Red Media

Red Media publishes materials that advocate in favor of causes for Indigenous communities within the United States. ⁴ The group has also released publications supportive of Palestinian nationalism while criticizing the State of Israel. ⁵

The Red Nation, Red Media’s parent group, is a coalition of activists, educators, students, and community organizers that advocate in favor of indigenous community policies, social justice organizing, and environmentalist movements. ⁶

Background

Red Media and its parent organization, Red Nation were founded following a string of police killings in 2018 within Albuquerque, New Mexico it claimed were “brutal slayings of Indigenous people by settler vigilantes.” ¹ In response to the killings, Red Media declared itself to be “a revolutionary, Indigenous-led organization” to advocate Indigenous community interests. ¹

Initiatives

Red Media maintains several initiatives that promote Red Nation’s own left-of-center positions on on race, LGBT identity, and Black and Indigenous liberation from what it calls “capitalism and colonialism.” ^{7 4}

Red Media operates an online publication and blog posting forum where it publishes media including biographical and fictional stories, poetry, photography, and creative writing. ^{1 8}

Red Media also manages several podcasts on Indigenous community interests including  Red Nation Podcast. ⁹ Nick Estes, host of the Red Nation Podcast, holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico and works as a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. ^{10 2}

In April 2021, Red Nation released a climate response agenda called the Red Deal which it claimed would be intended to replace the Green New Deal in terms of its left-of-center climate policy proposals. The Red Deal plan was announced as part of the release of The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save our Earth, a novel was authored by Red Nation’s board president Melanie Yazzie and board vice president Uahikea Maile. ¹¹

One of Red Media’s initiatives is Free Leonard Peltier, Free All Prisoners campaign. The campaign was started to raise awareness and to release Leonard Peltier, a Native American man convicted for murdering two FBI agents in 1975. ^{12 13}

Leadership

Melanie Yazzie is the board president of Red Media as well as the co-founder of Red Nation. Yazzie is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and an assistant professor of Native American studies and American studies at the University of New Mexico. She has co-authored the book Red Nation Rising: From Bordertown Violence to Native Liberation ¹⁴ as well as Red Media’s publication The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save our Earth. ¹¹

Uahikea Maile is the board vice president of Red Media. He is a Kanaka Maoli scholar and activist from Maunawili, Hawaii and an assistant professor of Indigenous politics at the University of Toronto. He is co-author of The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save our Earth. ¹¹

Finances

In 2023, Red Media reported $332,453 in revenue, $319,468 in expenses, and $378,209 in net assets. ¹⁵