Although I’ve covered a number of emotionally charged stories, I don’t often cry during the course of reporting. It’s not so much that I’m such a tough old journalist, but more that the work itself requires one’s full attention if done correctly; emotions get temporarily pushed to the side. When Peggy Flanagan, newly elected lieutenant governor of Minnesota, began her victory speech (alongside Governor-elect Tim Walz) with words from my native Ojibwe language, however, I couldn’t hold back my tears of pride. Flanagan, who was speaking at the Democratic victory party in downtown St. Paul, is of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the first Native American woman elected to the office of lieutenant governor in Minnesota. Her win was among many firsts for Native women last week. Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland, both Democrats, became the first Native women elected to Congress. Davids of the Ho-Chunk Nation was elected by voters in Kansas; Haaland of the Pueblo of Laguna won in New Mexico. Davids is also the first openly lesbian person from Kansas elected to Congress. The election as a whole was an extraordinary first for Native Americans. According to Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today, more than 100 Native American candidates, 52 of them women, ran for public office. Trahant of the Shoshone Bannock Tribe has been tracking Native participation in politics for years. This year Trahant devised a bold plan: Native journalists would provide live election night coverage of many of the Native candidates. On a less than shoestring budget, about 40 Native journalists, myself included, fanned out across Indian Country. Armed with mobile phones, Skype, and help from cousins and friends, we helped provided authentic, on-the-ground reporting about this historic election.
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Mary Annette Pember:
On ‘Native Election Night,’ I Know My Mother Would Have Been Proud
(Rewire.News November 12, 2018)
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