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Lakota Man Not Letting Youth Get in Way
Kevin Killer planned to follow in his father's footsteps.
He wanted to become an accountant and had begun taking college classes to that end.
Then fate intervened.
On his way home to Denver from a conference, Francis Killer died suddenly of a heart attack at a Washington, D.C., airport.
Suddenly, the world of business didn't shine so bright for Kevin.
"When he passed away, I lost that motivation to go into business," the 29-year-old Oglala Lakota said.
He decided to return to the South Dakota reservation his father once called home, a decision that set him on an altogether new course.
It is a course that finds Kevin today a rising star in his state's Democratic Party and an energetic and charismatic community organizer.
More and more this election season, Indian Country has begun to see its future leaders emerge and grasp the reins of leadership.
Leaders like Wizipan Garriott, a 28-year-old Rosebud Lakota man who is serving on Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and Samuel Kohn, a 21-year-old Crow man who is serving as Obama's Native outreach coordinator in Montana.
In South Dakota, Kevin Killer is not letting his youth stand in the way of trying to make a difference in the lives of his people, the Oglala Lakota.
In 2004, he served as a field organizer for both Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and former Sen. Tom Daschle, who narrowly lost his senate seat to John Thune that year.
He has served as student senate president of Oglala Lakota College, which he now attends.
Now, he's taking the next step.
He is seeking a seat in the South Dakota Legislature for District 27, which encompasses four counties, including much of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
"We need jobs and we need more professionals in education," Killer said. "I think people want change on the reservation."
He knows his age is likely to cost him voters, but he's hoping his experience will gain his some as well.
Besides the work he's done for Democratic candidates, he's also served as project coordinator for the Great Plains Christmas Drive, a national effort sponsored by the National Indian Gaming Association that delivers toys and other gifts to children in reservations across the country.
Killer also has worked to increase voter registration at Oglala Lakota College and has begun training his peers to register others to vote.
This year, he's doing field organizing on his reservation for Obama's campaign and, of course, running his own campaign.
If elected to serve in the South Dakota Legislature, he plans to seek opportunities to develop wind energy projects on his reservation and to develop partnerships between public and private organizations and Oglala Lakota College.
If he doesn't win election, he plans to either seek a law degree or a master's in business administration.
One thing he doesn't plan to do: return home to Denver, where he grew up.
"The needs are so great in Pine Ridge it would be hard to leave," he said.
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Comments?
Hau Kola: I had the
Hau Kola:
I had the opportunity to meet Kevin a couple of years ago when he was in Wash DC attending training on how to organize grassroots movements through a progran sponsored by the Wellstone foundation. My wife and I had him at our home one evening for dinner I think.
Kevin struck me as a intelligent, thoughtful, focused, Lakota man and despite his relative youth I saw someone who could make a positive impact on his community. I have recently returned to SD myself and am finishing my graduate degree. Since coming home I see the dire need for young people like Kevin in this state to counteract the forces of ignorance, complicity, and racism that keeps Dakota/Lakota/Nakota (also at times Oglala, Sicangu, Mnicoujou, Ohenupa, etc.) fighting amongst ourselves while our adversaries sit back and watch (probably laughing among themselves too).
I would encourage those people who live in his voting district to meet with and get to know Kevin. For while he was not born and raised on the rez, he came back and is trying to be a positive force when too many of our men (& women too) are not. My late Unci from Red Shirt once said "one drop of Lakota blood make you a Lakota", an not where you were born or raised.
Too many times our young people go out or come back from the wide world outside the rez and come home hoping to use their experiences and education to the betterment of our people, only to be shot down by the people in their communities, both in tribal government and in the community at large. Their "Indianness" is questioned and their ideas dismissed, we have to stop this for when we turn on our own we strengthen those who would keep us in poverty of the mind. spirit, and body.
One Ina of mine from Red Scaffold once said that you have to have some gray hair to show that you've lived in order to speak with authority, but unfortunately anymore too many of us of the younger generations never reach that point. So if a young person, like Kevin Killer (without gray hair) comes home and has a noble heart and good intentions I feel we should give them the benefit of the doubt before we condemn them or belittle anything they try to do.
I would also caution against expecting too much from one person, for the situation we live in today took years to create and like a forest that is overlogged and destroyed. It takes years to rebuild and return it to its original beauty. Kevin is just one small sapling struggling to grow and if give the opportunity he can achieve good things for our people.
Mitakuye Oyasin
Toka Iyeska
Lakota Kevin Killer
Awesome. This is very exciting. Thank you.
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