Prometheus 6

As a tribal leader, he would come to Helena to lobby on matters ranging from healthcare to economic incentives to attract industry to the remote reservation.

"It was very aggravating," he said. "I felt like we were being undermined in a lot of areas, like welfare and health issues. I thought we were victorious, but then the next day you'd realize someone had thrown up a mysterious obstacle to getting it done.

"So basically, I concluded I was on the wrong side of the table," Windy Boy said. "I just decided that the next time I came back here, I'd come back as a state legislator."

Going native in state capitals
No longer cynical about 'this system,' Indians, Hawaiians and Alaskans have a higher profile than ever in legislatures.
By Sam Howe Verhovek, Times Staff Writer
April 8, 2007

HELENA, MONT. — Jonathan Windy Boy was a longtime champion of the international Grass Dance competition, a native event in which the object is to simulate the natural movement of tall prairie grass swaying in the wind.

But, recalled Windy Boy with a laugh, "that was many years and about 40 pounds ago."

Now Windy Boy moves his considerable frame around the House chamber in the state Capitol here, bargaining and cajoling as a leader of the 10-member Native American caucus in Montana's state Legislature.

The caucus has the highest number of Indians ever elected to the 150-member chamber and reflects a broader trend of increased participation by Native Americans in state politics across the country.

When legislatures convened earlier this year, at least 73 Indian, native Alaskan or native Hawaiian lawmakers were sworn in, the highest number in the nation's history, according to the National Congress of American Indians, a tribal advocacy group.