NATIVE NEWS HEADLINES

Native activists and entertainers are among those being caught up in a recent push in several states to curb events connected to 2SLGBTQIA+ issues. A library in Montana canceled a lecture t by a Native Two-Spirit writer and activist because organizers were worried it would violate the state’s new ban on drag performances in public spaces. For the start of Pride Month, we look at the new hurdles Native 2SLGBTQIA+ people are facing. GUESTS Sage Chanell (Shawnee, Ponca, Otoe and Lakota Sioux), drag performer and former Miss International Two-Spirit Lady Shug (Diné), drag artist and community activist Tomahawk Martini (Cheyenne River Sioux and Navajo), current Mother of the Year at the Albuquerque Social Club and former Miss New Mexico Pride 2022 Adria Jawort (Northern Cheyenne), journalist, fiction writer, and director of the non-profit startup Indigenous Transilience

At a time when Australian bands like Men At Work, Midnight Oil, and INXS were reaching worldwide recognition, a number of Aboriginal rock and reggae bands were making their own waves in the music world. Names like Coloured Stone, No Fixed Address, and others were getting broader interest from audiences and notched impressive record sales globally. All the while they faced considerable racism and their peoples’ land rights battles, themes that their songs often invoke. We’ll hear from some of those musicians about how they now look back on this important decade of music.

Arizona officials are still sorting out the details of what they say is among the biggest and costliest fraud scandals in state history. The scheme targeted Native people and involved billing for sham treatment services. Some residents were literally taken off the street and held against their will at fake treatment centers. Officials say the operators of the fraud bilked Arizona’s Medicaid system of some $100 million over several years. Tribal officials in the state say hundreds of their citizens were harmed and some remain missing. GUESTS Ethel Branch (Diné), attorney general of the Navajo Nation Darren Thompson (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe), reporter for Native News Online Elizabeth Bryant (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), psychiatric nurse practitioner Reva Stewart (Diné), grassroots advocate with the #StolenPeopleStolenBenefits campaign Coleen Chatter (Diné), grassroots advocate with the #StolenPeopleStolenBenefits campaign

An ambitious project in Denver aims to build affordable units for the city’s Native population. It includes plans for a Native health clinic and is intended to address the disparities of homelessness for Native people. It’s one of a handful of housing projects built with collaborative health and program space around the country designed to prioritize the needs of Native people. GUESTS Carla Respects Nothing (Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge), Native American housing advocate for the Native American Housing Circle Paul Lumley (citizen of the Yakama Nation), CEO of the Native American Youth and Family Center Lindsay Goes Behind (Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas), chief program officer for the Chief Seattle Club

While it still happens in some places, Native tourism is moving far beyond selling rubber tomahawks, chicken feather headbands, and other trinkets. Tribes and Native-owned businesses are realizing the value for authentic, Native-made works and meaningful traveler experiences. The time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is prime tourism season. We’ll find out how tribes are making the transition to culturally sustainable tourism development. Also, MSNBC is airing a roundtable discussion among accomplished Native women about culture, identity, and representation in a society that so often treats Indigenous people as invisible. It’s an intimate and frank conversation hosted by Alyssa London and airs on the Peacock Network. We’ll hear from Alyssa about how the show came about and what it can do to hear powerful Native women voices.