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Year end issues in Indian Country

December 31, 2018 By Bob Petersen

The year we just passed, 2018, was full of interesting issues in Indian Country.

This is Trahant Reports.

The year ended with a government shutdown. The president and the Congress are divided about how much money to spend on a wall, or border security, and how to talk to each other as partners.

The road ahead makes this situation even more complex because for two years President Donald J. Trump has headed a one-party government. That’s done. Now, as we begin this year, Democrats will control the House of Representatives and exert a lot more influence about how policy is shaped.

Twenty-eighteen was a historic year in so many ways. People in New Mexico and Kansas elected the first two Native American women to Congress. And that means there are now four tribal citizens in the Congress, two Democrats and two Republicans.

This year was often called the year of the woman — or even the year of the Native American. Indeed, a lot of progress was made in terms of election.

But there are other ways to look at that landscape.

It was the first time that two Native American women were on the same ballot representing different parties. In Minnesota Lt. Gov.-elect Peggy Flanagan will now be the highest ranking political leader in any state. She is a member of the White Earth Nation.

It’s also the first time a Native millennial — Sharice Davids, who is Ho Chunk — has been elected to Congress. She will make the conversation in Washington richer just because of her view of the world, one that is different from the generations that have served before.

And women are still not equal when it comes to running the political machinery. The Senate has 23 women out of a hundred — 23 percent — and 87 women serve in the House or 20 percent. A long way to go when you consider that females are more than half of our population.

But at least in Congress, unlike the country itself, women are paid the same salary for their work as legislators.

This year had other setbacks. A federal judge struck down the Indian Child Welfare Act as unconstitutional. The law was designed to stop the separation of American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families and tribes. A district court ruling does not change the law, but it sets the issue on a path that will eventually lead to the Supreme Court.

So what’s ahead? The key thing here is to see if the Democrats and the president find a way to govern, to work together. That’s happened before. When Bill Clinton was president he worked with a Republican House to pay down debt and that remains the only time in recent history when the federal budget was balanced.

So cooperation is possible. We shall see if that happens in 2019. Happy New Year. I am Mark Trahant.

Cool Runnings

May 21, 2018 By Bob Petersen

She’s cool. And it’s why Paulette Jordan could be Idaho’s next governor

Paulette Jordan has already made history. She is the first Native American woman to earn a major party’s nomination for governor. In any state.

But can she win?

This is Trahant Reports.

The New York Times said the Republican primary is “almost certainly” where the next governor will be elected.

Idaho has not elected a single Democrat to any statewide office … in the past couple of decades. And a Native woman, a young woman at that? Nah.

But Jordan is not a conventional candidate. And this is not a routine election year.

Four years ago the margin was 15 percentage points, 54 percent for the Republican to 39 percent for the Democrat. So the issue is how to get from 39 percent to 50 percent, plus one. To do that Jordan will need to win over at least 70,000 voters.

The most important thing for Jordan to do, she’s already doing. And that is to make Idaho cool and smart. (This is where the national attention helps.) On election night the music of Drake singing “God’s Plan” filled the room. Later supporters posted a .gif of Jordan dancing. Cool.

Jordan has the ideal message for the voters who are new to Idaho politics, especially those who have moved to Boise from other cities across the West.

Idaho is increasingly a technology state. Idaho’s tech sector is already responsible for adding $6.1 billion to the state’s economy. That’s third behind manufacturing and government.(And bigger than agriculture.)

The tech world has no use for the old school — and that includes politicians. It’s about inventing the future, not repeating routine slogans about social issues, border walls, or even extractive energy development.

This gives a reason for people who are Republicans to vote for a Democrat. Jordan speaks the language.

Another reason why Jordan could be competitive is that she is exciting. People want to be around her. That is especially important for attracting new voters to the process. Four years ago less than 60 percent of the voting age population cast a ballot. The higher that number, the better Jordan’s chances.

Indian Country is important too. Native American voters are only about one percent of Idaho’s population, but among potential young voters, the number climbs to 3.3 percent. That might seem small, but it could be a good reflection of voter engagement. Support from Indian Country is essential for Jordan to raise enough money. It’s how she gets her message out to voters. So far Jordan has collected more than $367,000 and that includes money from tribal nations and enterprises and some of her largest contributors have been tribes, including her own, Coeur d’Alene, as well as other tribal nations in Idaho, Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce and Kootenai. She has received support from tribes from across the country.

So can Paulette Jordan win the governor’s race in Idaho? Yes … there is a path. And it starts by being cool.

I am Mark Trahant

When tomorrow comes for Indian Country Today

May 14, 2018 By Bob Petersen

Today I have some news about the news.

This is Trahant Reports.

Last fall Indian Country Today went on hiatus.

This is a newspaper with a rich history.

It was started in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, by Tim Giago on July 1, 1981, as The Lakota Times. The newspaper soon became the largest weekly in the state. As Giago wrote: “For the first time in the history of the state an Indian-owned newspaper began to take a close look at the lives of the Native people.” He said as the newspaper grew into a national publication and his staff held a contest, and Avis Little Eagle came up with the name, Indian Country Today.

The paper was sold to the Oneida Nation in 1988 and the publication was moved to New York, eventually landing in New York City. Indian Country Today was a newspaper, a magazine, and a media network.

Last year the Oneida Nation said the changing media landscape meant it could not continue its operations and Indian Country Today went into hiatus. Then the Oneida Nation donated the assets to the National Congress of American Indians.

Now, I have been tasked with rebuilding this news organization.

Here’s the thing: When Indian Country Today was not producing content, writing stories, posting photographs, and such, there remained huge interest from readers. A lot of readers — some 500,000 a month online.

That’s amazing to me. And it’s a solid reason to gear up again. We have much to report.

So on June 4 Indian Country Today will officially unveil a new digital platform and an updated logo. We will do this at the National Congress of American Indians’ Mid-Year Conference and Marketplace in Kansas City, Missouri.

The new Indian Country Today is public media. That means our task is service, so we will be working even closer with other media organizations such as Native Voice One. You should expect more content.

Indian Country Today is ready for its next chapter too, leading in the digital, mobile space.

I remember as a young man mailing tribal newspapers to readers across the country. And, I also waited at the post office for other papers. I’d get a clump of papers, sometimes rolled up as tube, but full of news.

Now the “paper” is digital, multimedia and instant. Our primary focus will be the mobile phone, a platform where our readers are already migrating.

But in the end it’s about the stories we tell. Stories about people doing interesting things. Stories about elections — there is a big one in Idaho this week — and about public policy choices that impact our lives. There are so many stories that will not be told by the national media. No matter. Indian Country can do our own. And we will. Stay tuned.

I am Mark Trahant.