[L-I] Native American political action [comment and newspaper article]

Notes by Hunterbear:

Given the hundreds of distinctive tribal nations and cultures in what's
called the United States, and the considerable situational diversity,
generalization about Indian Country beyond a certain point is risky.  But
it's safe to say that building Native turnout and participation in state and
Federal elections is always a long, tough process. Natives who run for
political office in these mainline political waters  are cutting new and
important
trails -- but it's strenuous and frustrating and has to be viewed from a
substantially long-term perspective.

In contrast, a tribal election [which is, of course, on reservation or other
Native tribal turf]  is almost always exciting -- sometimes very, very
exciting --
and always draws many indeed.  And I'm understating.  Very much
understating. Fundamental issues are key -- but personality and family
politics are never absent.

And, while a national presidential race will obviously always draw more
voters anywhere than, say, a more low-key state affair, the election arenas
of the "others" -- e.g.,  any state and Federal elections including
presidential
 -- are still frequently perceived by a great many Native people,
consciously and otherwise,  as another world:  an essentially alien world.
This is one of a myriad of dimensions in which the fundamental uniqueness of
Native national society/culture/identity -- so frequently difficult for many
non-Indians to comprehend -- manifests itself with considerable consistency.

Again, to root in the point:  the non-Native world is seen, by the greatest
majority of Native people -- bi-culturalism notwithstanding -- as
essentially alien.

A directly relevant factor, of course, is simply that  the major mainline
political
parties frequently offer nothing  very exciting to anyone -- and generally
nothing especially and directly and constructively so  to Native Americans.
A Native candidate in those major parties can usually bring in his or
her own special Native agenda. But it will be hampered by the public ethos
and context of those parties and, from the standpoint of Native concerns
especially, their comparatively narrow and superficial traditions -- or, in
some instances, very explicitly exclusionary or negative ones.

In the vast and heavily populated world of the Navajo Nation -- especially
in Northeastern Arizona and Northwestern New Mexico -- where the Dine' vote
can often mean success or failure for regional electoral contenders at the
state and Federal level, non-Indian candidates do make a  special effort to
carry  very Native-meaningful platform components.  And, quite fortunately,
more and more Navajo themselves  are now running for these offices -- with
ever
increasing success at the local and state level. Ever since the passage of
the
 critical Voting Rights Act of 1965, "new" political  things have been
moving
in and  around the land of the Dine'.

While quantitative data with respect to Native voting patterns vis-a-vis the
Nader/LaDuke effort in 2000 is scarce, there's a good bit of "moccasin
telegraph"
[Native grapevine] information to indicate that the presence of Ms. LaDuke
[an Ojibway],  and her very solid Indian-oriented efforts, attracted an
unusual degree of significant and tangibly manifested Native interest and
voter
participation in many parts of the 'States.

Will non-Indians vote for a Native candidate?  Evidence is that more and
more of them will -- but that takes time as well.  And the Native candidate
will have to go meaningfully -- as an increasing number certainly are --
into the alien world to bid for votes. It's worth noting that Idaho  in 1991
elected
Larry EchoHawk [Pawnee, USMC vet] as state attorney general -- a man who
later
almost won the Democratic nomination for governor. The fact that he's LDS
[now
a BYU prof] certainly didn't hurt him in Eastern Idaho -- but, remember, the
Gem
State  is now  a pretty conservative state [to put it mildly.]

There's very definitely a heavy need and many, many places for sensibly Left
  independent political efforts in Indian country. But there'll have to be
Indian candidates and very carefully constructed Native-oriented platform
dimensions featuring
significant grassroots Indian in-put.  And all of that will have to be taken
by candidates
directly to Indian people -- again and again and again.  In Canada, the old
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of the Central Provinces had, among its
founding spark-plugs,  Native [Indian and Metis] leaders.  CCF always
reflected their
concerns,  had some Native candidates, and attracted meaningful numbers of
Native voters.  CCF's successor, New Democratic Party has, whatever its
significant problems, continued to function in that very healthy tradition.

There is every reason to believe that socialism and Native tribal
communalism and its accompanying ethos of tribal [ mutual] responsibility
can find much effective common ground --  given especially the perennially
threatening nature of corporate capital and related forces vis-a-vis Native
land and resources and treaty rights.  But that joining of forces will
require patient and creative work on the part of all involved:  Native
people -- and non-Indians who are willing to listen.

Again,  it won't come easy -- as this quote from the following South
Dakota news article indicates:

"There is a bumper sticker I've seen that really captures the underlying
sentiment I see in Indian Country among my relatives and families," Peniska
said. "It says, 'If voting could change anything, it would be illegal.'  "


Hunter Gray  [ Hunterbear ]
www.hunterbear.org  ( strawberry socialism )
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´

====================================================================
Reservations' low turnout hurts Indian candidates
http://www.argusleader.com
June 9, 2002
By STEVE YOUNG Argus Leader


"Among the voters Ron Volesky hoped to attract in his bid for the Democratic
nomination for governor were the native people, like himself, on South
Dakota's
reservations.

And though he succeeded -the Huron lawyer received 70 percent of the vote on
the Rosebud Reservation, 57 percent on the Pine Ridge Reservation and almost
60
percent on the Cheyenne River Reservation -he failed, too.

For as is typically the case, Native Americans did not come out in huge
numbers
to vote for him - or anyone else - in last week's primary.

"It doesn't surprise me," a weary Volesky said after the vote was counted.
"You
have to understand, that's just part of the political landscape. They never
have been interested in state races and probably never will be."

Volesky finished a distant second to Jim Abbott in the race for the
Democratic
nomination for governor.

The apathy in the primary was most profound among the Oglala and Rosebud
Sioux.
While 42 percent of registered voters in the state turned out Tuesday to
cast
their ballots, just 15 percent showed up on the Pine Ridge Reservation and
only
slightly more -21.4 percent -on the Rosebud Reservation.

Tribal observers point to a variety of explanations for the low turnout.

Part of it is a belief that their vote won't change their impoverished
situation, said Kevin Peniska Sr., the publisher of a Rapid City-based
tribal
magazine called Well Nations.

"There is a bumper sticker I've seen that really captures the underlying
sentiment I see in Indian Country among my relatives and families," Peniska
said. "It says, 'If voting could change anything, it would be illegal.'

"I think what that means is, Indian people don't feel that their vote means
anything, that it's going to change anything."

Because native people view their tribes as sovereign nations, they see their
relationship with the federal government as more consequential than that
with
the state, said Rep. Paul Valandra, D-Mission, a Rosebud Sioux.

He also believes a distancing occurred between the tribes and state
beginning
in the 1970s as they fought over jurisdictional issues and went head-to-head
over uprisings spurred by the American Indian Movement.

"I think tribal sovereignty kind of became a rallying cry," Valandra said.
"It
was like this isolation policy evolved between the tribes and state.

"A lot of Indians tended to start looking at tribal government to serve
their
needs. And because of that isolation policy, now they don't look beyond to
see
that most of the things dealing with their daily lives are run through the
state Legislature.

"Their car insurance and motor vehicle rates, telephone bills, electrical
rates
... there is a myriad of those things that is beyond the scope of the tribal
councils' authority. But Indian people just aren't connecting with that."

The distance native people have to travel to vote is another issue, said
Steve
Sandven, a tribal lawyer for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe and a
candidate
for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House in 2000.

For tribal elections, voters often have polling places within their own
little
communities. But in state elections, polling places on the reservation often
are set up by precincts determined by the county commissions, Valandra said.
That often means fewer places to vote.

"I think it's difficult for our people to go to two different polling
places,"
Sandven said. "It's hard enough to get them to a single poll. But to require
them to make two trips in one day, especially for people where
transportation
can be a significant issue, it compounds the problem."

Connie Whirlwind Horse, chairman of the Shannon County Commission, said some
of
the precinct boundaries changed this election on the Pine Ridge Reservation,
and that caused a lot of confusion among voters there.

"A lot of people went to vote but were in the wrong precinct and didn't want
to
travel to the right one," she said. "Maybe the general election will be
different."

Sandven said tribal and state polling places should be consolidated. On his
reservation, where the two sites can be 15 to 20 minutes apart, the distance
can be a huge deterrent.

"I'm working on that here," he said. "Maybe we can consolidate some of those
polling places to make it easier for people. We're certainly going to work
on
it."

Certainly the interest in general elections in November is higher on the
reservations. Tribal people understand the impact their vote has on filling
federal congressional positions, Valandra said.

But even then, the participation rate is much lower than for the state as a
whole. While South Dakotans usually turn out at a rate of between 60 and 70
percent in November, the reservations are typically 20 to 30 percentage
points
less.

Sandven, Whirlwind Horse and Valandra say it will take long-term education
to
change that trend, especially in convincing tribal people how much state
government affects their reservation lives.

"We've initiated a long-term process where we are doing voter registration
drives," Sandven said. "And we're getting more of the candidates to come up
here to meet with our tribal council, to see our community college and visit
our health care center.

"And I think the candidates making themselves more available has had an
impact."

The numbers in Tuesday's primary would seem to support that. In Roberts
County,
where much of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Reservation lies, 35.1 percent of the
people voted.

On the Rosebud Reservation, Valandra said, up to 3,000 people tend to vote
in
tribal elections. For state candidates to capture those votes, they'll have
to
come to the reservation, he said.

"Indian country is typically Democratic," Valandra said. "If we all go
Democrat, and a candidate gets out the vote, he could net out a bigger
advantage than you could in a place like, say, Mitchell."

He said Rep. John Thune, a Republican running for incumbent Democratic Sen.
Tim
Johnson's job, already has been tapping that possibility.

"John Thune has been down here several times," Valandra said. "He organized
a
basketball tournament down here. He played down here, too, and he fed the
people and mingled with them.

"I know he's a Republican. But he sees what a Democrat can net down here, so
he's down here to bust up that net. It's a good move."

For his part, Volesky said, he never wanted to be identified as the Indian
candidate. He believes his stands on a corporate income tax, on education
and
on prescription drugs for seniors made him a viable candidate for all of the
people.

That this enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe didn't muster
huge
blocs of support on the reservations didn't leave him stunned.

"As far as the Indian vote goes, it's never been there," he said. "Tell me
who
says it will ever be there?"

It should have been, Peniska and Valandra say.

"You've got to shake your head sometimes," Valandra said. "I was sure
disappointed that we Lakota people had a good, viable statewide candidate
for
governor, Ron Volesky, and we didn't back him.

"Shame on us for not coming out and supporting him."


© 2002 Copyright Argus Leader.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`








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