Democrats show, once again, that they are no allies, accomplices, friends or champions of tribal sovereignty. Democratic politicians and the Democratic Party itself oftentimes purport to be allies to Native communities and advocates for tribal sovereignty. To wit, the 2016 Democratic Platform says that the Democratic Party will
“[w]ork to enact law and policies that strengthen, not reduce, the powers of Indian nations over people who interact with them in Indian Country. We will work on a government-to-government basis to continue to empower Indian nations, and to provide sufficient and meaningful resources to Indian tribes to bolster economic development and self-determination.” 2016 Democratic Party Platform, July 21, 2016
But alas, their own words notwithstanding, the Democratic Party has shown again and again that it has little loyalty to Native people. On a related note, just a few months ago the Democratic Party showed a similar willingness to roll over on Latinx communities and DREAMers by passing spending bills with no DACA-fix attached. In fact, one might look at history and see that that the Native community and the Latinx community and the Black community keeps giving Democrats to do something meaningful and to be more than the “lesser of two evils” party but it keeps failing. Perhaps that is why Democrats keep losing.
Tonight, the Democratic Party had an actual, affirmative chance to “strengthen, not reduce the power of Indian nations over people who interact with them in Indian Country” as it is alleges it will do in its platform. Yet, in spite of the inspirational language, somehow they showed their spinelessness again and betrayed Native Nations again. Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican, introduced the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act to rectify a bad federal case that treats Native Nations, governments, as private corporations and clarify the way the National Labor Relations Act treats Native Nations (“NLRA”). Under the NLRA, state governments and the federal government are not treated as private--state, local, and federal government employers are excluded from the NLRA definition of “employer“ and that allowed those governments to make their own decisions about labor organizing and workforce policies. Native governmental employers were likewise never included in that definition of “employer”; that made sense—tribal governments are the oldest governments on this continent and they should have the ability to create workforce policy as they see fit. Moreover, they are governments, just like federal, state and local governments, that should have the choice how they interact with labor.
That is sovereignty. If a person believes in sovereignty, sometimes it will be uncomfortable. Sometimes it will not be expedient.
Yet, in 2004, a federal court ruled—seemingly out of thin air—that Native Nations no longer had the sovereign ability to deal with labor in accordance with its own principles and values. States, local and federal governments still could, but Native people could not. This Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act would have rectified this discriminatory treatment and put Native Nations on par with local, federal and state governments. Democrats killed this bill. It was not “Republicans and Democrats could not work together and pass this bill.” No, make no mistake: Democrats unilaterally hurt Native communities. One Democrat in particular, Sherrod Brown of Ohio typified the Democratic ignorance about Tribal Sovereignty. Said Brown, “Nevada can’t suddenly decide that its casinos on the Las Vegas strip are exempt from federal labor laws.” Of course, “the casinos on the Las Vegas strip” are not owned by any government—they are privately owned. Therein lies the extremely false equivalence. Now, please note that I didn’t say that “Republicans are better” or “Republicans have our back” or anything stupid like that. That’s idiotic. Instead, pay attention to what I actually said: “Democrats will turn on us in a hot second if the opportunity presents itself for more money/more votes. They don’t like us either.”
Look, what this really comes down to is this: Democrats did not want to piss off labor. They value them more than us, not because of ideas, but because of plain ugly politics. Therefore, in the same way that DREAMers became the fodder for the moderate white people who would be upset if there were a government shutdown, Natives became fodder for the white labor people who Democrats hold so dear. Native Nations became fodder in the same way that Black and Brown people become fodder whenever a Democrat enters a race against a “law and order” candidate. This was not about ideals, about principles or justice—this was a power play and Native people become expendable in those power plays.
Just as it has always been.
Gyasi Ross
Blackfeet Nation
Instagram/Twitter: BigIndianGyasi