Dancers entertain the crowd awaiting the arrival of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the Cannon Ball Powow Grounds in North Dakota. (From White House video)

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama today are visiting Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, the home of Chief Sitting Bull.

Obama’s visit is the first a president has made to Indian Country since 1999, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said in a news release today.

In an op-ed article in the newspaper Indian Country Today, Obama noted that he did visit the Crow reservation in Montana in 2008 when he was campaigning. (See link)

Heitkamp said she would join the president on the reservation at Cannon Ball, N.D., and help showcase the tribe’s history and culture, while also discussing ways the federal government can better work with tribal nations to improve conditions, particularly for Native American children.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.
“The president’s trip to North Dakota today was a major step forward in our efforts to elevate the issues facing our Native American citizens to a national level,” said Heitkamp, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

“The president and I have had our fair share of disagreements, but I will never question his administration’s commitment to Indian Country.”

The media coverage surrounding the event, she said, would allow Americans across the country “to learn more about the culture and patriotism of Native Americans.”

While conditions in Indian Country are rarely discussed, Heitkamp noted that some of the statistics “are staggering,” including:

• 37 percent of Native American children live in poverty;
• Suicide rates are 2.5 times the national average for ages 15-34;
• High school graduation rate for Native American students is around 50 percent, compared to 75 percent for white students;
• and while the rate of child mortality in the U.S. has decreased since 2000, the rate for Native American children has increased 15 percent.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was scheduled to travel with Obama and to participate in the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s Flag Day Wacipi, a ceremony honoring tribal members who have been killed while serving with the U.S. military.

Per capita, American Indians have the highest record of military service among ethnic groups in the U.S., Heitkamp said.

Heitkamp has introduced a bill to create a commission on Native American children, which she noted passed the Senate Indian Affairs Committee last month. The bill has 27 bipartisan cosponsors, and the strong support of all five North Dakota tribes and many national Native American organizations, she noted.

Many Indian reservations, including Standing Rock in North Dakota, are located in Republican-leaning states. But Native Americans are considered a key voting group for Democrats who get elected in the Dakotas, Montana and other western states.

The White House said Obama would focus on education and the economy today, noting that the administration has established a White House Council on Native American Affairs. The Agriculture Department has paid special attention to Native American agriculture and nutrition issues.

The first lady has also established an Indian Country division of her “Let’s Move” childhood antiobesity campaign, and the Interior Department has a program devoted to encouraging Native Americans to get more exercise.

“The best thing that’s happened to Indian Country has been President Obama being elected,” Dave Archambault II, chairman of Standing Rock, told The Washington Post.

▪ Indian Country News — Barack Obama: On My Upcoming Trip to Indian Country
▪ “Let’s Move” — Call to Action in Indian Country
▪ Department of Interior — “Let’s Move” in Indian Country
▪ White House — Executive Order Establishing the White House Council on Native American Affairs
▪ Blueprint for Reform— Findings and Recommendations Prepared by Bureau of Indian Education Study Group Submitted to the Secretaries of the Departments of the Interior and Education
▪ Secretarial Order No. 3334 — Restructuring the Bureau of Indian Education
▪ White House Fact Sheet — Strengthening Tribal Communities through Education and Economic Development
▪ The Washington Post — Obama to make rare presidential visit to Indian reservation