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5 Plain Questions

Written by: Joe Williams
  • Summary

  • 5 Plain Questions is a podcast that proposes 5 general questions to Native American and Indigenous artists, creators, musicians, writers, movers and shakers, and culture bearers.
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Episodes
  • 2024 Update: Season 5
    Mar 20 2024
    Joe is back with an update on season.
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    4 mins
  • U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland
    Dec 27 2023
    Secretary Deb Haaland made history when she became the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and a 35th generation New Mexican. Secretary Haaland grew up in a military family; her father was a 30-year combat Marine who was awarded the Silver Star Medal for saving six lives in Vietnam, and her mother is a Navy veteran who served as a federal employee for 25 years at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. As a military child, she attended 13 public schools before graduating from Highland High School in Albuquerque. As a single mother, Secretary Haaland volunteered at her child's pre-school to afford early childhood education. Like many parents, she had to rely on food stamps at times as a single parent, lived paycheck-to-paycheck, and struggled to put herself through college. At the age of 28, Haaland enrolled at the University of New Mexico (UNM) where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and later earned her J.D. from UNM Law School. Secretary Haaland and her child, who also graduated from the University of New Mexico, are still paying off student loans. Secretary Haaland ran her own small business producing and canning Pueblo Salsa, served as a tribal administrator at San Felipe Pueblo, and became the first woman elected to the Laguna Development Corporation Board of Directors, overseeing business operations of the second largest tribal gaming enterprise in New Mexico. She successfully advocated for the Laguna Development Corporation to create policies and commitments to environmentally friendly business practices. Throughout her career in public service, Secretary Haaland has broken barriers and opened the doors of opportunity for future generations. After running for New Mexico Lieutenant Governor in 2014, Secretary Haaland became the first Native American woman to be elected to lead a State Party. She is one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress. In Congress, she focused on environmental justice, climate change, missing and murdered indigenous women, and family-friendly policies.
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    21 mins
  • Chief Arvol Looking Horse
    Dec 20 2023
    Chief Arvol Looking was born on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. His primary responsibility is serving as the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe – a role he was given at the age of twelve making him the youngest pipe keeper in Lakota history. As keeper of the sacred Pipe he also serves as the spiritual leader to the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nation and advocates for the restoration of the Lakota Nation’s rights to the Black Hills—as guaranteed by the 1868 Laramie Treaty. He grew up in an era of religious suppression, where traditional Lakota ceremonies were outlawed in both the US and Canada from the early 1900’s until the Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. His family was forced to hold Sundance, sweatlodge, vision quests, and healing ceremonies underground for fear of arrest by the police. Arvol’s advocacy of environmental and Indigenous rights and issues has been recognized globally as a recipient of the Wolf Award of Canada, the Juliet Hollister Award, a Non-Governmental Organization with Consultation Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. He is also the author of White Buffalo Teachings and a guest columnist for Indian Country Today. Since 1990, Arvol has also devoted himself to facilitate healing to all people and cultures through several sacred Prayer Rides on Horseback including The Annual Wintertime Chief Bigfoot Memorial Ride to Wounded Knee in order to mend the Sacred Hoop that was broken during the Massacre in 1890, The Unity Ride from B.C. to Six Nations in the early 2000s whose purpose was to heal historical trauma through the land and animals, and since 2005, he has supported and participated on the Dakota 38 Ride that takes place every December from South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota to honor the memory of the 38 + 2 Dakota men who died under order of President Abraham Lincoln the Day after Christmas in 1862 in what was the largest mass hanging in U.S. history.
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    49 mins

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