Welcome to Home of the Brave, I'm Scott Carrier.

I found out this morning Joe Frank passed away yesterday.

He produced the story I played in the last episode, Assent to K2. Joe was a genius who pushed things

about as far as they could go in radio drama and was ostracized by people in power because he scared them.

When I first started producing stories back in the early 80s,

I was poor and homeless in Washington, D.C. and Joe let me stay in his apartment when he was out of town.

He was a friend who encouraged me and tried to teach me as much as he could about writing for radio. I owe him a lot and he will be sorely missed. You can read about him and listen to his stories on Joe Frank.org.

Anyway, I've been working on a new story, or rather a series of stories about the controversy over the new National Monument in Southern Utah.

At the end of his term in office, December 2016,

President Obama created at the request of five native tribes, the Bearsir National Monument.

It was the first National Monument or Park ever created to protect land sacred to Native Americans,

Americans, and as Navajo, Angelo Baca wrote in a New York Times opinion,

it was a signal that the United States would finally listen and respond to indigenous people.

But then one year later, December 2017, President Trump flew to Salt Lake City, gave a speech in the capital Rotunda, and signed a proclamation

shrinking the new monument by 85%, cutting it into two small separate islands.

In his speech, Trump said he was doing this for the people of Utah,

that is, the Mormons, because they know and love the land the best.

This must have come as a slap in the face to Native Americans.

I know all of you feel blessed to be living among some of the most glorious natural

wonders anywhere in the world. You cherish, you tour's gleaming rivers and

sweeping valleys. you take inspiration from its majestic

pigs.

...