Native America Calling

From the original Cherokee syllabary to banners waved by Native American demonstrators, graphic works by Native people carry a thread through the centuries that operate within their own design framework. A new book and accompanying gallery exhibition, “Designed to be Red”, documents and celebrates that thread of visual works by Native designers that exert agency and authority over their own stories. The project compiles examples of purposeful visual rhetoric by Native Americans meant to teach, persuade, resist, and share within an environment that so often dismisses Native input. We’ll talk with Native designers about the project and the unique role Native designs play.

GUESTS

Brian Johnson (Monacan Indian Nation), partner of Polymode design studio

Heidi Brandow (Kanaka Maoli and Diné), editor of “Designed to be Red”, artist, and curator

Dr. Jessica Moore Harjo (Otoe-Missouria, Osage, Pawnee, and Sac & Fox). interdisciplinary artist and graphic designer

Kevin Coochwytewa (Isleta Pueblo and Hopi), freelance graphic designer and creative director



Break 1 Music: A Turtle’s Honour Song [NDN Jazz] (song) Mwalim (artist)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

At a time when Canada is reflecting on the painful history of residential schools, Indigenous leaders are having to speak out against organized efforts to minimize the harms inflicted on generations of Indigenous children. Just days before Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, white nationalists gathered near the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. The incident drew condemnation from Prime Minister Mark Carney and First Nations leaders. After witnessing what they say is an increase in sophisticated misleading public messages, Canadian elected officials are considering legislation to ban residential school denialism. We’ll explore the trend to minimize and distort an era of forced assimilation of subsequent abuse of children and the challenges for addressing it.

GUESTS

Nikki Fraser (Secwépemc), Acting Kúkwpi7 of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc

Pamela Palmater (Mi’kmaq), lawyer, professor, author, speaker and podcaster

Eleanore Sunchild (Cree from Thunderchild First Nation), Indigenous human rights attorney and the owner of Sunchild Law



Break 1 Music: Healing Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

“The Blue Corn Kitchen” by Alana Yazzie (Diné) gives young reader’s a glimpse of the traditional corn-based Navajo foods many Navajo grandmothers have stocked in their kitchens. It’s the latest project from the self-made, Navajo lifestyle and food blogger who also goes by The Fancy Navajo.

Howdy Cakes is a new pastry and cake business by Diné culinarian, Liz McKenzie. It’s in partnership with a start-up mini food hall in Albuquerque.

And, on the National Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools, we’ll take a look at the negative effects the institutions had on Native foodways.

GUESTS

Liz McKenzie (Diné), culinarian and cake artist; owner of Howdy Cakes, owner of Prickly Foods, and partner for La Carinderia

Alana Yazzie (Diné), creator and owner of the lifestyle and food blog, The Fancy Navajo, and author of “The Blue Corn Kitchen”

A-dae Romero-Briones (Cochiti and Kiowa), senior vice president of research and strategy for First Nations Development Institute



Break 1 Music: Yacca Banana Song [Two-Step Dance Song] (song) Sweethearts of Navajoland (artist) From the Heart of Diné Nation Traditional Songs of the Navajo (album)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

Named a “legendary Lakota horseman” by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota) has enjoyed a celebrated 68-year career as a jockey. After winning his debut race in 1957, Ecoffey went on to compete in more than 17,500 races, earning inductions into both the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Ecoffey, 88, has retired from professional racing, though he still helps one of his daughters with her barrel racing from time to time. Today, a new generation of young Native jockeys is taking up the mantle and finding success on the racetrack. Among them is Talliyah Timentwa (Colville Tribes), a two-time national Indian Relay champion who made her debut at Washington state’s Emerald Downs racecourse last year. We’ll speak with Native horse riders about cultivating the art of horsemanship across disciplines, from relay races and jockeying to the sport of dressage.

GUESTS

Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota), retired jockey, elder, and “legendary Lakota horseman”

Talliyah Timentwa (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), amateur jockey and two-time Indian Relay champion

Kate Nelson (Tlingit), journalist and amateur dressage rider



Break 1 Music: My Horse (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

Aliet Paul learns traditional sacred birthing practices of her Mi’kmaq through her grandmother. But the outside world is changing and drives a wedge between her and her community. “The Birthing Tree” is the second novel from Amanda Peters (Mi’kmaq). It is a story of identity, overcoming tragedy, and redemption through one’s connections to family and culture.

“How Settlers Get Away with Murder” by Liza Black (Cherokee) focuses on the real-life death and disappearance of five Indigenous people to exemplify the larger culpability of Western systems in ongoing violence against Indigenous people that fuels today’s MMIP crisis.



Break 1 Music: Stranger (song) Ken Pomeroy (artist) Cruel Joke (album)

Break 2 Music: Four Corners (song) Little Axe Singers (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)