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AUGUST 28, 2000

Winona LaDuke has never been known to back down from a challenge and this November, she'll be up against a major one as she goes head-to-head with the Democrats and the Republicans in an attempt to bring some environmental awareness to the race.

Running alongside consumer activist Ralph Nader, whom Harvard-educated LaDuke has called one of her greatest heroes, LaDuke is the only Native American candidate in the upcoming election. LaDuke is White Earth Anishinaabeg and lives on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota.

She's also one of just two women participating. The Reform Party, another independent party, also has a woman running for Vice-President, Ezola Foster, an African-American educator.

The Green Party has been chugging along in recent months, organizing at the grass roots level in an attempt to get on the ballot in states throughout the nation. On the ballot in over 20 states and pending on many more, the party has succeeded in getting at least some of the vote out already.

But the movement hasn't come without its own set of criticisms. The question of whether or not the Greens would just steal away votes for Democrats Al Gore and Joe Lieberman, who just might need the extra push, is always present -- which LaDuke dismisses.

There's also been a challenge to LaDuke's views on treaty rights, which she supports. Animal rights activists, probably expecting a party more conducive to their stance against the whale hunt of the Makah Nation of Washington, have recently attacked LaDuke and the Greens over the candidate's support of tribal sovereignty.

So at least Indian Country knows LaDuke's stance on sovereignty. Her battles to restore the land base to the White Earth and to protect tribal land from environmental destruction, particularly in the form of nuclear waste, are also well documented.

And she also told Salon in July that'd one thing she'd do in office is get Nader to pardon imprisoned activist Leonard Peltier.

But even if she doesn't end up in The White House, LaDuke will always be busy. Her Honor the Earth Foundation, which she chairs, is getting ready to launch another musical tour.

This year, the tour features returning guests The Indigo Girls and Indigenous and also Bonnie Raitt. The tour kicks off next month in Billings, Montana.

Get closer with Winona LaDuke today on Native America Calling. She will field your toughest questions from 1PM - 2PM.

Relevant Links:
Honor the Earth - www.honorearth.com
The Green Party - www.greenparty.org
Ralph Nader for President - www.votenader.org/index.html

Related Stories:
Groups to Honor the Earth (Enviro 08/18)
Nader / LaDuke under fire (The Talking Circle 08/14)
Nader / LaDuke sue (The Talking Circle 08/04)
LaDuke runs (The Talking Circle 07/12)
Nader's No 2 (Salon 7/13)
Winona LaDuke Speaks (Enviro 4/20)

Books by Winona LaDuke:
All Our Relations (Consortium 1999. Amazon.Com US$14.40)
Last Standing Woman (Voyageur Press 1999. AllNative.Com US$14.95)

More RealAudio with Winona LaDuke:
Winona LaDuke(Democracy Now 6/27)
Book-of-the-Month: All Our Relations (NAC 1/26)
Killings in Colombia (Part 1)(NAC 3/99)
Winona LaDuke, Ian Zabarte and Corbin Harney on the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (Honor the Earth 9/98)