Susan Allen
Colonization and decolonization take many forms, including the ways in which a person imagines one’s self and oneself in relation to others. Indeed, questions of being and belonging, so central to Native politics since 1887, revolved around these issues. And they, in turn, were informed by ideas regarding gender and sexuality. The ideal type “citizen” in the late nineteenth century, for instance, was not just racialized (white), gendered (male), and faithed (Christian), but also sexed (straight). Accordingly, Native conceptions of gender and sexuality were assaulted along with other aspects of indigenous identity. For some American Indians, then, decolonization involves not just a reckoning with blood, race, and national identity, but also the reclaiming of indigenous conceptions regarding gender and sexuality. Among the people making this argument is Susan Allen (1963–), a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who in 2012 became the first lesbian American Indian to be elected to any state legislature. Consider, however, how Allen described her self and herself in relation to others as an American Indian, a lesbian, a lawyer, a progressive, and a representative of the people.27
I am a political newcomer. I am, however, a lifelong Democratic voter. I believe my progressive values are aligned with the DFL [Democratic-Farm-Labor] party’s values of equality, opportunity and fairness. The DFL values are also consistent with my cultural values of generosity and inclusiveness. . . . I want to work for economic and social justice. In our community and in my district there are unmet needs. Half of the children live in poverty. There are disparities in wages, there is an educational achievement gap, and this is something I initially wanted to work on for tribes when I became an attorney.
I am a progressive candidate from a district in which I do not have to hide. I can be outspoken on a number of issues. I will be using my professional experience as an attorney who has designed tribal tax systems. When I entered this campaign, I was concerned about becoming part of an institution that is predominantly male and white, but there are many legislators committed to working for social and economic justice. I will be able to use my skills and my professional and life experiences to benefit my constituents, and the American Indian community in general. . . .
Going back [to the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations] often and seeing that extreme poverty has had a huge impact on me. The conditions that American Indian people were living in [during] the 1960s and 1970s just seemed to me to be a struggle for political existence. Indian people were basically starving. It was a very, very dire situation. I saw this at a young age. My parents were very involved in organizing people to pay attention to American Indian people living in urban areas and reservations throughout the country. They fought discrimination, which they faced every day—in social settings like restaurants or in getting access to health care. . . .
I don’t think we have come very far in alleviating the extreme poverty, high unemployment, low graduation rates, or high rates of alcoholism and drug abuse and crime on most reservations. I do believe that there are many positive aspects of reservation life, including strong kinship and community systems and the opportunity to live a more traditional way of life. There is also evidence that tribal governments have made some improvements regarding access to health care on reservations and that the quality of housing, water and sanitation has also improved. Nonetheless, I believe that economic development is extremely difficult due to the isolation of most reservations. We need to find new ways to finance infrastructure investments to support economic growth and improve the quality of life on reservations. . . .
I recall being bullied in school because of my race—mostly derogatory remarks about being Indian. I remember feeling angry, but I learned to not react. I credit my parents for instilling confidence in me, and teaching me that my self-worth was not tied to what others thought of me.
Once I made the decision [to come out as a lesbian at age thirty], it was very freeing. The response was wonderful. It was a turning point in my life. I was a young attorney, so there were some professional considerations as far as being out. The big difference now with all of this publicity is that not all of my clients knew. Your private life is not something you talk about with your clients, but I don’t know if I could be any more out now. . . .
My family has been supportive from the very beginning, and my son handled it very well. I think each generation gets better. However, as a young girl, I was very aware of gender issues. And I recognized very early on the inequality based on gender. My parents were not traditional in terms of gender. I was never taught that I had limitations based on my gender. Those were barriers I could overcome. There were educational disadvantages and economic disadvantages that I could see and I could overcome those. I had the support of my family and the abilities to do that. . . .
Because I believe that all families deserve to be treated with respect, I intend to join the fight to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment in Minnesota to deny marriage equality to LGBT community members and families.28 I also want to use my 2012 reelection campaign as a vehicle to bring out new voters who oppose writing discrimination into our state constitution. . . .
Something else to add to all of this is that I have been in recovery for the past twenty-three years, and alcohol is a problem in Indian communities. I have worked very hard to maintain my sobriety for twenty-three years. I would not be here today if it wasn’t for that. I got sober when I was 25 years old, because I understood that I could have a better life. Essentially, I had an awakening that time was running out and I could no longer tolerate the physical, emotional and mental damage caused by my drug and alcohol abuse. I was fortunate to have people in my life who cared about me and helped me completely change the way I lived.
Being American Indian wasn’t really an issue [in her campaign to get elected]; nor was being a lesbian. . . . I think it would have been difficult in any other district for me to get elected. This really does say a lot about our district. But as far as what this means for Indian women, an American Indian friend of mine, Daniel Yang, went to the state capitol and looked at the pictures and said, “I want to be a state representative,” his African American friend told him, “You can’t—look, they’re all white.”
He was devastated; and he volunteered for my campaign. He told me that when his daughter grows up, she will go to the state capitol to be able to see someone that looks like her—that is when I knew that what I’m doing is really important.