Monday, July 29, 2024 – Checking Kamala Harris and J.D. Vance records on Native issues

As a senator and a member of the Joe Biden Administration, Vice President Kamala Harris has advocated for tribes and equity for Native Americans, explicitly promising to work with tribes to restore improperly taken lands, defending the Indian Child Welfare Act, and addressing Missing and Murdered Indigenous people. But her track record as a California attorney general is more complicated. In his short time in office, J.D. Vance has mocked Indigenous Peoples’ Day and spoke against renaming a national forest in a way that positioned Native Americans as “the enemy”. We’ll get some insights into these two candidates whose positions were just elevated in the presidential election.