ICYMI: The first Indigenous women in Congress carry a legacy older than American democracy itself
Albuquerque, N.M. – In case you missed it, Deb Haaland, who is the democratic nominee for New Mexico governor, was featured in The 19th.
The article identifies Haaland as a trailblazer, whose story is deeply American: her ancestors are our country’s original inhabitants, and despite efforts to remove Native Americans, they fought side by side for this country and its democratic values.
Haaland was one of the first two Native Americans elected to Congress, and the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet Secretary. If elected, Haaland would make history as the first Native American woman governor.
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The 19th: The first Indigenous women in Congress carry a legacy older than American democracy itself
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In 2018, Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, and Deb Haaland, who is part of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, became the first two Native American women elected to Congress. They are trailblazers from a long lineage of women whose ancestors were original inhabitants of the land that became America.
Their families follow in a tradition directly tied to the origin story of our nation’s independence and founding. Haaland’s father, a 30-year Marine combat veteran, received a Silver Star for his service in Vietnam and her mother worked for 25 years in the Bureau of Indian Affairs after serving in the Navy.
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Haaland said her journey to public service has been shaped by the legacy of her ancestors, one that has guided her to lead “with my values and my commitments to my community,” she said. As a congresswoman, she held the first House hearing on murdered and missing Indigenous women, who are three times more likely to be sexually assaulted during their lifetime. As Interior secretary, she ordered an investigation into federal Indian boarding schools, forcing the federal government to reckon with its painful history of policies designed to erase Native culture.
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“We’re still here,” Haaland said. “Nothing that the federal government did to break us apart and eradicate our tribes worked. Everything they tried to do to get rid of us failed.”
At the nation’s 250th anniversary, Native Americans, Haaland added, will “likely be out there celebrating the anniversary of our country with everyone else, right? Because this is our land, and they can’t separate us from it.”
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