During the 2000 election she joked about being the only candidate who was nursing, and now she's speaking out about the amount of dioxins in breast milk. She accepted the Green Party vice presidential nomination while seven months pregnant, and now she sits with her 1-year-old Gwekaanimid (Anishnabeg for "when the wind shifts"), and worries about the trends in decreased health care for women and children.
LaDuke's political activism didn't end on November 7. Instead, the wind has shifted for her, and she moves me with her through a normal day of her two roles as a mother and a political figure. LaDuke handles all of her own publicity and interviews, and her voice crackles over a cell phone as she talks from her home on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota.
"Someone bring the car around and warm it up," she yells over the phone. She's about to take her three children out to lunch. Someone slams the door and LaDuke gives me her attention with a rare glance backward at the election. She still says that she doesn't regret Gore's loss, and rejects any suggestion that she had something to do with it.
"Gore lost his own election. He didn't address the issues that interest groups invited him to address. He couldn't even win his own state," LaDuke says.
The Green party has struggled under heavy fire from Dubya-haters, but LaDuke is not concerned. She maintains that the Green Party offered a candidate who could represent the true views of the American people. And she'll stand firm waiting for third-party representation to change the trend of voting "for the lesser of two evils." After all, it worked for her. LaDuke didn't vote until the 1996 election, when she was introduced to Ralph Nader as a candidate and as a running mate.
"I started voting because Ralph gave me someone to vote for and work with. I think the only way to get people to vote is to give someone to believe in," LaDuke says. "People should be able to vote their conscience when it comes to presidential elections. They shouldn't have fear driving them to vote for someone they don't believe in."
Her voice is fading. "I think my cell phone is dying," she explains. "I'm going to go plug in into my car." Ten minutes later, her phone is recharged, and she's ready to rant about Al Gore and George W. Bush.
LaDuke was quoted by Salon.com saying she "would totally detest four years of George W. Bush." But she's still convinced that Gore wouldn't have been any better. She cites of an example of the ongoing battle of the U'was, an indigenous people of Colombia, who are fighting to keep Occidental Petroleum from drilling for oil on their land. The United States had recently given Colombia over $1.3 billion in military aid, which strengthens military forces that are against the U'was.
"Gore was one of the few people who could have done something to help the U'was. However, he owns $500,000 worth of holdings in Occidental, and actually took action to protect his holdings," LaDuke says.
LaDuke speaks bitterly because she recently lost one of her best friends, Ingrid Washinawatok, to the U'wa protest. Washinawatok was killed in March 1999 by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) when she went to Colombia to protest Occidental.
"Just a second," LaDuke says, and puts the phone down. Her children, a 12 year-old daughter, a 10 year-old son, and 1 year-old baby have just made it out to the car. She jokes with them, buckles them up, and starts talking about her concern for Native Americans in the United States as she puts the car in drive.
LaDuke, an Anishnabeg Indian, says the protests by Native Americans are more numerous recently, but also more frustrating. The Bush administration is now refusing to listen to the complaints of the Native Americans unless they go through the expensive and painstaking process of filing a lawsuit for each of their concerns.
"The Clinton administration wasn't accessible, but the Bush administration is ridiculous. We can't afford to pay for all of these lawsuits. There's over 500,000 cases of Native Americans suing for over 6 billion dollars," LaDuke says.
"Ok, hold on," she says into the phone. "What do you guys want for lunch?" she asks into the backseat. "Greek salad?" She debates with the counter help-asking what meat they use and about the types of salad dressing.
And then she's back, thoughts still in order.
"I think our community and others have been really disenfranchised-Native Americans are voters operating without a safety net," says LaDuke.
LaDuke is referring to the muteness of Native American voters due to political oppression. Because the reservations are largely funded by the government, tribal leaders and members are concerned with being associated with the wrong political candidate and losing their funding, she says.
"The Greens got 12 1/2 percent of the Native American vote, and we're really happy with that. As far as the future, I'm just going to continue to encourage people to vote."
And is she interested in running for vice-president again?
"It's too early to know, but I continue to support the Greens," LaDuke says. And that's that.
With the reservation as her home base, she busy protesting local issues and traveling nationally. And her children are going with her.
"My daughter (12-year-old Waseyabis) and I just got back from Montana. We were there protesting the slaughtering of the buffalo in Yellowstone National Park," LaDuke says.
This is her life. Unapologetically she's using this combination of her personal and public life to start reaching the American people.
"I think the issues I talk about now and what I talked about during the election are issues that I talk about as a woman, a mother, a person of color, and someone who lives on a reservation. The issues for people like us are the centerpieces for things still unaddressed."
