Reconnecting with this Chickasaw the other day

The interview with today’s guest, Laura Shamas (Chickasaw Nation) on her world premiere play Four Women in Red happened several days before the Los Angeles Fires (i.e., Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Kenneth Fire, and the Hurst Fire). The play was originally scheduled to premiere on January 17th, 2025, at the Victory Theatre Center in Burbank, California where performances were supposed to continue through February 23. 

As of January 11th, 2025, the Victory Theater Center announced that “With members of the cast, creative team and audience impacted by the wildfires, The Victory Theatre Center has canceled the previously announced January 17 opening of Four Women in Red, a new play by Laura Shamas about the current crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. A revised performance schedule will be announced at a later date.”
 
Four Women in Red is about four resilient Native American women searching for missing friends and relatives in the face of apathetic sheriffs and dwindling clues. Touching on variety if critically important issues such as MMIW, settler colonial violence, and this moving new play celebrates the power of community as the women seek answers against all odds.

While the interview references the January and February theater dates for the play, American Indian Airwaves is releasing the program because the fires are profoundly impacting all living relations (human and non-human), including Indigenous peoples involved with Four Women in Red and Indigenous throughout the region. The following are some support organizations providing relief and support for Indigenous peoples impacted by the fires. 
•	UAII headquarters, 1453 W Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90026, is asking for the following items to be donated: Water, diapers, Snacks, N95 masks, Zip ties, Gauze, Saline flushers & Syringes for insulin, Band aids, Sharps containers, Tampons & pads, batteries, flashlights, Pet food, Jackets & Blankets, Hygiene products, and First Aid Supplies.
•	Spoon Fed Company, owned by Jacob Spoonhunter, is “making small food care packages (on Friday, Jan. 10) to those who were effected [sic] by the fires as well as the first responders,” according to the company’s Instagram. Spoonhunter is Northern Arapaho, Navajo, and Seminole. Go to the Instagram page for any donations or email: spoonfedco@gmail.com.
•	Chef Stephanie Pyet DeSpain, Prairie Band Potawatomi and winner of “Next Level Chef,” told her Instagram followers that she and other chefs will be doing a pop-up to feed community members. A plan will come out in the next few days, she said. Pyet announced on Jan. 10 on Instagram that she is teaming with Island Smoke N Grill through Go Fund Me to distribute meals for first responders and displaced families. If anyone wants to donate, volunteer, or needs some food to eat, direct message her on Instagram or email: info@pyetsplate.com. 
•	Meal + Donations for Our Indian Firefighter Crews. Suggested Donation Items: Chapstick, Body Wipes, Tylenol, Liquid in Powers, Protein Shakes or Bars, Nutritional Bars, Meat Sticks, Nuts (Trail Mix), and other nutritional snack items easily portable. Contact: Tencha (626) 409-7895 or Cheryl (562) 229-2005.

Guest:
Laura Shamas (Chickasaw Nations), is an accomplished Native American author, essayist, poet, journalist, playwright, and the recent recipient of the Los Angeles New Play Project (LANPP) grant for the play Four Women in Red which was first developed by Native Voices, the only Actors’ Equity theater company in the country dedicated to developing and producing new plays by Native artists.

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.

Sacred Stage: Talks with Native Playwrights and Artist with Laura Shamas

Before Caucasians laid their eyes on this land
There were many tribes of Native Americans
Some followed the bison and spied out the land
Some never survived the invading white man

Apache, Comanche, Chickasaw and Choctaw
Shawnee, Pawnee, Cherokee and Chippewa
Seminole, Cheyenne, Creek and Iroquois
Had their own chiefs, rituals n spiritual laws

Sure there'd been fights between some of the tribes
Then the white man offered them trinkets and bribes
When the railroad came, it changed their way of life
With the bison gone, how were they to survive?

[Instrumental break]

So we rounded them up without hesitation
Many died from the bug or from starvation
Traipsed through the mud to the reservation
If they didn't budge, they faced extermination

The civilized tribes tried assimilation
They lived and died in the Indian nation
The trail of tears was their forced migration
It nearly resulted in their obliteration

[Instrumental break]

We sent their kids to boarding schools
So they would learn our laws and rules
They bent and lost their customs and culture
We descended on 'em like a bunch of vultures

They'd lost their main food, the American bison
So they were approved for a gambling license
What had once been only in Vegas and Reno
They now owned their own mega-casinos

[Instrumental outro]

We rounded them up without any hesitation
Many died from the bug or from starvation
Traipsed through the mud to the reservation
If they didn't budge, they faced extermination

The civilized tribes tried assimilation
They lived and died in the Indian nation
The trail of tears was their forced migration
It nearly resulted in their obliteration

Indian Nation

This Kentucky history moment is presented by the Kentucky Historical Society, celebrating America’s 250th commemoration. 

186 years ago, drafts of two letters were written to federal officials associated with the removal of Chickasaw Native Americans because of the Indian Removal Act. The act forced the relocation of American Indigenous people from their homes westward to the Great Plains, and these letters detail the provisions the federal agents were meant to receive in that process.  

While many Native Americans who formerly lived in Kentucky had already moved away or been removed in other conflicts, many of those who remained were forced out. The Chickasaws, who inhabited a small part of western Kentucky were some of the last indigenous groups to be removed beginning from the late 1830s.  

I’m James Renner a Museum Programs Coordinator for the Kentucky Historical Society. Learn more at history.ky.gov

history.ky.gov/america250ky


November 3, 2025 - Chickasaw Removal Letters

Songwriter. Storyteller. Sound pioneer, Stan Countz is a genre-bending songwriter with over 450 original songs under his belt — a true craftsman of lyric and melody. From his debut track “Those Hap Happy Days” in 2005, a nostalgic tribute to the golden era of the ’50s and ’60s, Stan has built a musical legacy rooted in meaning, melody, and message.

Writing under the moniker Stan and Be Counted, he stands tall in the world of music as both a creator and a voice of purpose. His catalog spans a kaleidoscope of genres — from contemporary Christian rock and gospel to EDM, country pop, blues, R&B, hip hop, folk, and beyond. Each song is a reflection of his passion for storytelling and his desire to uplift, challenge, and connect.

Whether crafting soul-stirring love ballads, foot-tapping jingles, or heart-pounding hard rock anthems, Stan brings a rare blend of versatility, depth, and soul to every track. He doesn't just write songs — he writes moments you can feel.

Stan Countz is more than an artist — he’s a movement. A call to stand... and be counted. He is a prolific lyricist and lives in Denison, Texas with his artist/photographer wife. 

If you're an Artist looking for a song for the next hit, send me a message. Who knows, I may have a gem and a #1 hit for us both!

American Indian Airwaves (AIA), an Indigenous public affairs radio porgram and, perhaps, the longest running Native American radio program within both Indigenous and the United States broadcast communication histories. Also, AIA broadcast weekly every Thursday from 7pm to 8pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 Los Angeles (http://www.kpfk.org).  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aiacr


American Indian Airwaves is produced in Burntswamp Studios and started broadcasting on March 1st, 1973 on KPFK in order to give Indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations a voice about the continuous struggles against Settler Colonialism and imperialism by the occupying and settler societies often referred to as the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Latin and South America countries located therein.

American Indian Airwaves operates as an all-volunteer collective with no corporate sponsorship and no underwriters.

We educate and engage the public through KY’s history in order to meet the challenges of the future.

New tracks tagged #ChickAsaw