What a weekend! First, I attended a meeting held by a "Commission to Study Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts" in the State of North Dakota (a commission to which I was recently appointed). The composition of the commission consists of several state judges, a tribal judge, people who work with or within the state courts system, and several other minorities like myself.
The North Dakota Supreme Court created this commission to study ethnic and racial bias in the North Dakota State Court system. In the next two years, we will be traveling to different locations where significant populations of minorities reside. Naturally, this includes the state's four reservations, the cities of Grand Forks, Fargo, and probably Bismarck and Minot as well. We will hold public meetings to obtain testimonies from minorities who felt they were treated unfairly by the court system due to their status as a minority. We will also create surveys that we hope people who come in contact with the court system will fill out. After the study is completed, we will write a report that contains recommendations to improve the courts' handling of minorities.
This is an excellent opportunity for all you minorities out there, especially you Native Americans, who feel you have been slighted by the state courts, to stand up and speak up. If you are not a public speaker, there will be people at these meetings to help you either write your testimony down or assist you in some other way so your voice will be heard.
Keep in mind our two traditional values of courage and honesty if you choose to provide testimony. Have the courage to speak up, no matter how scared you may be. Your courage may be the key to identifying an extremely harmful racial practice within the court system. And do not lie when you give testimony. If you do, your lie will be discovered and will end up hurting all minorities.
After the meeting, I drove to Fargo and attended the Democratic state convention. It was a new experience for me. It reminded me a little of our powwows. I was extremely impressed by the passion and dedication exhibited by delegates and candidates to the Democratic Party's causes. There were plenty of good speakers. The keynote speaker was Paul Begala who now serves as a political contributor for CNN. He was a former advisor to President Bill Clinton. And there were lots of people I knew. My old friend and mentor Dr. Berg was there as well as Phyllis Howard and several other Indians I knew.
I attended the candidates' breakfast on Sunday; listened to Dorgan, Conrad, and Pomeroy talk (again). I thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie displayed by all the people at the convention. I now look forward to my campaign to become the next person who will represent District #23 in North Dakota's House of Representatives.
