (album) Break 2 Music: Thunderbird (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

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. GUESTS Walter Nelson (Yup’ik), managed retreat coordinator for Village of Napakiak Lori Jump (Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians), CEO of StrongHearts Native Helpline Taylar Sausen, director of communications for American Red Cross of Alaska Rick Thoman, Alaska climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Eric Stone, state government reporter for Alaska Public Media   Break 1 Music: Ocean Prayer [Version A] (song) Pamyua (artist) Side A/Side B (album) Break 2 Music: Thunderbird (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

A new book is just one of multidisciplinary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger’s (Mandan, Hidatsa, & Arikara and Lakota) many current creative projects. He’s the 2025 artist-in-residence for Verbier 3-D Foundation, a contemporary art non-profit in Switzerland. He has new work that is part of an augmented reality exhibition with other Indigenous artists at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing. He has a public sculpture installation at the University of Massachusetts Boston. And he designed a terrifying sports mascot costume for the Jordan Peele-produced horror film, “Him.” His new hybrid art book and graphic novel, “Surviva: A Future Ancestral Field Guide,” is a creative take on the Indigenous knowledge necessary for survival in a post-colonial future. We’ll hear from Luger about his creative drive and the message thread throughout all his acclaimed work.   Break 1 Music:  Song of Encouragement (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album) Break 2 Music: Reservation of Education (song) XIT (artist) Silent Warrior (album)

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. GUESTS Aaron Payment (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), tribal councilman and former chairperson for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota), 1964 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Charles Fox, regular contributor to Indian Country Today and former staff photographer for 38 years at The Philadelphia Inquirer George Jones, retired economist and Indigenous hockey historian   Break 1 Music: Ojibwe Honor Song (song) Darren Thompson (artist) Break 2 Music: Reservation of Education (song) XIT (artist) Silent Warrior (album)

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. GUESTS April Monroe (Evansville Village). lands manager for Tanana Chiefs Conference Miles Cleveland Sr. (Iñupiaq), Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly Member Robert Gifford (Cherokee), Native American Law attorney and tribal court judge Gary Batton (Choctaw), Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Emily Schwing, investigative reporter in Alaska   Break 1 Music: Humma [Feat. Kendra Tagoona & Tracy Sarazin] (song) Sultans of String (artist) Break 2 Music: Reservation of Education (song) XIT (artist) Silent Warrior (album)

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. GUESTS Vivien Tejada (Cherokee), assistant professor of history at University of California, Los Angeles Dr. Farina King (Diné), professor of Native American studies and Horizon Chair of NA ecology and culture at the University of Oklahoma Michael Holloman (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), professor in the Department of Art at Washington State University   Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album) Break 2 Music: Reservation of Education (song) XIT (artist) Silent Warrior (album)

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. Michelle Schenandoah (left) talks with Haudenosaunee culture keepers on the new video podcast, “Rematriated Voices”. (Photo: courtesy Rematriated Voices) 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. GUESTS Sulustu Barry Moses (Spokane Tribe of Indians), program manager for adult fluency training and executive director of the Spokane Language House Richard Grounds (Yuchi and Seminole), executive director of the Yuchi Language Project Michelle Schenandoah (Oneida), founder and executive lead of Rematriation   Break 1 Music: Intertribal Song (song) Black Lodge Singers (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs Recorded Live at Coeur D’Alene (album) Break 2 Music: Reservation of Education (song) XIT (artist) Silent Warrior (album)