She’s laying down the law of the land. Paulette Jordan is a Native American politician and activist advocating for environmental rights and tribal communities. She grew up in northern Idaho, where mentorship from her chief grandparents helped her develop a strong connection to her lands and people. Now, she’s using her authority to help protect them both.

Here, she shares what it was like being the first Native American woman to run for governor, how she’s being a voice for the voiceless, and what barriers she has yet to overcome.

Tell us about your background.
I was born and raised on my tribal lands in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. I’m an enrolled citizen of the Coeur d’Alene tribe and also descend from the Nez Perce and Sinkiuse nations. I was elected by acclamation to Service Secretary of the National Indian Gaming Association, and am the co-chair for gaming for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.

How did you transition into politics?
I actually started when I was in college. I was involved in the local US Senate race and [acted as] a voice for Native students. I ensured we had the support we needed to have a greater presence and higher retention rate at the University of Washington. Then, one of my grandfathers was looking for leadership to invest in, so he asked me to come home and promoted me to run for the Tribal Council. From there, I was elected to represent tribes through the National Indian Gaming Association, an organization that serves all tribes across the nation politically, socially, and economically.

How did it feel being the first Native American woman to run for governor?
It starts off somewhat isolating, because when you’re pioneering, it comes with challenges. You’re breaking through people’s outdated constructs of what leadership looks like, and you’re going up against media that are very conservative. You come up against people who are fearful of your voice as a young Indigenous woman, so [my team and I] were really working against everything that felt some level of fear to change. But we did it, and we did it with absolute integrity. We’ve been able to shake the mainframe of what is now a one-party ruled system in the state of Idaho, and we were able to help pass healthcare [legislation] to expand Medicaid.

You’ve mentioned Native Americans “are the last to come to the table and have a voice.” Why do you think that is?
Primarily because we’ve been seen as enemies of the state since the onset of European immigrants. They came as colonial settlers looking to have their way with everything, even when we presented peace. It hasn’t been good when it comes to representation, because we’re still struggling to work with the federal government on equality, especially when it comes to economic prosperity and environmental justice. That’s what me running for governor has meant: positioning the tribes to be a voice for their own land [and] allowing our culture, our holistic worldview, to be a part of what is meant to be. I’m very eager to see more of our voices rise up into roles of influence.

Tell us about your work with the Rights of Nature Movement.
The movement stems from developing personhood for nature, and it comes up against a lot of legal, political, and social barriers. People wonder how the environment can have rights—but here we are, in 2021, where even corporations have rights. Corporations should not have rights—they’re not people. But we are interdependent on the environment; our overall livelihood is reliant on having a strong ecosystem. The goal of the movement is to help people see that nature should have a voice within the legal system. And if it doesn’t, we have to ensure it’s protected in some form. It really is time for us to wake up and acknowledge that we are guests amongst nature, and until we strengthen that relationship, things are only going to get worse.

What other efforts are you focusing on?
We’re getting people to think of early childhood education as part of the system. We’re getting them to see that there are a lot of politics impacting them negatively and they should challenge that. Everyone has a right to exist and a right to prosperity; it doesn’t just belong to corporations. Once you start changing people’s political mindsets and growing the courage of young people, women, communities of color, migrant farm workers, and refugees, that in itself is a movement, and we’ve seen many positive changes come from it.