TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE—Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota—is an author, international speaker on Peace, Indigenous and Mother Earth perspective. A survivor of the “Reign of Terror” from 1972 to 1976 on the Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River and Rosebud Lakota Reservations in South Dakota and the US Bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding and Church Missionary School systems designed to “kill the Indian and save the man,” Tiokasin has a long history of Indigenous activism and advocacy. He spoke as a 15 year-old at the United Nations – Lake Geneva, Switzerland. He is a board member of Simply Smiles, and Restorative Practices Alliance. Tiokasin speaks frequently at venues such as Yale University’s School of Divinity, Ecology and Forestry, Union Theological Seminary focusing on the cosmology, diversity and perspectives on the relational/egalitarian vs. rational/hierarchal thinking processes of Western society. Tiokasin was a 2016 Nominee for a Nobel Peace Prize from the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. He was selected for a 2016 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation National Fellowship in Music, and was a Nominee for a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship in 2017, National Native American Hall of Fame Nominee 2018 and 2019, He also was recently nominated for “Nominee for the 2020 Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities” and 2019 Indigenous Music Award Nominee for “Best Instrumental Album” for “From the Continuum.” He was also awarded New York City’s Peacemaker of the Year in 2013.
Tiokasin is the Founder, Host and Executive Producer of the 30 year-old award-winning “First Voices Radio” (formerly “First Voices Indigenous Radio”), a weekly one-hour live program syndicated to over 110 public, community and commercial radio frequencies in the US and Canada.
Akantu Institute