Episode 1: The Police Officer and the Priest: One night back in the late 1970s, an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pulled over a suspected drunk driver. When he walked up to the vehicle, he came face-to-face with a ghost from his past: a residential school priest. That officer was journalist Connie Walker’s late father. What happened that night on the side of the road compelled her to return home to Saskatchewan nearly 40 years later to try to investigate a secret in her own family. What she uncovers is a much bigger story. 

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Last week the Supreme Court made an historic ruling upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act. Rebecca Nagle takes us inside the courtroom to break down the decision, how we got here, and what it all means.

Chapter 1: Bug’s Plan. It’s 2014. Adelanto is a bankrupt city in the California desert known for its massive detention centers and not much else. Then, a stranger comes to town with a wild idea to make Adelanto great again: Become the first city in Southern California to legalize commercial weed cultivation. Subscribe to Dreamtown to hear episode two right now, wherever you get your podcasts.

While we wait to see whether the Supreme Court takes the case, we attend a ceremony run by a program that helps Native adoptees reconnect with their tribes. 

Show Notes

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.

As the case heads to the Fifth Circuit - the last stop before the Supreme Court - we go inside the courtroom to hear the arguments and the decision.

Show Notes

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/
• Jennifer Brackeen’s Personal Blog https://web.archive.org/web/20201221201802/https://thebrackeens.blogspot.com/

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.

We know which law firms and think tanks are bringing these lawsuits, but no one has been able to figure out who’s funding them—or why—until now. 

Show Notes

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.

The fight against the Indian Child Welfare Act is much bigger than a few custody cases, or even the entire adoption industry. We follow the money, and our investigation leads us to a powerful group of corporate lawyers and one of the biggest law firms in the country. 

Show Notes

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/
• Mashpee Wampanoag face double crisis: COVID-19 and feds https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/mashpee-wampanoag-face-double-crisis-covid-19-and-feds
• Interior takes reservation away from Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/interior-takes-reservation-away-from-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe
• Mashpee Wampanoag ruling a 'win for all of Indian Country' https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/mashpee-wampanoag-ruling-a-win-for-all-of-indian-country
• The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 1 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-1
• The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 2 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-2
• The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 3 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-3
• The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 4 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-4
• The Fight for Baby Veronica, Part 5 https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-fight-for-baby-veronica-part-5
• Supreme Court Takes on Indian Child Welfare Act in Baby Veronica Case https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/supreme-court-takes-on-indian-child-welfare-act-in-baby-veronica-case

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.

The private adoption industry has been fighting against the Indian Child Welfare Act the longest. We learn why by following one couple’s journey to adopt and their mixed feelings about the process.

Show Notes

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/
• Blood Memory documentary https://www.bloodmemorydoc.com/

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.

The Brackeens aren’t the only ones suing to strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act. So are Danielle and Jason Clifford, a foster couple from Minnesota.

Show Notes

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.

The Brackeens' case would have been a normal adoption dispute, but then one of the most powerful corporate law firms in the United States took it on and helped the couple launch a federal lawsuit.

Show Notes

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/
• Blood Memory documentary https://www.bloodmemorydoc.com/
• “Indian Adoption Project Increases Momentum” April 18, 1967 press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior https://www.indianaffairs.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/indian-adoption-project-increases-momentum

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.

ALM – as referred to in court documents – is a Navajo and Cherokee toddler. When he was a baby, a white couple from the suburbs of Dallas wanted to adopt him, but a federal law said they couldn’t. So they sued.

Show Notes:

• This Land website https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/
• Resources For Survivors https://crooked.com/resources-for-survivors/
• Resources For Journalists & Investigators https://crooked.com/resources-for-journalists-investigators/
• Have a tip? Share it with our reporting team via SecureDrop https://criticalfrequency.org/securedrop/
• Jennifer Brackeen’s Personal Blog https://web.archive.org/web/20201221201802/https://thebrackeens.blogspot.com/
• "An Untold Number Of Indigenous Children Disappeared At U.S. Boarding Schools. Tribal Nations Are Raising The Stakes In Search Of Answers." https://theintercept.com/2018/09/25/carlisle-indian-industrial-school-indigenous-children-disappeared/
• "My Relatives Went To A Catholic School For Native Children. It Was A Place Of Horrors" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/30/my-relatives-went-to-a-catholic-school-for-native-children-it-was-a-place-of-horrors
• "Indigenous Children Finally Headed Home" https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/indigenous-children-officially-headed-home
• "Indian Boarding School Investigation Faces Hurdles In Missing Records, Legal Questions" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/indian-boarding-school-investigation-faces-hurdles-missing-records-legal-questions-n1273996
• "U.S. Boarding Schools To Be Investigated" https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/us-boarding-schools-to-be-investigated

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/thisland.