More than 100 elected tribal leaders plan to write a letter urging Biden to appoint an indigenous person to his cabinet

Deb Haaland — Rep. Haaland became one of two first Native American congresswomen when she was sworn into office in 2019.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Green New Deal Network

More than 100 elected tribal leaders plan to call on President-elect Joe Biden to appoint an Indigenous person to his cabinet — particularly to the Interior Department, HuffPost reported Tuesday.
"We've never had a Native American serve in any Cabinet position," Bryan Newland, tribal chairman of the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan who led the charge on the letter to Biden, told HuffPost. "Rep. Haaland is more than qualified and capable of serving as secretary of interior and would be a great choice."
When asked by HuffPost on Sunday if she would be open to taking the position, Haaland told the news outlet that she would "of course" be interested in the position if tapped by Biden.
"I think it's a time in our world ― not just in our country, but our entire world ― to listen to Indigenous people when it comes to climate change, when it comes to our environment," the congresswoman from New Mexico said.
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More than 100 elected tribal leaders plan to write a letter to President-elect Joe Biden, urging him to appoint an indigenous person to his cabinet, HuffPost reported Tuesday.

The letter, which they plan to send this week, suggested Biden should choose Rep. Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native American women elected to serve in Congress, for his cabinet — particularly at the Interior Department, which oversees management of indigenous affairs and the environment.

"We've never had a Native American serve in any Cabinet position," Bryan Newland, tribal chairman of the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan who led the charge on the letter to Biden, told HuffPost. "Rep. Haaland is more than qualified and capable of serving as secretary of interior and would be a great choice."

Historians and Native Americans recognize Charles Curtis, who served as vice president to President Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933, as the first "person of color" to serve in the position, citing his Kaw Nation ancestry, according to a report from The New York Times.

This isn't the first time that tribal leaders have floated Haaland's name for Interior Secretary. Two tribal leaders wrote an op-ed in October highlighted the congresswoman from New Mexico and the work she has done while serving as chairwoman of the House subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Lands.

"Rep. Haaland is the type of candidate who would have a deep understanding of all of the responsibilities of the Secretary of the Interior from day one," they wrote in the commentary published by Reuters. "We are certain there are other Native Americans who are up to the task as well."

When asked by HuffPost on Sunday if she would be open to taking the position, Haaland told the news outlet that she would "of course" be interested in the position if tapped by Biden.

"Whoever becomes secretary has an opportunity to combat climate change, to take this 25% carbon that our public lands are emitting right now and eliminate that," the congresswoman told HuffPost. "I think that what is required is somebody who cares about our public lands."

Haaland is a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, and she describes herself as a "35th-generation New Mexican because I am. The Pueblo people migrated to the Rio Grande Valley in the late 1200s, 35 generations ago," she said.

"I think it's a time in our world ― not just in our country, but our entire world ― to listen to Indigenous people when it comes to climate change, when it comes to our environment," she added.