Press Release

November 15, 2021

Media relations
Fonda Berosini
Disney Entertainment, Networks
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ABC Owned Television Stations Present an Episodic Visual Journal of Indigenous Life in ‘Our America: Indigenous and Urban,’ Available To Stream on Wednesday, Nov. 17

In Celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the ‘Our America’ Streaming Special Can be Accessed Across ABC’s Connected TV Apps on Streaming Platforms Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku

Watch ‘Our America: Indigenous and Urban’ Trailer Here

ABC Owned Television Stations embrace the heritage and traditions of Indigenous people in “Our America: Indigenous and Urban,” available to stream on Wednesday, Nov. 17, across the owned station’s 32 connected TV apps on streaming platforms Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.

Executive produced by Porsha Grant, Nzinga Blake and Mariel Myers, the station group’s race and culture leads, the streaming special is an episodic visual journal of Indigenous life off the reservations, offering a more authentic view of their lives in urban America. The special shares their modern-day experience.

Approximately 70% of Indigenous people live outside of reservations, embedded in day-to-day society. Yet extraordinarily little is known or seen about them in mainstream media.  “Our America: Indigenous and Urban” shows viewers the beauty and complexity as they embrace their rich heritage and preserve the traditions of what it means to be Indigenous.

The episodes will feature unique highlights such as the music and original prose by Lyla June, an Indigenous scholar, public speaker and award-winning poet whose messages focus on Indigenous rights, supporting Indigenous youth and healing intercultural trauma.

“Our America: Indigenous and Urban” showcases the following:

  • Travel with ABC13/KTRK-TV Houston’s reporter Charly Edsitty as she leaves Houston to return to her childhood home in the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation in the Four Corners region of the Southwest.
  • Get personal with Quentin Fuller, a police officer in suburban Philadelphia. When not in uniform, he spends time passing on the traditions and customs of his Seminole heritage to his children.
  • Meet Afro Indigenous public health leader and social entrepreneur Sutton Cole King, who founded the Urban Indigenous Collective (UIC). She shares the richness of her work with Indigenous youth, discusses inequities that urban native people experience, and shares her proud connection to her Afro Indigenous roots and the native heritage being reclaimed in her community.

In addition to streaming “Our America: Indigenous and Urban,” viewers in each local market of ABC Owned Television Stations will see daily news coverage examining social and cultural issues locally that impact Indigenous people.

ABC7/KABC-TV Los Angeles’s “On The Red Carpet Presents Storytellers Spotlight” will feature Indigenous entertainers that include the creators of the popular FX’s “Reservation Dogs,” who introduced the nation to life on the reservation for four Native young people. Show creator Sterlin Harjo and actors D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai and  Lane Factor give viewers a look at what it is like to navigate the traditions of reservation life and the Hollywood culture that has overlooked the community for so long.   “The Storytellers Spotlight” will also provide more insight into the life and mission of Indigenous public speaker Lyla June, who is featured throughout the “Our America: Indigenous and Urban” special.

“Our America: Indigenous and Urban” is available via streaming on Nov. 17 across each *Owned Stations Free News App: ABC7/WABC-TV New YorkABC7/KABC-TV Los AngelesABC7/WLS-TV Chicago6ABC/WPVI-TV PhiladelphiaABC7/KGO-TV San Francisco, ABC13/KTRK-TV HoustonABC11/WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham and ABC30/KFSN-TV Fresno, and connected TV Apps on streaming platforms Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.

About ABC Owned Television Stations
Disney Media Entertainment & Distribution’s eight owned ABC stations are multiplatform leaders in local news and information. Collectively No. 1 across all U.S. television, reaching 23% of households and more than 34 million Total Viewers and 62 million digital visitors a month, the eight stations are comprised of WABC-TV New York, KABC-TV Los Angeles, WLS-TV Chicago, WPVI-TV Philadelphia, KGO-TV San Francisco, KTRK-TV Houston, WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham and KFSN-TV Fresno. The stations also deliver locally sourced storytelling to more than 17 million viewers across America through its multiplatform lifestyle network, Localish. In 2020, the stations received five Broadcast & Cable awards, including in the 2020 Best in Local TV Awards category as Station Group of the Year for its innovative and next-generation news reporting, and in the major market category for 2020: Best News Coverage, Best Digital Multiplatform or Website, Best Investigative Reporting Station Group and Best Public Affairs Programming, illustrating the group’s strength and ever-increasing growth and reach in the multiplatform space.