Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine

February 14th marks a day of honoring relatives lost in the ongoing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR).
A recent report from the Minnesota Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women reveals a heartbreaking statistic: while Indigenous people make up just 1% of the state's population, a stunning 9% of all murdered girls and women in Minnesota over the last ten years, were American Indian.

Today we talk with Jessica Gidagaakoons Smith (Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe), who is a mother, survivor, Two-Spirit warrior, Indigenous scholar, and researcher, MMIWG2S Legal Advocate, and so much more. Jessica shares how her own experience seeking healing as a survivor of domestic violence and human trafficking, led her on a path to become a national speaker, leader, and advocate for others.

We hear Jessica’s powerful story of how her “Inner Warrior” pushed her to step forward and speak up, sharing her own story of survival, to advocate for legislation aimed at strengthening law enforcement’s ability to track and solve cases of murdered or missing Native Americans.
[Read Transcript...]

This week, we continue our focus on how Indian Country in Minnesota is responding to the pandemic, now that COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out, with another Special Edition of Native Lights: Visiting Vaccines. In this show we check in with the Indian Health Service, we learn more about COVID resources, and we hear a firsthand account of going through the whole vaccination process from a Minneapolis firefighter. [Read Transcript...]

Today we talk with Ramona Marozas (Bad River Band of Lake Superior) a multiplatform producer with over a decade of journalism experience, currently working in public television in Duluth, on the nationally syndicated news program, Native Report. [Read Transcript...]

This week, another Special Edition of Native Lights: Visiting Vaccines, where we get a pulse on Indian Country’s response to COVID-19 vaccines, here in Minnesota. On this show we hear from two people deeply committed to the health and well-being of Indigenous people and Native communities.

Dr. Mary Owen, MD (Tlingit) is the President of the Association of American Indian Physicians, and she’s also the Director of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School, on the Duluth campus. Dr. Mary Owen speaks about working with other Native health experts to get the word out that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and crucial for Indigenous people who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

We also hear from Briana Michels (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) who is part of the American Indian Resource and Resiliency team at the University of Minnesota Extension, which holds workshops on trauma and healing. Briana Michels works on the Remembering Resilience podcast which explores Native American resilience through and beyond trauma. In our conversation, Briana speaks about the significance of historical trauma, especially during this past year and now with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations. [Read Transcript...]