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President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Representative Deb Haaland, DN.M., to lead the Home Office – potentially the first Native American to do so and serve as Cabinet Secretary – is celebrated in Native American groups and considered as a new start for tribal relations with the federal government.
The Home Office is “a huge battleship. It’s not going to turn in no time, but it’s the signal for a new chapter,” said Crystal Echo Hawk, executive director of IllumiNative, a group Native American defense. “This is a profound reset in the federal government’s relationship with Indigenous peoples, a relationship that was built on stolen land and broken promises.”
Biden’s choice of Haaland had raised concern among some Democrats about the threat of losing another seat and reducing the party’s thin hold in the US House. But she tweeted Thursday that the historic nature of her appointment had come at the right time.
“A voice like mine has never been a secretary to the Cabinet or the head of the Home Office,” said Haaland, 60, a tribal member from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. “Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo house made me fierce. I will be fierce for all of us, our planet and all of our protected lands.
Haaland supporters say her congressional background and personal understanding of Native American issues make her qualified for an important federal position that involves the conservation and management of the country’s 500 million acres of federal lands and natural resources and includes a large patchwork of agencies such as the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
“This is truly a historic and unprecedented day for all Aboriginal people,” said Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo Nation, the tribe with the largest reservation in the United States.
Under the Trump administration, the Home Office has drawn criticism over loyalty oaths among 70,000 employees and President Donald Trump’s 2019 selection of former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt to the post. secretary. Bernhardt replaced Ryan Zinke, who resigned after a series of scandals.
The administration’s decision in 2017 to reduce the land area of two Utah national monuments – Bears Ears and Grand Staircase – sparked a battle with conservation groups and Native American tribes, emblematic of the frustrations that Indigenous peoples have had with the federal government, Echo Dit Hawk.
“The Home Office has felt like a breathtaking job in recent years,” she added. “So imagine the first day, Deb in Cabinet and in this new administration really working to protect these sacred sites.
Ken Salazar, who was Home Secretary in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013, said Haaland was a “formidable choice” for the job and approached her to congratulate her.
He added that “the Senate should do its job” and act to confirm it quickly. Salazar was confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate, though how easily Biden sees his nominations advance will depend, in part, on which party wins the Senate races in Georgia.
“It’s hard work,” said Salazar, adding that Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye once told him that of all Cabinet positions, “the interior is the most important because you are the keeper of the America’s natural resources and the custodian of America’s heritage. “
Representative Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., Who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, lobbied the Democratic House leadership to approve Haaland’s appointment and put aside fears of losing another seat to House after Biden previously brought in Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development and representing Cedric Richmond of Louisiana as senior White House advisor.
He said he hoped Republican senators would give Haaland a chance during the nomination process.
“The fact that she does not adhere to Zinke or Bernhardt’s programs, that she brings a totally different and more inclusive perspective on the functioning of this agency, I think that is going to be an area of opposition”, declared Grijalva.
He added that the list of issues Haaland must tackle is long and includes ensuring indigenous tribal and urban communities have access to federal funding, especially when the coronavirus pandemic ravages Native American populations at a disproportionate rate; protection of wildlife sanctuaries from oil and gas drilling; and investigate the growing number of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Having Haaland at the helm would be “substantial,” Grijalva said, after “the story of the interior has been anti-Indian story in every sense of the word.” The agency has a history of dislocating Indigenous peoples in the United States.
Lynn Scarlett, a former acting Home Secretary who was appointed by President George W. Bush, said Indian Country has more than 570 federally recognized tribes and Haaland’s personal experience with the tribal system allowed him to start prioritizing problems without dragging wheels.
“These relationships are very complex and a lot of people just don’t know about them,” Scarlett said.
“The way this new administration really emphasizes equity, inclusion and diversity can make a difference,” she added.
Haaland made history in 2018 as one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, along with Representative Sharice Davids, D-Kan.
Haaland, the daughter of military parents, first ran for senior office in 2014 as lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket. Although she didn’t win, she went on to become president of the New Mexico Democratic Party before successfully running for Congress in her blue-leaning district, championing issues such as renewable energy and the environment.
Haaland credited his mother and grandmother with his work ethic. Before her political career took off, she says, she supported her daughter on her own by starting a salsa company, Pueblo Salsa, in her kitchen in 1995. She also earned a Native American law degree from the University. from New Mexico in 2006, take her daughter to all of her classes.
Other people might have given up under any pressure, but Echo Hawk said she has long admired Haaland’s ability to “stay humble and unfazed.”
In February, at a meeting of the National Congress of American Indian in Washington, DC, Echo Hawk said that Haaland was being mobbed by people, a welcome she often receives due to her prominent status among the Native Americans.
“As Indigenous people, we are constantly growing up being erased, minimized and dehumanized. To be successful, you have to leave your Indigenous identity behind, ”said Echo Hawk. “But when the native youths come to Deb en masse, they don’t. They have hope.”
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