Day Thirteen, April 6

"Perhaps more than anyone else, the Native American community faces huge challenges that have been ignored by Washington for too long. It is time to empower Native Americans in the development of the national policy agenda."

--Barack Obama (quote retrieved from my.barackobama.com)

Since the days of Teddy Roosevelt, it's been a remarkably rare occurrence for an American president, let alone a candidate who hasn't made it to office yet, to speak plainly (or at all) regarding the multitude of social ills that plague the Native population in the U.S. With a few arguable exceptions, American Indians are easily the most overlooked minority group in the United States today, and after eight years of the Bush administration's lack of action towards Natives, it's hard to imagine a candidate who will stand up for change in long-standing conditions that have left many Natives in squalor for decades.

That's why I found this article, written by Jodi Rave and published in today's Rapid City Journal, so refreshing. In it, Rave outlines Obama's plan to shed some much needed light on the problems confronting millions of Indians in the United States. Obama outlined this plan in detail in a four-page American Indian policy statement. The article quotes Obama's chief of staff, Pete Rouse, as saying that Barack "has a good understanding for the problems of Indian policy, and federal Indian policy of the past." The Senator has some big promises (see below for summary), but has also let his actions do some of the talking for him when he acted as cosponsor on the renewal of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. In a statement released on on January 22, 2008, Obama said of the bill, “It is our country's moral imperative to address the significant health care disparities between the Native American population and the American population as a whole." Bill S.1200 was passed by the Senate in February, and has made its way to the House of Representatives for voting.

Notable features of Obama's Native peoples policy include the following:

• an Indian American policy advisor on his senior council
• a convergence of Indian tribes from around the U.S., to occur at least once annually
• the preservation of tribal languages
• aiding economic development on reservations (Obama is opposed to gambling funds as a primary source of economic support to Natives)
• offering comprehensive health care coverage to American Indians
• increased dialogue between Native and Federal governments, to encourage populations to help solve their problems at a local level
• developing a sort of tribal 'G8 summit' to create Indian policies

More information regarding Obama's support for American Indians can be found at tribes.barackobama.com.