In this episode of "Red Hoop Talk," host Jennifer Robin welcomes Yasmine Austin Sapulpa, citizen of the Choctaw Nation, an artist, basket maker, educator and stickball player whose work centers on keeping Choctaw culture active and connected to everyday life. Yasmine shares how growing up Black and Native shaped her understanding of identity and belonging.

The conversation explores the importance of recognizing Native Peoples as authorities of their own histories and cultures. Yasmine discusses Choctaw oral knowledge and challenges the idea that knowledge carried through generations requires outside academic validation before it is taken seriously.

Yasmine also shares her work with Choctaw basketry and river cane, including learning to harvest, process and weave cane and recreating an unusual triangular basket form. Her experience highlights the relationships between cultural practices, the land, and the materials that make those practices possible.

Jennifer and Yasmine also discuss Native art, cultural appropriation, and the ways traditions continue to grow and adapt. The episode closes with Choctaw stickball; a traditional, full-contact sport Yasmine continues to play today. Through basketry, art, education and stickball, Yasmine shows how culture continues through Native Peoples who live, practice, create and carry it forward.

Each episode of "Red Hoop Talk" creates space for Native voices, knowledge, and experiences. By supporting the Association on American Indian Affairs, you help us continue sharing these conversations and keeping Native voices close to culture!

In this episode of “Red Hoop Talk,” host Jennifer Robin welcomes Daniel W. Vandever, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, children’s book author, educator, and creator whose work explores language, education, cultural identity, and community responsibility. Daniel shares how his grandfather, Joe Vandever Sr., a Navajo Code Talker, Marine, and medicine man, shaped his understanding of the power of words and ultimately inspired his path toward writing and education.

Daniel reflects on a powerful contradiction within his own family’s history. During World War II, his grandfather used the Navajo language as a Code Talker, while Daniel’s father was later punished in school for speaking that same language. Their experiences open a larger conversation about boarding schools, assimilation, and the lasting effects of educational systems designed to separate Native children from their languages and cultures. Daniel emphasizes that these histories are not distant and continue to affect Native Peoples and families today.

The conversation also explores Daniel’s decade working at Navajo Technical University and how his experiences with students led him to think more deeply about literacy, culturally grounded education, and reaching Native children earlier in life. That path eventually led him to children’s literature, including Fall in Line, Holden, Horizon, and We Weave. Through his books, Daniel creates opportunities for young readers to use their imaginations, see themselves represented, and engage with stories through their own languages, families, and experiences.

Throughout the episode, Daniel and Jennifer discuss Native language revitalization, Indigenous knowledge, representation, technology, parenting, and the importance of balance. Daniel considers how Native Peoples can engage with education, technology, and contemporary life while remaining grounded in language, land, relationships, creativity, and cultural identity.

Learn more about Daniel’s books, speaking engagements, and creative work at SouthofSunriseCreative.com. Each episode of “Red Hoop Talk” creates space for Native voices, experiences, and knowledge. By supporting Association on American Indian Affairs, you help us continue protecting cultural sovereignty and creating opportunities for Native Peoples to tell their own stories.

In Episode 106 of Red Hoop Talk, host Jennifer Robin welcomes Dr. Crystal Miller, citizen of the Walker River Paiute Tribe and Director of Cultural Sovereignty for the Association on American Indian Affairs. A nationally recognized expert in Federal Indian Law and Policy, Dr. Miller shares how her work advances Native Nation sovereignty through constitutional reform, repatriation, sacred place protection, environmental justice, and strengthening Native self-determination. Throughout the conversation, she explains that sovereignty is not simply a legal concept but a living responsibility exercised every day by Native Nations.

Jennifer and Dr. Miller discuss how federal policies continue to shape Native Nation governance while exploring constitutional reform, Land Back, and the importance of exercising inherent sovereignty. Dr. Miller explains how many Native Nation constitutions were influenced by the Indian Reorganization Act and why many Nations are reclaiming governance systems that better reflect their own traditions and priorities. She also emphasizes that meaningful consultation requires Native Nations to be involved before decisions are made and that Native knowledge deserves equal standing in repatriation, sacred place protection, and cultural resource management.

Dr. Miller also reflects on her own journey, sharing how she left college three times before discovering American Indian Studies at Fresno City College. That turning point ultimately led her to earn a Ph.D. focused on issues affecting Native Nations, including military impacts on Native lands and constitutional reform. She also speaks candidly about the emotional weight of protecting Native rights while remaining grounded in her responsibility to the next generations.

Each episode of Red Hoop Talk connects listeners with powerful Native voices and perspectives. By supporting the Association on American Indian Affairs, you help ensure these important conversations continue to educate, inspire, and strengthen Native Nation sovereignty.