In an effort to reverse voter apathy in Indian Country the Montana Democratic Party became the first state party to formally include Indigenous as equitable partners. Montana is home to 12 Indigenous languages three of which are at risk of going extinct after Donald Trump weaponized a novel coronavirus strain killing many Assiniboine, Gros Ventre and Montana Salish elders.
Trump hates American Indians so deeply after losing a 1993 casino case under the 1988 Indian Gaming Act he deployed Covid as a biological weapon in 2020 to exterminate as many Indigenous people as he could and so far he has gotten away with attempted genocide.
So an exit poll conducted by the National Election Pool and Edison Research then released by NBC of 229 voters who self-identified as Natives that showed Trump winning a majority of NDNs is facing a backlash especially since none of the persons polled were on reservation properties. Even the Indigenous Journalists Association called the poll “highly misleading and irresponsible.”
For example, in counties with majority Native populations, support for the Democratic candidate was larger than support for the Republican candidate in states such as Montana (67% to 28%), North Dakota (72% to 27%), South Dakota (63% to 33%), and Wisconsin (87% to 12%). [Native American Organizations Respond to Flawed NBC Exit Poll]President Joe Biden restored the White House Tribal Nations Summit after the former guy declared war on Indian Country and undercounted Indigenous Americans because Republicans want citizens to believe democracy isn’t for everybody.
November is Native American Heritage Month.
Women and Democrats did well in parts of North Dakota, too.
On the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota, 92% of voters cast their ballots for Kamala Harris. On the Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin, 80% voted for Harris. In Apache County, Arizona, where the Navajo Nation accounts for two-thirds of the population, 58% voted for Harris compared to 39% for Trump. [Getting the Native Vote Right; The National Media Should Not Rely on Self-Identified “Wannabes”]Reservation counties in Montana voted overwhelmingly for Democratic Senator Jon Tester.
During Montana's last legislative session Trump worshiping reactionary Republicans moved to cut funding for Native cultural preservation. Outside Montana’s reservations the state has become the new Orange County, California where the Last Best Place is becoming the next best strip mine and a welfare rancher's wet dream. A transplant to Montana, the state's christianic Republican governor was the richest member of Congress who literally bought his seat in the state’s Executive Branch.
Allison Neswood, a staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, said Native voters face a range of issues. “These barriers are structural, you know, rooted in the history of colonialism,” explained Neswood. [Native voters still face barriers to election participation]Learn more at Big Horn County News.
No comments:
Post a Comment