Native America Calling

If you’re looking for an alternative to screens for the youngsters and young adults in your life over summer break, a new book by a Native author might be the solution. There is a wealth of new and familiar stories that feature Native characters. We’ll hear from our panel of avid readers — who are also authors of books for kids and young adults — about some of their favorite new reads as well as some that are yet to be released.

GUESTS

Stacy Wells (Choctaw), author and librarian

Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee), author and a PhD student at the University of Arkansas

Byron Graves (Ojibwe and Lakota), author and skateboarder

First Nations and Métis leaders in Alberta are actively opposing the province’s secession movement. Alberta will hold a referendum this October on whether to separate from Canada. Premier Danielle Smith is in a war of words with First Nations leaders and faces legal challenges from tribes for pushing forward with the vote. Smith publicly admonished tribal leaders to “check themselves” after the main provincial First Nations chiefs organization said Smith’s actions amounted to “treason”. So far, the public overwhelmingly opposes separation, but the debate is highlighting a very real question whether the provincial government can actually act on separation in light of historic treaties signed with the British Crown long before Alberta was established.

GUESTS

Chief Troy Knowlton (Piikani), Chief of the Piikani Nation and president of the Blackfoot Confederacy

Danette Starblanket (Star Blanket Cree), assistant professor with the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina

Bruce McIvor (Métis), founder and senior partner at First Peoples Law LLP and an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s Allard School of Law

Matthew Wildcat (Ermineskin Cree), assistant professor and director of Indigenous Governance in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta

Jon Eagle Sr. (Hunkpapa Lakota and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), former tribal historic preservation officer for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe



Break 1 Music: Old Alberta (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

Break 2 Music: Feels Like [feat. Sheena Shandea] (song) Nataanii Means (artist)

Sweeping legislation in Congress is aimed at lowering the cost of housing. The fate of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is still questionable, but if it is approved it would, among other things, remove some barriers to housing construction, especially in major cities. While the bill enjoys relatively rare bipartisan support, Native American affordable housing advocates say it is a missed opportunity to address long-standing issues faced by a population disproportionately affected by housing affordability. It includes provisions for tribal housing improvement, but Native housing experts say it falls far short of what’s needed. Mostly, Native advocates are pushing for reauthorizing the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), the block grant program driving the construction and repair of thousands of homes in Native communities over the last three decades. It’s authorization expired more than a dozen years ago. We’ll discuss recent progress and ongoing needs in affordable housing.

GUESTS

Jackie Pata (Tlingit), president and CEO of the Tlingit and Haida Regional Housing Authority; First Vice President of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska; co-chair of the HUD Secretary’s Tribal Intergovernmental Advisory Committee; and board member of the National American Indian Housing Council

Derrick Belgarde (Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and Chippewa Cree), executive director of the Chief Seattle Club

Lenny Fineday (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians

Griffin Hagle-Forster, executive director of the Association of Alaska Housing Authorities



Break 1 Music: Kunax yak’ei gayshagook (song) Khu.éex’ (artist) Siy​á​adlan (album)

Break 2 Music: Feels Like [feat. Sheena Shandea] (song) Nataanii Means (artist)

Citizens of Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other tribes are making their way to Montana to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Greasy Grass, also known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn. They are going there to mark a milestone for one of the most significant battles on U.S. soil. Many of them can directly trace their lineage to the warriors who were there. Among them is Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, whose great-great grandfather, Bear With Horns, died in the fight. His story was preserved by his younger sister Lucy Poor Buffalo, who was seven years old and witnessed the battle. Spotted Bear and others from the online news site, Buffalo’s Fire, are collecting the stories in a Memorial Wall to pay tribute to the Native warriors. We’ll hear from Spotted Bear and other descendants whose stories have been handed down over the generations.

GUESTS

Ernie LaPointe (Lakota), great-grandson of Sitting Bull and veteran

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear (Mandan, Hidatsa and Mniconjou Lakota), executive director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance and editor-in-chief of Buffalo’s Fire

Donovin Sprague (Miniconjou Lakota), historian, archivist, and professor at Sheridan College



Break 1 Music: Remembering The Warrior (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)

Break 2 Music: Feels Like [feat. Sheena Shandea] (song) Nataanii Means (artist)

The Declaration of Independence infamously contains the phrase, “merciless Indian savages”, an indication of just where Native Americans fit into this year’s celebration of the founding document’s 250th anniversary For much of that time, the federal government, colonial historians, and the general public have fetishized a version of Native culture, all while working to extinguish that culture from continued existence. Acclaimed Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle takes on the semiquincentennial from the Native perspective in her new six-part podcast, “First America“. Nagle is also the creator of the podcast, “This Land”, which earned a Peabody Award nomination and won the 2020 American Mosaic Journalism Prize, and she wrote the national best-selling book, “By the Fire We Carry”. We’ll hear from Nagle and some of the historians and academics who provided insights on the Native influences on early democracy and the uneasy balance between Native people and America ever since.

GUESTS

Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee), creator and host of the “First America” podcast; author of “By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land”; and creator of “This Land” podcast

Philip Deloria (Yankton Dakota), professor of history at Harvard University

Dr. Nick Estes (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe), associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota



Break 1 Music: Old Hallicrafter Radio (song) Samantha Crain (artist) Gumshoe (album)

Break 2 Music: Feels Like [feat. Sheena Shandea] (song) Nataanii Means (artist)