LaDonna Harris
LaDonna Harris President of Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) is a remarkable statesman and national leader who has enriched the lives of thousands. She has devoted her life to building coalitions that create change. She has been a consistent and ardent advocate on behalf of Tribal America. In addition she continues her activism in the areas of civil rights environmental protection the women's movement and world peace. Harris began her public service as the wife of U.S. Senator Fred Harris. Her partnership with Senator Harris made her a strong force in Congress where she was the first Senator's wife to testify before a Congressional committee. She was instrumental in the return of the Taos Blue Lake to the people of Taos Pueblo and to the Menominee Tribe in regaining their federal recognition. Her guiding influence on both pieces of legislation led to landmark laws that set a precedent that still guides Indian policy today. Harris has spent many years training the executive branch of the federal government regarding tribes' unique role in the U.S. Federal system. She has held hundreds of forums on the issues surrounding the intergovernmental interaction between tribes and federal agencies. For more than 4 decades Harris has been a strong voice for Native American rights. In the 1960's she founded Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity to find ways to reverse the stifling socio-economic conditions that impact Indian communities. Today this organization remains vital serving the tribes of Oklahoma. From the 1970's to the present she has presided over Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO). A catalyst for new concepts and opportunities for Indian peoples this national organization works to enrich the cultural political and economic lives of Indigenous peoples. Harris also founded some of today's leading national Indian organizations including the National Indian Housing Council Council of Energy Resource Tribes National Tribal Environmental Council and National Indian Business Association. Harris applies much of her energy to reinforcing and strengthening tribal governments. She has encouraged tribes to reweave traditional value based methods of consensus building into their governance systems. She has worked directly with the Winnebago Poarch Band Creek Oklahoma Apache Cheyenne-Arapaho Comanche Pawnee and Menominee tribes in assessing how these tribes can reincorporate traditional dispute resolution methodologies into contemporary systems of government. The Indigenous Leaders Interactive System (ILIS) the process used to facilitate dialogue was developed by Harris and has been used to facilitate resolution throughout the country and in several international forums. Harris believes that as cultural groups throughout the world struggle for autonomy and as tribal and ethnic strife become the focus of unrest on nearly every continent Tribal America has a unique opportunity to make a positive contribution to our global society. In the 1980's Harris was instrumental in the drafting and adoption of official Indian policies by the Environmental Protection Agency the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture before mandated by President Clinton. In helping tribes plan for the future Harris recognizes the significance of the Information Age and the impact computer technology will have on tribal communities. She has created the first Indian owned and operated computer telecommunications network -- INDIANnet -- dedicated to establishing and developing free public access to electronic information and communication services for Native Americans. The early 1990's Vice President Gore recognized Harris as a leader in the area of telecommunications in his remarks at the White House Tribal Summit and then Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown appointed her to the Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure. Harris is most proud of the very successful national Indian leadership training initiative she helped to develop the Ambassadors Program. Based on her past work with tribal governments and using traditional tribal values and perspectives as a foundation this special Program is designed to nurture a new generation of Native American leaders to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. This project is a fitting legacy to Harris' devotion to strengthening tribal governments and gives Tribal America a new cadre of leaders blessed by her spirit. As a national leader Harris has influenced the agendas of the civil rights feminist environmental and world peace movements. She was a founding member of Common Cause and the National Urban Coalition and is an ardent spokesperson against poverty and social injustice. As an advocate for women's rights she was a founder of the National Women's Political Caucus. In 1980 as the Vice Presidential nominee on the Citizens Party ticket with Barry Commoner Harris firmly added environmental issues to that and future presidential campaigns. Her influence now reaches to the international community to promote peace as well. She was an original member of Global Tomorrow Coalition the U.S. Representative to the OAS Inter-American Indigenous Institute and currently serves on the board of Women for Meaningful Summits. Her compassion vision and sense of justice has lent us a deeper and richer understanding of the true meaning of public service. As she expands her work with Indigenous peoples internationally LaDonna Harris draws upon the rich and wise values of her Comanche tribal culture to serve her tribe Indian people and all peoples. Raised in Indian country on a farm near the small town of Walters Oklahoma during the Great Depression by her maternal grandparents (an Eagle Medicine Man and a devout Christian woman) Harris modeled a life and career of mutual respect and personal choice and has an abiding belief that there is room for all traditions. She has published significant papers including To Govern or Be Governed: Indian Tribes at a Crossroads Partnerships for the Protection of Tribal Environments Indian Business Opportunities and the Defense Sector Alternatives for Agriculture: Successful Tribal Farms Hard Choices: Development of Non-Energy Non-Replenishable Resources and Tribal Governments in the U.S. Federal System. National boards: Girl Scouts USA; Independent Sector; Council on Foundations; National Organization of Women; Save the Children Federation; National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing Overseas Development Corporation Institute for 21st Century Agoras International Relations Center Advancement of Maori Opportunity Think New Mexico National Museum of the American Indian American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation National Institute for Women of Color Pax World Foundation Delphi International Group. Presidential Commissions: National Council on Indian Opportunity (Johnson); White House Fellows Commission (Nixon); U.S. Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year (Ford); Commission on Mental Health (Carter); she represented the United States on the United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) (Carter) and served on the Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History (Clinton).