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In the summer of 2006, Samuel Kohn logged more than 7,000 miles on his car criss-crossing his home state of Montana.
As a Dartmouth College freshman, he was on a mission to find out what
his state's tribes thought about a state legislative act that required
all K-12 students to learn about Native history and culture.
Last week, the 21-year-old Crow tribal member hit the road again on a different kind of mission.
He wants to find out what tribes in Montana think about Sen. Barack Obama. And he's happy with what he's seen so far.
"It's been an astounding response we've gotten," he said.
Three weeks ago, Kohn was hired as Obama's Native American outreach
coordinator in Montana. He spent last week — his first full week on the
job — touring the state's Hi-Line, a term referring to northern
Montana. He took part in a 100-mile wellness walk and spoke to tribal
members in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation.
Last Tuesday night he spoke to about 35 people on the Rocky Boy
Indian Reservation, trying to encourage them to vote for Obama. At the
meeting, an older Native man said he had never voted before but planned
to vote for Obama.
That night, he registered to vote for the first time.
"It's great," Kohn said. "I'm honored to be a part of this movement."
He isn't the first young Native person attracted to Obama, whose
campaign has drawn support from young people across the country.
Wanting to join what they see as a movement for change, future
Indian leaders like Kohn and Wizipan Garriott — a 28-year-old Rosebud
Sioux tribal member who's served as a Native policy adviser for Obama
since last September — are getting involved.
But Kohn hasn't always lived life in the political fast lane.
He grew up on the Crow Reservation, raised on a steady diet of commodity cheese sandwiches, powwows and Crow culture.
He said he never thought there was anything strange about going to
powwows with his mom and dad nearly every weekend and to sweat lodge
ceremonies in the summers.
"I wasn't even aware that it was something people view as different," he said.
Now a junior at Dartmouth, Kohn attributed his academic success to the support of his parents and other relatives.
At Dartmouth, he said, he's been awakened to how big the world
really is, having met students from all over the globe and even other
Native students from other tribes.
"I met a lot of brilliant and promising young Native people who are going to do some great things for Indian Country," he said.
But he's also learned how petty and hateful some people can be.
After a conservative student newspaper published a racist cartoon featuring a Native warrior holding a scalp with the headline, "The Natives are Getting Restless!", in November 2006, Kohn joined other students and faculty in protesting the newspaper.
He said the newspaper cartoon capped a series of racially charged
incidents at the college that Dartmouth officials had failed to
address.
"It's pretty bad to see that sort of thing on our college," he said.
Despite the incident, Kohn said he has appreciated the opportunity
to attend an Ivy League school and expects to graduate in June 2009
with a degree in Native American studies and digital arts. He took this
spring semester off to help his family, specifically his grandma, who
became ill and lost her home in a fire this winter. He plans to return
to Dartmouth in the fall.
He said he's not sure what he'll do after graduation. Maybe law
school or a doctoral program in American Indian education, he said.
His short-term future, however, is much clearer.
Until June 2, when his state decides which Democratic candidate to
support, he'll continue spreading Obama's message of hope to Montana's
tribes.
"I'm just a small time kid from Montana," he said. "I'm honored so often."
Kohn is doing a great job. Obama is a great candidate for President of the USA and I plan to vote for him. If voters want to live in a better, cleaner world and improvement in economic conditions, by all means we should elect Obama. I am glad he will establish an Office of Native Americans. Thank you Samuel and writer Abourezk.
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