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Crow Tribal Member to Lead Obama Outreach

By Kevin Abourezk

A Dartmouth-educated member of the Crow Tribe has been hired to lead Sen. Barack Obama's Native American outreach efforts in Montana.

Samuel Kohn, who spoke up two years ago when a student newspaper at his college published a racially insensitive cartoon, will serve as state Native American coordinator for the campaign, said Keith Harper, a Native policy adviser for Obama.

"I've been waiting for a long time for a presidential candidate who listens to Native Americans, because our issues and concerns are rarely heard," Kohn said in a press release Friday. "Senator Obama is committed to giving Native Americans a voice so we can finally make real progress on issues that impact our tribes, and I'm proud to be a part of this grassroots movement for change."

The creation of the Montana position is further proof of how Obama is getting Natives involved, Harper said.

"One of the things that's been different about this campaign is how early Sen. Obama has reached out to Native Americans," he said.

Kohn joins other Native members of the Obama campaign, including Harper, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and Wizipan Garriott, a Rosebud Sioux tribal member, who also has served as a Native policy adviser.

Harper said the campaign plans to create similar positions in other states as the campaign moves forward.

"You can count on it," he said.

Matt McKenna, state director for the Hillary Clinton campaign in Montana, said the campaign plans to hire someone in Montana by the end of the week to fill a position similar to the Obama state Native American coordinator position.

In November 2006, Kohn and more than 500 Dartmouth College students, faculty and administrators rallied to protest the publication of a picture of a Native warrior holding a scalp with the headline, "The Natives are Getting Restless!" The photo and headline appeared in the Dartmouth Review, an independent, conservative student newspaper.

"I really feel like the college does not care enough about Native students," Kohn told the Boston Globe at the time.

Harper described Kohn as a "young, energetic" new member of the senator's presidential campaign whose duties will include coordinating Native outreach efforts on Montana's reservations and within the state's urban Indian communities.

While Obama has focused on enlisting the help of Native people, he also has sought advice from longtime, non-Native politicians who have experience dealing with Native issues, like former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, Harper said.

Obama's Indian policies, which can be seen on his campaign Web site, include increased funding for the Indian Health Service and appointing a Native policy adviser to his senior White House staff.

So far, some 40 Democratic and Republican tribal leaders from across the country — including six Sioux tribal presidents — have endorsed Obama, Harper said.

"We've got people from across the political spectrum," he said. "That's what makes this campaign different. We (Native people) are part of this campaign."

Kevin Abourezk's "Red Clout" columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet's "Red Clout" political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

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