With a basis in resistance to institutional authority, anarchy appeals to some politically minded Native Americans. Historically, Indigenous anarchists played a significant role in the Mexican Revolution. Although the term is often used in popular culture to be synonymous with chaos, modern Native anarchists also incorporate the development of coll…

The acrobatic dance style known as “Breaking” started almost a half century ago with the hip-hop culture on the streets of the Bronx. Among its most enduring features is the influence of powwow fancy dance steps. Breaking’s debut at the Paris Olympics propelled awareness of the current skill and athleticism that goes into it. We’ll talk with noted …

This week, Indigenous leaders, climate, activists, and community members from more than 80 different nations around the world are convening in Rapid City, S.D. The 12th World Wilderness Congress will be looking at concerns and solutions to issues facing forest health, biodiversity, and wildlife. We’ll talk with elders actively addressing these issu…

Native America Calling was at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill. Host Shawn Spruce along with National Native News anchor Antonia Gonzales and Native Vote 2024 contributor Shaun Griswold from Source NM brought you special live coverage during Thursday night’s acceptance speech by Vice President Kamala Harris. Listen to the full bro…

Hugo Morales (Mixtec) rose from his Indigenous family farming roots in Oaxaca, Mexico to found Radio Bilingue, the largest Latino radio network in the United States. The network continues to offer a diverse array of programming in English, Spanish, Mixtec, and Triqui languages. Morales earned money while going to school by picking fruit in Californ…

Vice President Kamala Harris will wrap up the Democratic National Convention, a climax to the four-day political spectacle to launch the vice president into the home stretch toward the November election. A presidential candidate for barely a month, Harris makes her best case to lead the nation for the next four years. If voters choose Harris, what …

Even if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the White House, her agenda is dependent on what happens in Congressional elections. Since entering the race a few short weeks ago, Harris’ favorability has risen in polls—and once wary Democratic candidates are starting to see her as a strength. We’ll discuss what’s at stake for Native issues when it comes…

Beyond building momentum for the presidential candidates, there is some work to do at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Native delegates have a voice in developing the platform that Democrats look to as the blueprint to effect policy. How much of what the policy direction relates to issues important to Native Americans? We’ll zero in on how…

For their most important public gathering in the presidential election, Democrats have chosen to meet on the traditional lands of the Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ojibwe, Odawa, and a handful of other nations. The state has no established federally recognized tribes, but the number of Chicago citizens who identify as Native American has more th…

Distinctly Native American artwork, fashion, and films converge again for the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, with at least 1,000 booths and somewhere around 100,000 visitors. Native America Calling is live from Santa Fe, hearing from Southwestern Association for Indian Arts representatives, 2023 Best In Show winner Jennifer Tafoya, curators from th…

Violinist, composer, and producer Geneviève Gros-Louis has a busy schedule of solo and group performances and discussions leading up to the release of her new album that celebrates Wendat culture and talent. She captivated the audience at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival with a piece composed specifically for the premiere of the film, Killers of the F…

The Yaqui people fought for centuries against Spanish missionaries, miners, slave-traders, and the iron-fisted, anti-Indigenous rule of the Mexican government in the latter part of the 19th Century. Once the dominant culture in what is now Sonora, Yaqui populations were eventually diminished from conflict, disease, and even deportation out of their…

As an Ojibwe language teacher and expert on Native American history and issues, Anton Treuer has penned more than a dozen books that are required reading for some Native studies college courses. But Treuer turns to fiction in his newest work, Where Wolves Don’t Die. His first novel is for young readers and focuses on Ezra, a young Ojibwe teen livin…

The Navajo Nation deployed its police department to hold back trucks hauling uranium ore across tribal land. The action comes after the recent resumption of uranium mining at the Pinyon Plain (formerly Canyon) Mine in northwest Arizona. It is one of 600 uranium mines considered dormant because they aren’t financially viable. They are tied to numero…

The Land of 10,000 Lakes, Paul Bunyan, and Tater Tot hotdish is also home to 11 federally recognized tribes. A citizen of one of those tribes, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Ojibwe/D-MN) is already the highest ranking female Native elected executive in the country. Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her r…

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy won 17 Academy Awards and its legacy endures nearly 25 years after the first film’s release. The trilogy’s success has put its filming location, New Zealand, on the industry map. The motion picture business contributes at least $2.12 billion a year to New Zealand’s economy. That’s also been a boon for Indigenous c…

Losing a loved one is a traumatic experience. The burden of paying funeral costs for a befitting honor for that person’s life can add to the stress. There are a number of alternatives in either direction, but the National Funeral Director’s Association reports the median cost of a funeral in 2024 is $7,848. More families are turning to crowd fundin…

Wildfires on tribal lands have already claimed at least two lives and destroyed dozens of homes in New Mexico and Arizona. Multiple fires just forced the evacuation of hundreds of people on the Nez Perce reservation in northern Idaho. Tribal wildfire response and emergency management operations are kicking into high gear as wildfires threaten lives…

The American Museum of Natural History in New York just announced it’s repatriating remains of 124 relatives and almost 100 Native cultural items from its collection. The museum continues to hold onto remains of some 12,000 other individuals from North America and beyond. It’s among institutions re-examining practices after new rules enacted this y…

The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations of Oklahoma have agreed to recognize each other’s licenses for hunting and fishing on their respective reservation lands. Tribal leaders say the agreement both strengthens their sovereignty and creates a more sustainable fish and wildlife management system. If you know where to look, …

For the first time, the United States is owning up to its role in the deplorable treatment of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children at Indian Boarding Schools over more than a century. The report from the U.S. Department of Interior documents the deaths of nearly 1,000 children at boarding schools—many in collaboration with Ca…

We’ll catch up on some important news including members of a U.S. House of Representatives committee grilled officials from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) over missed complaints of sexual abuse, a toxic work environment, and mismanagement at Haskell Indian Nations University - and faulted BIA for failing to release public records about the comp…

The 2024 Paris Olympics are under way with more than 50 Indigenous athletes. That number includes the national team with the highest number of Indigenous athletes in the history of the Games: New Zealand, with 37 competitors of Māori descent. The United States has three Native Hawaiian athletes and Canada has at least 5 representing various Indigen…

As a senator and a member of the Joe Biden Administration, Vice President Kamala Harris has advocated for tribes and equity for Native Americans, explicitly promising to work with tribes to restore improperly taken lands, defending the Indian Child Welfare Act, and addressing Missing and Murdered Indigenous people. But her track record as a Califor…

Two new albums feature Native languages front and center, incorporating traditional storytelling and themes of resilience. Nuxalk Radio is celebrating ten years on the air with compilation of original songs entirely in the Nuxalk language. Nusximta is the result of a call to community members to write songs rooted in cultural tradition and to inspi…

The threat of a Donald Trump presidency has prompted hundreds of people from a dozen countries to begin walking to the U.S. border in an attempt to gain access before a potential ban on immigrants. It’s the latest in a surge of recent legal and illegal immigration attempts over the U.S.-Mexico border that is a focus of political campaigns portrayin…

The U.S. House of Representatives just upped the ante on voter ID efforts by passing a bill to require proof of citizenship at polling places. Even though the idea lacks support in the Senate, it’s the latest in a relentless drive for more voting restrictions that Native American voting rights advocates say hinder access. In addition, an effort by …

Even before colonial contact, tribal leaders faced life and death decisions, challenges to their authority, and the judgements of their constituency. They also developed a model of governance that informed America's burgeoning democracy. Two Native scholars take a look at the successes and stumbles of tribal leadership throughout history. Some of t…

We'll get a picture of what's ahead for Native voters as Democrats muster support for a new presidential candidate.Also: The spaces around community buildings, public spaces and campuses reflect the people, culture, and land. At Southern Oregon University, a team of Native landscape architects and planners is including native plants, medicines, and…

Among the earth's most genetically pure buffalo herds in Yellowstone National Park, a rare white buffalo calf is born. It is considered sacred to surrounding tribes, such as the Lakota, Dakota, Blackfeet, and Shoshone, and was given a name, Wakan Gli, in a naming ceremony. The white calf brings with it a prophecy that some say correctly explains cu…

The Republican National Convention aims to end on a high note with a triumphant nomination acceptance speech by Donald Trump. It’s his first public comments since the assassination attempt over the weekend. The convention is propelling the expected momentum for the candidate, but we’ll bring it back down to earth to talk about what a Trump Presiden…

Republicans hope to build momentum through the week at their national convention to galvanize party faithful—and to convince you to vote for their candidate. Not just the name at the top of the ticket but the Republican candidates to represent you in Congress. But what would a decisive Republican majority in Congress mean for Native American consti…

Donald Trump appeared in public for the first time since a serious attempt on his life. Delegates at the Republican National Convention heaped adulation on Trump as the parade of Republican voices tore into President Joe Biden's record. What does the display of Republican values on the national scale look like to Native American voters? Can the mom…

The world's attention is gripped by an assassination attempt against Donald J. Trump, as he is preparing to accept his party's nomination in Milwaukee, Wisc. Already a tumultuous race, the violence portends a political event like no other. We’ll be in Milwaukee to hear about what is on the political minds of some of the state’s 11 federally recogni…

Tourism is big money for many tribes and individual entrepreneurs. But it also has the potential to diminish people’s quality of life. Residents in Juneau, Alaska are considering a limit on the dozens of cruise ships that unload thousands of visitors there every summer. Among other things, critics say the steady stream of outsiders detracts from wh…

In recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has hampered the federal government’s ability to enforce environmental protections and set workplace safety rules, and allows cities to prosecute people without homes for sleeping outside. The rulings are a boon for some tribes and individual Native Americans and a problem for many others. We’ll find out some…

More than half of Native American elders from rural areas have some sort of cognitive impairment, a condition that ranges from mild memory loss all the way to dementia. That’s the conclusion of a new, first-of-its-kind research by The Strong Heart Study over seven years. It focused on members of 11 tribes and included cognitive testing, neurologica…

For the first time, a bill to create a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian boarding schools has reached the floor of the U.S. Senate. A companion bill is working through the U.S. House. The concept of an official panel to look into the abuses of boarding schools has surfaced previously but failed to take hold. The action comes as the National Na…

George Lepine’s (Plains Cree-Assiniboine) sixth degree black belts in Taekwondo and Hapkido inform his own form of martial arts rooted in traditional Plains Cree fighting styles. Established in 1997, the martial arts system known as Okichitaw includes hand combat training and weaponry like knives, tomahawks, and gunstocks. After decades of teaching…

A Minneapolis Lakota man is developing an archive of music by Native American artists one record and cassette tape at a time. Justis Brokenrope (Sicangu Lakota), founder of Wathéča Records, music curator, DJ, and educator, has already amassed a sizable collection of mostly folk, rock, blues, and country music by Native musicians. Now he’s convertin…

Phoenix, Ariz. is the latest city to face federal allegation of police discrimination against Native Americans and other people of color. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation cites serious statistical disparities when it comes to police interacting with and charging Native people compared to other residents. The report also accuses the depart…

In Métis author Conor Kerr’s new novel, Prairie Edge, a herd of stolen bison get tangled up in a scheme orchestrated by a fiery Indigenous activist and her aimless young companion. The stunt turns dangerous in a hurry. Kerr’s story dives into two very different Indigenous communities in Edmonton, Alberta through protagonists, Grey and Ezzy, who sha…

While candidates for the Republican and Democratic parties reign supreme in headlines, there are those Native American voters who aren’t bound by the two-party system. A number of viable candidates for president including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Dr. Cornel West, and Dr. Jill Stein, who are also working to win Native votes. And there are even some t…

For the first time, the federal government acknowledges the devastation to Native America tribes caused by a century of dam building on rivers in the Pacific Northwest. The report by the U.S. Department of Interior notes the benefits for the region’s burgeoning population in need of cheap power, irrigation, and steady jobs. But that same push dismi…

Iñupiaq and Yup'ik writer Laureli Ivanoff illuminating Alaska Native foodways is recognized with a 2024 James Beard Media Award. Dakota gardener Teresa Peterson’s new book, Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from a Dakota Garden, is a tour through the seasons and a story about how gardening, and resulting recipes, affect everyday life, family, h…

Hubert Logan, Mega Bear, Wampum Baggs, and Tad Nugget are all back for Volume 3 of the Super Indian saga. Creator Arigon Starr (Kickapoo and Muscogee Creek) continues the tale of the Native boy who developed super powers after eating commodity cheese tainted with “Rezium”. We’ll talk with Starr about the new comics and what else she’s been up to si…

The state of California has agreed to return 2,800 acres of land to the Shasta Indian Nation. It’s not just any 2,800 acres. It was home to the Shasta people, but was flooded by a series of dams in a giant hydroelectric project more than a century ago. And Congress just approved a similar transfer of 1,600 acres of land along the Missouri River for…

Phoenix, Ariz. is the latest city to face federal allegation of police discrimination against Native Americans and other people of color. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation cites serious statistical disparities when it comes to police interacting with and charging Native people compared to other residents. The report also accuses the depart…

Singer-songwriter Quinn Christopherson (Ahtna Athabascan and Iñupiaq) is on a cross-country tour along with GRAMMY award-winning Alaska (by way of Portland, Ore.) band Portugal. The Man and winning over audiences with his insightful music delivered with passion and a charismatic optimism. Christopherson burst into people’s consciousness after winni…

Skateboarding has gone from a rebellious alternative culture to an Olympic sport. It’s also becoming increasingly popular among Native athletes and recreational boarders and organizers are stepping up their support with places to skate. Skateboarding has roots in Native Hawaiian surf culture, and Navajo, Hopi, and Oglala Lakota nations are among th…