Behind Four Directions
"Four Directions: Native Vote addresses historical and contemporary injustices against Tribal communities through equal access at state and federal elections, advocacy in the Census, concerted efforts to election protection in Indian Country, litigation, and evolving Federal Indian law to benefit tribal interests."
ABOUT FOUR DIRECTIONS
We advance equality at the ballot box across Indian Country
Who We Are. What We Believe
In Lakota culture, the powers and teachings we received from the Creator and the Four Directions of the Universe have given us a way of life we Lakota strive to maintain. That way of life, those teachings, we refer to as Wolakota. The Four Directions, like the cycles of life itself, are represented by a circle. As we travel through the circle, through various stages of our lives, we continue to seek knowledge to better ourselves and our communities. Before non- Indians came to our lands, we fought to protect our resources so we could continue to thrive as a Nation. With the invasion of our lands, we had to adapt and learn a different way to fight. That fight was also to protect our depleting resources but also to protect the Creator given right to exist as free and sovereign peoples.
The fight today is the same fight we have always been fighting – to protect our resources and to, protect the Creator given right to exist as free and sovereign peoples. How we fight today however is different. We once again find it necessary to adapt to new battle tactics. We now protect our communities and our rights by going to the polls to vote.
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Traditionally we governed ourselves and our communities by consensus. Every voice was heard before a decision was made and no one was left out of the process. Four Directions, Inc., believes that is also true with voting and that voting is a basic Native Human Right. The concept that every person has a say in how they are governed to keep the balance and harmony of the community intact is an essential part of those values given to us by the Creator when it comes to preserving our way of life. Four Directions Native Vote is committed to full enfranchisement of our Native peoples as a crucial way to navigate a stronger future for our Native communities.
An official partner of the Coalition of Large Tribes, Four Directions, has become a nationally renowned voting rights leader. The effort began in 2002 when Rosebud Sioux Tribal members Oliver and Barb Semans organized Native voter registration drives on South Dakota’s Indian reservations.
Four Directions Native Vote – A Grass Roots Advocates’ Story
In 1994, Oliver James (“OJ”) and Barb Semans, enrolled members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and lifelong residents of the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota were growing frustrated with local politics. In counties whose populations are predominantly Native American, local school boards and County commissions were dominated and controlled by non-Indians. It wasn’t that Indian people were not running for elected office, they were. It was that Indians were not voting. This meant Native interests were being neglected at best and totally ignored at worst. Driven by a deep love of their Native people and a strong belief in their traditional Lakota values, OJ and Barb decided to do something about it. That “something” was a concerted effort to increase Native voter turnout. This was the start of OJ and Barb’s grass roots activism.
Their efforts to increase local Native voter registration and voter turnout continued until 2002 when their attention turned to the South Dakota Senate race between Tim Johnson(D) and John Thune(R). When they were registering people to vote on the Rosebud, all the Tribal members registered as Democrats. That prompted OJ to call Senator Johnson’s campaign office and ask “Why aren’t you guys campaigning in Indian Country?” There’s a lot of us. Why aren’t you here?” OJ was assured that Johnson’s campaign office was going to work on it, but they didn’t. This was not unexpected because non-Natives did not consider the Native vote as being important nor did they believe that campaigning in Indian Country was a wise use of their time and money. That was all about to change. Not one to be brushed aside, OJ called again and said, “You guys are really starting to piss me off. Do you want us to vote for the other party?” Well, that lit a fire under the Johnson campaign, and they hired Barb to do GOTV - Get Out The Vote on reservations. Barb, with her all local Native GOTV team began knocking on doors and giving out information about what Tim Johnson was doing in and for Indian Country. By the time election day came, Barb and her team registered around 600 people. Even with Barb and her team doing an amazing job in registering voters, Native people on the Rosebud Reservation still faced inequities when it came time to actually vote. OJ and Barb recognized the inequities of South Dakota election politics and decided they were going to go “all in” as Native voting rights advocates- starting with this election.
Rosebud Reservation
The Rosebud Reservation is located in Todd County, South Dakota which happens to be on Mountain Standard Time. Todd County however opened its election day polls using Central Time, an hour earlier (7:00am (CST) vs. 8:0am (MST)) cheating the residents of the Rosebud Reservation of an hour of voting. Barb and OJ saw through this Native voter suppression tactic and took it to court. The court agreed with OJ and Barb. To compensate for that lost hour, the county’s polling places had to stay open until 8:00pm (MST) instead of closing the polls at 7:00pm (CST). In that extra hour, Barb’s GOTV team was able to get an additional 540 voters to the polls.
Typically, South Dakota has been and still is a deeply red state. By the time the polls closed, and the votes started to be counted, that trend looked like it was going to continue to hold true with Thune being ahead of Johnson by 3000-4000 votes. Also, typically in South Dakota is how they count votes with the reservation counties, Todd and Shannon (now Oglala Lakota County) being the last ballots to be counted. Those are also the counties where residents – mostly Native – had to drive over 100 miles to drop off the ballots to be counted. As the evening wore on, it certainly appeared that the Republican candidate would carry the day. In the early morning hours of the day after the election, the reservation votes were finally counted. When it was all said and done, Johnson was declared the winner by 525 votes. It was clear that Senator – elect Johnson was elected by the Native vote. That result helped to destroy the myth that the Native vote does not count. In this election it did count thanks to the hard work of Barb and her team explaining to Tribal members why it was important for them to participate in the electoral process by registering and voting.
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For the first time in South Dakota history, and certainly in the first time in a national election, the Native vote was a decisive factor in Senator Johnson winning the election. The Johnson campaign was certainly grateful to Barb and OJ’s efforts, so much so, they were invited to Senator Johnson’s campaign victory party. Although warmly welcomed by Senator Johnson, something happened that would literally change the direction of Barb and OJ’s lives as well as the fight for Native voting rights in the United States.
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During the victory party Senator Johnson began thanking everyone who helped work on his campaign. Coming from the state of South Dakota and having worked with and lived around Lakota people throughout most of his life, career and campaign, he thanked and honored those individuals by giving them star quilts – those quilts were given to him by different tribes. Being gifted a star quilt is an honor. The quilt is handmade and takes a tremendous skill and effort to complete. It also represents a buffalo robe which also took a lot of skill and work to obtain and prepare for use. These quilts, like buffalo robes, were highly prized and usually only gifted to a person who has done extraordinary things on behalf of the people. The two people he did not publicly thank, or honor were OJ and Barb. Nor was any mention made of the countless Native people who worked with Barb and OJ , nor was any mention made about how the Native vote was responsible for Senator Johnson’s victory.
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Traditionally in Lakota culture, when you are given a gift it’s yours to do what you want with it, so Senator Johnson had every right to give those quilts away. However, how, where, and to who they were given away to, was symbolic of how the State of South Dakota, the United States, and politicians treated Native peoples throughout history. OJ and Barb were certainly not looking for personal recognition. Nor were any of the many Natives who worked on the campaign. As traditional, humble people, they did what they did because they knew without real representation in the federal government, Indian issues would largely be ignored. They worked for Senator Johnson because they believed he would truly be an advocate for Native people as well as all people in South Dakota in Congress. By the Johnson campaign misappropriating a Lakota tradition to recognize people who worked on the campaign – except the Native people signaled that the Tribes no longer mattered. Barb and OJ left the victory party thinking, “we can’t work for a campaign that forgets our people after they have won the election. “
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Barb and OJ were not willing to let the matter go, however. They realized how important it was to have Native representation at all levels of local state and federal governments. Their next step was to reach out to the state Democratic Party to express their concerns. They soon met with Bret Healy, a South Dakota Democratic Party representative. Bret understood their concerns and recognized the potential power of the Native Vote, not just within the state, but on a national level as well. After many discussions, Barb, OJ and Bret realized to truly harness the power of the Native Vote and not let it be used by non-Natives they decided to form Four Directions Native Vote, the first reservation based Native voting rights nonprofit to do just that.