On October 11th, my friend Evan at Yale invited me to join their celebration of the first nationally recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I attended their online panel discussion that promotes higher education for indigenous people. A huge smile lingered on my face as I saw a brighter future for indigenous tribes. But then I realized that something more fundamental is missing in this future. Indigenous tribes cannot elect their representatives to the U.S. Congress. To fix this problem, Congress must add new seats for indigenous tribes.
What is the situation?
There are 573 federally recognized indigenous tribes in the United States. More than 2.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives are citizens of these tribes, making up over 1.2% of the U.S. population.
However, no one in Congress can vote on behalf of any indigenous tribe. Only two indigenous tribes – the Cherokee and the Choctaw – have the right to send non-voting delegates. It is a compensation promised by Congress in its treaties with indigenous tribes – the treaties that deprived tribal lands and cost thousands of indigenous people’s lives. The first tribal delegate was nominated in 2019 after nearly 200 years of vacancy, but Congress has not approved to seat her yet .
In addition, the House of Representatives currently seats four congresspeople with documented American Indian tribal ancestry or affiliation. However, they represent the interests of their congressional districts rather than those of their tribes. When a conflict of interests arises, they must make a choice. How can indigenous tribes assure their voting powers through these existing seats?
Why is it necessary?
Without seats in Congress, indigenous tribes cannot enjoy full democracy and protect their own interests.
The Constitution gives Congress the plenary power to regulate Indian affairs. A Supreme Court ruling in 1886 authorized Congress to govern indigenous tribes by federal laws. However, many of these laws are unjust and have devastating outcomes.
For example, Congress passed the Dawes Act of 1887 to serve the interests of White Americans. The law broke up tribal lands and assimilated indigenous people into white lifestyles. Indigenous tribes could not block the law because they had no vote in Congress. They had to suffer the catastrophic impacts on their land ownership, agricultural traditions, and social connections.
A more recent example is the legal restrictions on the “Native 8(a) program.” Congress created this program to waive a few requirements for tribal corporations to enter federal contracts. This program should have benefited companies owned by indigenous tribes. However, Congress enacted a new requirement in 2009. It requires written justifications for any contract valued over $20 million. Research discovered that tribal corporations were discouraged by this new requirement – they feared political scrutiny and felt discriminated against. With no seat in Congress, indigenous tribes had no chance to question this biased restriction that would hurt their interests.
The Thirteen Colonies demanded “no taxation without representation” and established a democracy built upon “the consent of the governed.” Indigenous tribes deserve the same today! It is time for these sovereign nations to enjoy a real democracy and defend their interests in Congress like other states do.
What are some action plans?
Congress must add new seats for indigenous tribes. How will it work? Here is an idea: establishing new congressional districts for indigenous tribes.
New Zealand offers a wonderful model – they set up parallel electorates only for the indigenous Māori people. Every place is covered by both a general electorate and a Māori electorate. Only Māori people can vote in Māori electorates. The borders of Māori electorates and the number of legislators being elected are determined by the population of registered Māori voters.
U.S. Congress can learn from foreign models and design a plan that fits American politics. For example, political scientist Todd N. Tucker proposes to establish separate electorates exclusively for indigenous tribes, similar to the New Zealand model . This would add four indigenous seats to the House and two to the Senate, based on the current indigenous population. Mark Trahant has something else: large tribal nations, like the Navajo Nation, should elect their own representatives; smaller nations “could band together by region or language” and elect joint regional commissioners.
When celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we must not forget that indigenous tribes are still underrepresented in Congress. Adding seats for indigenous tribes could be complicated and challenging, but Congress must prioritize it and start taking actions now.
Carlos Hua is a political science student studying democratic institutions and minority politics.
This article was originally completed as a course assignment for POLSCI 205 Introduction to Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics at Duke University, taught by Prof. Candis Smith. The teaching assistant of this course, Suhyen Bae, contributed to this article. Adela Guo from Duke University and Yuchen Zhou from Vassar College also helped peer-edit this article before its submission.
