{"id":45574,"date":"2016-11-08T13:35:33","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T19:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=45574"},"modified":"2017-01-13T13:24:10","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T19:24:10","slug":"native-americans-seek-visibility-in-their-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/native-americans-seek-visibility-in-their-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Native Americans seek visibility in their vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Pat Nabong<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Package of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline stories here<\/a>]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the run-down American Indian Center, fewer than 20 Native Americans are gathered to discuss issues that are important to them in this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

Susan Power, one of the founding members of the center, looks around the room. She bellows, \u201cWhere are all the Indians? Why aren\u2019t they here?\u201d<\/p>\n

The room is silent.<\/p>\n

David Bender, a community organizer, pipes up and reminds the handful of people who have gathered under hundreds of tribal nations\u2019 flags that although they are small in number, their votes matter.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"David
David Bender talks about Native American issues during Turn Up the Native Vote, a roundtable discussion at the American Indian Center. Oct. 29, 2016.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Native Americans and Alaska Natives make up less than one percent of the U.S. voting population, according to 2016 <\/a>census<\/a> data<\/a>. In Illinois, they make up even less – 0.2 percent. Historically speaking, Native Americans have one of the lowest voter turnout rates among all ethnic groups in the U.S., according to a research<\/a> by political participation expert Tova Wang.<\/p>\n

But with the election imminent, Native Americans\u2019 struggle for visibility continues.<\/p>\n

“There are so many groups of people, they outnumber us right away,\u201d said Power. \u201cAnd so it behooves us to really learn and keep together and remind each other that at one time, we were all the big, important nations here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the percentage of Native Americans is smaller than other ethnic groups, there is a lot at stake this election, according to Bender.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been hearing about people who weren’t politically inclined before are becoming politically inclined now,\u201d said Bender. \u201cI think it has a lot to do with the connection with the current events that are happening right now.\u201d Bender is referring to the controversial $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline that is slated to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois.<\/p>\n

Fighting for the environment<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Since April, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been camping out in North Dakota, fighting the construction of a pipeline that threatens the tribe\u2019s sacred burial sites and water source. This has turned into an international issue that has brought Native Americans to the forefront of yet another environmental battle. Over 300 Native American tribes and a number of indigenous groups from other countries have stood in solidarity with the movement, now known as NoDAPL.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s time to wake up at this NoDAPL,\u201d said Reginald Sawyer, president of Chicago<\/a> Two<\/a>–<\/a>Spirit<\/a> Society<\/a>, an organization that supports Native American LGBTs. \u201cWe don’t need no oil spill because if those pipes bust and the oil spills in our water, that’s poisonous. That’s not only going to kill our four-legged brothers and sisters and our winged ones, that’s also hurting us as well…So get out there, make your voice be heard.”<\/p>\n

\"NoDAPL
Native Americans stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota during the NoDAPL rally in Chicago. Sept. 9, 2016.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the NoDAPL movement has been getting a lot of attention, it is not just a pipeline that is on the minds of Native Americans in this election. Environmental issues in general are at the forefront.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this global warming thing going on, environmental justice is one of our biggest fights that we’re doing here,\u201d said Sarina DiMaso, of the Chiricahua Apache Nation and an organizer at the American Indian Center.<\/p>\n

Native Americans, whose culture and spirituality are deeply rooted in the environment, have a long history of environmental struggles on their lands, such as the Keystone<\/a> XL<\/a> pipeline<\/a> and uranium<\/a> excavation<\/a> within<\/a> the<\/a> Navajo<\/a> Nation<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n

But with the ongoing fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the proposed<\/a> open<\/a>–<\/a>pit<\/a> mine<\/a> that the Menominee Indian Tribe says will disrupt sacred tribal lands, the issue of environmental injustice seems timeless.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had three presidential debates and the issue of this place being [in] a state of ongoing occupation of indigenous peoples\u2019 lands never came up,\u201d said Doug Kiel of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin and assistant professor in Northwestern University\u2019s Department of History. \u201cAnd I think for a lot of people, that’s what’s exciting about this [NoDAPL] movement\u2014 [it] is that people are actually paying attention to it and hopefully, from there actually going to be paying attention to a wide variety of issues that affect Native people.”<\/p>\n

\n

Three 2016 Presidential #Debates<\/a> and we Native Americans who have lived here longer than anybody…<\/p>\n

WERE NOT TALKED ABOUT ONE SINGLE TIME.<\/p>\n

— A Merciless Indian Savage (@YakamaRaised) October 20, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n