Navajos, others laud Biden’s pick

Posted by Cindy Yurth | Aug 13, 2020 | Politics |

WINDOW ROCK

Native and local politics watchers seemed pleased for the most part with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s announcement of Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Courtesy Gage Skidmore via Flickr
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris speaking with attendees at the 2019 National Forum on Wages and Working People hosted by the Center for the American Progress Action Fund and the SEIU at the Enclave in Las Vegas, Nevada.

President Jonathan Nez said Wednesday he is hopeful the historic nomination of a woman of color for vice president will help heal the “deep racial divides and wounds that have been worsened by the current administration.”

Former Navajo Nation President and Chairman Peterson Zah echoed that sentiment, saying a Biden/Harris administration would “restore trust, dignity and unite the people to become more tolerant of each other’s differences and beliefs.”

Clara Pratte, Biden’s strategist for tribal communities, was particularly excited that Biden chose not just a person of color but a woman, as he had promised. “When little girls from tribal communities look at this ticket, I hope they know and believe they can be anything they want to be in America,” tweeted Pratte, who is Diné.

Harris’ Democratic colleagues in the Senate, including Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., also waxed congratulatory. “Kamala Harris is the perfect person to help Joe Biden build our country back better,” wrote Heinrich in a statement. “Senator Harris has dedicated her life to fighting injustice and advocating for working families. I’ve had the honor of serving with her on the Intelligence Committee, and I know firsthand how committed Senator Harris is to upholding our American ideals of liberty, equal justice, and democracy.”

One Native who has worked for both the tribes and the federal government, however, has some reservations. James Berg, an Oglala Sioux who is a former housing director for both his tribe and the Yakama Nation and also served as an analyst in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, noted that although Harris is Black and South Asian, her record with both African-Americans and tribal nations is spotty.

He cited cases where, as California’s attorney general, she cracked down on truancy, which fell heavily on the Black community, and opposed a tribe’s bid to acquire land for a casino.

“I’d like to see how she ratchets herself from a state perspective to dealing with tribes as sovereign nations in government-to-government discussions,” he said. “Of course, it will be up to Biden how much of that she’ll be involved in.”

That said, “I certainly want to see Biden and Harris win,” he said. “The country needs to get out of the situation it’s in now.”