“So Native Americans’ collective massive sigh of relief Thursday wasn’t just about representation. A new scintilla of hope has bloomed among us in part because Haaland, like millions of Indigenous peoples, strongly believes in and practices the Seven Generation rule. The rule says that all significant decisions must be made with the next seven generations in mind, and includes preserving and protecting the water, the earth and the two leggeds and the four leggeds for people you will never meet – at least in this life.”
– Simon Moya-Smith Oglala Lakota and Chicano writer
On December 17, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden selected 60-year-old Rep. Debra “Deb” A. Haaland (D-N.M.) to be his nominee for the next secretary of the Department of the Interior. Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo and one of the two first Native American women elected to Congress in 2018 – Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., a Ho-Chunk, was also elected that year – will not only be the first Native to lead that department. She will also be the first Native American to hold the position of a Cabinet secretary in the history of the United States.
Let that sink in … Haaland is one of the two first Native American women elected to Congress and the first Native American to hold the position of a Cabinet secretary.
Haaland was born in Winslow, Arizona. The Pueblo people have lived on the land that is now the state of New Mexico since the 1200s and Haaland identifies herself as a 35th-generation New Mexican. Her mother, Mary Toya, a Native American woman, served in the United States Navy. Her father, Major J. D. "Dutch" Haaland, a Norwegian American, was an officer in the United States Marine Corps and recipient of the Silver Star for his actions in Vietnam; he was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in 2005.
(Susan Dunlap. “NY Times highlights Congresswoman Deb Haaland.” NM Political Report. May 27, 2020.)
Now, consider Native American women were not able to vote until 1948, even though Congress passed the 19th Amendment in 1919.
“My grandmother was one of those people who couldn’t vote until 1948,” Haaland said.
As a child with three siblings in a military family, Haaland moved frequently. She attended 13 public schools across the United States before the family settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be close to family who also belong to the Laguna Pueblo.
(Ryan Boetel. "'Proud progressive,' Haaland seeks 2nd term.” Albuquerque Journal. October 10, 2020.)
“Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce,” Haaland tweeted in reference to her nomination. “I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”
After Haaland graduated from Highland High School in Albuquerque, she worked at a local bakery. She enrolled at the University of New Mexico at 28 years old, graduating in 1994. Four days after graduating, she gave birth to her daughter, Somáh. As a single mother, Haaland started a salsa company to support herself and her daughter. At times during this period, she did not earn enough money to afford housing and had to rely on friends for shelter. She also relied on food stamps for support.
(Colleen Heild. "Haaland says she shares struggles of many in NM.” Albuquerque Journal. October 01, 2018.)
Haaland graduated from UNM Law School in 2006. (By the way, Haaland and her daughter, who recently graduated from the University of New Mexico, are still paying off student loans.)
Deb Haaland became the first Chairwoman elected to the Laguna Development Corporation Board of Directors, a Laguna-owned business created to strengthen the Laguna Community and its economy. As chairwoman, she oversaw business operations for the second largest tribal gaming enterprise in New Mexico and successfully advocated for the corporation to create policies and commitments to earth-friendly business practices.
(Paul G. “Interview with Deb Haaland – 2019 Gathering of Nations Pow Wow.” powwows.com. April 27, 2019.)
After running for New Mexico Lieutenant Governor in 2014, Haaland became the first Native American woman to be elected to lead a State Party. She used her experience reaching out to communities who are often forgotten during the electoral process. During her time as State Party Chair, she traveled to Standing Rock to stand side-by-side with the community to protect tribal sovereignty and advocate vital natural resources.
Starting in 2016, Haaland has served as an Honorary Commander of Kirtland Air Force Base which gives her a better understanding of its missions and effects on New Mexico’s economy.
Simon Moya-Smith reports that for many Native Americans, the Department of the Interior has been known as “a back-alley haven for shills, thieves and crooked, money-hungry American Indian-hating cronies.” Many of heads of the department treated the office as a cash cow, withholding billions of dollars from millions of Indigenous peoples – which Moya-Smith says “adds insult to injury given that 1.5 billion acres of land were wrongfully stolen from this land’s first peoples.” He believes now “one of our own (will be) stepping in to run the rats out and right old wrongs.”
Moya-Smith says …
“In the mid-1800s, for instance, not long after the department was formed, former Secretary Carl Schurz said about Natives Americans: “If Indians are to live at all, they must learn to live like white men.” He added: “The alternative to civilization is extermination ...”
“Most recently, President Donald Trump’s former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke looked to return the department to earlier form by eagerly shrinking the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah by 85 percent to drill for oil and gas. The 1.35 million acre landscape is sacred to the Diné, Hopi, Zuni, Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes; he didn’t listen.”
(Simon Moya-Smith. “Deb Haaland becoming interior secretary is a chance to fix an agency that acts with contempt.” NBC News. Dec. 18, 2020.)
Deb Haaland's emergence as a national figure was unimaginable six years ago, when she was part of the Democratic debacle in New Mexico. As a 53-year-old rookie candidate, Haaland lost the race for lieutenant governor in 2014. She was part of a hopeless campaign headed by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gary King. Not only did Republicans hold the Governor's Office, they won control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 62 years.
Haaland has been credited with rebuilding the state party after those large defeats for Democrats in New Mexico in 2014. She raised enough money during her two-year term as chair to pay off seven years' worth of debt incurred under previous chairs.
(Tessa Stuart. "Meet Deb Haaland, Likely to Be the First Native Woman Elected to Congress". Rolling Stone. August 18, 2018.)
Haaland's confirmation would break a 245-year record of non-Native officials, mostly male, serving as the very top federal official over Indian affairs in a federal government that worked to dispossess them of their land and, until recently, assimilate them into White culture.
(Ellen Knickmeyer. “AP sources: Biden to pick Rep. Haaland as interior secretary.” Associated Press. December 17, 2020.)
With Haaland’s nomination, Indigenous people will for the first time see a Native American at the table where the highest decisions are made – and so will everyone else, said OJ Semans, a Rosebud Sioux. “It’s made people aware that Indians still exist,” he said.
The role as interior secretary would put Haaland in charge of an agency that not only has tremendous sway over the nearly 600 federally recognized tribes but also over much of the nation’s vast public lands, waterways, wildlife, national parks and mineral wealth. But don't expect Haaland to be a show horse or sitting figurehead; instead, it is evident from her past, she is a workhorse … a believer in making things better for future generations of Americans.
The Seventh Generation Principle is based on an ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) philosophy that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. This philosophy is not unique to just the Iroquois nation. Many Native American nations, tribes and other indigenous people around the world have and still live by this philosophy.
The Constitution of the Iroquois Nation (The Great Binding Law) explains “seventh generation” philosophy as follows:
“The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans – which is to say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will and your mind filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the Confederacy. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in your mind and all your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation.
“In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation.”
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