I am the head news/ managing editor here at the Chabot College paper. While this is my first year at Chabot, I have written for the Tracy Press and the Tri City Voice. Actually I still currently moonlight as a local politics writer for the Voice.
I am an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Indian Tribe. A first-born suburban Indian, my mother grew up on the reservation in Poplar, Mont.
When my mother was a teenager they picked up and moved to Denver, Colo. where I would later be born in the middle of one of Denver’s worse snowstorms. My dad would point out right now that it was then he knew I would be stubborn.
I tackled the job of news editor because I am addicted to news, watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are the highlights of my day. I can’t get enough of news, be it PBS or CNN, The Huffington Post or just Yahoo!’s top headlines.
Some crave coffee, I crave my campaign trails.
And with the elections coming just around the corner I simply cannot get enough. This is THE most exciting presidential race we have yet to encounter. History, and no matter who wins, the White House will be changed forever.
I think my love for all things political was passed down from my grandmother and mother who have fought to ensure equality on the Indian reservations and in America.
In 1974 my grandmother and her friend traveled to the Washington and stormed the capital building fighting for Indian hiring preference when its came to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA.) They believed that since reservations were sovereign nations the BIA should be ran by Indians to aid their self-government.
It was there that she met Ted Kennedy, in the midst of eating lunch, they told him what was going on. Kennedy stopped eating his lunch and walked them across the Capital Rotunda, through the tourists that were there that day, many screaming out at the senator as they made their way behind the velvet rope.
Ted walked her and her friend into a room where they met Ethel Kennedy, Roberts Kennedy’s wife and founder of the Robert Kennedy foundation.
Because she made this trip to fight for the rights of Indians to be involved in their own governments the Kennedys took them under their wing and provided everything they needed through the Robert Kennedy Foundation.
Because of she took the time to stand up for something she believes in she was able to enrich many Indian peoples’ lives.
Resulting in Freeman v. Morton, a law that enabled the reservations, which are a sovereign country, to run the BIA and give Indians a preferred part in their own self-governing. Today the BIA is 95% Indian ran and self-governed.
That is what is so inspiring to me; we can be that change. It’s really not that far of a reach to impact the world if you feel your beliefs are really that important. You may seem like just one person but if you try you can make a huge splash!
So make it your business to know what is going on with your government, be a part of history yourself and go out there and vote. Be active in shaping your country, the country you are going to pass on to your children. Research your candidates and make your vote wisely. After all you can’t complain if you didn’t speak up when you had the chance!
So welcome to my blog, and expect many other juicy family stories and updates on what’s going on in the news.
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