The “Peace and Dignity Journeys” is an indigenous and First Nation ceremonial run that invites the participation of Native and non-Native individuals committed to the survival of Native American cultures, nations, and the uniting of the indigenous peoples across Turtle Island (North, Central and South America). With its roots in traditions of running as prayer and as an expression of indigenous cultural self-determination, the Peace & Dignity Journeys was formally established in 1990 in Quito, Ecuador at a gathering of over two hundred representatives from different Indigenous nations from throughout the western hemisphere. The 6,000-mile, seven-month spiritual relay run takes place every four years and this year runners will begin in Fairbanks, Alaska running south and in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina running north, eventually all runners will converge and meet El Cuaca, Columbia. Tune in to hear our guests discuss this year’s significantly important Peace and Journeys 2024 ceremonial run, the organizational coordination for the preparation across Turtle Island, and how people can help and who can participate. This year’s Peace and Dignity Journeys starts in May 2024. Guests: Eddie Gonzales and Marcus Vargas are organizers and co-chairs for the Peace and Dignity Journeys 2024 – Central Coast. For more information, you can visit: www.peacedignitycentralcoast.org Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

With Hollywood film production costs easily exceeding millions of dollars per film, and given the constant marginalization, erasures, and stereotypes about Native Americans and Indigenous peoples for more than a century, as well as the film industry’s chronic unwillingness to unconditionally support an abundance of Native American film productions, distributions, and exhibitions, many Native Americans film writers, producers, and directors find themselves working independently outside of the Hollywood-entertainment media system. Our guest for the hour is the writer, director and producer of a new feature film, The Heart Stays (2024), a coming-of-age story about two Osage sisters. Cast with veteran and non-veteran Native American actors/actresses, our guest for the hour emphasizes the unique artistic importance of the film, demonstrates how the film’s story is an artistically superior method of Native storytelling, and expresses how a unique community-based business model was used to produce The Heart Stays. Tune in for the hour to hear our guest explain how and where the film was made and how this ground-breaking and newly produced featured film is truly a Native American film that all must experience and see. The Heart Stays was released on March 26th, 2024, and is available on a variety of digital streaming platforms including, but not limited to: Apple TV, Prime Video, Vudu, Google Play, and DirecTV. Guest: • Diane Fraher (Osage/Cherokee Nations), founder and director of Amerinda Inc., a community-based multi-arts organization that works to empower Native Americans. She also the writer, director and producer of a new feature film, The Heart Stays (2024), a coming-of-age story about two Osage sisters filmed on Osage Nation. Archived AIA programs are on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Once numbering at least 40-60 million, settler colonial men once hunted the buffalo through the train windows for sport – who had the most kills. By 1890, however, there were less than 1,000 buffalo with only 23 surviving in Yellowstone’s Pelican Valley. Today, in Yellowstone National Park, the buffalo are trapped for slaughter and quarantine. In fact, once migrating into Montana, the buffalo are under the control of the Department of Livestock instead of Yellowstone Park National Service. When trapped, the buffalo are often tested for Brucellosis – the disease given to them by cattle. In Gardiner, MT, a group of 28 buffalo migrating into Gardiner Basin were recently trapped by Yellowstone National Park at Stephens Creek near Gardiner, Montana. The group was the first buffalo to migrate into the basin this season. Another group of 49 buffalo migrated beyond Yellowstone National Park’s trap and the remaining buffalo retreated from the National Forest to Yellowstone National Park. Today on American Indian Airwaves, our guest provides in-depth updates on the U.S. National Park Services failed Bison Management program and the Yellowstone National Park continued operations causing the depopulation of the last remaining original genetically pure buffalo herds (~9,000), the failed Endangered Species Act, how the climate crises is impacting the ecosystems throughout the region and the buffalo relations, as well as how the U.S. government’s divide and conquer strategy in creating buffalo policies simultaneous benefits larger Native American nations buffalo management programs from far way compared to local and smaller Native American nations near the Yellowstone Nation Park regions. Moreover, our guest highlights the cultural importance of the buffalo relations for Native American lifeways and what is threatening the cultural sustainability for future Native America nations. Guest: • James Holt Sr. (Nimiipuu Nation), Executive Director of the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC), and the board member for International Wildlife Coexistance Network Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp

In a coordinated effort between several federal and local government agencies and private contractors, more than 400,000 tons of toxic and hazards waste are planning to be removed from Lahaina and transported to the temporary debris storage site in Olowalu. The toxic and hazardous waste includes high levels of household waste, asbestos, arsenic, lead, and other toxins. Meanwhile an emergency declaration remains active which allows for side-setting and ignoring various federal, state, city laws and ordinances as part of toxic and hazardous waste removal efforts and any future development to rebuild Lahaina. Excluded or marginalized from the any of the actions, from waste removal and storage which would desecrate sacred sites, to the planned development, which will recolonize Lahaina, are some of the lineal descendants and other Kanaka maoli working to defend and stop the harm to Mother Earth in the Hawaiian Nation. Guests: • Ka’io Martin Cruz and John Cruz, creators and organizers of the People’s Community Council of Maui. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp

How does history relate to the present? What is settler colonialism? How are the two related to each other and what is the connection between the past to the present? What is Zionism? What is the Doctrine of Discovery/Dominion? Moreover, how does this relate to Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island? What are the parallels between the legacy of settler colonialism in what is presently the United States to the history of what is known as Palestine? With the continued escalation of settler colonial violence and genocides being perpetrated by the Israeli government against the Palestinian peoples in Gaza and the West Bank, we ask these questions including what is the history and birth of Zionism as a settler colonial project and what are stark similarities to the Doctrine of Discovery/Dominion as the basis for the birthing of the United States settler colonial project in dispossessing Native American Nations of their traditional homelands. Listen to an in-depth interview about the settler colonial equivalents between here and there, past and present, across of all Mother Earth. Guest: Dr. Rashid Ismail Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies in the History Department at Columbia University and is the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. In addition, he was President of the Middle East Studies Association, and an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993. He is the author of over ten publications, including his most recent book: The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917- 2017 (2020). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Thursday, 01/25/2024, on American Indian Airwaves “Defiling Mother Earth: Stopping the Mountain Valley Pipeline” Today on American Indian Airwaves listeners will hear an update the $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline construction struggles and how the Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, a joint venture of several companies operating in the extractive industries, could desecrate Native American sacred and cultural sites with the planned construction of the Southgate portion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline into what is called the state of North Carolina. Meanwhile, listeners will be informed about the how the Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC. is presenting suing over 40 land defenders, and two organizations (Appalachians Against Pipelines and Rising Tide North America) with Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (S.L.A.P.P.) lawsuits. SLAPP lawsuits are often instigated by wealthy corporations and sometimes the state. It is powerful legal tactic used to silence and censor Native Americans, U.S. citizens, grassroots peoples, activists, and even organizations. SLAPP lawsuits result in violating peoples U.S. Constitutionally protected Free Speech rights and their right to assemble while the lawsuits move through the court system. Moreover, SLAPP lawsuits are financially expensive for Native Americans, U.S. citizens, activist, land defenders, water protectors, and grassroots and non-profit organizations, that result is systemic financial harms. The Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC is a joint venture of Equitrans Midstream, NextEra Energy Resources, Consolidated Edison, and RGC Resources, and other companies. The pipeline is six years behind schedule, about half a billion dollars over budget, and, despite promises that it would be done by the end of last year, delayed once again. The remaining construction is over rugged terrain, with hundreds of water crossings left to bridge. The pipeline runs through the states of West Virgina, south Virgina, and possibly into North Carolina, including through and adjacent to mostly Native American communities, POC neighborhoods, and poorer white communities. Beside the land and water damages, if the pipeline is fully constructed, the long-term, irreversible danger is releasing 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from producing, transporting, and burning all that methane over the 40 to 50 years the pipeline’s life expectancy. Tune in to hear more about the struggle over the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the U.S Congress political back deals and the U.S. Supreme Court’s complicity in sanctioning the original pipeline route’s contrition, and what listeners can do to defend the sacred. Guest: Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, member of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, co-founder of Seven Directions of Service, and chair of the NAACP Environmental Justice Committee. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Today on American Indian Airwaves, we will hear highlights on what happened at the 30th Anniversary of the Beginning of the War Against Oblivion, the armed uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) on January 1st, 1994, against the colonial state of Mexico and global capitalism. The anniversary-gathering was organized by thousands of Zapatista support bases, Mayan men, women, boys, girls, elderly and older men and women who celebrated three decades of resistance to the capitalist, settler colonial system with cultural sports, arts, music, food, popular dance, and other forms of living cultural expressions. The Mayan peoples’ traditional homelands were recovered after the armed uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in 1994 and are concrete evidence of how Zapatismo in Chiapas has improved the living conditions of the communities based on organization, autonomy, and self-determination. Tune in and listen to hear about the EZLN’s major announcements reflecting major changes in self-determination, autonomy, and independence in anti-colonial and anti-capitalism struggles. In addition, listeners will hear about the legacy of Indigenous women, their roles, contributions over the past four generations changing oppressive systems of heteronormative cis-gendered patriarchy. Also, well hear updates on the globalized and militarized Cartels and major megaprojects that threaten the Mayan peoples’ traditional homelands and all life systems in Chiapas, MX. All that and more. Guest: • Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Diné ‘defender of the sacred, artist, activist, musician, author, land defender, Warrior,’ Klee Benally Walks On or transitioned on the morning of December 31, 2023. He was 48 years old and from what the place of many houses in what is known as Flagstaff, AZ. He was from the Tódích’íi’nii (Bitter Water People clan and born for the Wandering People clan). Klee Benally was a long-time advocate in combating violent forms of colonialism such as speaking out on ending Native American homelessness, combating systemic police violence, the clean up of thousands of abandon uranium mines as part of a much larger settler legacy of nuclear colonialism in which Native American nations have been and continue be on the front-lines including the Dine’ or Navajo nation. He also tirelessly fought against all forms of Indigenous cultural appropriation, worked to defend the "San Francisco Peaks," actively was involved with Indigenous Action (https://www.indigenousaction.org/), and supported Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. He is a loving and caring person centered in defending the sacred and is the creator’s gift to the many of us he touched. Today on American Indian Airwaves, we will hear selected songs from the various musical projects he was involved with, helped create, and contributed over the years. Like his musical lyrics and life works focusing on Native American liberation, dismantling colonialism, and expressing stories of struggles and survivance, he is the creator of a newly released game called 'Burn the Fort' (https://burnthefort.com/). The game is a semi-cooperative game where each player takes the role of a historic warrior fighting to stop colonial invasion of their lands in acts of fierce anti-colonial resistance. 'Burn the Fort' was released in late December of 2023. He was also busy writing, mostly during the COVID pandemic, which continues, and authored a brand-new book released on Detritus Books called 'No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in Defense of the Sacred', which was released on 11/18/2023 (https://detritusbooks.com/products/no-spiritual-surrender-indigenous-anarchy-in-defense-of-the-sacred). The book is a searing anti-colonial analysis rooted in frontline experiences and a living testimony of Benally’s life experiences in defending the sacred in anti-colonial struggles. Song List Appropriation, Song: “Fire to the Cages”. Album: Appropriation (2021). Klee Benally, Song: “Weather Changes”. Album: Respect Resistance or Expect Resistance (2013). Klee Benally, Song: “Holding Up the Sky”. Album: The Unsustainable Sessions (2019). Blackfire, Song: “Mean Things Happenin’ in this World”. Album: The Woodie Guthrie Sessions (2003). Appropriation, Song: “Toward’s Peabody’s Demise”. Album: Appropriation (2021). Klee Benally, Song: “She was a Mountain”. Album: The Unsustainable Sessions (2019). Klee Benally, Song: “One Brutal Violent Machine”. Album: Respect Resistance or Expect Resistance (2013). Blackfire, Song: “Silence is a Weapon”. Album: Silence is a Weapon (2007). Appropriation, Song: “Our Autonomy”. Album: Appropriation (2021). Klee Benally, Song: “At the Edge of the World”. Album: Respect Resistance or Expect Resistance (2013). Blackfire, Song: “NDN Alien”. Album: Silence is a Weapon (2007). Appropriation, Song: “Nothing for Ourselves Feat. Sage Bond”. Album: Appropriation (2021). Blackfire, Song: “The Power Is Out”. Album: Silence is a Weapon (2007). Klee Benally, Song: “Hands on a Barbed Wire”. Album: The Unsustainable Sessions (2019). Klee Benally, Song: “A Matter of Action”. Album: Respect Resistance or Expect Resistance (2013). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

December 29th of every year marks another anniversary of the Wound Knee Massacre of 1890 and the Occupation of Wounded Knee occurred from 02/27/1973 to 05/08/1973. The Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 is the result of the United States (U.S.) 7th Calvary stopped Miniconjou and Lakota Ghost Dancers and community members from returning home to Pine Ridge in what is now known as South Dakota. The Would Knee Massacre took place near the Wounded Knee Creek during a time when the United States government essentially banned all Native American traditions and ceremonies. Shortly thereafter the initial encounter, a scuffle ensued which resulted in the U.S. 7th Calvary open firing and killing over 300 Indigenous women, children, and men. The Occupation of Wounded Knee from 02/27/1973 to 05/08/1973 is the outcome of over 200 members of the American Indian Movement and supporters occupying Wounded Knee (Lakota Nation) in response to a call to action from traditional Lakota residents whose civil, human, and treaty rights were constantly being violated by corrupt Indigenous and United States government officials. The Wound Knee Occupation resulted in a 67-day military standoff with U.S. government officials and quickly drew international and domestic support from people, organizations, and foreign governments throughout the world. Today’s show on American Indian Airwaves is comprised of sound from two principal sources: The Pacifica Radio archives and the documentary A Tattoo on My Heart: The Warriors of Wounded Knee 1973. The Pacifica Radio Archives include original reports from Pacifica’s-affiliate station, KPFA in Berkeley, CA which covered live the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation. In addition, sound from the documentary A Tattoo on My Heart: The Warriors of Wounded Knee 1973 includes reflective testimonies of the Wound Knee Indigenous activist such as Lenny Foster, Bill Means, Madonna Thunderhawk, and narrated by the late Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman, plus more. American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast every Thursday from 7pm to 8pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angeles, CA; FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, CA; FM 99.5 in China Lake, CA; FM 93.7 in North San Diego, CA; FM 99.1 KLBP in Long Beach, CA (Tuesdays 11am-12pm); and on the Internet at: www.kpfk.org. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

So far, 2023 has been a remarkable year for Indigenous musicians across Turtle Island. Many Native Americans bands, First Nation’s musicians, and Indigenous peoples from the Siberian region have released new music over the past several months, and two different First Nations bands from Australia were recognized at the 19th National Indigenous Music Awards on August 12th, 2023 – one band inducted into the Hall of Fame for decades-long contributions to music, and the other band for the Archie Roach Foundation Award. Today on American Indian Airwaves, we hear music from Native American and Indigenous musicians that have either released new songs and albums over the past several months and/or have won awards for their acknowledgements and contributions towards Indigenous music across Turtle Island. Song List: Track 1: Artist: Eekwol, Song: “Settle Down” (2023), Single. (Lindsay Knight) is an Indigenous hip-artist, scholar, and activist, from the Muskoday First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. Her first rap album was released in 1998. Track 2: Artist: Mato Wayuhi, Song” BOOGEY BOY feat. Niandra Blonde” (2023). Oglala Lakota, accomplished musician and known for scoring the music for the Indigenous program Reservation Dogs (2021-2023). https://matowayuhi.net/ Track 3: Artist: Raye Zaragoza, Song: ”Hold that Spirit”. Album Hold that Spirit (2023). https://www.rayezaragoza.com/ Track 4: Artist: Andrian Sutherland, Song: “Notawe (Father)” (2023). Exclusive single premiere from the forthcoming album. Omushkegowuk Cree Nation: artist and song. https://adriansutherlandmusic.com/ Track 5: Artist: Yothu Yindi, Song: “Treaty” (1991/2012). Albums: Tribal Voice (1991)/One Blood (2012). Yothu Yindi performed and inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 19th National Indigenous Music Awards on 8/12/2023 in Australia. https://www.yothuyindi.com.au/ Track 6: Artist: Wildfire Manwurrk, Song: “Lonely Bangardi” (2022). Wildfire Manwurrk won the Archie Roach Foundation Award at the 19th National Indigenous Music Awards on 8/12/2023 in Australia. Track 7: Artist: Otyken, Song: “Genesis”. Album: Phenomenon (2023). Otyken is an Indigenous music group from the Siberian region that combines traditional and contemporary musical styles including lyrics and languages. 'Otyken' is a Chulym word for sacred land. https://otyken.ru/?lang=en Track 8: Artist: The Pretendians, Song: “The 38”. Album: Stories From the Fire (2023). Native American rock band from that calls Northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota home. Most bands, however, represent the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ (7 Council Fires) of the Dakhota/Lakhota Nation, hailing from Standing Rock, Rosebud, and Crow Creek tribes. https://www.pretendiansband.com/ Track 9: Artist: Blue Mountain Tribe, Song: “Sacred Flowers”. (Single, 2023). https://bluemountaintribe.com/ Track 10: Artist: Julian Taylor, Song: “Stolen Lands”. (Single, 2023). https://juliantaylormusic.ca Track 11: Artist: Joe Rainey, Song: ““No Chants”. Album: Niineta (Just Me)” (2022). https://www.roughtrade.com/en-us/product/joe-rainey/niineta-1 Track 12: Artist: Eekwol feat. Ila Barker & Boogey the Beat, Song: “Beauty”. Album: TMRWS (2023). Track 13: Artist: Robbie Robertson, Song: “Walk the Beauty Way”. Album: Sinematic (2019). Cayuga/Mohawk Nations. In acknowledgement of his transition on 8/9/2023. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Since 1970, Indigenous people & their allies annually gather on Cole's Hill in Plymouth, MA to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native American peoples do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims & other European settlers. In fact, the settler colonial Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native American peoples, the theft of Indigenous traditional homelands, and the erasure of Native American cultures. Participants in the annual National Day of Mourning honor Indigenous peoples’ ancestors, Native American resilience and resistance, and our vitality and adaptability for survival. It is also a day of remembrance and spiritual connection, as well as a protest against violent forms of settler colonialism, racism, and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide or across Mother Earth. Today, on American Indian Airwaves, we bring highlights from Indigenous peoples across Mother Earth who spoke at the 54th Annual National Day of Mourning, on November 23, 2023, at colonially what is known as: Cole's Hill (above Plymouth Rock), Plymouth, MA. The annual gathering is organized by the United American Indians of New England (UAINE), http://www.uaine.org/. For the full video and audio source, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR4wLyUYFss

With Lake Mead, Lake Powell, and the Colorado River decades-plus declining water levels with a one-year reprieve last year, and an ever-increasing demand for the water in the living Colorado River over the centuries by the states of California, Nevada, and Arizona, agricultural businesses and other commercial industries, Native American nations have historically been denied their fundamental treaty and human rights when it comes to the source of life: water. Over the century, the United States Supreme Court, certain U.S. Congressional members, and others complicitly engaged in the settler colonial legacy of violence not only against the 30 federally recognized Native American nations related to the living Colorado River, but all life that the “River” sustains since time immemorial. What happens to the living Colorado River between now and 2026 has yet to be determined. In late October of 2023 the U.S Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) released its draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) in which they are positioned to move forward with the CA, AZ, & NV states planning to give up about 13% of the water received from the Colorado River through the end of 2026. What comes next is a 45-day public comment period on the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), which is expected to be finalized in early 2024. At stake, however, are the treaty and water rights for 30 federally recognized Nation American nations connected to the living Colorado River which is also a major water supply for 40 million people, seven states, and 5.5 million acres of agriculture. Today on American Indian Airwaves we cover what all this means, particularly for the 30 Native American nations in general, but also, we explore and discuss the complexities of treaty and water rights in Federal Indian Law in relationship to the future of the living Colorado River. Our guest for the hour is an accomplished attorney who has worked with numerous Native American nations and governments for more two decades and he has developed extensive expertise in the area of federal Indian water law, worked on multiple Native American water rights settlements, and has represented clients in adjudications and other water-related proceedings in California, Montana, and Oregon. Guest: Jay Weiner, tribal water attorney for the Quechan Indian Nation (Kwatsáan) located along both sides of the Colorado River near Yuma, Arizona; and of counsel at Rosette, LLP; a majority owned Native American Law Firm. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

With 1,272 Buffalo relations killed in 2023 so far in part due to the Yellowstone National Park Service buffalo management practices, the Yellowstone National Park Service just released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Buffalo Management which will be more detrimental to the Buffalo. Moreover, over the years, the Yellowstone National Park Service along with state of Montana, Montana ranchers, and other perpetrators and collaborators, have been complicit in not only failing to protect the remaining genetically pure and original buffalo relations, but these ‘actors’ have been directly and/or indirectly connected to the continuous legacy of taking Buffalo relations lives. In fact, since 1985, 13,958 Buffalo relations have been killed. Our guest for the hour chronicles the work, struggles, and commitment of the Buffalo Field Campaign to protect the remaining genetically pure and original Buffalo relations that call Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding ecosystems across Mother Earth their home. All that and more on today’s American Indian Airwaves program. Guest: James Holt Sr. (Nez Perce Nation), Executive Director of the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Both guests for today’s program chronicle the historical legacies of Indigenous/Latine’ struggles and experiences in the Kumeyaay traditional territories now known as San Diego, CA. Both guests discuss theater, Spanish settler colonialism, the Indigeneity, the dismantling and resistance of Chicano masculinity, the interrelations between the urban population and Indigenous peoples, the importance of culturally based theater and arts, free speech, freedom of artistic expression and more. Lastly, our guests discuss the acknowledgement and celebration at the Teatro at Centro: 52 Years located 2004 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101. The celebration is being held on 10/20/2023 and includes panelists, guest speakers, storytelling, lived experiences and more. Guest: • Felacitas Nunez, Salton Sea Coalition • Kathy Requejo, Community Activist • Teatro at Centro . Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

In the region of the Lacandon forest in Chiapas, Mexico, Indigenous peoples throughout the region continue experiencing even more escalated state-military-cartel violence within systemically and vehement capitalized world. The cartel-state-corporate violence has increased substantially over the past six months and Indigenous peoples are responding. Our guest for today provides an update on numerous critically important issues such Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) administration supporting major capitalistic megaprojects throughout the region (Maya Train Project, plus more), increased destruction of Mayan peoples’ traditional homelands and the Indigenous peoples themselves, plus our guest articulates how some the largest Cartels are further entrenching their claims through greater violence over the lands and peoples while maintaining the vast inhuman networks of human trafficking, narco trafficking, and trafficking mostly American-based weaponry. All this and more on American Indian Airwaves. Guest: Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

On June 10th, 2022, a Bolivian court sentenced former de facto president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, to 10 years in prison. Áñez assumed power during a violent and illegal coup in November 2019 that ousted the country’s popular Indigenous president, Evo Morales, sending him into exile, and killing over 37 people. During Anez’s short term as the illegal president, her government killed dozens of civilians, persecuted members of the Movimiento al Socialismo – Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos or the Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (MP-ISP) and confronted the Covid-19 pandemic with incompetence and corruption leading to mass starvation in the country’s poorer regions. Today on American Indian Airwaves, we speak with the director of the Andean Information Network, a human rights organization based in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and writes extensively on drug policy and human rights in the Andes. Katheryn Ledebur joins us to discuss the violent and illegal coup that forcefully ousted the first democratically elected Indigenous president in Bolivia, the United States government’s complicity in directly and indirectly supporting, along with American-based PR firms, the November 2019 coup (Operation Condor 2.0), the role of extractive industries such as the natural gas and lithium industries destabilizing the plurinational nation of Bolivia, plus more, and what it means for the plurinational state of Bolivia and the 24 Indigenous nations and communities within. Guest: Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network (http://ain-bolivia.org/), a human rights organization based in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and writes extensively on drug policy and human rights in the Andes. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.

Thursday, 8/31/2023, on American Indian Airwaves on KPFK, 7pm to 8pm (PCT) “The Living Histories of Lahaina and Self Determination for Hawaiian Nation and Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush” Part 1: The living histories of Lahaina are told through the intergenerational means of passing traditional stories, songs, language, and life from one Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) generation to the next. Despite the media, national, and international attention on the recent August 8th, 2023, deadly Lahaina fire, many critical questions and concerns are missing from various media reports about the self-determination of the Hawaiian nation in recovery and healing from the violence stemming from United States militarization, the illegal over through of the Hawaiian Kingdom by the United States, corporatizing the land and water for tourism, plus more. Through the settler colonial history of what is called Lahaina, the Kanaka Maoli are resilient in survivance and now more than ever are organized in working to ensure that decolonization and healing takes place as part of the recovery from the Lahaina fire. Tune in today on American Indian Airwaves to hear enriching, important, and real stories from a Kanaka Maoli perspective on the living histories of “Lahaina,” Maui, and the Hawaiian nation, plus more. Guest: • Kepā Maly, Cultural Ethnographer - Resource Specialist of Kumu Pono Associates LLC (https://www.kumupono.com/). Kepā was raised on the islands of O’ahu and Lanaʻi. While growing up on Lānaʻi, Kepā was taught the Hawaiian language and cultural practices and values by kūpuna (elders). Kūpuna spoke of, and practiced many aspects of Hawaiian culture, including land and ocean management practices, mele and hula (chants and dances), material culture, traditions, and ethnobotany. Part 2: The long legacy of settler colonial violence against California Indigenous nations, the lands, waters, and more continues in northern California where the informal and formal cannabis industry is harming the Peoples, lands, waters, and more. The Cannabis industry is just one industry out many contributing to systemic forms of colonial violence. Tune in today on American Indian Airwaves to the author of a new published book titled Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California (2023). The book is the first to cover the environmental consequences of cannabis cultivation in California by foregrounding Indigenous voices, experiences, and histories. It’s not intended as an expose of cannabis growers, but rather meant to inform the path toward an alternative future, one that starts with the return of land to Indigenous stewardship and a rejection of the commodification and control of nature for profit. Guest: Kaitlin Reed (Yurok/Hupa/Oneida), Associate Professor of Native American Studies at Cal-Poly, Humboldt and the author of the newly published book: Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California (2023). Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more. American Indian Airwaves is an all-volunteer collective and Native American public affairs program that broadcast weekly on KPFK FM 90.7 Los Angeles, CA, Thursdays, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. Financially support KPFK by visiting KPFK.org and pledging a dollar amount or call 818-985-5835 (KPFK) to support.

On August 8th, 2023, a deadly fire swept through the Hawaiian town of Lahaina, destroying nearly everything in its path. The number of lives taken has reached at least 115 as of 8/22/2023, more than 800 people are still missing, and more than 2,000 structures were destroyed. Eight hours before a deadly fire swept through the Hawaiian town of Lahaina, a small brush fire broke out on the edge of a residential neighborhood approximately a mile away from the town’s historic waterfront. While the fire was contained, and kept away from nearby homes, it is suspected that hurricane-force gusts helped reignite the fire. Lahaina, or by its original place name: Malu’ulu o Lele (Ma la ulu o lele) means the “land of the flying breadfruit” became Lahaina when colonists eradicated this traditional food and replaced it with sugar cane plantations. This scared place to the Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, the Naka moli, is rich in cultural traditions and history kept alive through generations. The Lahaina fire destroyed more than the settler colonist homes, business, tourism, but it is the violence of settler colonial, its legacy in Hawaii, and the climate crises that has cause so much additional trauma to people, the land, water, and life throughout the area. Today on American Indian Airwaves, our guest for the hour is a well-known international photographer, professional writer, an accomplished journalist, and cinematographer. His family lived on the Big Island of Hawaii and one his ancestors is Kaloni o’ Pue ew, a chief of a large portion of Maui precolonization. Guest: David Pu’u (https://davidpuu.com), photographer, cinematographer and Writer with broad experience ranging from editorial publication to television and feature film production. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Tunein, YouTube, and more. American Indian Airwaves is an all-volunteer collective and Native American public affairs program that broadcast weekly on KPFK FM 90.7 Los Angeles, CA, Thursdays, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm.

One day before International Indigenous Peoples Day, President Joe Biden created on August 8th, 2023, a new national monument in Arizona covering close to a million acres of lands surrounding the Grand Canyon important and sacred to nearby Native American nations. The Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni (Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument) is the fifth designated monument by Biden in the past 10 months, and the new monument prohibits new uranium mining claims in the region. The legacy of Nuclear Colonialism, which is includes over a century of uranium mining, and its impacts on Native American nations, peoples, and Mother Earth remains a highly censored in the American mass and digital media. Despite the recent media attention of the film Oppenheimer (2023, dir. Christopher Nolan) released on July 21st, 2023, in the United States and August 6th, 2023, marking the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima wherein 140,000 people died in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and 74,000 in Nagasaki three days later, Native Americans and settler colonial violence are absent from these stories and the American public consciousness. Guest: Ian Zabarte (Newe Sogobia [Western Shoshone] Nation), is a long-time Indigenous activist who worked tirelessly to stop the Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository in Western Shoshone Treaty lands (also known as the state of Nevada). He is also a board member of the Native Community Action Council (NCAC), works on numerous anti-nuclear colonialism projects, and is featured in 2023 documentary Downwind, the story about Mercury, Nevada in heart of the Western Shoshone nation, becoming the testing site of 928 large-scale nuclear weapons from 1951 to 1992. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Tunein, YouTube, and more. American Indian Airwaves is an all-volunteer collective and Native American public affairs program that broadcast weekly on KPFK FM 90.7 Los Angeles, CA, Thursdays, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm.

Today on American Indian Airwaves, a renewed effort towards seeking freedom for international, political Indigenous prisoner Leonard Peltier, who since 1977 wrongfully continues serving two consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary despite ongoing severe health issues, plus more here on American Indian Airwaves. Leonard Peltier is from the Anishnaabe and Lakota Nations and was unjustly convicted in 1977 for aiding and abetting in the deaths of two FBI agents in a June 26, 1975. The shootout happened on the Pine Ridge reservation in Oglala County, SD and was between the FBI and members of the American Indian Movement who were defending the Oglala community at their request. Three American Indian Movement activist were charged at the time including Leonard Peltier, yet the two other co-defendants, Robert Robideau and Darrelle “Dino” Butler were acquitted by reason of self-defense. Peltier was later extradited from Canada under questionable circumstances was tried separately and his trial was replete with prosecutorial misconduct, falsified testimony, fabricated evidence, and even the autopsy presented to the jury was done by an examiner who had never seen the bodies of the two agents, plus more. Our guests for the hour are Our other guest is Mia Feroleta is the publisher of New Observations Magazine and recently served as the authorized representative of the Oglala Sioux nation is helping negotiate the repatriation of 131 ancestors, cultural patrimony, and sacred items that were stolen from the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. Guests: Paullette Dauteuil-Robideau, former Co-chair (2010-2012) of International Leonard Pelteir Defense Committee (ILPDC), was the National Secretary (2012-2014) of the National Jericho movement, is a board member of the ad hoc committee to Free Leonard Peltier Now! campaign, and the former wife/companion of A.I.M. activist Robert Robideau. https://www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org Mia Feroleto is the publisher of New Observations magazine. Last year, Mia served as the authorized representative of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and negotiated the return of 131 artifacts stolen from the Wounded Knee Massacre site. They had been held in the collection of a small library/museum in Barre, Massachusetts for over 100 years. New Observations published an entire issue on Wounded Knee. New Observations latest issue is dedicated to political prisoners including Leonard Peltier. Mai also serves as a member of the board of Leonard's Ad Hoc Committee. Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Tunein, YouTube, and more. American Indian Airwaves is an all-volunteer collective and Native American public affairs program that broadcast weekly on KPFK FM 90.7 Los Angeles, CA, Thursdays, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm.