This week has been history in the making with the nomination of the first Native American to lead the Interior department. But there is more history: 50 years ago the Nixon administration signed legislation returning Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo.
Joining us today are Red Lake Band of Ojibwe citizen Holly Cook Macarro, a partner at Spirit Rock Consulting and a federal lobbyist since 2001, to talk about the nomination of U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, Pueblos of Laguna and Jemez, to the position of Secretary of Interior, and Indian Country Today Editor Mark Trahant will discuss the historic return of Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo.
"And we have such high hopes for Deb. And this is not just Deb joining the cabinet, but it’s as Interior secretary. The irony is rich there, but to see a Native American that will be in charge of our public lands, in charge of Indian Affairs, and leading that department, I think we all are still in our celebration, but still getting our head around that we will have an actual seat at the Cabinet table. And so for all the times that we say, 'we want a seat at the table.' We have a seat at the Cabinet table. This is the highest levels of our nation's government and Congresswoman Haaland, Secretary Haaland. We'll be there too."
"The White House understood the symbolism. The United States was returning land to Taos Pueblo… land that everyone acknowledged had been illegally taken for a national forest in 1906. In past years the solution would have been to write a check. But the Pueblo for nearly a century insisted that the land must be returned. Gilbert Suazo Sr. was in a youth society that represented the Pueblo. As a young man he traveled to Washington and was present at the white house ceremony," Trahant said.
To read more of the Indian Country Today article, please click here.
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