Native Voice One Podcast

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The world’s leaders are in France over the next couple of weeks to debate what ought to be done about climate change.

Organizers say the United Nations Conference on Climate Change is “crucial because the expected outcome is a new international agreement on climate change, applicable to all. So it would be up to each country to figure out how to reach their own climate goals.

That’s the word from the United Nations. But in the United States, climate change, or global warming, highlights a deep political division between most Democrats and most Republicans. The conservative National Review put it this way: “Republicans have already made it clear that the Senate will not ratify any agreement Obama makes requiring either steep, economy-killing, greenhouse-gas emission reductions or climate payoffs to developing countries.”

What if we could vote on the choices ahead? What if climate change (and the alternative courses) could be presented on a ballot? Unfortunately that’s not likely to happen because of the politics of geography. Some of the Republicans facing re-election in states like Maine or Illinois are closer to the Obama administration than their own party. And, in states like Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota, there are few Democrats keen on a climate referendum. Most Democrats in energy states run on the pretense that the country doesn’t have to make hard decisions about jobs and the environment.

In Paris, Monday, the president said the United States is ready to lead on climate change and he called for a 32 percent reduction in U.S. carbon emissions by 2030.

The debate in Congress — and in Paris, for that matter — is mostly about the science of human contributions to global warming and how to reduce that. Tribes and Alaska villages face a different problem: the actual, on the ground, impacts of climate change.

Last February, Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn testified that tribes are already experiencing “the impacts of a changing climate including drought, intensifying wildfires, changes in plants and animals important to subsistence and cultural practices, impacts to treaty and trust resources, and coastal erosion and sea level rise.”

Washburn said climate change will be costly, some $50.4 million (a $40.4 million increase over 2015). That kind of spending will not be an easy sell to a Congress that wants to dismiss climate change as wacky science. But extreme weather will not be so easily shunted aside. States At Risk, a new report says states (and therefore tribes) are not ready for the risks associated with climate change.

“Extreme weather will be even more extreme in the future and preparedness plans that fail to take this into account will fall short, perhaps tragically so,” the report found.

This is how the election debate will change — even in pro-energy states. I think this could happen in a couple of ways. First, the number of jobs is already shrinking, making it much easier to be critical of industry (both for companies’ environmental and safety practices). And, second, there is now the growing issue of cost. Climate change is going to be expensive and the impact of extreme weather is a cost that taxpayers cannot avoid. No matter what happens in Paris.

I am Mark Trahant reporting.

 

 

 

 

Link to interactive map:

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At least 73 American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians serve in 17 state legislatures. That statistic is important for several reasons. This is Trahant Reports. I’ve built a new data base of Native Americans serving in state governments. You can find it on the Native Voice One web site.

IF you look at the body of work of Native American state senators and representatives, you’ll find them advocating for better services, more funding and improving relationships between tribal nations and state governments.

Montana best demonstrates the growing influence of Native American voters.

Some twenty years ago, Montana was much like any other state with significant Native American population. It only one or two Native Americans serving in the legislature. Then a candidate win in 1997. And again in 2003. By 2007 Native Americans in Montana reached a high of ten seats in the legislature; that represented some 6.6 percent of that body. And Montana’s population is 7.4 percent Native American. Today there are 3 Native Americans in the Montana Senate and 5 in the House, some 5.3 percent of the state legislature.

To put that figure in national terms: If Congress were 5.3 percent Native American, there would be 5 U.S. Senators and 21 members of the House. Even if you adjust for population, the number of Native American members in Congress would have to more than double to equal the effort in Montana.

One of Montana’s success stories is the community organizing work of Western Native Voice. Leading up to the 2012 election, Western Native Voice set a goal of registering some 3,000 Native Americans for the primary and 5,000 for the general elections. Western Native Voice exceeded that goal by some 1,300 additional voters.

The state with the largest number of Native American legislators is Oklahoma with 14. It’s also the only state with a balance between Democrats and Republicans (8 Democrats and 6 Republicans).Nationally of the 70 elected Native Americans in state legislatures, 59 are Democrats and 11 are Republicans.

State offices are often a source of talent for higher elective posts, ranging from Congress to the White House. Remember it was only 1996 when Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois state Senate.

Across the country it’s clear that Native American representation before state governments significantly trails the population of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. There are 40 members serving in Alaska’s House and 20 in that state’s Senate. Yet only five Alaska Natives represent in the House — or 12.5 percent — and two in the Senate. Alaska has the highest voting age population in the country, some 17 percent.

However the growth of Native American voters — and elected officials — is only at the beginning of a trend. We know our population is growing faster than the general population. And in many states there is already the numbers to build a winning election coalition that includes the Native community.

Look across the country and see why the Native Americans elec...

Denise Juneau is campaigning to be the first Native American woman in Congress. She’s already won a statewide race in Montana so she knows what it takes to win.

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A Native American woman in Congress? This is Trahant Reports.

Denise Juneau, a member of the Mandan Hidatsa Tribes, and Montana’s two-term Superintendent of Public Instruction, is running for Congress. She’ll face incumbent Republican Ryan Zinke.

One of her first pitches is fantastic, saying her Montana roots run deep. Her family’s ancestry traces back to before Montana was even a state, possibly 54 generations on this soil.

Fifty-four generations. That’s cool. Juneau has many issues that work for her, especially  jobs. As schools’ chief, Juneau increased graduate rates to the highest level ever recorded.

That’s the news.

But here is why this race is so important: Juneau can win. Think about what it will mean to have her voice in Congress. She is already the first Native American woman in history to win a statewide election — and soon could be the first to serve in Congress.

Now the nitty-gritty. Juneau can win because she’s already earned votes from Montanans, 235,397 four years ago when she was re-elected schools’ chief. To put that number in perspective: The winning Montana Senate candidate had only 213,709 votes. (The huge difference is because the first number was during the 2012 presidential election year and that’s when Juneau’s  best voters will turnout.)

What’s more: Montana is changing. The population is only about 6 percent American Indian now, but if you look at the schools (where Juneau spends her days) that number is more than double.

Juneau’s first challenge is money. Her opponent has already raised more than $800,000. But if Montana is seen as a “pick up” opportunity, then the national money will be sure to follow. It will also be interesting to see how much money is raised from Indian Country to further Juneau’s campaign.

I think there is one more possibility: this could be a wave election. If the Republicans nominate an outsider for president — Donald Trump or Ben Carson for example — there will be little support for candidates across the border. And by support I mean less money and less organization.

Not only that, no matter who wins the Republican nomination, will have a significant block of voters who see the winner as “not their kind of Republican.” The Republican Party is divided three ways. There are Tea Party folks, establishment Republicans, and Libertarians. No matter who wins the nomination, some body will be on the losing side.

I think this could be a national trend. But it’s even more likely in Montana. A 2010 study by the Cato Institute called Montana “the state with the highest Libertarian constituency in the nation.”

Democrats, on the other hand, will be united behind Juneau.

I am Mark Trahant reporting.

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Events in Canada this week show why elections matter. This is Trahant Reports.

Yes, there will be better policies put in place: Perhaps a return to government-to-government relations with First Nations; more federal investment in Indigenous education; and, a serious, nationwide probe of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. All these things show a government moving in the right direction.

But there is something else: tone. The music of elections.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered the message that Aboriginal Canadians are significant intellectual contributors to Canada’s political discourse. Trudeau’s appointments, his first day of images, really set a high bar for what hope elections can stir in a community, including those representing First Nations, Inuit and Metis.

Most of us are surrounded by a narrative that says real shared power takes a long time. We have to move slow, methodically, bringing people along.

But that’s not what happened in Canada. Trudeau’s appointments were like a lightening bolt. In one instant the cabinet of Canada is representative of gender, of region, and, of Aboriginal people. When he was asked, “why?” about gender, the prime minister replied, “because it’s 2015.”

Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde told the CBC that Trudeau’s appointments begin a “new era of reconciliation” and the appointments send a powerful message about a new relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples.

The new minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould shows how a government can match diversity with extraordinary talent and experience. Much has been said about the attorney general’s role as a regional tribal chief and as an advocate for reconciliation with Aboriginal people. But she’s also been British Columbia crown prosecutor. The fact is she’s extraordinarily well qualified for this post. Wilson-Raybould is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation. When she was a child, her father said it was her goal to be Prime Minister.

That same richness of experience is true for the new minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Hunter Tootoo. He is Inuit and has a track record on issues such as economic development and housing. But he also was Speaker of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly.

Imagine what these kinds of appointments would be like in the United States: A leader of a fishing tribe named to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Or a tribal judge and attorney as the next United States Attorney General. Lightening bolt.

Canada, of course, is a different political system. Cabinet members must also be elected Members of Parliament. Here it would mean getting elected to Congress before you could be Interior Secretary. Yet even with the political differences, there is a shared sense of optimism after an election. Every government starts off with hope and the exci...

On Native America Calling, Word with a Champ's Cherokee cowboy Randy Taylor talks with two participants at the 40th Annual Indian National Finals Rodeo about suicide prevention, and gives us the results after 4 go-rounds.

On Native America Calling, Word with a Champ's Cherokee cowboy Randy Taylor talks with two participants at the 40th Annual Indian National Finals Rodeo about suicide prevention, and gives us the results after 4 go-rounds.

Rundown - Thursday, Nov. 4

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Rundown - Friday, Nov. 5

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November 3 - 7,  KHEW and Word with a Champ will cover one of the largest Native events in the country, the Indian National Finals Rodeo, hosted by Cherokee cowboy Randy Taylor.

Indian Rodeo World Championships will be on the line in Las Vegas at the South Point Events Center.

Join us in supporting our premier Native American and First Nations of Canada rodeo athletes by listening to the live webstream, brought to us by  KHEW “Rocky Boy Radio” from the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana.  

Support for this program is provided by Wrangler Jeans & Shirts and 4 Bears Casino and Lodge.

Cherokee Cowboy Randy Taylor

Tuesday, November 3:

12:30 - 3:45 PM PST

6:30 - 9:45 PM  PST

Wednesday, November 4:

12:30 - 3:45 PM PST

6:30 - 9:45 PM  PST

Thursday, November 5:

6:30 - 9:45 PM  PST

Friday, November 6:

6:30 - 9:45 PM  PST

Saturday, November 7:           

6:30 - 10:30 PM  PST

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Omnibus is a Latin word that means “for all.” In legislation it means cramming everything into a bill that you think can pass. That’s what we’re doing with this edition of Trahant Reports.

First up: A deal in Congress has lifted the caps from the Budget Control Act, or the sequester, and it raises the debt limit until March 2017.

This deal ends distractions such as new government shut downs or a defunding of Planned Parenthood until well after the election. Unfortunately the details, such as the actual budgets for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service, still have to be written,  between now and Dec. 11

The politics of this deal are stunning, but, unfortunately, probably only temporary. More Democrats voted for the bill than Republicans. So the Republican Leadership actually picked a bipartisan course.

Any budget that passes with more Democrats than Republicans is considered awful. Even the new Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the process stinks.

But the deal will make it easier for Ryan to govern his caucus because it takes away the threat of government shutdowns and general chaos. Ryan’s goal will be to unite the Republicans so that what ever measures come forward next will be debated within the party. At least that’s the theory.

Second item: This week there is an important race in Seattle. Debora Juarez is a candidate for Seattle City Council. She’s a member of the Blackfeet Tribe, grew up in the Seattle-Tacoma area, and is campaigning on neighborhood issues. That means things people care about: more sidewalks, better bus service, and affordable housing.

The Seattle Times said in its endorsement editorial: “In a crowded field, Debora Juarez stands out. … She would bring intellectual rigor and ideological independence to the council.”

It doesn’t get any better than this.

Of course great candidates make all the difference in elections. They bring experience and poise to the campaign. That’s why so many eyes are watching Montana right now. The only Native American to hold a statewide office, Denise Juneau, is considering a run for the U.S. House. She’s currently Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction and a member of the Mandan and Hidatsa Tribes. She grew up in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation.

Two years ago there was a lot of interest in Juneau running for an open U.S. Senate seat. I thought it would have been an interesting race, but it would have been a long shot. The problem is the type of voters Juneau would need only vote in presidential election years and that race would have been a low-turnout election. So she opted to stick with the job she loves, running public education.

Juneau is now at her term limit. Her schools’ job will end. And since it’s a presidential year, the House seat is awfully tempting. It’s a  seat that can be won. Stay tuned.

US Ambassador David Balton, Senior Arctic Official, Arctic Council

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A changing Arctic? A region that presents incredible challenges and opportunities for Indigenous People. This is Trahant Reports.

One of the unique opportunities involves governance of the region. The Arctic Council is eight nations who work together on complex issues ranging from climate change to a sustainable future. Right now the United States is chairing this body for the next two years.

What makes this international body unique, though, is that it includes indigenous representation as “permanent participants.”

US Ambassador David Balton explains: “I am not aware of another international  forum that has representatives of Indigenous groups engaged the way the Arctic Council does. They are at the table as, essentially, equal partners with the governments. And they bring a lot to that table. Among other things their populations span multiple countries" (with the exception of Russia.)

"They have special needs and special points of view that get aired. Officially they don’t participate in decision-making as such, those are for eight governments. But the reality is the governments … will not take decisions that are opposed by so-called permanent participants. Part of the on-going work of the Arctic Council is figure out how to deal with the Indigenous Peoples’ of the Arctic better."

One of the issues that’s of particular interest to me involves climate change and “adaptation.” Most of the debate about climate change involves “mitigation.” That idea is humans are the primary cause of climate change so if we reduce our carbon emissions we can limit the impacts. But the second topic in climate change is “adaptation.” That means doing what’s required to build higher sea walls, protect pipelines from permafrost damage, and, all too often, move villages inland because of eroding shorelines. It also means figuring out how animals and fish will react to the loss of habitat, when sea ice, or plant life disappear. And, of course, less wildlife and fish too often means less food for Native people.

The Arctic Council examines and incorporates “Indigenous knowledge” in its database. As one recent document puts it: “Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge and its potential to advise adaptation mechanisms across the Arctic is a common theme. Moreover, scientific, traditional and experience-based knowledge in combination are recognized as key factors for a sustainable Arctic future. Generating grassroots support is the most important condition for sustainability.”

How we build a sustainable future in the Arctic? That’s the key question as we figure out how we and our children will live in a changing environment. Of course that’s not just an Arctic issue. I am Mark Trahant reporting from Anchorage.

 

 

 

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A court hearing in Alaska is determining the fate of the Fairbanks Four, young men who were convicted of murder in 1997. But evidence has been mounting for years that the men are innocent despite a zealous prosecution.

During the courtroom last week there was a  silent protest. People stood up and held four fingers in the air. A similar protest occurred at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage.