WHERE ARE WE NOW? – NLitC 2021

A roundtable of Indigenous political minds on key issues Natives are dealing with, in legislatures far and wide.
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John Richard McCoy is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He is a former member of the Washington State Senate, representing the 38th Legislative District. He previously served 11 years in the Washington House of Representatives. McCoy is a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington.
Representative Debra Lekanoff represents the 40th legislative district of Washington state, which includes parts of Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties. She is a proud mom who fights every day to ensure younger generations, including her daughter Emma, can continue to flourish. She is inclusive in her decision making process by listening to stakeholders, citizens and governmental bodies. She is known for her experience and capacity to work with vast parties, and on vast issues, and get the job done. Sworn in to the Washington State House of Representatives in January 2019, Representative Lekanoff is the only Native American woman to currently serve in the Legislature.
David E. Wilkins is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Va. A citizen of the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina, he earned his Ph.D. in political science (comparative politics) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He concentrates much of his work on Native politics and governance, with particular attention on the transformations that Indigenous governments have both coercively and voluntarily engaged in from pre-colonial times to the present.