Sunday, August 26, 2007
Prez on the Rez Debate
This is cool. Of course, if the Indian casinos didn’t represent substantial amounts of campaign money, this probably wouldn’t have happened. Too bad Edwards wasn’t there.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/328995_trahant26.html
It's funny how politics works
Last updated August 24, 2007 7:18 p.m. PT
By MARK TRAHANT
P-I EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
CABAZON, Calif. -- It's funny how politics works. Three presidential candidates participated in a forum last week. They committed news, raising substantial ideas followed by concrete, even controversial, plans.
But this is probably the first you're reading about Prez On The Rez. It wasn't considered a big deal because of who wasn't here, the so-called big three: Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards. The Democratic forum was designed to find out how the candidates would deal with concerns of American Indians and Alaskan Natives.
This is new. It's never been done. Only a few years ago candidates wouldn't have even thought about Indian Country -- too few votes, hardly any money, little reason to visit. But much of that changed in Washington state when tribes and reservation voters organized to vote against Sen. Slade Gorton. Of course Maria Cantwell won -- and since then Native American voters helped elect senators and governors from Montana to Arizona (including Washington state).
Presidential candidates know this on one level. Nearly every campaign publishes a policy paper that is supposed to take care of everything. If only we, the voters out there, read these documents. If only we, the voters in Indian country, actually believed these documents.
Prez On The Rez is different because it brought the candidates before an audience of tribal leaders on the Morongo Reservation. Some 75 communities were represented from mostly the West and Midwest. I was the forum's moderator.
"When I was asked to participate, it took me 20 seconds to accept," said Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. "Native Americans must be taken seriously. Native Americans are a part of the nation's fabric."
Richardson said flat out that failure of the federal government to adequately fund the Indian Health Service is a "breach of the U.S. commitment to Native Americans."
If elected he said he would elevate the issues by creating a Secretary of Native American Indian Affairs -- a cabinet level post. "You need to raise these issues to the highest levels to send a signal that other government agencies need to take Native American issues seriously," he said.
"Many candidates will have position papers on Native American issues. I've done it," Richardson said. If you want to know what he'd do as president, he said look at what he's done in New Mexico during his six years in office.
Richardson also he had a clear position on the No Child Left Behind law. "I'd scrap it." He said the law is devastating in Native and Latino communities because the one-size fit all approach to education results in less money to schools that are designated as failing -- schools that need more help rather than less.
Richardson was not the only candidate to say things that would not be said in most presidential forums.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich said the model of peacemaker courts -- alternative justice systems -- that are used by some tribal communities ought to be replicated. He said he would create a Department of Peace and Non-Violence that would highlight, fund and promote such programs.
Kucinich made a poetical pitch to Indian Country: "Take the time to tell them that there's someone running for president who understands their heart, that there's someone running for president who understands their needs."
Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel had the best line of the forum. He said he understands the importance of elders in a tribal community. "I know how you honor people my age," he said. "And that's why you will support me."
Gravel promised to free Leonard Peltier, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa, convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975. President Clinton should have take care of that, he said.
Prez On The Rez makes a lousy story if the narrative is the horse race. The only political tickets that some count are those that say, "win, place or show."
But that version is wrong because the content of the discussion was so different from those on the main tracks. Now every candidate might be asked without warning: What about Indian health? Is the United States in breach of its treaty promises? What about a cabinet-level agency? What would you do? And for that matter: What about Leonard Peltier?
Neither the questions nor the answers are safe. They force a candidate to go beyond an unread position paper.
But will these issues surface? Who will bring them up?
That's the second reason why the forum was a success. One of the early elections this season is Nevada -- a caucus state where an organized Native American vote could make a difference. It's funny how politics works.
Mark Trahant is editor of the editorial page. E-mail: marktrahant@seattlepi.com.
© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/328995_trahant26.html
It's funny how politics works
Last updated August 24, 2007 7:18 p.m. PT
By MARK TRAHANT
P-I EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
CABAZON, Calif. -- It's funny how politics works. Three presidential candidates participated in a forum last week. They committed news, raising substantial ideas followed by concrete, even controversial, plans.
But this is probably the first you're reading about Prez On The Rez. It wasn't considered a big deal because of who wasn't here, the so-called big three: Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards. The Democratic forum was designed to find out how the candidates would deal with concerns of American Indians and Alaskan Natives.
This is new. It's never been done. Only a few years ago candidates wouldn't have even thought about Indian Country -- too few votes, hardly any money, little reason to visit. But much of that changed in Washington state when tribes and reservation voters organized to vote against Sen. Slade Gorton. Of course Maria Cantwell won -- and since then Native American voters helped elect senators and governors from Montana to Arizona (including Washington state).
Presidential candidates know this on one level. Nearly every campaign publishes a policy paper that is supposed to take care of everything. If only we, the voters out there, read these documents. If only we, the voters in Indian country, actually believed these documents.
Prez On The Rez is different because it brought the candidates before an audience of tribal leaders on the Morongo Reservation. Some 75 communities were represented from mostly the West and Midwest. I was the forum's moderator.
"When I was asked to participate, it took me 20 seconds to accept," said Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico. "Native Americans must be taken seriously. Native Americans are a part of the nation's fabric."
Richardson said flat out that failure of the federal government to adequately fund the Indian Health Service is a "breach of the U.S. commitment to Native Americans."
If elected he said he would elevate the issues by creating a Secretary of Native American Indian Affairs -- a cabinet level post. "You need to raise these issues to the highest levels to send a signal that other government agencies need to take Native American issues seriously," he said.
"Many candidates will have position papers on Native American issues. I've done it," Richardson said. If you want to know what he'd do as president, he said look at what he's done in New Mexico during his six years in office.
Richardson also he had a clear position on the No Child Left Behind law. "I'd scrap it." He said the law is devastating in Native and Latino communities because the one-size fit all approach to education results in less money to schools that are designated as failing -- schools that need more help rather than less.
Richardson was not the only candidate to say things that would not be said in most presidential forums.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich said the model of peacemaker courts -- alternative justice systems -- that are used by some tribal communities ought to be replicated. He said he would create a Department of Peace and Non-Violence that would highlight, fund and promote such programs.
Kucinich made a poetical pitch to Indian Country: "Take the time to tell them that there's someone running for president who understands their heart, that there's someone running for president who understands their needs."
Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel had the best line of the forum. He said he understands the importance of elders in a tribal community. "I know how you honor people my age," he said. "And that's why you will support me."
Gravel promised to free Leonard Peltier, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa, convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975. President Clinton should have take care of that, he said.
Prez On The Rez makes a lousy story if the narrative is the horse race. The only political tickets that some count are those that say, "win, place or show."
But that version is wrong because the content of the discussion was so different from those on the main tracks. Now every candidate might be asked without warning: What about Indian health? Is the United States in breach of its treaty promises? What about a cabinet-level agency? What would you do? And for that matter: What about Leonard Peltier?
Neither the questions nor the answers are safe. They force a candidate to go beyond an unread position paper.
But will these issues surface? Who will bring them up?
That's the second reason why the forum was a success. One of the early elections this season is Nevada -- a caucus state where an organized Native American vote could make a difference. It's funny how politics works.
Mark Trahant is editor of the editorial page. E-mail: marktrahant@seattlepi.com.
© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
