Yolanda Hart Stevens: The Importance of the Vote for Native Americans, Arizona

In early 2020 (just weeks before the pandemic), Smithsonian staff and their storytelling partners at the Peale, Baltimore, traveled to multiple states in the U.S. to ask residents of those states about voting experiences, the current state of American democracy, what issues brought them to the polls, how they made a difference in their communities, and what Americans' civic responsibilities were, among other complex questions.

Yolanda Hart Stevens (00:00): I welcome the opportunity to talk with a lot of the younger people, but a lot of the younger women, 18 to 20, 25 to vote, and that it's very important that they have the opportunity to vote, so they should take advantage of that opportunity. I have many friends that I've seen that are my peers and younger in other states who reside within their native community who are not allowed to vote, women who are still not allowed to vote or sit on council or hold any of those political positions. And so, here in the community, I share that. I talk to them about my experience with them. I talk to them about the importance and don't ever feel like it's not important to vote, because it is.

(00:47): I realize, for us, as native people, we haven't had the right to vote for very long, and it hasn't even been a hundred years. So, it's a fairly new practice for us. I realized that a lot of people, my community peers feel that it's not important, that it's useless, but there has to be some change. And one time, I think I forgot or I just didn't get to vote for one of our people, and the time passed, and then I remembered, and I knew who he was voting, I knew who I was going to vote for, and the person I wasn't going to vote for won by one vote, and I never forgot that. I share that all the time. That tells me that it's important.

(01:44): So, I share those stories with, again, the younger kids. I work with different kids in the community, and I always talk about that and always tell them about being aware or talking to their family and asking, do they vote? Is it important to vote? So, I do put that question out there and I feel it's important. My kids, they all vote. My granddaughters are getting to the point to where they can register to vote. And so, I'm continually carrying that message because I'll never forget that one time that I didn't vote.

Asset ID: 2022.34.09.a-b
Themes: Voting, Native American, Community, Native People, Voting Rights, Family, Generations
Date recorded: January 25, 2020
Length of recording: 0:02:27
Related traveling exhibition: Voices and Votes: Democracy in America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Arizona Humanities
More information or related assets: https://azhumanities.org/smithsonian-exhibition-voices-and-votes-democracy-in-america/