Native America Calling

Right now, crude oil flows unimpeded through the Dakota Access Pipeline under the dammed Missouri River in North Dakota. Construction of the pipeline that traverses Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation was a defeat for protestors who became known as “water protectors”. But the resistance against that pipeline that started ten years ago was a galvanizing moment for soverei...

An intensive traditional foods program aimed at curbing diabetes is credited with major weight loss and health benefits for some of its participants. Native Food for Life is a collaboration between tribal health officials and the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine. Native America Calling had an inadvertent role in the program’s inception on the Navajo Nation almost two decades ago. It ha...

The Oklahoma State Legislature is taking steps to gain more control of the state’s Medicaid payments, drawing concerns from tribal leaders and healthcare advocates. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. warns that the predicted scaling back of expanded Medicaid eligibility enshrined in the state constitution in 2020 would disproportionately affect Native patients. He says dismantling th...

Construction crews at the University of California, Berkeley immediately halted construction of an outdoor volleyball court when they encountered human remains. Under California law, notifications go out to state officials and to any tribes that might be descendants. Such procedures are not always followed, even when the law is clear cut. A number of recent discoveries of remains in California and...

Native Guitars Tour keeps up their busy schedule of performances with the annual signature appearance during the Gathering of Nations Powwow in Albuquerque, N.M. It is a night Under the Native Stars featuring a diverse musical line-up, a fashion show, and traditional tattoo demonstrations. It’s an annual Native America Calling tradition to get a sampling of what’s in store. The Guitars Tour is com...

Diné hip-hop artist and educator Def-i has been a singular, independent voice in elevating Native hip-hop and championing other Native artists. This year makes 14 years that he has spearheaded the annual two-day competition, Gathering of MCs . Some of the top Native rappers from around the country bring their best beats, bars, and freestyles to vie for cash prizes. This year’s event takes place al...

Through interviews with relatives, community knowledge keepers, and her work as a climate activist and lawyer, Katłı̨̀ą Catherine Lafferty (Yellowknives Dene) shares Dene wisdom and perspectives about the land that provide possible solutions for the climate crisis in her new book, “ Mother Earth is Our Elder: A Northern Indigenous Path Toward Sustainable Living ”. Her primary sources for the book...

The Trump administration settled a lawsuit this month challenging its year-long effort to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and agreed to honor past grants that were clawed back last year forcing public libraries across the country (including tribal libraries) to scramble for alternative funding, cut programming, lay off employees, or close their doors. Tribal libraries...

“ Python’s Kiss ” by Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) is a collection of short stories that are just as poignant and rich as her novels. In “Domain,” Erdrich imagines an afterlife run like a corporate business. In “Wedding Dresses”, the protagonist relives her past marriages and what led to pain and heartbreak. Each creative story is brilliantly told through Erdrich’s wide range o...

Filmmaker Kelly Moneymaker is dedicated to documenting how Indigenous people across the world — especially in the Arctic — are adapting to a rapidly changing climate. Moneymaker, who is Samoan and was raised by an adoptive Iñupiaq father, pivoted her career after a successful run in pop music to highlight Indigenous stories on film. Her work has been showcased at United Nations Climate Conferences...

There are no casinos or lotteries in Alaska. The state has some of the most restrictive gaming laws in the country, but the small Dena’ina Athabascan Village of Eklutna, located in Anchorage’s municipality, is pushing the envelope on tribal gaming rights in the state. The Chin’an Gaming Hall is still open even after a year of legal disputes and threats by the state to close its doors....

President Donald Trump is pushing for more oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic, a decision directly impacting Iñupiaq communities. Millions of acres in the National Petroleum Reserve were opened for oil and gas leasing and the administration’s reversal of Biden-era protections has the potential to open up the pristine National Wildlife Refuge for leasing and drilling. Some Iñupiaq communities welcome...

The work of Margaret Pearce (Citizen Potawatomi) as a cartographer does not separate Indigenous people, stories, culture, and memory from a place that she is mapping. She works with tribes, Native scientists, and culture keepers to bring forth map layers often overlooked by the mainstream. One of her recent projects, “The Cold at Inuit Nunangat” , maps the ways Inuit protect their home...

The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is one of the first tribes to pass a moratorium against the construction of  hyperscale data centers . The nearby Muscogee Nation also turned down an opportunity to build a data center after Muscogee citizens spoke out in force against the plan. Large tech companies are stepping up the pressure to build hyperscale data centers to house the processing power for data...

Paying to have a sandwich delivered to your door or even replacing a broken appliance is as easy as clicking an app and worrying about the bill later. Apps like Klarna and Afterpay allow consumers to pay installments for goods they can have in hand right away. A new report by Lending Tree finds 4 in 10 Americans now use pay later loans for groceries, an increase from the previous year fueled partl...

Indigenous women skaters shove and elbow their way around the oval roller derby track — and along the way they are finding sisterhood and a sense of pride. Clad in helmets and knee pads, they take full-contact laps around the track that also serves as an arena for visibility and representation. The international team, Indigenous Rising , is a ground-breaking pack made up of skaters from dozens of...

President Donald Trump’s federal budget proposal includes a 75% funding cut to a diabetes prevention and treatment program specifically for Native Americans. It also calls for up to $65 million in cuts to Indian Health Care facilities improvements. The Republican-controlled Congress has a mixed record on supporting Trump’s budget cuts to Native health care, but the proposals are cause for concern...

The Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska is telling the story of 11 children taken from the area and shipped off to the Carlisle Indian Boarding School more than a century ago. The museum was instrumental in securing the return of one of those children who was buried on school grounds. It is part of an ongoing effort by the museum to document and repatriate Alaska Native ancestors under the Native Ame...

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision opens a new path for the controversial practice known as “conversion therapy”, a method aimed at questioning or even changing a person’s sexual orientation. More than 20 states ban the practice. It is condemned by major medial establishments including the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. LGBTQ2+ advocates at the Trevor Pr...

This year’s Juno Awards in Hamilton, Ontario , included historic wins and high-profile performances by Indigenous artists, celebrating their roles as central, defining voices in contemporary Canadian music. Oji-Cree singer-songwriter Aysanabee secured two major honors: Alternative Album of the Year and Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year for his project Edge of the Earth. Veteran powwow gro...

A jury convicted Google and social media giant Meta of failing to do enough to prevent the harmful effects of their projects on children. Plaintiffs, including several tribes, argued children too young to be on social media platforms are subjected to bullying and suffer poor self-esteem because of content they encounter online. At the same time, retailers are able to strip personal information fro...

The historic heat dome moving across the country smashed hundreds of high temperature records. Several places in Arizona and California reached 112 degrees — an unheard-of high in March. The Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona issued an extreme heat warning after an official high temperature hit 108 degrees. The temporary weather phenomenon is slowly moving on, but not before drying ou...

Kickapoo chef Crystal Wahpepah documents the intertribal flavors and characteristics of contemporary Native American cuisine and her upbringing in Oakland, Calif. in her debut cookbook, “ A Feather and a Fork: 125 Intertribal Dishes from an Indigenous Food Warrior .” Woven through the recipes and gorgeous food photos, Wahpepah gives readers and cooks a tour of her restaurant, Wahpepah’s Kitchen ,...

In the early 2000s, an investigation found a handful of tribes in at least four states were paying exorbitant fees to a lobbying firm headed by Jack Abramoff. The tribes were looking to gain ground in the rapidly evolving Native gaming political landscape. The investigation and the resulting fraud and bribery trials would convict Abramoff and a dozen others, including congressional staffers , in a...

Born in Greenland, Aaju Peter did not begin to explore the breadth of her own Inuit culture until she moved to Nunavut, Canada. It was there that she got in touch with an internal drive to learn about and strengthen language, education, policy, and the arts toward improving Inuit representation on an international scale. That has resulted in a varied career as an activist, lawyer, clothing designe...