Native America Calling

Kasey Jernigan (Choctaw) interviewed and observed Choctaw women over a period of years about food and their relationships to it. She documents what she learned in those observations in her new book, “Commod Bods: Embodied Heritage, Foodways and Indigeneity”. The book uses federal food and nutrition assistance as the jumping off point for an exploration of individual perceptions of food and colonial influences on Native health outcomes.

A quaint eatery in Arizona’s Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is attracting attention over and above the dozens of other frybread stands that dot reservation roadsides across the country. The Stand was just named one of USA Today’s 2026 Restaurants of the Year. It’s built by the same person who makes the frybread dough and serves the soup in a decidedly rustic setting.

Author, poet, educator and legal scholar Marique B. Moss (Photo: courtesy M. Moss)

Marique B. Moss explores her Black and Indigenous identity in her poetic memoir, “Sweetgrass and Soul Food”. She is among the Native people offering support to Minneapolis residents in the wake of the expanded immigration efforts from her space, Mashkiki Studios.

GUESTS

Dr. Kasey Jernigan (Choctaw), assistant professor of American studies and anthropology at the University of Virginia and the author of “Commod Bods: Embodied Heritage, Foodways, and Indigeneity”

Michael Washington (Pima and Maricopa), co-owner of The Stand

Marique Moss (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara and Dakota), owner of Mishkiki Studios, author, and cultural educator

Choctaw homicide detective Perry Antelope works on a missing persons case alongside the Choctaw Lighthorsemen tribal police in Devon Mihesuah’s (Choctaw) new mystery novel, “Blood Relay“. The story of the disappearance of a young athlete is set against the backdrop of the competitive bareback horse relay racing. The fictional fast-paced thriller also takes on the real-life issue of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives and the evolving jurisdictional complexities between federal, state, and tribal law enforcement in Oklahoma. Mihesuah, a historian and the Cora Lee Beers Price Teaching Professor at the University of Kansas, continues her tradition of creating strong leading women. She’s the author of the detective Monique Blue Hawk series (“Document of Expectations”, “Dance of the Returned“ and “The Hatak Witches“) and the 2024 collection of horror stories, “The Bone Picker“. She authored several non-fiction titles including “Recovering Our Ancestors’ Gardens: Indigenous Recipes and Guide to Diet and Fitness”. We add Mihesuah’s Blood Relay to our Native Bookshelf.

Congress just approved significant funding increases going forward for a handful of core domestic violence funding and policy initiatives. But at the same time, many services for survivors face a new level of unpredictability. Victim support funds in some states plummeted as much as 70%, leaving states to try and cover some of those costs. The Trump administration instituted requirements that domestic violence survivors prove their immigration status before being allowed into shelters and certain long-time domestic violence services remain a target in upcoming federal budget talks. We’ll get a picture of the current trends for domestic violence prevention.

GUESTS

Abigail Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), director of the Urban Indian Health Institute and executive vice president of the Seattle Indian Health Board

Melissa L. Pope, Chief Judge of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi

Rochelle Red Bone Arebalo (Apache and Commanche), chairperson of the MMIW Indian Capital Chapter

Stacey Ettawageshik (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians), executive director of Uniting Three Fires Against Violence

Former Osage Principal Chief Jim Gray is remembered as a leader who laid the foundation for a modern, self-governing tribal structure while also reconnecting the tribe with its cultural roots. Among his many accomplishments as a transformative leader, Jim Gray spearheaded the historic reform of Osage government in 2004. That secured the individual right to vote for each Osage citizen rather than headright ownership and restored the Nation’s sovereign status. During his time as principal chief, the Nation also successfully negotiated a landmark $380 million settlement with the U.S. government — at the time the largest of its kind — addressing decades of tribal trust fund mismanagement. All the while, he remained a determined advocate for cultural and language revitalization. Gray walked on this month. We’ll hear from his family and friends about his legacy.

We’ll also remember Black civil rights leader, Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died this week at the age of 84. Jackson championed various Native causes throughout his career including opposition to nuclear waste dumping on tribal lands and support for the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

GUESTS

Olivia Gray (Osage), wife to Jim Gray

Hepsi Barnett (Osage), former chief of staff and government reform coordinator for the Osage Nation

Yancey Red Corn (Osage, Caddo, and Potawatomi), actor, CEO of White Buffalo Alliance and nephew to Jim Gray

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee), president of the Morning Star Institute and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom



Break 1 Music: Wahzhazhe (song) Scott George (artist) Killers of the Flower Moon Soundtrack (album)

Break 2 Music: Keep Hope Alive (song) The Crystal Method (artist) Vegas (album)

Native Americans have worked hard for decades to counter the stereotypes perpetuated in old movies and television shows about the American West. Now a new generation of Native technology experts worry that artificial intelligence is eroding that work. Scores of AI-generated images and videos are flooding people’s social media For You pages. The creations are within easy reach of anyone typing a prompt into any AI generator that scrapes information from millions of sources. Often posted by anonymous creators, the products of those prompts present vaguely Native visual and audio characteristics with little to no authentic cultural connections. Along the way they generate hundreds of thousands of admirers. We’ll talk about the work to counter the looming onslaught of AI cultural appropriation.

GUESTS

Dr. Angelo Baca (Diné and Hopi), professor of history, philosophy, and social sciences at the Rhode Island School of Design

Trevor Reed (Hopi), professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and an associate justice for the Hopi Tribe Court of Appeals

Dr. Tamika Worrell (Gamilaroi), senior lecturer of critical Indigenous studies at Macquarie University



Break 1 Music: Obsidian (song) Red-209 (artist)

Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)