American Indian Airwaves

Today on American Indian Airwaves (AIA), our guest provides an extensive update on Mexico’s recent Constitutional reforms between June and July 2025, the February 2025 threat of the Trump Administration listing certain Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and possibly US military intervention, and how the new Constitutional reforms actually expand state and cartel powers which has already produced a spike or escalation in violent deaths of Indigenous peoples. Our guest will also discuss Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, administration approval of the Palenque-San Cristóbal Highway (~95 miles) and its implications for Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands, expanded U.S. militarization of ICE in Michigan targeting, rounding up, and deporting immigrants in an era of U.S. authoritarian fascism, and more. Guest: Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created in the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

On May 8th, 2025, at the Vatican, the Conclave elected Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost as the 267th Bishop of Rome. Known as Pope Leo XIV, he succeeds Pope Francis, and inherits a long, violent and unresolved legacy of the Vatican’s role in committing intergenerational settler colonial violence and genocides against Indigenous peoples, clans, communities, and nations throughout the world. The Vatican’s complicity can be traced back to the 15th century issuance of three papal bulls, the first two decreed by Pope Nicholas V in 1452 and Romanus Pontifex (1455); and third by Pope Alexander VI's Inter caetera in 1493. Known as the Doctrine of Dominion or Discovery, the Papal bulls authorized colonial powers such as Spain, Portugal, and other European monarchies and countries to seize lands and subjugate people in Africa and the western hemisphere so long as Indigenous peoples were not Christians. In the United States, the Doctrine of Dominion/discovery, indeed, is the foundation of America’s property law and federal Indian law that violently ensures Native Americans dispossession of their traditional and treaty homelands – a situation established by the Vatican in the 15th century. Over the centuries, the Vatican and its missionaries have been responsible for the theft of thousands and thousands of Indigenous peoples sacred or ceremonial items and other forms of cultural patrimony, which have either been on display at the Vatican Museum, or remain hostage at the Vatican and possibly other religious institutions. To date, the Vatican has not repatriated Indigenous ceremonial items back to Indigenous peoples and nations in violating the UNDRIP and denying Indigenous peoples fundamental rights. So, what does Pope Leo XIV mean for Indigenous peoples throughout the world? Pope Leo inherits Pope Francis’s legacy which includes: in 2022, the Vatican issuing an apology for the “catastrophic” legacy of residential schools in Canada; in 2023, the Vatican repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery” without calling for settler colonial countries to do the same, and in 2023, Pope Francis, despite the formal protest of 50 California Indian nations, was responsible for the canonization of the Spanish missionary Junipero Serra who masterminded the 18th-century Alta Spanish mission system that functioned as violent theological network attempting to vanquish Indigenous peoples along the coast of California and parts of the western hemisphere. Guest: Valentin Lopez, Amah Mutsun Nation, is Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Nation, one of three historic California Indigenous Nations that are recognized as Ohlone. Valentin is Mutsun, Awaswas, Chumash and Yokuts (http://amahmutsun.org/governance/tribal-council). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today on American Indian Airwaves (AIA), listeners will hear our special guest discuss the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), its history and January 2024 modifications along with its implications for Native Americans. In addition, our guest will provide an in-depth analysis about the increased aqua or ocean mining by non-renewable extractive industry companies for rare minerals - as part of the Green Economy – potentially jeopardizing, threatening, and/or destroying Native American sacred sites currently under the ocean. Our guest addresses what this situation means for Native American sacred sites off the coastal shorelines of Indigenous people’s traditional territories? Are there protections in place for these sacred sites? What happens when private companies encounter these sacred sites, and Native American ancestors, sacred items, and forms of cultural patrimony? What roles does NAGPRA play in these situations or does it? The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990 with the intended purposes to protect and return of Native American ancestors, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. By enacting NAGPRA, Congress recognized that Native American ancestors "must at all times be treated with dignity and respect." Congress also acknowledged that Native American ancestors and other cultural items removed from Federal or tribal lands belong to the lineal descendants, Native American nations, and Native Hawaiian organizations. Guest: • Shannon O’Loughlin is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and serves the Association on American Indian Affairs as its Chief Executive and Attorney. Shannon has been practicing law for more than 24 years and is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. Shannon serves as Vice Chair of the Board at Native Ways Federation, which educates about informed giving to Native-led nonprofits. • She is a former Chief of Staff to the National Indian Gaming Commission, where she assisted in the development and implementation of national gaming policy, and oversaw the agency’s public affairs, technology, compliance and finance divisions. Shannon was appointed by Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Sally Jewell to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Review Committee in 2013; and was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first Native American to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee within the State Department in 2015. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today on American Indian Airwaves (AIA), listeners will hear from the Climate Justice Organizer of the Pueblo Action Alliance, an Indigenous women and femme-led grassroots organization, which has been actively building both a community and a movement to resist false solutions being pushed across New Mexico and on Pueblo lands. In collaboration with the New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition, they successfully defeated eight state legislative bills promoting false solutions—including those advancing carbon capture, hydrogen, brackish and reclaimed water projects, and the reclassification of natural gas as renewable energy. The PAA’s intent is to keep this coalition growing and continue building power across the state. With this year’s turnout, Pueblo Action Alliance—alongside the No False Solutions Coalition—is setting the bar and offering a blueprint for how to build, empower, and uplift communities to defend the sacred from carbon colonialism. Listeners will hear this and more about the various successful campaigns of the PAA in defending the sacred in a “just transition”. Guest: • Alicia Gallegos, (Laguna Pueblo & Acoma Pueblo Nations), Climate Justice Organizer of the Pueblo Action Alliance (PAA). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Trump 2.0 is causing mass anxiety throughout “Indian Country” and across Turtle Island so far in 2025. As of mid-June 2025, the Trump Administration’s proposed Fiscal 2026 federal budget calls for nearly $1 billion in cuts to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and other federal Native American programs. In addition, President Trump signed “Birthright Citizenship” Executive Order 14160 on January 20th, 2025, where the Trump Administration believes it could denaturalize Native American U.S. citizenship, especially if the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. CASA, Inc. agrees with the Trump Administration. But Native America nations have an extra-constitutional relationship with the United States government, and this extra-constitutional relationship is the result of more than 380 signed and ratified treaties between Native American nations and the U.S. government – an approximate similar number of treaties were signed but never ratified. The U.S. government, however, must legally and adhere to its “Trust” responsibilities its treaty obligations. Enduring questions are guest addresses: Do the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts along with the DOGE cuts to federal programs violate the Treaties between Native American nations and the Trust Doctrine? In addition, does President Donald Trump’s Birthright Citizenship executive order place Native Americans in real threat of losing their U.S. citizenship contrary to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924? Lastly, does the combined actions of the Trump Administration plausibly suggest the possibility of new “Terminations” reminiscent of the 1950s? Today on American Indian Airwaves, our guest for the hour provides an in-depth description and analysis on the Trump 2.0 Administrations actions within the context of the understanding the legalities and constitutionality of the treaties between the Native American nations and the U.S. federal government. Today’s interview was conducted prior to the four recent SCOTUS and lower court decisions on the Birthright Citizenship executive order. Guest: David E. Wilkins, a citizen of the Lumbee Nation, is a political scientist specializing in federal Indian policy and law. He is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies in the University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies and professor emeritus of the University of Minnesota. He studies Indigenous politics, governance, and legal systems, with a particular focus on Native American sovereignty, self-determination, and diplomacy. Professor Wilkins is the author of numerous books including, but not limited to: Indigenous Governance: Clans, Constitutions, and Consent (2024), Of Living Stone: Perspectives on Continuous Knowledge and the Work of Vine Deloria, Jr. (2024), Documents of Native American Political Development, 1933 to Present (2019), Red Prophet: The Punishing Intellectualism of Vine Deloria, Jr.(2018), Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Human Rights (2017), American Indian Politics and the American Political System, second edition, 2017, Hollow Justice: A History of Indigenous Claims in the United States (2013), The Hank Adams Reader (2011), The Legal Universe: Observations of the Foundations of American Law (2011), Documents of Native American Political Development, 1500 to 1933 (2009), On the Drafting of Tribal Constitutions - Felix S. Cohen (2006), Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance (2003), Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law (2002), and Tribes, Treaties, and Constitutional Tribulations (2000). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today on American Indian Airwaves, listeners will hear extensive update on the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) newest and creative forms of resistance and rebellion throughout the Chiapas, Mexico region. The EZLN recently underwent internal changes to reflect a more localized community structure and revised their ideas of land ownership in attempting to align with Indigenous or Mayan ways of life. Listeners will hear about the Mayan art as expressed form of creative resistance and rebellion, and refusal of mega development projects threatening their traditional homelands, as well as the increased violence perpetrated against U.S. immigrants in time of rising Authoritarian Fascism with the Trump 2.0 Administration. Guest: Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created in the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today on American Indian Airwaves, tune in and hear William I. Robinson speak on his book, War, Global Capitalism, and Resistance (2024), the systematic militarization against immigrants in the United States, global capitalism’s crisis and how the transnational capitalist class structures predatory mechanisms of settler colonial violence against Mother Earth, Indigenous peoples such as in Palestine, working peoples, and ecological systems as we know it. In addition, tune in to hear about how the legacy of capitalism’s violence through digital technologies are producing cheaper labor (“surplus humanity”), and how the capitalist system forms the basis for the non-renewable resource extractive industries comportment with the Green Economy and Green Capitalism. All this and more on today’s AIA program. Guest: William Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), affiliated with the Latin American and Iberian Studies Program, and with the Global and International Studies Program at UCSB. He is the author of several books, including War, Global Capitalism, and Resistance (2024), Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022), and The Global Police State (2020), Global Capitalism and the Crises of Humanity (2014) and We Will Not Be Silenced (2017). Robinson joins us for the first part of three-part interview on his brand-new book, Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic (2022). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today’s program (originally broadcasted on 2/20/2025) is on Protecting the Remaining Pre-Colonial, Genetic Buffalo Relations. Listen for the hour as our guest provides listeners with an extensive update on the last remaining buffalo relations in and around the Yellowstone National Park region continue to be attacked, prodded, coerced and killed as result of the Yellowstone National Park Services buffalo management practices and the state of Montana’s deceptive claims that killing more buffalo relations is necessary for ecologically sustainable purposes, all that and more. In since 2024 and up to March 2025, ~487 buffalo relations have been taken. Once numbering 30-60 million, bison were hunted to near extinction in the late 1800s. Men would shoot them through train windows for purpose for sport or the hide trade and left them to rot on the plains of Mother Earth. Entire herds were wiped out and the buffalo relations were slaughtered to gain control over Indigenous peoples who relied on bison for food, clothing, shelter, tools, cultural and spiritual practices, and more. Settler colonial knew this, and their strategy to eliminate buffalo relations was equivalent to eliminating Indigenous peoples traditional and cultural practices. By 1890, there were less than 1,000 bison with only twenty-three surviving in Yellowstone’s Pelican Valley. Today, there are around 6,000 pre-colonial genetically intact buffalo relations living throughout the region who are constantly under threat from the state of Montana, hunters and ranchers, and the Yellowstone National Park’s buffalo management practices that could result in the substantial reduction of the buffalo population with its most recent proposal and with support of state of Montana. Guest: • Mike Mease, co-founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today on American Indian Airwaves, an in-depth interview with distinguished elder, storyteller, activist, cultural bearer, educator and more, Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez on her recent book A Light to do Shellwork By,” Indigenous poetry, Chumash family history, sovereignty storytelling, memory holders, contemporary issues, and more. Listen to our guest share some of her poetry with listeners and more. According to Linda Hogan (Chickasaw Nation) “A Light To Do Shellwork By casts a luminous and rare spiritual history on the borders of one woman's belonging. Georgiana's poems hold light from the voice of ancestors and reveal her own place in the line of their history. Like her father, an exquisite carver, she uses her power with words to inscribe her own origins from Indigenous Ocean people as well as the desert nations who travel west in their song journey for salt. She sings a new passage, a shining connection of present with past and by the light of her words, this writer also delineates another truth of colonial history”. Guest: Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez (Chumash and O’odham Nations), Storyteller, Elder, Grandmother, Community Organizer, former adjunct faculty at California State University, Long Beach, and more. American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast Thursdays from 7pm to 8pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angeles, CA; FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, CA; FM 99.5 in China Lake, CA; FM 93.7 in North San Diego, CA; FM 99.1 KLBP in Long Beach, CA (Tuesdays, 11am-12pm); and KBOO FM 90.7 FM Portland, 91.9 FM Hood River and 104.3 FM Corvallis, OR. Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

The interview with today’s guest, Laura Shamas (Chickasaw Nation) on her world premiere play Four Women in Red happened several days before the Los Angeles Fires (i.e., Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Kenneth Fire, and the Hurst Fire). The play was originally scheduled to premiere on January 17th, 2025, at the Victory Theatre Center in Burbank, California where performances were supposed to continue through February 23. As of January 11th, 2025, the Victory Theater Center announced that “With members of the cast, creative team and audience impacted by the wildfires, The Victory Theatre Center has canceled the previously announced January 17 opening of Four Women in Red, a new play by Laura Shamas about the current crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. A revised performance schedule will be announced at a later date.” Four Women in Red is about four resilient Native American women searching for missing friends and relatives in the face of apathetic sheriffs and dwindling clues. Touching on variety if critically important issues such as MMIW, settler colonial violence, and this moving new play celebrates the power of community as the women seek answers against all odds. While the interview references the January and February theater dates for the play, American Indian Airwaves is releasing the program because the fires are profoundly impacting all living relations (human and non-human), including Indigenous peoples involved with Four Women in Red and Indigenous throughout the region. The following are some support organizations providing relief and support for Indigenous peoples impacted by the fires. • UAII headquarters, 1453 W Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90026, is asking for the following items to be donated: Water, diapers, Snacks, N95 masks, Zip ties, Gauze, Saline flushers & Syringes for insulin, Band aids, Sharps containers, Tampons & pads, batteries, flashlights, Pet food, Jackets & Blankets, Hygiene products, and First Aid Supplies. • Spoon Fed Company, owned by Jacob Spoonhunter, is “making small food care packages (on Friday, Jan. 10) to those who were effected [sic] by the fires as well as the first responders,” according to the company’s Instagram. Spoonhunter is Northern Arapaho, Navajo, and Seminole. Go to the Instagram page for any donations or email: spoonfedco@gmail.com. • Chef Stephanie Pyet DeSpain, Prairie Band Potawatomi and winner of “Next Level Chef,” told her Instagram followers that she and other chefs will be doing a pop-up to feed community members. A plan will come out in the next few days, she said. Pyet announced on Jan. 10 on Instagram that she is teaming with Island Smoke N Grill through Go Fund Me to distribute meals for first responders and displaced families. If anyone wants to donate, volunteer, or needs some food to eat, direct message her on Instagram or email: info@pyetsplate.com. Guest: Laura Shamas (Chickasaw Nations), is an accomplished Native American author, essayist, poet, journalist, playwright, and the recent recipient of the Los Angeles New Play Project (LANPP) grant for the play Four Women in Red which was first developed by Native Voices, the only Actors’ Equity theater company in the country dedicated to developing and producing new plays by Native artists. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today on American Indian Airwaves, listeners will hear extensive update on why 31st Anniversary of the Beginning of the War Against Oblivion, the armed uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) on January 1st, 1994, against the colonial state of Mexico and global capitalism, was placed on hold. On January 1st, 1994, the Mayan peoples’ traditional homelands were recovered after the 12-day armed uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) against state violence and a legacy of settler colonial oppression. The EZLN’s actions are concrete evidence of how Zapatismo in Chiapas has improved the living conditions of the communities based on organization, autonomy, and self-determination. Tune in to hear about how the systemic and increased organized crime violence is having on Indigenous peoples throughout Chiapas, MX. Also, listeners will hear a recap of the major 2024 events for Indigenous peoples throughout the settler colonial state of Mexico such as the 50th anniversary of the important 1974 Indigenous Congress in Chiapas, convened by the late Bishop Samuel Ruiz, whose 100th birthday would have been in 2024. Moreover, hear about the 2024 elections such as with the MORENA party reelected by a landslide; and how Claudia Sheinbaum replaces AMLO, cementing MORENA monopoly on power and what that means for Indigenous and Mayan peoples. The MORENA party corruption means more extractive industry expansion, displacement of Indigenous peoples without free, prior, and informed consent, and the violent repression of Indigenous protests and resistance against megaprojects, plus more. Guest: • Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

December 29th of every year marks another anniversary of the Wound Knee Massacre of 1890, and the Occupation of Wounded Knee occurred from 02/27/1973 to 05/08/1973. The Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 is the result of the United States (U.S.) 7th Calvary stopping Miniconjou and Lakota Ghost Dancers and community members from returning home to Pine Ridge in what is presently known as South Dakota. The Wounded Knee Massacre took place near the Wounded Knee Creek during a time when the United States government essentially banned all Native American cultural traditions, ceremonies, and “religious” practices. Shortly thereafter the initial encounter, a scuffle ensued which resulted in the U.S. 7th Calvary open firing and killing over three hundred Indigenous women, children, and men. The Occupation of Wounded Knee from 02/27/1973 to 05/08/1973 is the outcome of over 200 members of the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) and supporters occupying Wounded Knee (Lakota Nation) in response to a call to action from traditional Lakota residents who’s civil, human, and treaty rights were constantly being violated by corrupt Indigenous and United States government officials. The Wound Knee Occupation resulted in a 67-day military standoff with U.S. government officials and quickly drew international and domestic support from people, organizations, and foreign governments throughout the world. Today’s show on American Indian Airwaves is comprised of sound from two principal sources: The Pacifica Radio archives and the documentary A Tattoo on My Heart: The Warriors of Wounded Knee 1973. The Pacifica Radio Archives include original reports from Pacifica’s-affiliate station, KPFA in Berkeley, CA which covered live the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation. In addition, sound from the documentary A Tattoo on My Heart: The Warriors of Wounded Knee 1973 includes reflective testimonies of the Wound Knee Indigenous activist such as Lenny Foster, Bill Means, Madonna Thunderhawk, and narrated by the late Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman, plus more. American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast every Thursday from 7pm to 8pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angeles, CA; FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, CA; FM 99.5 in China Lake, CA; FM 93.7 in North San Diego, CA; FM 99.1 KLBP in Long Beach, CA (Sundays 11am-12pm); FM 90.7 FM in Oregon on KBOO; and on the Internet at: www.kpfk.org. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

John Kush has been a part of the Chumash community's ongoing expression of unique art and culture since his early childhood. Our guest lives and works within the Chumash ancestral homelands as personal and professional artists and previously worked on several important projects for the Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC). Our guest’s artistic legacy spans decades and he joins for the hour to discuss the forthcoming, international indigenous exhibit: Decolonize Native Art (D.N.A.). which comprises of Indigenous artists across Turtle Island who express what decolonization means through their “art” and more. Tune in to hear about the D.N.A. exhibit, Chumash history and contemporary struggles and more. Guest: o John Kush (Chumash Nation) is the principal organizer for the upcoming Decolonize Native Art (DNA), which is being held at the Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, from 12/13/2024-12/18/2024. Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

On Indigenous Peoples Day in October 2024, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off the California coast. The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary makes it America’s 17th national marine sanctuary, the sixth off the U.S. West Coast, and it is considered one of the largest in the National Marine Sanctuary System. The sanctuary encompasses 4,543 square miles of Central California’s coastal and ocean waters, providing protection to nationally significant natural, cultural, and historical resources while bringing new opportunities for research, community engagement, and education and outreach activities. While much of the settler colonial and some Indigenous media treated the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary as beneficial for the Chumash Nation and Mother Earth, there are larger questions about the true origins of the proposed Chumash Maritime Sanctuary along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) process of adhering to all bands of Chumash nations free, prior, and informed consent international rights, and the failed mechanisms within between different Chumash bands and the NOAA, plus more. Today on American Indian Airwaves we address all these questions with our guests who combined with themselves and their ancestors have decades of living experiences protecting their cultural and traditional practices while simultaneous resisting settler colonial violence. Guest: o Micheal Khus-Zarate (Chumash), Board Member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation and Marcus Lopez (Barbareño band of the Chumash Nation), co-host and executive producer of American Indian Airwaves.

Since President Abraham Lincoln established observing the Thanksgiving Day holiday in 1863 to heal a fractured country amid the American Civil War (1861-1865). Consequentially, Americans for generations have believed in and centralized their national identity within several mythologies, including the propaganda surrounding the purported first thanksgiving between the Wampanoags and the pilgrims. Today on American Indian Airwaves, our guest from the Aquinnah Wampanoag nation joins us for the entire hour to discuss in-depth the origins of the Thanksgiving Day Holiday, the settler colonial perpetrators of violence and fabrication regarding this mythology that traces back to 1620s, the National Day of Mourning, the censorship of Frank “Wamsutta” Jame’s speech in 1970 for the 350th Anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing, who are the Wampanoag peoples along with their cultural and traditional practices, and more. Guest: o Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag) is an author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, and lives in the Wampanoag community of Mashpee on Cape Cod, MA. In addition, our guest worked for over 30 years in the Wampanoag Indigenous Program (WIP) of Plimoth Plantation, including 15 years as the WIP’s Associate Director; and worked 9 years at the Aquinnah Cultural Center. She is the recent author of the remarkable book: Colonization and the Wampanoag Story (2023) Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

On October 25th, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden formally apologized to Native Americans for the “sin” of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a “blot on American history” in his first presidential visit to Indian Country. At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period that ended in 1969, according to an Interior Department investigation that called for a U.S. government apology. At least 18,000 children, some as young as 4, were taken from their parents and forced to attend schools that sought to assimilate them. There were more than 523 U.S. government-funded, and often church-run, boarding schools between 1869 and 1969. Children between the ages of 6 to 16 were not only taken from their parents, communities, and nations, but also, they were forced to compulsory education. The U.S. government purposes of the operating the boarding schools was to erase Native American identities and strip them of them cultures and ultimately eradicate them as The Peoples. Native American children were forced to endure American militarization by having their cut and wear military-style clothing, they were given anglicized names – often Christian names and former president names; In fact, Native American children forced to learn Christianity and basic male and female labor skills. During the early boarding school era, all cultural practices and languages were banned and punishment followed if caught. Native American children were starved to control them; they faced disease (e.g., tuberculosis, mumps, etc.) which led to being placed into the infirmary and isolation until death; they were tortured, worked as forced labor, and often experienced pedophilia, sexual abuse, psychological and physical abuse and death at the hands U.S. government agents. The United States Board School system was designed to assimilate Native Americans into American society by killing them as The Peoples. More than 140 different Native Americans nations alone were negatively impacted by 1918, and our guest recently authored a statement in response to U.S. Government’s apology for its violent legacy of operating Native American boarding school. Today on American Indian Airwaves, Marcus Lopez from the Barbareño Band of the Chumash Nation, and co-host and executive producer of AIA, along with myself have the honor and pleasure to speak with Chris Peters from the Puhlik-lah/Karuk nations. He is a long-time, activist, community organizer, elder, cultural bearer, and President of the 7th Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, Inc. Chris has more than 50 years of experience in grassroots community organizing with his work focusing on climate change, sacred sites protection, and the renaissance of sacred knowledge and Earth Renewal ceremonies of Northern California Tribal Peoples. We have in-depth conversations with Chris Peters on his recently authored statement on the U.S. Presidential apology regarding the violent settler colonial legacy of U.S. government Native American boarding schools, plus more. Guest: o Chris Peters (Puhlik-lah/Karuk Nations), activist, community organizer, elder, cultural bearer, and President of the 7th Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, Inc. Chris has more than 50 years of experience in grassroots community organizing with his work focusing on climate change, sacred sites protection, and the renaissance of sacred knowledge and Earth Renewal ceremonies of Northern California Tribal Peoples. Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

The idea of Indigenous Peoples Day originated in 1977, in Geneva, at the first International NGO Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the America. The conference was attended by Indigenous peoples throughout world and by the conclusion of the conference, a list of recommendations was drafted, outlining a course of action to support Indigenous peoples right to self-determination, a formal rebuttal was declared to Doctrine of Discovery or Dominion, and Indigenous peoples stated their intention “to observe October 12, the day of so-called ‘discovery’ of America, as an International Day of Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.” Thereafter in the United States, cities and states started observing Indigenous Peoples Day including for example, in 1989 South Dakota adopted Native American Day; on 10/22/91, the Berkely, CA city council adopts Indigenous Peoples Day. In the City of Los Angeles, CA, the city council declared the second Monday of October Indigenous Peoples Day and in 2019, CA Governor Gavin Newsom declared Indigenous Peoples’ Day a California holiday. To date, it is estimated that a little over 150 cities celebrate or observe Indigenous Peoples Day out of 19,502 incorporated cities, towns, and villages in the United States. Presumably, in cities with large or semi-large Native American/Indigenous communities. At the state level, 28 states observe Indigenous Peoples Day, but only three states, Maine, Nebraska, and New Mexico deem it a state holiday. The Washington DC district also considers it a holiday. At the federal level, in October 2021, President Biden designated the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day and The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act (SB 2970) which if passed would replace Columbus Day as a federal holiday and designate the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day was introduced in Congress in 2021 and reintroduced in Congress in 2023 with no traction since then. As of 2024, for the few cities and states that observe Indigenous Peoples Day with celebrations, they still acknowledge Columbus Day as the default, often, paid holiday. There are many contradictions to celebrating and participating in Indigenous People Day celebration at the city and state levels and today on American Indian Airwaves we round-table discussion what is Indigenous Peoples Day? Our discussion panel includes Fidel Rodriguez of Chumash Nation and host of the former KPFK Divine Forces Radio and Marcus Lopez, of Barberieno band of the Chumash Nation and executive producer and host American Indian Airwaves, and me. We begin today’s program with the question what Indigenous Peoples Day mean to you with Marcus Lopez first and followed by Fidel Rodriguez second. And the now the Contradictions of Indigenous Peoples Day here on American Indian Airwaves. Guests: o Marcus Lopez, (Barbareño Band of the Chumash Nation), executive producer of American Indian Airwaves, Fidel Rodriquez (Chumash Nation) and former host of KPFK’s Divine Forces Radio, and Larry Smith (Lumbee Nation). Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd,

As of September 10th, 2024 (Tuesdays), estimates are that the 2024 fires have burned 2,247,356 acres with seventy-one (71) large active fires presently active across Turtle Island (the United States) such as in the politically defined borders of California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming. In California alone, there are approximately more than twenty (20) active fires and thousands of people are currently under mandatory evacuation orders in numerous counties such as Lake County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and within the foothills of the Los Angeles National Forest. Today on American Indian Airwaves our guest discusses the 2024 fires impact on California Indigenous peoples, nations, and their homelands; how the historical and contemporary legacies of settler colonial violence contributes to the present form of the climate crises, how Indigenous relations and cultural sustainability for future generations face insurmountable and compounded risks provided the perpetrators and collaborators of the climate crises maintain their violent behaviors and operations, and how traditional forms of Indigenous fire-management practices are not only different compared to common United States fire management practices, but also with Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Indigenous Stewardship (IS), along with climate resilience through ecocultural stewardship, new possibilities for reindigenizing Mother Earth, centering and balancing the trajectory for cultural sustainability, and healing are tenable. In fact, many Native American nations, organizations, and communities within the state of California are already performing the hard work of Indigenous Stewardship while facing settler colonial obstacles, yet they provide direction for the future. All this and more is covered on today’s episode of American Indian Airwaves. Guests: o Don Hankins (Miwok Nation), Professor of Geography and Planning at California State University, Chico State, co-founder of the Indigenous Stewardship Network (https://www.indigenousstewardship.org), and author and contributing author of numerous publications such as “Climate Resilience through Ecocultural Stewardship” (2024), and “Realignment of Federal Environmental Policies to Recognize Fire’s Role” (2024). Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more

“Southern Alaska Native Nations’ Intervention: Stopping the Extractive Mining Industry from Maiming and Extinguishing Life” Today on American Indian Airwaves, we go to southeast Alaska and British Colombia (B.C.), Canada, to discuss the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), which consists of 15 Indigenous nations in southeast Alaska and rooted along Canada’s transboundary rivers, recent submission of a formal request with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a legal organization that is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), to halt the protracted and reckless mining activities that are violating Indigenous peoples human rights throughout the region. Dozens of mining companies are seeking permission from the British Columbia (B.C.) government to develop some of the world’s largest gold mines in the headwaters of Southeast Alaska’s transboundary rivers, and the Canadian government continues denying the sovereign rights of the Alaskan Native nations living downstream from the extractive mining activities. In fact, a recent decision, ordered by Canada’s Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship on June 27th, 2024, could guarantee the destruction of both a critical ecological hotspot and the ways of life of the Southeast Alaska nations. For example, Skeena Resources Limited (“Skeena”) proposed in 2021 a major gold and silver mining project called The Eskay Creek Project. It is one of eight mines in B.C. that are at issue, but the Esky Project, which is in the final environmental review state, and if built, would produce an estimated 7.5 million tons of gold and silver over an estimated 14-year mine life span and the project would be in the same area as a previous mine that operated from 1994-2008. Lastly, the Esky Creek Project risk southern Alaska Native nations, rivers including the Unuk, Stikine, and Taku, five species of wild Pacific salmon, and more traditional lifeways with possible extinction if left unheeded. Guests: Guy Archibald, Executive Director, of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (www.seitc.org). Guy is an analytical environmental chemist and microbiologist with over 20 years of experience. He works to utilize western science and apply traditional knowledge and practices to protect the various communities, the forest, salmon, trees, and people. Esther Reese is Eagle Tsaagweidí (Killerwhale) from Ḵéex̱ʼ Kwáan (Kake), Alaska. She is President of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (www.seitc.org), and serves as the Tribal Administrator for the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the federally recognized Tribe in Wrangell, an Alaska Native nation at the mouth of the Stikine River. Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

“Sacred Stage: Talks with Native Playwrights and Artists with DeLanna Studi & the 30th Anniversary of Native Voices at the Autry” 2024 marks the 30th Anniversary for the Native Voices at the Autry, the only Equity Theatre in the country developing and producing plays written by Native American playwrights. Since Native Voices inception, many aspiring, working, and veteran Native American playwrights, artists, and actors/actresses have benefited from having this invaluable program and resources the Autry provides for assisting Native American storyteller and storying in various forms. Located in Los Angeles County, CA, Native Voices at the Autry celebrates its accomplishments and recent partnership with the Generation Now Theater Partnership, which is comprised of BIPOC artists presently creating new artistic creations targeting multigenerational audiences. Our guest for today, joins us for the hour to discuss the 30th Anniversary of Native Voices at the Autry and its continuing legacy for providing Native American artists and aspiring artists a space in theater and the arts as well as to the multi coalition Generation Now Theater Partnership project, the importance of Native American storytelling, upcoming Native American plays and projects, plus more. Click on the titles for more information on the Autry Museum of the West, Native Voices, and upcoming Autry events. Guest: DeLanna Studi (Cherokee Nation) is an accomplished performer, storyteller, playwright, and activist for over 25 years. Some of her theater credits include the First National Broadway Tour of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play August: Osage County, Off-Broadway’s Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre), Informed Consent (Duke Theater on 42nd Street).In addition, DeLanna originated roles in over thirty World Premieres, including writing and performing in And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears where she retraced her family’s footsteps along the Trail of Tears with her father. Her film and television contributions extend more than 20 years, and, in fact, DeLanna starred in the Peabody Award winning Edge of America, Hallmark’s Dreamkeeper, Goliath, Shameless, General Hospital, Disney + Launchpad: The Roof, and Reservation Dogs to name just a few. She has served as a cultural liaison for theatre, film, and television, most recently the television series La Brea. Our guest has also been the chair of the SAG-AFTRA National Native Americans Committee since 2007 and she presently is the Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry, the only Equity Theatre in the country developing and producing plays written by Native American playwrights. Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.