Toksa Hour

We don’t tell you what to think. We invite you to think.

Toksa Hour is an Indigenous-led conversation about the issues shaping our communities and our world. We talk sovereignty, education, history, politics, culture, community, and everyday life.

Latest from Toksa Hour

Toksa Hour Archives

Three people participating in a Zoom call. The woman in the top left corner has glasses and dark hair, with a background that includes a window, curtains, and wall decorations. The man in the top right corner has long braided hair and a background with a plain wall. The woman in the bottom center has dark hair and a background with wooden paneling, a shelf with jars, a printed portrait, and flowers.

My Life is the People’s Life

Moses Brings Plenty • January 24, 2021

From the Toksa Hour archives: Maggie Ross and Julie Two Eagle sit down with Moses Brings Plenty for a conversation about his life, his work, and the responsibility he carries to his people.

Three women on a virtual video call, with two in the top row and one in the bottom row, smiling and talking.

Stories in Our DNA

Moses Brings Plenty • February 27, 2021

From the Toksa Hour archives: Maggie Ross and Julie Two Eagle sit down with Moses Brings Plenty for a conversation about Yellowstone, Native representation in film, identity, ancestry, and the stories that connect people, horses, buffalo, and community.

About Toksa Hour

Sunset over a rural landscape with green trees and rolling hills, advertising Tiksa Hour with indigenous perspectives, history, current events, and sovereignty, featuring symbols of a buffalo, turtle, and clock.

Toksa Hour began in 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when our communities were searching for information and connection. Lockdowns were happening, COVID data was creating fear and uncertainty, people were getting sick and dying, and an election was approaching. Yet many of us didn't know who was running for what office or where to find the information we needed.

Julie Two Eagle and I decided to go live on Facebook. We didn't have a show, a name, or much of a plan. We just knew there needed to be a conversation.

The day before our first broadcast, I told Julie, “Let's call it Toksa Hour.”

Toksa carries the sense of “later” or “next time” in Lakota, and the name also came with a little reservation humor. One of those familiar phrases when somebody needs to borrow money is, “Toksa Black Hills.” We'll settle up later.

Toksa Hour first went live in September 2020. And in keeping with our very polished media strategy at the time, I managed to broadcast the first episode from my personal Facebook page instead of the brand-new Toksa Hour page.

We figured it out.

As Toksa Hour evolved, so did the voices around the table. Julie stepped away after the first season, and I have since shared the co-host seat with Nakina Mills, Amber Sierra, and Chas Jewett. Each brought their own perspective, humor, and experience to the conversation and helped Toksa Hour continue to grow.

Over the years, Toksa Hour has welcomed elected officials, community leaders, educators, artists, advocates, storytellers, and relatives from across Indian Country and beyond. Guests have joined us to talk about politics, sovereignty, education, history, culture, representation, and the issues affecting our communities. Some conversations have been serious, some have been funny, and many have gone places we didn't expect. That's part of Toksa Hour.

What began as two women trying to create a space for information and conversation during an uncertain time has grown into years of conversations about our communities and the world around us. The platforms have changed. The conversations have grown. But the idea behind Toksa Hour remains simple:

We don't tell you what to think. We invite you to think.