Let's Talk Native with John Kane

I heard it said that we don't need to push our kids to be lawyers and doctors. We need to teach them to be activists.

Governor Kathy Hochul extorted half a billion dollars out of the Seneca Nation this week by freezing all its bank accounts, affecting the livelihoods of every Seneca and every employee, vendor and contractor. She literally strangled the second largest employer in WNY for a ransom payment that she plans to use for the new Buffalo Bills stadium.

A law passed that targets a specific group of people by race to assert control and dominance over them is RACIST by definition and starts from a belief of racial superiority. And that racism continues with the enforcement and oversight of the law.

#558 - The Seneca Gaming Mess by John Kane

We need to document the atrocities but also create the accounting of the losses inflicted on our people through 100 years of "Kill the Indian - Save the Man." Let's not let the Genocide be obscured by the atrocities committed children. Both need to be "reconciled." We need "Restoration of land and autonomy. Not just an apology or payouts.

This week, we shift our focus to South America with our guest Ervin Liz of Native Root Coffee. Ervin is a third-generation Nasa indigenous coffee farmer who founded Native Root Coffee to address and correct the inequalities and exploitation of indigenous farmers and coffee bean producers that he witnessed while growing up on his family's farm in Columbia. →→→→ Like what you hear? Support the show...

Dr. Preston McBride joins John to talk about his research on the genocidal residential school system in the United States. In this episode, we turn our attention away from Canada and focus on the United States with a conversation featuring historian and researcher Preston McBride. Preston is of Comanche and settler colonialism descent. He lives and works on Tongva lands where he is a Postdoctoral...

"Truth and reconciliation" are the current buzz words yet again for government officials tasked with fixing the broken relationships between indigenous people and the colonial governments that occupy their stolen land. In this episode, John address the elephant in the room when it comes to these types of "talks" between Native governments and federal governments. There can be no reconciliation wit...

Journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker Jay Rosenstein joins the show for a great conversation on the mascot debate and winning the war of appropriation. Jay is a retired professor of journalism and the director of "In Whose Honor?", a 1996 documentary that follows Charlene Teters as she campaigns against Chief Illiniwek, the University of Illinois' offensive team mascot. →→→→ Like what you h...

Dina Gilio-Whitaker joins John for this episode. Dina is an author, journalist, lecturer and adjunct professor of American Indian studies at California State University at San Marcos. Much of her work is focused on Native American studies, Decolonization and Environmental Justice. Closing song is "The Social" (feat. pHoenix Pagliacci) by DJ Shub. →→→→ Like what you hear? Support the show on Patreo...

Dr. Stephanie Fryberg joins John to discuss her work in researching the psychological harm caused by native mascots and the impact they have on children and teens. Dr. Fryberg is a Tulalip psychologist who received her Master's and Doctorate degrees from Stanford University and has spent most of her career researching and collecting data on how Native people feel about Native mascots and their ove...

Outgoing U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. recently sent a letter out to almost every native smoke shop on Seneca territories threatening to prosecute, fine, imprison and seize the assets of any native person living on a native territory found to be involved in the "illegal" manufacture, distribution or sale of "rollie" style cigarettes on native territories inside the "Western District of New Yo...

On this episode, Jeff Reina, an attorney from Buffalo, NY joins us to talk about a recent court case involving a million dollar fine levied against a Native wholesaler over the transportation of tobacco from one native territory to another. The case was recently tossed out based on an illegal search and seizure ruling after almost a decade long legal battle. For centuries the courts have refused t...

The new school board in Cambridge, NY has decided to double down on the use of their offensive Native mascot. On the very day the latest right-wing board member was sworn in, this new board with their pro-mascot majority made it their priority to rescind a previous resolution that ended the use of the mascot and made it clear that they will continue to use their offensive mascot moving forward. He...

For several decades the male dominated power structure in Onondaga has tried to keep Haudenosaunee women out of lacrosse in order to maintain their dominance over the Iroquois Nationals men's lacrosse team. After facing pressure from lucrative sponsors and outside organizations to merge the two teams under one banner, a delegation from the men's team spoke to the Grand Council of Six Nations at an...

Well, it finally happened! The Cambridge New York Central School Board voted to retire their offensive Native mascot. The decision to finally hold the vote on the original resolution removing the mascot came after a week of embarrassing developments for the small New York community. Cambridge for Social Justice member Scott Carrino joins John for this episode to discuss the school board's decision...

On June 8, a high speed police pursuit ended in a fiery car wreck on the Cattaraugus territory of the Seneca Nation. The driver of one of the vehicles then took a female passenger hostage and a 3 hour stand-off began in the middle of the small Seneca community of Cattaraugus. In this episode, John provides some potential solutions to stopping these types of incidents from ever reaching our lands....

The recent discovery of 215 bodies at the Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia, Canada surprised everyone except Native people. For several decades survivors of these genocidal institutions have told stories of the abuse, neglect and violence that they experienced at these schools but the general public largely ignored them. In this episode, we take another look at the genocidal residen...

In this episode John examines the double standard that's obvious to some and invisible to others when it comes to the topic of Native people in the national discourse on racial equality. Closing song is "Anishinabe" by SAMIAN. →→→→ Like what you hear? Support the show on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/letstalknative ←←←←

In this episode John is joined by Ed Schindler and Paul Winnie to discuss the differences between "environmentalists" and "land defenders" and how it all ties back to the concept of Seven Generations. Join John, Ed and Paul in a discussion on how the Native view of land and our responsibility to it is fundamentally at odds with how European settlers and their descendants view the land. →→→→ Like w...

In this episode we introduce a new format for the show and take a look at the Oka Crisis. After a year-long dispute over the expansion of a golf course between the city of Oka and the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, the Quebec provincial police stormed a barricade erected by the Mohawks to stop the expansion. What began as riot police tossing tear gas canisters at a small group of Mohawks spiraled...

After the NYC Department of Education canceled Columbus Day and renamed it to Indigenous People's Day, white fragility was on full display when virtually every "Italian rights" organization across the state rallied to defend Christopher Columbus proclaiming him to be an Italian hero. White privilege and fragility is not always intentionally hurtful or offensive but racism can manifest in various w...

Carving out spaces to move through in order to avoid state authority is NOT the same things as asserting and establishing sovereignty. We need to do more than push back against the state, we need to see our fight all the way through to the end. →→→→ Like what you hear? Support the show on Patreon! www.patreon.com/letstalknative ←←←←

After participating in a restorative justice healing circle for the mascot battle in the small town of Cambridge, NY, John reflects on the issue of "safe spaces." Specifically, how the discussion among the members of the Cambridge, NY community highlighted the lack of contemporary indigenous spaces and how that impacts Native people as we confront issues in spaces that are no longer ours. →→→→ Lik...

May 5th has been designated as MMIW Day since 2017 but 2021 is ushering in "MMIW National Week of Action!" →→→→ Like what you hear? Support the show on Patreon! www.patreon.com/letstalknative ←←←←