Today on American Indian Airwaves (AIA), our guest provides an extensive update on Mexico’s recent Constitutional reforms between June and July 2025, the February 2025 threat of the Trump Administration listing certain Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and possibly US military intervention, and how the new Constitutional reforms actually expand state and cartel powers which has already produced a spike or escalation in violent deaths of Indigenous peoples. Our guest will also discuss Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, administration approval of the Palenque-San Cristóbal Highway (~95 miles) and its implications for Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands, expanded U.S. militarization of ICE in Michigan targeting, rounding up, and deporting immigrants in an era of U.S. authoritarian fascism, and more.
Guest:
Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created in the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit.
Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp
American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.
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Today on American Indian Airwaves (AIA), our guest provides an extensive update on Mexico’s recent Constitutional reforms between June and July 2025, the February 2025 threat of the Trump Administration listing certain Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and possibly US military intervention, and how the new Constitutional reforms actually expand state and cartel powers which has already produced a spike or escalation in violent deaths of Indigenous peoples. Our guest will also discuss Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, administration approval of the Palenque-San Cristóbal Highway (~95 miles) and its implications for Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands, expanded U.S. militarization of ICE in Michigan targeting, rounding up, and deporting immigrants in an era of U.S. authoritarian fascism, and more.
Guest:
Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created in the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit.
Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp
American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.
Bad Actors, & Treaty & Trust Doctrine Violations in Trump 2.0
American Indian Airwaves
58 minutes 26 seconds
3 months ago
Bad Actors, & Treaty & Trust Doctrine Violations in Trump 2.0
Trump 2.0 is causing mass anxiety throughout “Indian Country” and across Turtle Island so far in 2025. As of mid-June 2025, the Trump Administration’s proposed Fiscal 2026 federal budget calls for nearly $1 billion in cuts to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and other federal Native American programs. In addition, President Trump signed “Birthright Citizenship” Executive Order 14160 on January 20th, 2025, where the Trump Administration believes it could denaturalize Native American U.S. citizenship, especially if the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. CASA, Inc. agrees with the Trump Administration.
But Native America nations have an extra-constitutional relationship with the United States government, and this extra-constitutional relationship is the result of more than 380 signed and ratified treaties between Native American nations and the U.S. government – an approximate similar number of treaties were signed but never ratified. The U.S. government, however, must legally and adhere to its “Trust” responsibilities its treaty obligations.
Enduring questions are guest addresses: Do the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts along with the DOGE cuts to federal programs violate the Treaties between Native American nations and the Trust Doctrine? In addition, does President Donald Trump’s Birthright Citizenship executive order place Native Americans in real threat of losing their U.S. citizenship contrary to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924? Lastly, does the combined actions of the Trump Administration plausibly suggest the possibility of new “Terminations” reminiscent of the 1950s?
Today on American Indian Airwaves, our guest for the hour provides an in-depth description and analysis on the Trump 2.0 Administrations actions within the context of the understanding the legalities and constitutionality of the treaties between the Native American nations and the U.S. federal government. Today’s interview was conducted prior to the four recent SCOTUS and lower court decisions on the Birthright Citizenship executive order.
Guest:
David E. Wilkins, a citizen of the Lumbee Nation, is a political scientist specializing in federal Indian policy and law. He is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies in the University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies and professor emeritus of the University of Minnesota. He studies Indigenous politics, governance, and legal systems, with a particular focus on Native American sovereignty, self-determination, and diplomacy.
Professor Wilkins is the author of numerous books including, but not limited to: Indigenous Governance: Clans, Constitutions, and Consent (2024), Of Living Stone: Perspectives on Continuous Knowledge and the Work of Vine Deloria, Jr. (2024), Documents of Native American Political Development, 1933 to Present (2019), Red Prophet: The Punishing Intellectualism of Vine Deloria, Jr.(2018), Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Human Rights (2017), American Indian Politics and the American Political System, second edition, 2017, Hollow Justice: A History of Indigenous Claims in the United States (2013), The Hank Adams Reader (2011), The Legal Universe: Observations of the Foundations of American Law (2011), Documents of Native American Political Development, 1500 to 1933 (2009), On the Drafting of Tribal Constitutions - Felix S. Cohen (2006), Native Voices: American Indian Identity and Resistance (2003), Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law (2002), and Tribes, Treaties, and Constitutional Tribulations (2000).
Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp
American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.
American Indian Airwaves
Today on American Indian Airwaves (AIA), our guest provides an extensive update on Mexico’s recent Constitutional reforms between June and July 2025, the February 2025 threat of the Trump Administration listing certain Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and possibly US military intervention, and how the new Constitutional reforms actually expand state and cartel powers which has already produced a spike or escalation in violent deaths of Indigenous peoples. Our guest will also discuss Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, administration approval of the Palenque-San Cristóbal Highway (~95 miles) and its implications for Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands, expanded U.S. militarization of ICE in Michigan targeting, rounding up, and deporting immigrants in an era of U.S. authoritarian fascism, and more.
Guest:
Richard Stahler-Sholk, a retired Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University, and community activist involved with the School of Chiapas which is an organization of grassroots activists and communities working to support the autonomous, indigenous Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Schools for Chiapas was created in the mid-1990’s by individuals searching for ways to make the world a better place and working to create a world where all worlds fit.
Archived programs can be heard on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/burntswamp
American Indian Airwaves streams on over ten podcasting platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Audible, Backtracks.fm, Gaana, Google Podcast, Fyyd, iHeart Media, Mixcloud, Player.fm, Podbay.fm, Podcast Republic, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tunein, YouTube, and more.
