Native Voice One Podcast

When plans for the Shasta Dam Enlargement Project accelerate, the Winnemem Wintu decide to hold a war dance, their first in more than 100 years. Members of the community dream into existence songs, dances and regalia. News of the ceremony, and the tribe that declared war against the U.S. government on top of Shasta Dam, goes around the world. That leads to an unexpected message from Down Under. Re...

At a sacred spring high up on Mt. Shasta, the Winnemem Wintu recount the beginnings of the world when salmon gave up their voices so that humans could speak. They now feel a special obligation to defend salmon in return for this gift. A biologist details Chinook salmon’s catastrophic decline since the arrival of Euro-American settlers to California and the Northwest. Read More “I just I can’...

The Run4Salmon bikes through rural areas in the upper Sacramento Valley where Euro American settlers changed the land to better suit an agrarian economy. The Winnemem Wintu and supporters remember the indigenous people who were forcibly removed and killed. An apology in Redding for the genocide may be well intentioned, but Chief Caleen Sisk insists action must accompany words. Read More “Colonizat...

As the Run4Salmon continues to travel upstream, the Winnemem Wintu and supporters witness more obstacles faced by migrating salmon. Once a vast marshland, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta was an important haven for juvenile salmon, but now is a gauntlet of human engineering. Chief Caleen Sisk stands up for salmon and water health at a bureaucratic meeting of Sacramento Valley water districts...

The Winnemem Wintu and supporters start a two-week Run4Salmon prayer to call salmon back to the waters above Shasta Dam. The Run follows the salmon’s migration path from the ocean to the mountains. It starts in the Bay Area where the Winnemem Wintu and supporters encounter environmental devastation first set in motion 200 years ago. Read More “It feels like I’m doing my purpose in life. This is my...

An elder remembers indigenous life back before Shasta Dam was built. The legality of the proposal to raise Shasta Dam is considered. Meanwhile, Chief Caleen Sisk considers a new strategy to fight back: turning an adversary — the Westlands Water District — into an ally. Read More “For us, taking care of each other, taking care of the village, making sure that people have what they need is important...

We go to Shasta Dam and learn about the history behind its construction in the 1930s and 1940s. We hear from Chief Caleen Sisk about how the federal proposal to raise the dam another 18 and a half feet opens old wounds for the Winnemem Wintu and further threatens their tenuous survival. Read More   “ There’s nowhere else in the world that we can go to learn how to be Winnemems. Only there. We can’...

We accompany the Winnemem Wintu to sacred sites near the McCloud River. The federal government’s Shasta Dam and Reservoir Expansion Proposal threatens these sites and the Winnemem Wintu way of life. Read More “If we lose our sacred places then our belief is pretty much we lose being Winnemem. I mean, we’ll still have blood lines, but blood lines don’t really make tribes.” — Caleen Sisk, Hereditary...

In a peaceful protest, the Winnemem Wintu call out the U.S. government for its refusal to acknowledge the destruction caused by Shasta Dam. The protest at the Shasta Dam Visitor Center reveals the Winnemem Wintu’s ongoing reality. They are ignored and later a security guard threatens to forcibly remove them. Read More Shasta Lake, CA — The Winnemem Wintu and allies protest the lack of information...

Episode 11: Leon Misak Kinneeveauk Hosted by Chandre Szafran Leon Misak Kinneeveauk (Inupiaq) from Pt. Hope in Arctic Alaska is an artist operating the largest ivory carving studio in Deghay’kaq, known today as Anchorage, at the Alaska Art Alliance. Carving walrus ivory is an original artform of Indigenous communities in the Arctic, stretching across Inuit lands in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. I...

Episode 10: Laine Neech.yanagút Yéil Rinehart Hosted by Chandre Szafran Laine Neech.yanagút Yéil Rinehart (Lingít/Taos Pueblo) is based in Lingít lands in what’s today known as Juneau, AK. Laine practices the traditional Lingít artform of Chilkat weaving, an intricate craft that retains its traditional designs, meanings, and uses. In this episode, Laine shares how their art practice is a natural w...

Episode 9: Dorthy Wychesit Fredenberg Hosted by Chandre Szafran Dorthy is a professional performer and business owner of a dance company based on Dena’ina lands in Deghay’kaq, known today as Anchorage, Alaska. Dorthy’s talent reflects a lifetime of discipline and love for dance. She performs as Violet Lee Vamp. Along with her business partner, performer Lady Duchess, the two co-founded the Sweet C...

Native American students are just a tiny fraction of all the college students in the United States. They come with different histories, confronting an education system once used to erase their languages and cultures. In this project, four Indigenous college students tell how they are using higher education to strengthen ties to their Native roots and support their people. Archie Yellow outside of...

Welcome to the Dine’ Nation! Join a team of youth as they live and celebrate their ancient living culture! Our youth hosts will take the listener on a journey beyond reservation lines and into the cultural and creative lives of people who are continuing to break down stereotypes. Deezhi, featured in “Day in the Life,” sits outside of the hogan to rest after her Kinaalda (Coming of Age Ceremo...

A five-minute newscast focused on activity at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, anchored by Hannah Bissett.

Saturday, October 22, 2022 – Alaska Native Language and Culture Elders, advocates, educators and tribal leaders are among those committed to making sure Indigenous languages and cultures continue to be priorities in education. Efforts are being made for younger generations through higher learning, and beyond. Language and culture are being taught in schools, in community learning groups, sum...

A five-minute newscast focused on activity at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, anchored by Hannah Bissett.

Friday, October 21, 2022 – Elevating Alaska Native Women Indigenous women are leading the way, in their families, in their communities, professionally, and in politics from local, state to the national level.  Women are relying on the teaching of their ancestors, using knowledge passed on from generation to generation, to help guide them along the way. History was made in September when Mary...

Thursday, October 20, 2022 – Typhoon Merbok Indigenous communities up and down Alaska’s west coast continue to recover from a historic storm, which slammed into the state in September. Typhoon Merbok devastated Indigenous communities. People lost valuable resources from boats to fishing nets, dry houses, and other tools essential to their Indigenous hunting and fishing subsistence way of lif...

A five-minute newscast focused on activity at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, anchored by Hannah Bissett.

“Changing the Narrative About First Nations – Australia” details the efforts of the First Nations community to build out a messaging fellowship to fight for First Nation sovereignty and land rights, and to re-frame the narrative of “Australia Day .” The January 26 official national day marks the landing of a British fleet on the island. For the average Australian, it&...

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe chairman says discrimination by Rapid City, SD hotel will not be tolerated Puget Sound kelp forests under threat US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo reflects on historic term

The National Congress of American Indians hosts Violence Against Women Act Tribal Leader Town Hall The federal government will fund relocation efforts for six Alaska communities threatened by erosion and flooding Oregon tribes offer training on traditional controlled burns

KS education commissioner suspended for offensive joke about Native Americans NCAI and NARF celebrate SCOTUS nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson IHS transfer control of some South Dakota health services to tribally-operated clinic UNITY mourns loss of founder J.R. Cook, who died Friday at age 83 Read The Full Transcript https://media.blubrry.com/nationalnativenews/ins.blubrry.com/nationalnativenew...

Four tribes are  asking a judge to block restrictive new election laws ahead of the November midterms The governor of New Mexico signed two bills to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives