The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples learned more about the missiles on their land, and this knowledge has added greater importance to preserving their culture and heritage. In this final episode of the podcast series, Ella Weber returns to her tribe to share what she has discovered.
The Tribe Learns About Missiles
Ella meets with her grandmother Debra Malnory to find out when she first learned about the missiles. Debra stated that she didn’t know much about it and was not even aware of them. She expressed her concerns and fears about a major war and its impact on the tribe.
Impact of the Missiles on the Tribe
Ella returns to her first visit to the reservation to understand how the missiles came to the reservation and the community’s actual knowledge of them. She talks to Edmund Baker, the environmental director of the MHA tribe, who knows little about the missiles. Ella discovers that the environmental and social impacts of the missiles go beyond what is mentioned in the environmental document.
The Struggle for Culture and Land
Ella discusses the ongoing efforts on the reservation to reclaim their identity and relationship with the land, including language revitalization and community gardening. She meets Melani Muniz, who works at the Twin Buttes Community Garden, and shares her experience of reconnecting with her culture and the importance of that for survival.
The Future of the Tribe
Ella discusses what could happen in the future now that people are aware of what the missiles mean for the reservation. Can the missiles be removed from the reservation? Can communities in North Dakota, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, work together toward a different future without missiles in the state?
In the end, Ella expresses her hope for the new generations who wish to continue the struggle for the tribe, the land, culture, and future. She poses the question to the rest of us: What will we do?
Although this is the end of the podcast series, it may mark the beginning of a new chapter for the tribe. Resilience and survival run deep in the MHA tribe, and one thing is for sure: things can change.
This show was prepared by Ella Weber, produced by Sebastian Philip and Tulika Bose. The text was edited by Tulika Bose. Design and post-production mixing by Jeff DelViscio. Special thanks to special consultant Ryo Morimoto and Jessica Lambert. Music from Epidemic Sound.
I’m Ella Weber, and this was “Missiles on Our Land,” a special podcast collaboration from Scientific American in partnership with Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, Nuclear Princeton, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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