Before Indian self-determination became federal law, a cohort of angry and disillusioned Native college students, including a young Ponca student named Clyde Warrior, helped lay the foundation for the Red Power movement and inspire the American Indian Movement. Warrior became a pivotal co-founder of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), an activist group that protested federal termination policies and rejected assimilation and government paternalism. He and other members participated in the March on Washington and the fish-ins in the Pacific Northwest, and met with U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-New York, to discuss Native education. Through fiery speeches, Warrior inspired Dennis Banks and others to become activists and take pride in their Native identity. We’ll talk about the late Clyde Warrior and the groundwork laid by NIYC.

GUESTS

Della Warrior (Otoe-Missouria), former chairperson of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, president and CEO of the Multi-Indigenous Community Action (MICA) Group, and the late wife to Clyde Warrior

Darius Lee Smith (Diné), executive director of the National Indian Youth Council

John Redhouse (Diné and Ute), longtime Native American activist

Break 1 Music: Ponca War Dance Song 1 (song) Albert Waters, Alice Cook, Harry Buffalohead, Joe H. Rush, Lamont Brown, Louis Yellow Horse, Lucy C. F. Ribs, Russell Rush (2), Stella Yellow Horse, Sylvester Warrior (artist) War Dance Songs Of The Ponca – Vol. I (album)

Break 2 Music: KuuPua (song) The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Incarnadine (album)

The Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe failed to stop the federal government from rounding up hundreds of wild horses this summer from public land next to their reservation at the California-Nevada border. It’s part of the government’s larger plan to remove about 14,000 wild horses from public lands in several western states in 2026. Wild horse roundups are a controversial issue that has tribes weighing environmental health, animal wellbeing, and horse culture. We’ll talk with Native advocates about the challenges wild horses are up against in the face of drought and environmental changes.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Indian National Finals Rodeo. The annual event gathers the best Native rodeo athletes from across the Americas who are vying for fastest time and big scores. Randy “The Cherokee Cowboy” Taylor (Cherokee) joins us for an update from the 50th INFR in Las Vegas.

GUESTS

Ronda Kauk (Mono Lake Kutzadika’a Tribe), executive director for the Indigenous Wild Horse Society and a cultural monitor for the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe

Rana Saulque (Utu Utu Gwaitu Benton Paiute), vice chair of the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe of the Benton Paiute Reservation and co-founder of the Indigenous Wild Horse Society

Jason Smith (Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs), owner of Jason Smith Ranch

Randy Taylor (Cherokee), Cowboy, professional rodeo announcer, and host of our sister program “Word with a Champ”

Break 1 Music: My Horse (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)

Break 2 Music: KuuPua (song) The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Incarnadine (album)

“The Blue Corn Kitchen” by Alana Yazzie (Diné) gives young reader’s a glimpse of the traditional corn-based Navajo foods many Navajo grandmothers have stocked in their kitchens. It’s the latest project from the self-made, Navajo lifestyle and food blogger who also goes by The Fancy Navajo.

Howdy Cakes is a new pastry and cake business by Diné culinarian, Liz McKenzie. It’s in partnership with a start-up mini food hall in Albuquerque.

And, on the National Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools, we’ll take a look at the negative effects the institutions had on Native foodways.

GUESTS

Liz McKenzie (Diné), culinarian and cake artist; owner of Howdy Cakes, owner of Prickly Foods, and partner for La Carinderia

Alana Yazzie (Diné), creator and owner of the lifestyle and food blog, The Fancy Navajo, and author of “The Blue Corn Kitchen”

A-dae Romero-Briones (Cochiti and Kiowa), senior vice president of research and strategy for First Nations Development Institute

Break 1 Music: Yacca Banana Song [Two-Step Dance Song] (song) Sweethearts of Navajoland (artist) From the Heart of Diné Nation Traditional Songs of the Navajo (album)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)