On this edition of Your Call’s US at 250: A Native Perspective series, we’ll discuss Fire in the Mountains, a heavy metal festival dedicated to reducing the suicide rate among Native American teens, which is more than three times the national average.
Hosted on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, this event serves as a gathering space for those impacted by suicide to find community, healing, and connection through music and nature.
The Fire in the Mountains Festival runs from Thursday, July 23, to Sunday, July 26 and will feature artists including Neurosis, Baroness, Savage Death, Old Man Gloom, Enslaved, Sub Rosa, and more.
Guests:
Andrew HeavyRunner (Blackfeet Tribe, Kainai Nation), board member of the Firekeeper Alliance, and counselor at the Sukapi Lodge
Sienna Speicher (Blackfeet Tribe), board member of the Firekeeper Alliance, and counselor at Browning High School
Charlie Speicher, founder and executive director of the Firekeeper Alliance, and director of the Buffalo Hide Academy in Browning, Montana
Resources:
Rolling Stone: The Heavy Metal Festival Aiming to Curb Teen Suicide
Native News Online: ‘Our Culture is Prevention’
ABC: The healing power of heavy metal music
Native News Online: Despite National Decline, Native People Continue to Lead Deaths in Overdoses, Suicide, and Alcohol
