Day 54: Deb Haaland’s Historic Confirmation

Indigenous peoples have long protected this land and idea of democracy and today the United States Senate voted 51-40 to confirm Debra Anne Haaland the first Native American Secretary of the Interior and the first to serve in the Cabinet.

Hers is among the many diverse elections and appointments with the Biden-Harris Administration. Vice President Kamala Harris is the first East Indian in Office — of note, particularly considering the current namesake of the nation’s capital originally set out from Spain to establish a trade route with India for spices and silk.

He was lost when he discovered the Taino-Arawak people of the Caribbean in 1492. Researchers estimate that 90 percent — some 20-60 million — of the Indigenous population of the region, now including the Americas, was wiped out in the years following, once he instead established an expedition for the local’s gold.

“The historic nature of my confirmation is not lost on me,” Haaland said at her confirmation hearing, “but I will say, it is not about me. Rather, I hope this nomination would be an inspiration for Americans moving forward together as one nation and creating opportunities for all of us.”

Haaland was one of two Native Americans to be the first to serve in Congress when she won her U.S. Representative seat (D-NM) in 2018. She’s also an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo, a federally recognized tribe with roots in the Southwest that go as far back as 6500 B.C.

Biden considers her integral to his climate crisis policies.