CRITFC Commissioners Virgil Lewis (Yakama) bearing the US flag and Alvis Smith III (Warm Springs) bearing the Warm Springs flag at a CRITFC meeting in July 2024.
Today is the first day of Native American Heritage Month! A great way to start off the celebration is by exercising your right to vote. When we cast our ballot, we can remember the Native influence that inspired the US Constitution, we can honor the hardships, oppression, and suffering endured by our ancestors who dreamed of the accomplishments and voice we enjoy today, and we can help shape a brighter future for the generations that follow us.
Throughout November, we will be sharing a month-long celebration of Indigenous lineage, sovereignty, resilience, wisdom, and leadership that has had an enduring influence on this country and the story of America. Indigenous peoples’ values have long emphasized the importance of community involvement, collective decision-making, and environmental stewardship—all of which align with the spirit of civic engagement and voting.
On the banks of the Grand River, Cayuga Faithkeeper and Sub-chief, Leroy (Jock) Hill, holds a glass and twine replica of the Hiawatha Belt. The belt symbolizes the joining of the five distinct tribes into a single unified nation, the concept the framers of the US Constitution used in states coming together to form a single nation. (Photo: Colin Boyd Shafer)
Indigenous people continue to be an essential and growing voting bloc in the United States. With over 4.6 million Indigenous Americans, the Native vote has proven influential in local, state, and federal elections, especially in areas with significant Native populations. The values that guided the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy—emphasizing unity, peace, and collective governance—had a profound influence on the founding documents of the United States, including the Constitution. Like the Haudenosaunee leaders who inspired the principles of unity and democracy, we too harness our right to vote as a tool to secure a better future for all.
The US Senate recognized the influence of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy on the construction of the Constitution in a resolution read on September 16, 1987, that noted, “the original framers of the Constitution, including most notably, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, are known to have greatly admired the concepts, principles and governmental practices of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Whereas the confederation of the original Thirteen Colonies into one republic was explicitly modeled upon the Iroquois Confederacy as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the Constitution itself.”
In 1955 activist Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (Penobscot) became the first Native on a reservation in Maine to cast a vote. (Bangor Daily News)
This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the United States granting voting rights to Native Americans. Since we have been legally allowed to vote, tribal leaders and communities have harnessed our historically impactful voting power to protect our sovereignty, treaty rights, and our lands. Like all the other responsibilities, and great powers we wield, let us kick off our month of heritage using this tool in a way that betters life for us all.
As we enter this month of reflection and celebration, let’s honor the legacy, resilience, and leadership of Indigenous communities, whose values inspire a commitment to an inclusive and just democracy for all.
Balloons at a recent get out the vote event on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.