Following August’s U.S. Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action, several states are rushing to rid their higher education institutions of recruitment and inclusion programs that benefit Native students. On top of that, the botched update to the FAFSA process has many families confused about their ability to pay for college in the coming academic year. Native Americans already have among the lowest college enrollment rates. Higher education advocates worry the confluence of factors might erase any recent educational attainment gains.

GUESTS

Secretary Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education

Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sičháŋǧu Lakota), president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund

Julia Wakeford (Mvskoke and Yuchi), National Indian Education Association policy director

Dr. Corey Still (citizen of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians), senior research director at One Fire Associates, LLC

Break 1 Music: Unity (song) Native Roots (artist) Most High (album)

Break 2 Music: 2 Hour Parking (song) Cris Derksen (artist) The Cusp (album)

A tribe once targeted for termination has established the first reservation in the state of Illinois. The U.S. Department of Interior transferred 130 acres of Northern Illinois land to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. The action comes 175 years after the federal government illegally sold the tribe’s Illinois land — ten times the current trust land size — when the chief was out of the state visiting family. We’ll hear about the new land transaction and other recent notable land achievements.

GUESTS

Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation)

Joe Heath, Onondaga Nation general counsel 

Sara K. Van Norman, founder of Van Norman Law

Samantha MJ Yang (Gabrieleño Tongva Band of Mission Indians), environmental biologist and ethnobotanist

Break 1 Music: “Sovereign Land” – Summit Dub Squad (song) The Native Movement Native Music Compilation (artist) Written In Blood (album)

Break 2 Music: 2 Hour Parking (song) Cris Derksen (artist) The Cusp (album)

A big band made up of Native musicians is headlining a jazz festival at the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital this weekend. The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band is billed as the only all-Native jazz band in the world. It’s made up of 16 of the music disciplined genre’s most notable and talented Native musicians, including co-director Delbert Anderson (Diné), Mali Obomsawin (Odanak Abenaki), and Ed Littlefield (Tlingit).

GUESTS

Julia Keefe (Nimiipuu), jazz singer, band leader, actor, and director of Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band

Delbert Anderson (Diné), jazz trumpet artist, composer, educator, and co-director of Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band

Break 1 Music: Water (song) Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

Links to Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band performances:

Twenty-five year old Diné multimedia artist Kassie John is the newest cultural ambassador to wear the Miss Indian World crown. She is the first Navajo Miss Indian World in a decade. John hopes to inspire young people to tap into their own artistic talent to bring Indigenous stories to others. She’s a business owner and comes from a family with many strong ties to the powwow community. We’ll hear from her and some previous Miss Indian World winners about the power of Native royalty.

GUESTS

Kassie John (Diné), current Miss Indian World 2023-2024

Cheyenne Kippenberger (Seminole Tribe of Florida), former Miss Indian World 2019-2021 and owner of C.K. Consulting

Tori McConnell (Yurok), former Miss Indian World 2023-2024

Break 1 Music: Kinship Honor (K’é Biyiin) (song) Radmilla Cody (artist) K’é Hasin (album)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

Tribes can enact laws and take actions that relate to tribal land. But the ability for tribes to dictate what happens in the skies over that land is less clear. The Federal Aviation Administration is the main authority controlling the use of airspace. But the growing proliferation of drones and small personal aircraft is prompting researchers and some tribes to explore how to assert jurisdiction to what happens overhead. We’ll discuss some of the current limits and possibilities for exerting sovereign influence over tribal airspace.

GUESTS

Jacob Taylor (Curve Lake First Nation), CEO of Indigenous Aerospace

Jonathan Cordova, geography student at the University of Montana

Robert Gifford (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Native American law attorney and tribal court judge

Shelly Knight, cyberinfrastructure facilitator at American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) High Noon (artist) Generations (album)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

Gaming revenue hit a record $40.9 billion in the most recent report by the National Indian Gaming Commission. Gaming’s economic reliability over the years along with other tribal enterprises give some tribes multi-billion dollar annual incomes. The U.S. Census Bureau reports Native-owned businesses employ more than 243,000. We’ll hear about the unique opportunities and challenges that come with tribal wealth.

GUESTS

Lance Morgan (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska), founder and CEO of Ho-Chunk, Inc.  

Leilani Wilson Walkush (Tlingit), chief compliance officer for Breakwater Investment Group, LLC

Jason Giles (Muscogee Creek), executive director of the National Indian Gaming Association

Misty Napeahi, vice chairwoman of the Tulalip Tribes

Break 1 Music: Rainbow Gratitude (song) Joy Harjo (artist) Red Dreams, A Trail Beyond Tears (album)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

Ten years since a world-changing blackout, an Anishinaabe community must embark on a mission of discovery if they’re going to survive. First Nations author Waubgeshig Rice revisits the survivors from his first novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, as they search south for sustainable future in his next novel, Moon of the Turning Leaves. We’ll hear from him how he works to bring hope into a post-apocalyptic story. Plus, we’ll be joined by one of Jim Thorpe’s granddaughters about his posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.

GUESTS

Waubgeshig Rice (Wasauksing First Nation), author and journalist

Anita Thorpe (Sac and Fox), Jim Thorpe’s granddaughter

Break 1 Music: Native Blood (song) Testament (artist) Dark Roots of Earth (album)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

The number of arrests in connection to protests against the Israel-Hamas war has now gone over 2,000. A number of Native students are among those supporting the protests generally calling for universities to cut any ties to Israel’s military efforts in Gaza. Inspired by students at Columbia University, additional protests have spread to more than two dozen campuses. The protests include occupying university buildings and setting up encampments. In addition to arrests, protesting students risk suspensions and other academic consequences. We’ll hear from Native students in support of the largest college campus protests since the Vietnam War.

GUESTS

Kianna (Diné), Columbia University student

Derek (Mixteco), Columbia University student

Siihasin Hope (Diné), University of New Mexico alumnus, community organizer

Lani Mekeel (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara), model and Indigenous advocate

Break 1 Music: Walking in Beauty (song) Jay Begaye (artist) The Beauty Way (album)

Break 2 Music: Flyer (song) The Zoniez (artist)

A substantial number of Native Americans are affected by Arizona’s efforts to solidify a strict ban on abortions. Even after Arizona elected leaders repealed the law affirmed by the state Supreme Court that criminalizes nearly all abortions, the state faces a new landscape with it comes to access to the procedure. Abortion access advocates are taking cues from other states with abortion restrictions on the books — a reality that affects at least 75 federally recognized tribes. We’ll get rundown from multiple perspectives on the current trends and realities for abortion access for Native women.

GUESTS

Charon Asetoyer (Comanche), executive director of the Native American Community board, which is a parent organization to the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center

Rachael Lorenzo (Mescalero Apache and Laguna Pueblo), executive director of Indigenous Women Rising

Wes Nofire (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Native American liaison for the State of Oklahoma

Ann Tweedy, professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law

Break 1 Music: Hope (Featuring Werner Erb) (song) Sihasin (artist) Never Surrender (album)

Break 2 Music: Flyer (song) The Zoniez (artist)

The short video social media platform TikTok is mostly a source of entertainment and information for most Native users. A ban on the app in the United States would cut that off for TikTok fans, but also close off a source of income for several talented Native producers. A new law requires TikTok’s China-based company to sell its interest in the app or lose its U.S. audience, which has a massive, mostly young base. We’ll hear from Native TikTok producers and cybersecurity experts about what’s behind the ban and what it means for users.

GUESTS

charlie amáyá scott (Diné), influencer, TikTok creator, and PhD candidate  

Patuk Glenn (Iñupiaq), executive director of the Arctic Slope Community Foundation and content creator 

Brandon Benallie (Diné and Hopi), cybersecurity expert

Dr. Karaitiana Taiuru (Kai Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, & Ngāti Toa), Māori A.I., Data, and Emerging Tech Ethicist and Governance, IP, and Critical Indigenous Researcher

Break 1 Music: Hoka Hey (feat. Jayden Paz & Dancin Dave) [Radio Version] (song) DJ krayzkree (artist) Future Generations (album)

Break 2 Music: Flyer (song) The Zoniez (artist)

In his book Rabbit Decolonizes the Forest, Euchee judge Gregory Bigler uses a mix of legal analysis, first-hand accounts, and traditional animal stories. He also includes lots of references to food and how Euchee people carried culinary tradition with them from Georgia to Oklahoma. Filmmakers in the new PBS documentary One With The Whale follow a Yupik family who endured a barrage of hate messages after a traditional whale hunt. It shows the disconnection between traditional subsistence hunting in Alaska and outsiders who don’t have to rely on nature for their existence. And some Native school gardens are no longer just a class project, but an established part of the curriculum. That’s on this episode of The Menu on Native America Calling, our regular feature on food sovereignty hosted by Andi Murphy.