Broken Lands: A Podcast About Reparations and Honoring Our Treaties

This episode's guest has a long, storied family history tied to the Osage Reservation which led to her playing an on-screen role in the new film Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese. As a descendant of family members murdered in this region, it was a logical step for her to be part of the screen depiction of these events. She shares about the filmmaking process and the care...

This episode's guest, Holly Bird, has worked tirelessly throughout her career in a long list of advocacy roles. She is co-executive director of Title Track, an organization that focuses on youth empowerment, water protection, and racial justice. She also has served both as a Tribal Judge and Tribal Supreme Court Justice since 2008. In this episode, she shares about her work on the frontline, i...

In this introductory episode for season 2, we introduce a new co-host to our show. Leora brings to the table a long history of working in the field of intergenerational healing. She tells us about her work, and she and co-host Matthew Cobb begin discussions on how they are going to create a space for authentic conversation for this season of Native American guests spanning several vocational field...

In our final episode of season 1, we are going to hear from two generations of Ojibwe women. Deacon Colleen Bernu (Director for Evangelical Mission and Synod Minister for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Northeastern Minnesota Synod of ELCA) and also from her high school daughter, Johanna. They share with us about what living together well might look like. Specifically, they reflect on the...

This episode features a dialogue between two women residing in the Northeastern Minnesota region: Colleen Bernu, an Ojibwe woman, and Randi Alreck, a woman of Norwegian descent. They share about their respective cultural backgrounds, and how they have learned to live well together by standing on the common ground that they share. By common ground, we mean both the literal ground of Northeastern Mi...

This is a special unabridged episode of Broken Lands for more advanced students of treaty rights and Indian Law. Three treaty experts–Dr. Joseph Bauerkemper, Samir Grover, and Professor Tadd Johnson–talk to us about the foundational issue of treaties. At the center of these treaties is the basic human relationship between the Native Americans and European settlers. The principle and foundation of...

In this episode, three treaty experts–Dr. Joseph Bauerkemper, Samir Grover, and Professor Tadd Johnson–talk to us about the foundational issue of treaties. At the center of these treaties is the basic human relationship between the Native Americans and European settlers. The principle and foundation of these treaties are that they recognize that rights were granted to settlers by the Tribal Nation...

In the wake of our last episode, Thanksgiving: An Autopsy, we’ve observed an uptick in the number of heated conversations within some of our ELCA congregations. Specifically, we’ve encountered a lot of questions and debates around politics and how we reckon with our role as members of a nation-state while also being members of the Body of Christ. Conversations surrounding how these two identities...

If we are looking at repairing our relationships, what do we do with Thanksgiving? How does the holiday's popular mythology obscure the realities of our history, and how do these misleading myths get in the way of connecting with one another and our Creator?  Host Matt Cobb gets into this subject with Kevin Kot, Ojibwe elder and member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa...

Rev. Matt McWaters is chairperson of the finance committee that recommended to the Northeastern Minnesota Synod Council of the ELCA to offer reparations to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Our host, Dr. Matthew Cobb, asks Rev. McWaters about the motivating factors behind that decision and what it felt like in the room when that decision was made. They also delve into the theological basis behind offe...

Broken Lands is a series about reparations and honoring our treaties with Native Americans. Bringing together both settler and Indigenous voices, this series reflects on our shared history and possibilities of how we can begin to live well together here now and into the future.