None of us want to ever face a choice between putting food on the table or paying rent.Collection: Food
If we're not protecting our women and we're not protecting our girls and we're not protecting the most vulnerable people in this society, who are we as a country?Collection: Society
In spite of our agonizing history, Native American people find much to celebrate. The songs, the dances, the culture and traditions surrounding planting and harvests, the prayers that are sent upward for healing and peace, and the welcoming of children into our families, are all reasons for us to keep moving forward with optimism.Collection: History
SNAP benefits help local economies because the benefits are spent at local grocery stores - with locally grown and locally-made products. I remember many years ago, while on food stamps, I advocated for the benefits to be spent at local farmers markets - a move that has helped local economies even more.Collection: Food
I believe Native Americans, women, and all of us deserve representation, and that we all need to fight with everything we have to make it so.Collection: Women
Everything depends on our ability to sustainably inhabit this earth, and true sustainability will require us all to change our way of thinking on how we take from the earth and how we give back.Collection: Change
Healthcare is a human right. No one should face bankruptcy or death because of lack of healthcare. All Americans - regardless of their health or residential status - should be able to access the healthcare they need, whenever they need it.Collection: Health
I learned from my parents to revere nature. Their way of teaching my siblings and I to respect the environment was to be in it, and so we spent a great deal of time outdoors.Collection: Respect
The health of Americans must no longer be a commodity to be traded, bought, or sold for profit by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. We must promote medical and Medicaid home models to provide comprehensive care for body, mind, and spirit.Collection: Medical
Offshore drilling is not the solution to U.S. energy independence, and I am against opening parts of the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans to oil and natural gas production.Collection: Independence
We must shift our thinking away from short-term gain toward long-term investment and sustainability, and always have the next generations in mind with every decision we make.
We only have one earth. Let's take care of it.
As someone who has dealt with economic hardship, I am committed to making the changes necessary for our country to become more equitable. And to do so, I believe we need to think big.
The tenets of my cultural teachings are rooted in our commitment to lift up every community member so that no one is left behind. Work and food were shared equally. Through our commitment to community, we care about children, even when they aren't ours, and we want our old folks, and yours, to live their last days in dignity and comfort.
It's always really great when your hard work pays off.
Over-dependence on finite resources, like oil, ignores the ability of our great minds to develop alternative energy for the masses, and in doing so ignores climate change and sets up our students and workforce for failure by not educating them about the needs of our future.
Renewable energy and climate change are very important to a lot of people, because we need jobs and we really, really believe that we can create jobs by moving down a path toward 100 percent renewable energy.
Our country has a trust responsibility to Indian tribes, and it seems like their voice has been lacking in so many conversations that we've had in this country. And so, I'd like to make sure that tribal leaders have that seat at the table.
As an organizer in the most underrepresented communities in my state, I have felt the frustration that so many voters must feel when other states limit polling locations, require photo IDs, and put unnecessary barriers in front of voters.
On this 50th Earth Day, we face a crisis unknown to those who gathered on the first Earth Day - the climate crisis.
We must ensure full access to all reproductive health services, including abortion. We must also provide for our aging population, ensuring our parents and grandparents have the care they need. We must defend Medicare, expand Social Security, and provide tax credits for families who care for their elders and loved ones with disabilities.
Moving to 100 percent renewable energy is a good economic opportunity, one that the U.S. must seize before other nations take full advantage of it.
I'm not exceptional. I didn't grow up with privilege.
Look, there are people hurting in this country. We have to find solutions to make their lives better, right?
Native American activists have been present as long as the Europeans have been working to colonize us.
I want every young Indigenous girl to think about getting involved in their communities. You're never too young to help with community efforts.
The provision of healthcare in America has been a major policy issue for many decades. From the establishment of Medicare & Medicaid to the Affordable Care Act, we have struggled to find a solution for not just providing access to healthcare - but also becoming a healthier population.
If we don't have a planet, we don't have anything.
There is no justifiable reason why our electricity, heating and cooling and transportation needs aren't powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
When the sun is sending more energy to earth in one hour than the entire world consumes in a year, any political play to undermine our ability to harness this energy effectively and efficiently is clearly not economical but it's also unethical.
If anyone can say 'go back,' it's Native Americans. My Pueblo ancestors, despite being targeted at every juncture - despite facing famine and drought - still inhabit this country today. But indigenous people aren't asking anyone to go back to where they came from.
November is Native American Heritage month, and a good time to honor the legacy of our ancestors, but every day we should stop to think about our country's beginning and that the United States would not exist if not for a great deal of sacrifice, blood, and tears by Indian Tribes across the country.
Even after being diagnosed with Covid-19, Bolsonaro fails to take this virus seriously and is directly targeting vulnerable indigenous communities by failing to provide them with adequate funding to address this pandemic. It's an attack on human rights.
Time and again, it has been proven that SNAP benefits are the most valuable government stimulus we can have for local economies.
Fairness is not just about getting equal pay for equal work (though it is that too!) - it's about taking bold and challenging steps to raise incomes and protect those with little or no economic power.
Immigrants and Native Americans have made our country what it is today, and if we've learned anything through these hundreds of years - it should be that we can accomplish more when we work together.
We have to move toward renewable energy in a big way here in America.
When my daughter Somah was young, I didn't have much money. But I was fortunate to find a preschool where I could volunteer in exchange for lower tuition. I saw firsthand how an early childhood education shaped my daughter's success.
Loss of natural areas threatens our water supply, national security, farms, and health.
There is no moral high ground from which President Trump or any of his followers can tell anyone to leave this country, because they are not the first inhabitants of this land. They should instead look into their history to learn where, when and why their ancestors came to this country.
Racism and bigotry should never fuel any administration's policies. Calls to send anyone 'back' contradict who we should be as a country and the ideals for which we stand.
The majority of America wants action on climate change. The majority of America thinks we should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. And the majority of America thinks we should prioritize solar and wind infrastructure over fossil fuels. Those are impressive majorities, ones that every office seeker and office holder should heed.
The 50th Earth Day was always going to be special, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it even more so. The unprecedented steps the world has taken to slow the spread of the virus have dramatically reduced the number of cars on the road, planes in the air, and oil being pulled from the ground.
It's taken over 240 years for there to be a Native American woman elected to congress, so it's definitely significant that we were able to accomplish that.
I was a chairwoman of my state Democratic party.
We don't have time to play politics with people's lives or the planet's future.
I want to double down on our commitment to clean energy into New Mexico - that way we'll create good paying jobs by harnessing the power of our natural resources.
If Trump wants to appeal to protectionism, the president should be protecting Americans from global warming and the accompanying extreme weather that's becoming more common.
Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household, I never imagined a world in which I would be represented by someone who looked like me.
We need a national universal paid family leave program that allows families to be together in the most important moments of our lives - from having a baby to caring for a dying parent.