In Activist Winona LaDuke lists priorities in run for tribal leader, the Fargo Forum's Nathan Bowe reports:
[LaDuke] said she has no illusions about the difficulty of the job, or of the campaign ahead.
"To be chairwoman is very difficult," she said. "It is with great deliberation that I make this decision."
She expects a "robust campaign," she added. "There will be great people running who have good hearts—I will be respectful." . . .
LaDuke's bid comes in the wake of a power struggle that could cost current tribal Chair Erma Vizenor her job. The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe removed Vizenor from its governing board early last week, claiming she overstepped her authority in an attempt to replace the tribal Constitution.
The MCT governs six Minnesota bands, including White Earth, and is led by a board made up of tribal chairs and secretary-treasurers from each band. Vizenor still holds her office on White Earth, but removal from the MCT board leaves her job in the hands of the White Earth Tribal Council. . . .
LaDuke's priorities? Bowe reports:
- No. 1: improve the tribal economy.
- No. 2: implement a "clean slate" program so people with low-level offenses can regain their driver's license and get on with their life.
- No. 3: constitutional reform "inclusive of all the people and other tribes."
- No. 4: the environment.
Executive director of the Native American environmental group Honor the Earth, LaDuke founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues.
She is the author of now six books, including The Militarization of Indian Country (2011), Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming (2005), the non-fiction book All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (1999, South End Press), and a novel - Last Standing Woman (1997, Voyager Press).
Photo: Winona LaDuke.
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