Tiokasin Ghosthorse Reaches New Yorkers With Indigenous World Views

Article by Natasha Terry on iaiachronicle.org

New York—“Humankind will cease to exist if Native Americans become extinct,” says Tiokasin Ghosthorse. “If you kill off a species, you remove a balance from that chain and things start to collapse. The earth cannot live without animals; [but] the earth can live without humans.

“I take it one step further and say, ‘Well, there are three hundred million indigenous peoples left. We live on seventy percent of the pristine land because we resisted, and now they want that land. We are the roots. If the indigenous peoples go, there goes the rest of the earth.’”

This is typical of a philosophy that encompasses Ghosthorse’s Native logic. Ghosthorse works for WBAI FM 99.5, First Voices Indigenous radio program on the tenth floor at 120 Wall Street. He is a radio journalist for indigenous rights.

“WBAI is an indigenous program that incorporates Native American views because I am Native,” he says.

He has worked for 15 years in community radio. He worked in Olympia, Wash. for KAOS FM for ten years and has been at WBAI for the last five years. WBAI has been on the air for more than 60 years on the Pacifica network. Before joining the radio air waves he was a computer programmer for the state legislature of Washington for a number of years.

Radio Program With Indigenous Inclusive Views

Ghosthorse, 50, is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota. He grew up on the reservation and went away to learn. He now lives on Staten Island, N.Y.

“I wanted to get away from internal oppression, and now we’re becoming them [Euro-centric oppressors]…We have learned to make our decisions through the bank. Our decisions should be made through mother earth.”

His station is New York City’s only indigenous radio program that is inclusive of all indigenous cultures globally.

“There are other Native American programs with a more myopic view,” says Ghosthorse. “This radio program is indigenous all over the world. I don’t think its traditional to just think about our issues in the U.S. If people are going through similar issues, we need to talk about that, too.”

One of his many interests includes radio announcing as this form or communication sustains oral storytelling. Ghosthorse grew up listening to younger people speaking oral traditions. He went to boarding school and attended Haskell University, Kansas University, Bates Technical College and then on to Evergreen State College and received his master’s degree in Native American studies and communications.

People Are Hungry for the Native Perspective

In the early 90’s Ghosthorse immersed himself in radio and became involved with Native voices on the air waves.

“People are hungry for indigenous peoples and their experiences because of the pulse of New York. We as Native Americans are sought after because of this,” says Ghosthorse.

“This society is based on resources. I was here during 9-11 and when the northeast corridor blacked out for two days, millions of people were on the bridges. They were swaying from the weight. They were being impatient and writing letters because there was no power.

“Brooklyn, on the other hand, is a place of many cultures. When I got across there were no cars moving. There were Latinos, Peruvians, and other cultures having barbeques and singing and dancing. They were having a good old time.

“But in Manhattan, nothing could happen. Those people were at a loss. After all we have been through, we are the survivors of the fittest. It’s in our prophesies. When it all comes down, we will survive.”

“Eighty thousand Native Americans live in New York City,” says Ghosthorse. With that clout, WBAI has been able to shut down the third world’s largest hog farm. In 2003, a hog farm was to be built on the Rosebud reservation. It was supposed to be the third largest hog farm in the world. WBAI kept bringing the issue to life on the radio. They interviewed Robert Kennedy Jr. and gave insight as to why is should not be there because of the pollution, animal rights, and the false notion of having jobs. It never opened.

“Who We Are, They Don’t Have”

“People are hungry for a place to belong in New York because they grew up in the city and missed out on nature,” says Ghosthorse.

“They talk loud because of the noise level. They still lean up to me. I look like a typical Native with long hair, tall, the Plains-Indian-look that they adhere to out here. They want names, sweat lodge ceremonies and say, ‘By golly, we’ll pay for it.’ We’re spiritual food for thought. Who we are, they don’t have.”

“I am on twice a week, on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m., eastern time,” says Ghosthorse. “We have a program called Wake Up Call from 6:00-9:00 a.m.

“If the indigenous voice is heard in the east coast and greets the sun and carries that voice across the rest of the land, that voice tells the truth and it’s uncomfortable, even to some Native people,” says Ghosthorse.

When he is not announcing on the radio, he lectures about the indigenous thinking process, the egalitarian way of thinking. and relational thinking. He talks about living our dreams, visions, and especially about the intuition that many people think of as superstition. He also talks about metaphorical thinking based on dreams and intuition, which he says, “is our survivor skills.”

He will be pursuing his doctorate degree in communications in the fall. In the meantime, he wants to spawn radio for younger generations. He credits radio for voicing Native perspectives in this patriarchal society.

Ghosthorse serves as a liaison between worlds, and bridges cultures together through his voice on the airwaves in New York City. “I talk to philanthropists in any way I can to get help for indigenous people.”

For more information click on: WBAI New York and First Voice Radio.