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Juliana Tanner (left), a top volunteer from the Flathead Reservation, said meeting Michelle Obama was "an experience that I will never forget." Photo courtesy of Juliana Tanner

Obama Brings Hope to Native Americans

By Alyssa Kelly

POLSON, Mont. — With the first election of an African American president, the nation sees a broader horizon. Some see hope on that horizon for Native America.

"My memories of campaigning for this election range from heartbreaking to beautiful," said Gyasi Ross, former constituency director of the Barack Obama campaign in Montana. "Indian people really showed that if given the opportunity, we can perform above the expected and it's all in faith."

Reflecting on his memories of this historic presidential election, Ross, a Blackfeet tribal member, admits his journey blossomed from a seed of doubt: "I figured (Obama) didn't have a chance in hell becoming the next president," he said. "But I knew he would do great things for Native Americans if elected."

A member of the First American's Policy Committee, Ross says he became inspired by then Sen. Obama and the message he shared. "I think it's interesting and compelling anytime someone comes from a challenging background and doesn't use those challenges as a reason not to succeed," Ross said. "Rather, they use those challenges as a reason to succeed."

Ross sacrificed a lot to help Obama win

Taking a major cut in salary from his position as an attorney in Washington, Ross joined the Obama Campaign and had to leave his 1-year-old son for months at a time. "I'm very close to him and it hurt me every night not to see him," he said. "But part of that exchange is this is for the benefit of his future, as well as my own ... if I do it right."

Ross was stationed in Montana and served as the constituency director for Obama campaign offices on all seven tribal reservations. He set the offices in motion by first discussing their anticipated work with each reservation's tribal council.

"When I talked to some of the tribal leaders about what we were going to be doing, they asked how much we were paying." Ross recalled. "They became doubtful of how much participation we'd receive when I told them we weren't paying anything. I said, ‘You can't tell me that our people are mercenaries and the only reason we're going to do something is for money.'"

Ross says the Obama offices immediately drew attention and volunteers from all ages and walks of life who felt passionate about contributing. Aside from working sleepless nights going door-to-door to recruit voters, Ross says some even donated artwork, food and prayers.

"These people didn't get a dime, but they did it because they understood the bigger picture and that this is a historical moment," Ross said. "Native people are people of faith and if we don't believe in ourselves, we don't have anything. It was great to see people saying, 'I believe in this, I aspire to do this, I aspire to make this better'."

Obama's reach extended to Flathead Reservation

One of the Flathead Reservation's top campaign volunteers was a result of then-Sen. Obama himself. After attending his speech in Missoula, Mont., Juliana Tanner, a Confederated Salish and Kootenai member, became inspired and donated her free time to the campaign.

"I wanted a change in the landscape of the way things were happening in the country, particularly Indian Country," Tanner said. "I decided early on that I would volunteer for Barack Obama's campaign and was one of the first to ask what I could do to help when a field office opened on the reservation."

Tanner says it was challenging in the beginning, but she quickly saw the results of her hard work: "I could feel the excitement after I visited someone's home and the next time I drove by they would have the campaign signs in their yards," she said.

While Tanner says making lifelong friends and contributing to Obama's election were highlight moments of her experience, she will always remember meeting the soon-to-be First Lady, Michelle Obama.

"As one of the selected volunteers, I was not only able to meet Michelle Obama, I was selected to be a motorcade driver for her visit to Kalispell (Mont.)," says Tanner. "That is an experience that I will never forget and when I agreed to volunteer, never in a hundred years did I think something like that would happen."

The big story eclipsed results in individual states

As voting booths were closing across the nation on Nov. 4, TV stations had viewers glued to screens in anticipation, waiting to hear the presidential election results. Then, without counting all state votes, it was announced that Barack Obama would be the nation's next president.

"I was happy because that was the war we wanted to win, yet we were waiting for Montana's state results," said Ross. "I knew in Indian Country we did amazing, so when the results came through that Montana's majority was for McCain, I was upset."

The following morning, as Ross was traveling from Browning to Helena, "I realized it was my ego that was bothering me, I had a goal that I wanted to reach," he said. "But this wasn't about me, it was about our people."

Montana's county results showed just how large an impact the Native population had in the presidential results. Counties on or near all seven of the state's reservations went for Obama.

"This election has given me a new measure of faith in my people," said Ross. "Our people want the opportunity to do something great. If anyone looked at Montana's results ... we have that ability."

Native won statewide office in Montana

Aside from seeing the nation elect its first African-American president, Native people in Montana had something extra to celebrate as Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribal member Denise Juneau was elected the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

"As Native people, I think our self-esteem improves when we see minority people succeeding, because we look at our own life and the possibilities of what we could accomplish," Ross said. "We also realized that our vote is valuable. Your vote is just as valuable as Bill Gates', who is the richest man in the world, and that's powerful."

Ross isn't sure what he'll do now that the election is over, but he hopes President Obama and his promised Native American adviser take tribal economics into consideration.

"I think we need a really strong, robust plan to make sure our communities can make sustainable income in a cultural way," Ross said. "You go to these different reservations and you see how they're affected by poverty and they've gotten used to it. ...

"Indians are very resourceful people," Ross said. "You give us nasty commodities and we're going to make stew and bannock bread from it and that's a beautiful gift. Imagine if we were given resources. Imagine what we could do with it. If you give us an opportunity, we're going to run with it and that's what this election proved."

To everyone who worked with Ross during the campaign he has a message: "I just want to say thank you to everybody that did this," he said. "I want people to understand that we really did change the world and it's not too often we get that chance."

Alyssa Kelly, Pend d'Oreille, attends Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Mont. She is a former reporter for the Char-koosta, the tribal newspaper of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

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