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- By Levi Rickert
Opinion. My late mother who passed away last summer loved it when President Joe Biden would mention tribal nations whenever he referred to state and local governments in his speeches.
Mother said she didn’t remember other presidents mentioning Native Americans as much as President Biden did.
I would smile and tell my mother President Biden cares about Indian Country.
As the movement to have the president withdraw from the 2024 presidential race after his disastrous debate performance intensified, I was asked my opinion on the subject. My standard answer was that our Native American teachings tell us to respect our elders and it was his decision to make.
When he ultimately made his decision last week to leave the race, I had some sadness about it because I know he has been the best president for Native Americans in history.
Biden's commitment to Indian Country began with the release of his campaign’s 15-page Biden-Harris Plan for Tribal Nations, released during the 2020 presidential election. It compared to Trump's three-page plan called Putting America's First Peoples First - Forgotten No More!
Often, politicians are full of talk. After elected, the Biden-Harris administration demonstrated it walked the talk. It is full of “firsts" when it comes to Indian Country.
In a historic move, in December 2019 Biden nominated then Rep. Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), who was then representing New Mexico’s 1st congressional district, to be the secretary of the Interior. When she was confirmed, she became the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet in a secretarial role.
Late last month, at the grand opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center grand opening in New York, New York, President Biden reflected on his nomination of Haaland to his cabinet as being “one of the proudest appointments to this Cabinet I’ve ever made.”
The president did not stop with the appointment of Secretary Haaland. Within the federal government, there are dozens of Native Americans in key positions. Two notable Native American “firsts” to serve are: United States Treasurer Chief Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba (Mohegan Tribe), National Parks Service Director Charles F. “Chuck” Sams, III (Umatilla).
Biden has nominated over half of Native Americans to ever serve as federal judges. All have been women. Biden nominated Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby (Black and Native American) to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland; Judge Lauren King (Muscogee Creek Nation) to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; Judge Sunshine Sykes (Navajo) to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Sara Hill (Cherokee), and Danna Jackson (Kootenai) to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.
During the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, some $45 billion was invested in Indian Country. Allocating federal dollars is walking the talk; committing $45 billion is not mere political rhetoric.
“That is above the annual budget throughout all the federal through all the agencies for Indian Country. For perspective, the record amount of funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), it would take 15 years of BIA funding to equal $45 billion in Indian Country,” Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community) said at the RES 2024 conference in Las Vegas in March 2024. "That's money that went into all of our communities. And they see it when I go home to my community. And they tell us what that does for their communities."
Biden should get high praise for bringing back the annual White House Tribal Nations Summit that was held every year during the Obama-Biden administration, but did not occur at all when former Donald Trump occupied the White House. The annual summit provides every federally recognized tribe an opportunity to send a representative to Washington to meet with the high level officials of the administration, such as cabinet secretaries and directors of federal administrations, to discuss matters that are important to their tribes.
“We’ve made progress, but we know Indigenous communities still live in the shadows of the failed policies of the past. That’s why — that’s why I committed to working with you to write a new and better chapter in American history for Indian nations,” Biden said at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit.
Perhaps, the biggest prize from the summit was Biden’s executive order to expand tribal self-determination across the 574 federally recognized tribes. The order aims to make it easier for Native Americans to access federal funding and have greater autonomy over how to use the federal funds.
Non-Natives–and even many Native Americans–may be completely oblivious to how much Biden has done for Indian Country. No one person can correct the 240-plus years of mistreatment of Native Americans in four short years, but President Joe Biden’s attempt should be recognized and respected.
Biden has led this nation at a perilous time. He inherited a mishandled pandemic that left over a million of Americans dead and faced two international crises in Ukraine and the Middle East. Yet, he still remained committed to fulfilling promises he made during his campaign to Indian Country.
President Joe Biden is a good and decent man. His contributions will be remembered for a long time in Indian Country.
Indian Country can hope that the precedent President Biden has set will carry forward to future administrations. Indian Country deserves to have a cabinet member in all future presidential administrations and more Native Americans nominated to be federal judges. We know representation matters.
And yes, I too appreciate it when Biden mentions Indian Country in his speeches, as did my mother.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen - We are all related.
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