Tribal leaders across the country have endorsed Barack and are contributing their thoughts and ideas to the campaign. Here are the members of Barack’s ever growing tribal leaders steering committee.
OBAMA TRIBAL LEADERS STEERING COMMITTEE
Chief J. Allan, Chairman, Coeur d'Alene Tribe
David Z. Bean, Councilman, Puyallup Tribe of Indians
Harriett Becenti, Council Delegate, Navajo Nation
Elmer Begay, Council Delegate, Navajo Nation
Theresa Bridges, Chairwoman, Franks’ Landing Indian Community
Joe Brings Plenty, Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
Diana Buckner, Chairwoman, Ely Shoshone Tribe
Gerald L. Danforth, Chairman, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
Ian Erlich (Native Village of Kotzebue) – Vice Chairman, Alaska Inter-Tribal Council
Jerry Freddie, Council Delegate, Navajo Nation
Alison Gottfriedson, Councilmember, Franks’ Landing Indian Community
Michael Jandreau, Chair, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Michael Marchand, Chairman, Conf. Tribes of the Colville Reservation
Robert McGhee, Councilman, Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Christopher Mercier, Councilman and former Chairman, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Kenneth Meshigaud, Tribal Chairperson, Hannahville Potawatomi
James V. Miles, Councilman Puyallup Tribe of Indians
John Miller, Chairman, Pokagon Band of Pottawatomi
Robert Moore, Councilman, Rosebud Sioux
Ned Norris, Chairman, Tohono O'odham Nation
Jennifer Porter, Chair, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho
Gloria Ramirez, Councilwoman, Tohono O’odham Nation
Kenny Reels, Vice-Chair, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
Sarah Riggs, Vice-Chair, Dilkon Chapter, Navajo Nation
Michael Thomas, Chairman, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
Leonard Tsosie, Council Delegate, Navajo Nation
Lee Juan Tyler, Vice-Chairman, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes
John Warren, Councilman, Pokagon Band of Pottawatomi
Mike Williams, Chairman, Alaska Inter-Tribal Council
Mervin Wright, Jr. Chairman, Pyramid Lake Paiute
There is strong support for Barack throughout Indian country. Here are a few of his supports.
PROMINENT NATIVE AMERICANS FOR BARACK OBAMA
Elouise Cobell (Blackfeet) – Executive Director, Native American Community Development Corporation
John Echohawk (Pawnee) – Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund
Elsie Meeks (Oglala Lakota) – CEO, First Nations Oweesta Corp. Rapid City, SD
Ladonna Harris (Comanche) – Americans for Indian Opportunities, Albuquerque, New Mexico
JoAnn Chase (Mandan/Hidatsa) – President, Chase Group Consulting and former
NCAI Director
Lillian A. Sparks, Esq. (Oglala and Sicangu Lakota) – Executive Director, National Indian Education Association
Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) – President, The Morning Star Institute and former Executive Director of National Congress of American Indians
Forrest J. Gerard (Blackfeet), First Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, Carter-Mondale Administration.
Benny Shendo Jr., former Secretary of Indian Affairs of New Mexico
Keith M. Harper (Cherokee Nation) – Partner & Chair of Native American Practice Group, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
Stacy L. Leeds (Cherokee Nation) – Professor of Law & Director, Tribal Law & Government Center University of Kansas
Myrna D. Gardner (Tlingit & Haida Nation) – President & CEO at Kakivik
Asset Management, Alaska
Evelyn Lance Blanchard (Laguna-Yaqui) – Community Organizer, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Ethel Branch (Navajo) – Harvard Law School, Co-Chair Native American Law Student Association
Jackson Slim Brossy (Navajo), American Indian Policy Advocate, Washington DC
Carlyle Begay (Navajo), Vice President, American Indian Health Management & Policy
Gwen Carr (Cayuga Nation of New York, Heron Clan) - Chair of the Wisconsin American Indian Democratic Caucus, former Democratic National Committee American Indian Political Director, Former Executive Director, Arizona Democratic Party
Daniel Cordalis (Navajo) – American Indian Policy Advocate, Washington DC
Christopher L. Clark Deschene (Navajo) – Schaff & Clark Deschene, LLC
Paul Echohawk (Pawnee), Partner, Echohawk Law Firm
Mark Echohawk (Pawnee), Partner, Echohawk Law Firm
Anna M. Frazier (Navajo)
Thomas W. Fredericks (Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara) - Partner, Fredericks, Peebles & Morgan and Former Associate Solicitor and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs
Charles Galbraith (Navajo) – Legislative Assistant, U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Ronald Wood Galbraith (Navajo) – Medical Student, Columbia University
Wizipan Garriott (Sicangu Lakota “Rosebud Sioux”) – President, He Sapa Leadership Academy
Jeanne Givens (Coeur d'Alene) - Educator and Member, Board of Regents, Institute of American Indian Arts
Louis Gray (Osage) – Coordinator of the Primary Residential Treatment Center, Pawhuska, OK
Judy Leask Guthrie (Tsimpshian/Haida/Tlinget) – Executive Assistant to the CEO, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
Ken Harper (Cherokee) S.F. Study Center & Council Coordinator, Cherokee Society of the Greater Bay Area
Shelby Settles Harper (Caddo), Attorney, Silver Spring, MD
Laura Harris (Comanche) – Executive Director & CEO, Americans For Indian Opportunity
Dusty Rose Hirsch (Blackfeet Nation) – Educator
Joan Kane (Inupiaq) - Director, Alaska Native Policy Center at First
Alaskans Institute
Jo Ann Kauffman, (Nez Perce), President/CEO, Kauffman & Associates, Inc
Zackeree S. Kelin (Caddo) – Legal Aid Attorney, Window Rock, NM
Kevin Killer (Oglala Sioux/Kiowa) – Oglala Lakota College Student Board Member
Tina Lussier, MSW,ACSW (Colville Confederated Tribes of the Colville Tribes) – Mental Health Counselor
John Macarro (Pechanga Band of Luisueno Mission Indians) – General Counsel Pechanga
Venus McGhee Prince (Poarch Band of Creek Indians) - Attorney General, Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Bryan Mercier (Grand Ronde) – Federal Employee, Washington D.C.
America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) – Artist
Heather Kendall Miller (Athapaskan) – Senior Litigation Attorney, Native American Rights Fund (Alaska)
Katie Morgan, (Ponca Tribe of Nebraska) – American Indian Law and Policy Attorney in Washington, D.C.
Alan R. Parker (Chippewa-Cree) - Director, Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute, The Evergreen State College
John Petoskey (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians) – General Counsel, Grand Traverse
Allen V. Pinkham, Sr. (Nez Perce) - Past Chairman, Nez Perce Indian Tribe and Columbia River Indian Tribes, and Former President, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
Wilson K. Pipestem (Otoe-Missouria/Osage) – Managing Partner of Ietan Consulting, LLC
Rion Ramirez (Turtle Mountain Chippewa/Pascua Yaqui) – Attorney Suquamish Tribe
Vanessa Ray-Hodge (Pueblo of Acoma) – American Indian Law and Policy Attorney, Washington, D.C.
Jay Red Eagle (Cherokee Nation) – Musician
James Riding In, Ph.D. (Pawnee) – President, Pawnee Nation University, and Professor of History and Indian Studies, Arizona State University
Robert A. Rosette (Chippewa Cree) – Partner Rosette & Associates, PC
Gyasi Ross (Blackfeet)
Ron Rowell (Choctaw Nation) – Program Officer, Social Justice, former President of the Board for the American Indian Friendship House
Roy H. Sampsel – Executive Director, The Tribal Leadership Forum
Michelle J. Singer (Navajo) – Communications Coordinator for the One Sky Center
Donna Jones Stapp (Cherokee Nation) – Chairperson, Local Indians For Education, Inc.
Denise Stiffarm (Gros Ventre), Partner, K&L Gates LLP
Janet Thomas (Standing Rock) – Executive Director Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Robert W. Trepp (Muscogee Nation), Director, Inter-Tribal Sacred Land Trust
Brian Vigue (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) - Policy Advisor, Office of Governor Jim Doyle
Donald Warne (Oglala Lakota) – MD
Dale White (Mohawk) – General Counsel St Regis Mohawk
Nicole Simone Willis (Nez Perce, Yakama, Cayuse, and Oglala Lakota) – President, Native American Law Student Association
Margaret Wood (Navajo/Seminole) – Quilter, Fiber Artist
Disclaimer: All endorsements are done so in a personal capacity and do not necessarily represent the position of any organization or tribe associated with these individuals.
Iowa was a great win for Indian country! Our friends from Sac and Fox and the Iowa urban Indian population turned out to make a strong statement about the change needed in Washington. We cannot afford to continue with more business as usual politics – not when American Indians continue to suffer the highest rates of violence against women, are targeted by organized crime, and health care remains a literal life or limb decision.
Its time for Indian country to start gearing up for the next round of primaries, especially in Nevada and the February 5th states with large Indian populations like Arizona, California, New Mexico, New York, and North Dakota to name a few. Tell your family and friends to get involved and pass the word along about Obama’s forward-looking Indian policy. He is the one candidate with concrete, change-inducing plans—mere promises of improvement and increased funding have proven insufficient in past administrations. We will not have another opportunity for this kind of change in federal government for a long time.
Health care has been on the minds of American Indian policy advocates the past few weeks as the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 2007, passed the Senate Finance Committee on September 12. Senator Obama is an original cosponsor of the bill and had this to say:
“While the U.S. government has a responsibility to provide health care stemming from treaty obligations, it is also this country's moral imperative to address the significant health care disparities between the Native American population and the American population as a whole. We must ensure our tribal health care programs are adequately prepared to provide preventative health care as well as treatment for substance and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and mental health issues. Native Americans also deserve the same high quality health care professionals that care for families throughout the country.” For Barack’s full statement check out http://obama.senate.gov/press/070912-obama_statement_83/.
I can’t say how glad I am to finally see some movement on this bill. Like many readers, I have been personally impacted by an underfunded and understaffed IHS system. There are screws in my knee because of a missdiagnosis. Members of my family have needlessly gone into dept because of the way contract health is run. Many have suffered pain, humiliation, and even death because there is, as I’ve heard many IHS workers say, “simply not enough resources for adequate care.” There are countless other horror stories we could all share.
The need for health care reform is no greater than in Indian country, where care is often literally based on whether you are going to lose life or limb. I know Obama is committed to providing IHS with the resources it needs and to including it in his national health care improvement and universal coverage plan.
By now many of you have had a chance to peruse First Americans for Obama and have an idea of where Barack stands regarding American Indian issues. Many will agree that his policy initiatives are among the most well developed of any of the presidential candidates. But this website does not represent all that Barack has been doing to reach out to Indian country.
In North Carolina Barack met with members of the Eastern Band Cherokee, who proclaimed his commitment to upholding tribal sovereignty. During a recent conference call with over 100 tribal leaders Barack introduced some of his key policy initiatives. In response to one question about making American Indian issues a priority, Barack stated: “I think the starting point is to understand our history …. You represent the first governments on this soil, we have to be mindful of that history; we have to be respectful of that history.” He also said, “I know that tribal peoples have heard many politicians who pledge their support to sovereignty and promise to include them …. and vow to fund federal programs…… but they don’t act…. Look at my track record and the kind of issues I’ve championed…. I think we share a set of values that are critically important.”
This is just a small sampling of why I believe Barack is the best candidate, and I look forward to discussing specific policy initiatives and themes in future posts.
Barack is continuing to reach out to American Indians throughout the country. He has said that he hopes to meet as many tribal leaders as possible in the hopes of beginning a lasting working relationship. In the meantime, spread the word about Barack’s message to Indian country.
