In Taine, or Navajo, represents culture, horse strength and resilience, as well as connection to the earth. Cowboy culture is particularly relevant to Native communities, and the rides are used to raise awareness of issues in the community, including suicide prevention, alcohol and drug use, said Tine grassroots organizer Allie Young, 34. This fall, Young used trail riding to engage Dene voters in the presidential election: His group's voter-registration events involve 100 tribal voters riding horseback to a polling place. On Election Day in Arizona.
“When one gets on a horse and is in rhythm with the horse, that reconnection happens,” Young, founder of the tribal-led civic engagement program Protect the Sacred Guardian, told Protect the Sacred Guardian. “So when we connect with the horse, we reconnect with Mother Earth and remind ourselves of our cultural values and what we fight for and protect.”
While tribal sovereignty is threatened by the conservative agenda, Native American turnout is crucial in the upcoming election. Plan 2025 states that fossil fuel drilling should be facilitated on tribal lands. Political representation that brings needed resources to indigenous communities is especially important on tribal lands where 75% of roads are unpaved. Part of Young's argument is that Native American voters flipped the historically red state from Arizona to Democrats during the 2020 election. That year, up to 90% of the 67,000 eligible voters in the Navajo Nation voted for Joe Biden. data.
Young said he hoped the success of the Ride to the Vote campaign in 2020 and 2022 would encourage “the biggest indigenous turnout ever” in the upcoming election. This year, the campaign has expanded its reach with events such as skateboarding and bull riding competitions, heavy metal and country music performances.
“We're trying to communicate to our community that we need to protect our tribal sovereignty, and with that, protect our sacred sites, protect our lands, our cultures, our languages, our traditions,” Young said.
Young launched the 2020 Ride to the Polls campaign in response to the rapid spread of Covid-19 infections in the Navajo Nation. Some districts have the highest per capita mortality rates in the country. He wanted to make sure his community met the U.S. Census to elect politicians who prioritized the concerns of Native communities and receive appropriate funding.
“Our nation and many tribal nations across the country have been devastated by the onset of Covid-19 because our system has been chronically underfunded,” Young said, “and this has revealed to the rest of the world what we already know: no government. We honor our covenant that says we must have good health and education. He began to develop culturally relevant initiatives whereby young Diné citizens see voting as a tool to “rebuild our power as a community”.
The campaign's goal by 2024 is to register 1,500 new voters during their in-person efforts and more than 5,000 voters through online efforts. So far 200 new voters have been registered and about 400 have been verified or updated.
On October 12th, actor Mark Ruffalo will join the Ride to the Polls to rally Native voters and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Native Americans being granted the right to vote. Ruffalo and tribal voters will dress in traditional clothing and walk three miles to cast their ballots at a community ballot box in Fort Defiance, Arizona – the site of forced removal where the Navajo's Long Walk began in 1863.
“Indigenous peoples have only been able to fight for their future at the ballot box for 76 years,” Ruffalo said in a statement. “Now we're seeing a massive mobilization of Aboriginal youth at the polls … I hope their resilience will inspire other young Aboriginal people from all communities to do the same.”
While most Native Americans were granted US citizenship by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, some state constitutions continued to deny Native Americans voting rights. In Arizona pollsters were required to take English literacy tests to vote. All Native Americans were finally given the right to vote under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.
However, since many people on the Navajo Nation use post office boxes, barriers exist that make it difficult for Tiné to register to vote and vote, including lack of residential addresses. Young said it can take up to an hour to get to a polling station. And this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Arizona state law requiring prospective voters to include proof of U.S. citizenship on registration forms could be enforced, which “slaps Native Americans, the first people of this land, in the face to be asked to prove their citizenship,” Young said. ”.
To help overcome some of those obstacles, Protect the Sacred has partnered with Arizona Native Vote, a tribal-led voter-engagement nonprofit. Native organizers register voters and help residents find their addresses by locating their homes on Google Maps. “A key talking point when we talk to voters is letting them know that voting and registering to vote doesn't have to be difficult,” said Jayne Parrish, executive director of Arizona Native Vote. “For example, the form itself — it takes five minutes or less from someone in Flagstaff or Phoenix or a city, that doesn't happen here.”
During a six-stop drive to register Diné citizens across the Navajo Nation in mid-September, local organizers discussed with voters the importance of voting in every election. They also offered bread and toast to citizens, explaining to citizens that district elections could determine how local government operations are funded. Young said: “I believe we've started a movement around the power of the Indigenous vote.”
