Native America Calling

President Donald Trump’s federal budget proposal includes a 75% funding cut to a diabetes prevention and treatment program specifically for Native Americans. It also calls for up to $65 million in cuts to Indian Health Care facilities improvements. The Republican-controlled Congress has a mixed record on supporting Trump’s budget cuts to Native health care, but the proposals are cause for concern for tribes like Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico that is contending with costly repairs for its aging health clinic. It also comes as the country faces the looming dropoff in Medicaid reimbursements that jeopardizes the future for hundreds of mainly rural hospitals across the country. We’ll assess the threats to Native health care as we know it and other potential challenges that the ongoing shift in federal priorities is bringing to the surface.

GUESTS

Liz Malerba (Mohegan), director of policy and legislative affairs for the United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund

A.C. Locklear (Lumbee), CEO of the National Indian Health Board

Jerilyn Church (Cheyenne River Lakota), president and CEO of the Great Plains Tribal Leader’s Health Board

Kurt Riley (Acoma Pueblo), chairman of the Acoma Pueblo Health Board and former governor of Acoma Pueblo



Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Confederacy Style (album)

Break 2 Music: Further From the Country (song) William Prince (artist) Further From the Country (album)

The Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska is telling the story of 11 children taken from the area and shipped off to the Carlisle Indian Boarding School more than a century ago. The museum was instrumental in securing the return of one of those children who was buried on school grounds. It is part of an ongoing effort by the museum to document and repatriate Alaska Native ancestors under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. We’ll hear about their work.

GUESTS

Dehrich Chya (Alutiiq, Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak), director of language and living culture at the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository

Benjamin Jacuk (Dena’ina Athabascan and Sugpiaq), director of Indigenous research at the Alaska Native Heritage Center

Nyché Andrew (Yup’ik/Iñupiaq)



Break 1 Music: They Sing to Each Other (song) Pamyua (artist) Side A Side B (album)

Break 2 Music: Further From the Country (song) William Prince (artist) Further From the Country (album)

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision opens a new path for the controversial practice known as “conversion therapy”, a method aimed at questioning or even changing a person’s sexual orientation. More than 20 states ban the practice. It is condemned by major medial establishments including the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. LGBTQ2+ advocates at the Trevor Project call the Supreme Court’s ruling a “tragic step backward“. It is also one in the growing number of legal and policy challenges ranging from a ban on Pride flags to defunding HIV/AIDS treatment. We’ll hear from Native LGBTQ and Two-Spirit advocates and legal experts about the landscape for LGBTQ2 protections.

GUESTS

State Rep. Liish Kozlowski (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa/D-MN), first non-binary person elected to the Minnesota Legislature

Shelby Chestnut (Assiniboine), executive director of the Transgender Law Center

Lenny Hayes (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), owner and executive director of Tate Topa Consulting, LLC

Mattee Jim (Diné), Native transgender advocate



Break 1 Music: ‘Cause I Like A Girl (song) Ailani (artist) Heartbroken Bones (album)

Break 2 Music: Further From the Country (song) William Prince (artist) Further From the Country (album)

This year’s Juno Awards in Hamilton, Ontario, included historic wins and high-profile performances by Indigenous artists, celebrating their roles as central, defining voices in contemporary Canadian music. Oji-Cree singer-songwriter Aysanabee secured two major honors: Alternative Album of the Year and Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year for his project Edge of the Earth. Veteran powwow group Bear Creek won for Traditional Indigenous Group — their first Juno in a nearly 30-year career. William Prince performed his song For the First Time, and Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq appeared onstage as part of a tribute to Nelly Furtado. We’ll hear more about Indigenous milestones by Indigenous artists at Canada’s biggest celebration of music.

GUESTS

Aysanabee (Oji-Cree, Sucker Clan of Sandy Lake First Nation)

Jai King-Green (Mississaugas Anishinaabe), singer from the Manitou Mkwa Singers

Joe Syrette (Ojibwe from Batchewana First Nation), head singer for Bear Creek

Yellow Bear Nakota (Nakoda), Indigenous Sioux singer



Break 1 Music: Further From the Country (song) William Prince (artist) Further From the Country (album)

Break 2 Music: Save the World (song) Tribz (artist) Trimmed (album)

A jury convicted Google and social media giant Meta of failing to do enough to prevent the harmful effects of their projects on children. Plaintiffs, including several tribes, argued children too young to be on social media platforms are subjected to bullying and suffer poor self-esteem because of content they encounter online. At the same time, retailers are able to strip personal information from young people — and others — who use social media. Does social media have any redeeming value? We’ll find out what might change in light of the recent legal decision.

GUESTS

Dr. Amanda Cheromiah (Laguna Pueblo), executive director for the Jim Thorpe Center for the Future of Native Peoples at Dickinson College

Dr. Deidre Yellowhair (Diné), research assistant professor in the division of community behavioral health for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of New Mexico

Merri Lopez-Keifer (San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians), executive director of the Center for Indigenous Law & Justice at the University of California Berkeley School of Law

Tim Purdon, partner at Robins Kaplan LLP



Break 1 Music: Current (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: Save the World (song) Tribz (artist) Trimmed (album)