The Hill reports that South Bend mayor and Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is using Native American Day to propose a wide-ranging plan for boosting tribal autonomy and economic opportunity. Mayor Pete offers six pillars with beaucoup subpoints:
Sovereignty & Trust
- Reinstate a Nation-to-Nation relationship respecting free, prior, and informed consent.
- Appoint a Senior Native American Advisor on White House staff and require federal agencies to appoint tribal member diplomatic officials in respective Offices of the Secretary.
- Create an Office of Native Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget to ensure proper expertise in administration-wide efforts to uphold treaty obligations and ensure those obligations are fully funded.
- Restore the annual White House Tribal Nations Conference [President Barack Obama started this conference and hosted eight; Donald Trump, of course, is incapable of such respectful annual dialogue], host the first-ever tribal state dinner, and regularly host regional convenings with tribal leaders.
- Honor treaty commitments to Tribal Nations.
- Use the platform of the presidency to not only speak out against hurtful stereotypes, but also promote and celebrate Native history and culture.
Economic Development
- Recognize the authority of Indian tribes to tax activities on their lands in support of tribal self-sufficiency and government services.
- Propose a clean Carcieri fix [see Jon Tester, 2015] and amend the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act to clarify the Secretary of the Interior’s authority.
- Uphold tribal decisions about their land to prevent the next Standing Rock [that’s complicated].
- Work with Congress to update the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act to remove requirements for tribes to seek permission before they develop their land.
- Make a major federal investment in clean water and wastewater infrastructure, transportation and mobility, and climate adaptation and resilience.
- Create a national network of apprenticeships.
- Ensure full high-speed broadband coverage in Indian Country as part of his $80 billion Internet For All initiative.
- Invest in public and community-based broadband options to guarantee that broadband will be built out, especially in regions that private companies won’t cover.
- Create new paid opportunities for young people to meaningfully engage in their communities through a new National Service Plan that will directly support Indian Country.
Justice & Voting Rights
- Push Congress for a statutory Oliphant fix [see also Elizabeth Warren] to affirm tribal jurisdiction over all reservation activity and fully fund tribal judges.
- Within his first 100 days in office, appoint a commission dedicated to the study of the crisis on missing and murdered indigenous women.
- Work with Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
- Protect voting rights on tribal lands.
- Strive to put forth Native American judicial nominees to diversify the experiences on the federal bench [current count: three].
Health
- Ensure that the Indian Health Service (IHS) is fully funded through mandatory appropriations.
- Tackle the crisis of mental illness and addiction in Native communities.
- Launch a National Health Equity Strategy and integrate it into the mission of every federal agency, including the IHS.
- Improve maternal and infant health, with an intentional focus on eliminating racial disparities.
- Expand trauma-informed care in Native communities.
- Support research funding for American Indians and Alaska Natives population health indicators.
Education
- Invest in the availability, infrastructure, and workforce of high-quality early learning and care by building on Head Start and Early Head Start programs to expand access for families in need.
- Expand funding for Bureau of Indian Education schools.
- Close the Tribal School Broadband Gap [read more here].
- Invest in Tribal College and Universities.
- Make public college tuition and basic living expenses free for the lowest-income students and provide free tuition to middle-class students.
Climate & Natural Resources
- Restore federal protection to the Bears Ears National Monument and prevent further energy development and mining on other sacred places.
- Sign an Executive Order requiring all federal agencies to consider treaty rights when developing actions that affect access to natural resources [another weak point for the Trump Administration].
- Support access to financial and technical resources to assess the impacts of climate change and develop meaningful adaptation and mitigation plans, since climate change disproportionately affects Tribal Nations.
- Work closely with federally-recognized tribes and other Native communities to ensure that they benefit from the clean energy transition by creating Regional Resilience Hubs on or near Indian Country [Pete Buttigieg campaign website, Policies: Indian Country, retrieved 2019.10.14].
Other Presidential candidates are recognizing the importance of repurposing this holiday to honor the indigenous people whom Cristoforo Colombo did not. Donald Trump issued his Columbus Day proclamation Friday. Back from his 238th day of golfing yesterday, Donald Trump has no public events scheduled today.
This is very good. I didn’t know Buttigieg had any particular interest in the Native People of the Americas. I see several items relating directly to restoring Indian self respect, rights and control.
I’m especially pleased to read the concern over the horrible scourge of violence against Native women. It’s a national crime wave that Rouge Racist couldn’t care less about.
I’d love to see Buttigieg mention this plan again tomorrow at the debate and engage all of the candidates in a conversation about prioritizing Indigenous issues as part of a National Decade of Reconciliation.
The Oglalas are leading a powerful grassroots forgiveness campaign since the spiritual geographical center was renamed Black Elk Peak by the grace of a federal agency board. We are lucky to live as neighbors with this powerful powerful moral nation lying a few miles southeast of Hermosa.
IMO our next Democratic president must start from day one with a precision functional plan for EVERY malfunction we have observed in these last 3 years revealing the dire GOP plan to snooker americans and the rest of the world’s little people. Each issue must be delegated to qualified committee leaders starting to revise and correct America’s direction the day the election is done.
When I contemplate the possibility of any of this going much farther than this page two words come to the forefront, “snowball” and “hell”.
👍 wow, I have tears in my eyes. This is great!! I hope there is an effective way to preserve tribal culture from language to ceremonial conciousness.