Let's Talk Native with John Kane

Some will celebrate. Others will struggle. Let's commit to more kindness in the new year.

Massacres, murder and the largest mass execution in US history make December a tough month for Native people. I have lost a family member in December and today I lost my Choctaw brother Ben Carnes.

Is "Identity Politics" becoming the new "Political Correctness"? I support both and so should you. I support identity and being correct.

How much has our culture taken a backseat to all the other influences on our lives: church, school, work, media, money?

The ship has long sailed to prevent man-made climate change and the hate and divisiveness world-wide over race, religion, greed and oppression is only growing. So what impact can we, as indigenous peoples, have to change these global conflicts? NONE!! We cannot topple their leadership or move their populations to reform but we can prepare for these conflicts and ultimately show true leadership by...

Who has the most influence on us? Church? Schools? Media? Hollywood? The Internet? Well where do we fit in? Where do we stack up on the influence scale?

Genocide doesn't just happen. It is a crime committed against people. A caller who joined me made a powerful statement. She said that her ancestors were NOT slaves. They were enslaved! Support the show and buy John's new shirt! https://bit.ly/2RxGVaI

The good white skinned folks of Langhorn, Pennsylvania insist on being "Redskins." And they reject the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission attempting to put conditions on their use of a racial slur for a nickname. Donna Fann-Boyle joins me for the program to discuss the desire of these folk to be unrestrained racists.

Native people are not monolithic; especially when it comes to our identities. There is a full spectrum when it comes to that. On one end we have our hardliners who reject all things Eurocentric or American. On the other are the sellout; I mean the complete sellouts who not only embrace everything the white man imposed upon us but reject much of any Native distinction. Most of us are between those...

Racism doesn't just come in white hoods and carrying Nazi flags. Nope! It is built into every institution in the US. Even the do-gooder white allies harbor their own sense of entitlement and privilege as the "help" us. Oh! And the same goes for all those white professional we hire to help us navigate their systems.

Man created "God", not the other way around. And Native people bought it too with "Creator" and "Sky World" and religion.

Convincing us to participate in a process to carve out some non "extravagant" benefits from federal tax liability is a trap to giving taxing authority on everything else!

The conflicts in South America are less about political ideology and more about stomping on indigenous peoples. These are race wars, plain and simple. And guess which side the US is on?

"You People" is a euphemism for you are not us. And although it's a step up from being called dogs, it is still meant to be demeaning and disparaging. Canada's old man celebrity bites the dust with this one but it's clear that racism is alive and well in Canada. A bit more on the Seneca fight as well.

A US District Court Judge ruled for the State in the Seneca battle to keep their gaming revenue from NYS. Ooh! What a surprise! Happy Native American Heritage Month! Now Pay Up, Sucka! Join me for a recap on the Billion Dollar Squeeze the State is attempting to put on the Senecas!

White Privilege! Where does it come from? How about every damn document that formed the United States? That's where!

Don't miss this show! What is Genocide? We'll define it, explain it and give undeniable examples.

We are NOT mascots! And don't tell me about polls suggesting Native people are just fine with the mockery and racial slurs. The are more Americans falsely claiming to be Native people than real Native people. These are the clowns that are polled. I remember Chanie Wenjack who died on this date in 1966 of exposure attempting to escape from a boarding school almost 400 miles from his home in Ontario

We choose our path: ours or theirs. Ours was laid down by millions of feet of our ancestors. Theirs is a path of slavery, war and genocide.

The Arts: and what we need to do to support them. We need more resources to support creativity. This is more than economic development. It's community development; Human Development!

Well, we survived another "Indigenous Peoples Day versus Columbus Day" media battle and I think we won this one! Our latest Let's Talk Native TV video is climbing the charts and we are ready for our next one. Check out "Columbus: In His Own Words" at youtu.be/Nd8K7GGt2YU

Today is the 527th anniversary of a white man washing up on the shores of the Arawak. We'll talk Columbus, promote our new video and talk of events and the crazy world of WBAI. Check out "Columbus: In His Own Words" at https://youtu.be/Nd8K7GGt2YU

Federal recognition (Fed Wreck)for Native people is defined as "a tribe, band or nation of Indians subordinate to the laws of the United States and under US jurisdiction." So who's signing up? Far too many but most of the 573 recognized "tribes" have never agreed to this definition and most of the others ignore it. But none of that changes how they view us and how far too many of our own people id...

Some say our existence is our resistance. Well, I say it depends on our existence. What are we existing as? Shadows of who we once were? Assimilated versions of those people? Or as Onkwehohnwe? How do we define ourselves? What is our identity?

Yesterday was Orange Shirt Day to honor the children of residential school, those that survived, those who suffered and those who perished. So tonight we talk about those schools; the deaths, the genocide and the legacy.