What is tribal sovereignty?

Monument Valley’s scenery. Nik Shuliahin (CC0)

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Original Air Date: 
July 13, 2024

Most Americans take their sovereignty for granted — the nation’s right to make its own laws and govern its own people. The same rights we recognize in other sovereign nations, with one glaring exception — the Native nations and tribes who were here first. For Native Americans, sovereignty is not some abstract idea. It’s an ongoing, daily struggle. 

Audio

“Bad River” is Mary Mazzio’s documentary about a small tribe, the Bad River band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and their legal battle to get rid of an oil pipeline. She examines the conflicting ideas we have about how to live on the land and even whether it can be owned.

Length: 
14:26
Quannah Rose Chasinghorse-Potts in a black jacket riding a white horse in a desert landscape.
Articles

Quannah ChasingHorse is both a Native American activist and a supermodel in the fashion industry. In her early twenties, she represents the next generation of activists working to protect Native land rights.

Length: 
10:48
Audio

Blackjack, slots, roulette, and sports betting are legal on Native-owned land because that’s where tribes have sovereignty. But what exactly does that mean? It’s complicated, says tribal gaming expert Steven Andrew Light.

Length: 
10:12
David Treuer
Audio

Ojibwe historian David Treuer thinks it’s time for a new kind of Native American narrative, with fewer stories of hardship and what he calls “trauma porn.” Treuer has written a sweeping counter-narrative of Native American history, “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee.”

Length: 
13:16
Extras

Show Details 📻
Airdates
July 13, 2024
Guests: 
Documentary Filmmaker
Native Activist and Model
David Treuer
Writer and Novelist
Full Transcript 📄

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Last modified: 
July 12, 2024