To commemorate Women’s History Month, we’re interviewing women at the Center for Progressive Reform about how they’re building a more just America, whether by pursuing a just transition to clean energy, protections for food workers, or legal support for Native Americans. This week, we spoke with Sarah Krakoff, professor of law at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and an expert on Native American law, public lands and natural resources law, and environmental justice.
CPR: What motivated you to become an ally to Native Americans and equal justice in America? Is there historical context to this or a moment in history that stood out to you as motivation or inspiration?
SK: My commitment grew out of anti-poverty and civil rights work I did while in law school, which included a very cursory introduction to the unique status and rights of Native nations. But my understanding of what justice and equity mean in the Native American context truly developed when I lived on the Navajo Nation, working for DNA-Peoples’ Legal Services [a nonprofit legal aid organization providing free civil legal services to low-income people].
I lived in a rural area and, like my Navajo neighbors, had no electricity or phone service due to a decades-long freeze on development imposed by the federal government. I practiced in the Navajo tribal courts, so understood from the outset of my legal career that tribes are governments. And I was able to learn from the ground up about the colonizing legal structures that impoverished native people and caused lasting harm to their cultural and natural resources, but in a setting that reminded me every day about Indigenous strength and resilience.
CPR: What do you see as the highest priority in this field and what are the barriers to change? How does/might your work affect women in particular? Are there inequities you’ve witnessed that you’re working to change?
SK: I think the highest priorities are to reorient legal and political structures to support equity and justice in ways that align with Indigenous self-determination, and to create space for governance according to traditional ecological knowledge.
Native women are already playing leading roles here. Deb Haaland, the now-confirmed Secretary of Interior, is an excellent and timely example! She understands that disproportionate violence against native women is connected to the violence that has been perpetrated over centuries to Indigenous lands and cultures. It is exciting that there are already several other strong and brilliant native women in the Biden administration, including Natalie Landreth and Ann Marie Bledsoe Downes in the Department of Interior; Wahleah Johns in the Department of Energy; and Libby Washburn in the White House.
CPR: If you could have Congress or President Biden’s ear for an afternoon, what would you recommend?
SK: After recommending that both the president and Congress conduct robust consultation with Native nations and outreach to other frontline communities, I would recommend that Congress include funding for “just transitions” and frontline community adaptation projects and infrastructure in a comprehensive climate change bill. I’d also ask that President Biden and Congress consider focusing on a few of the hardest-hit regions first as demonstration projects — to show the benefit of such funding and legislation — including the Colorado Plateau in the Southwest, the Gulf Coast, and Alaska.
CPR: Who inspires you?
SK: One of my living heroes is Nikole Hannah-Jones [journalist]. I started reading her investigative reporting on race and segregation in U.S. schools and housing when she was a journalist at ProPublica and have been a follower of her work ever since.
Winona LaDuke [environmentalist and economist] is also on my list; her longtime work on tribal land restoration is inspiring, and we were lucky enough to have her talk at Colorado Law (where I work) in the late ‘90s.
I am also inspired every day by one of my closest friends in law school, Rose Braz, who died too young of brain cancer but was ahead of her time in uniting issues of decarceration and environmental protection. She was also kind, funny, generous, and fearless, with a weak spot for maimed and surly rescue dogs.
CPR: Who in particular would benefit from the policy reform you seek?
SK: I can think of several amazing grassroots Indigenous women leaders whose advocacy I am supporting and, in that sense, whom I hope my own work benefits.
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Maggie Dewane, Sarah Krakoff | March 19, 2021
To commemorate Women’s History Month, we’re interviewing women at the Center for Progressive Reform about how they’re building a more just America. This week, we're speaking with Member Scholar Sarah Krakoff.
Karen Sokol | March 15, 2021
A week after taking office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order “on tackling the climate crisis” that includes important measures to address the crisis comprehensively and equitably. Specifically, the order directs the federal government to take a “whole of government” approach to the climate crisis that pursues economic security, ensures environmental justice, and empowers workers. The beginning of such a plan is promising, particularly after four years under an administration that wiped the word “climate” from government websites, rolled back the Obama administration’s steps to address the crisis, and made fossil fuel production a centerpiece of its agenda. But it’s just that — a promising beginning. And it’s already under assault.
Gilonne d'Origny, Maggie Dewane | March 12, 2021
To commemorate Women’s History Month, we’re interviewing women at the Center for Progressive Reform about how they’re building a more just America. This week we spoke to Gilonne d'Origny.
Alejandro Camacho, Melissa Kelly | March 9, 2021
Notwithstanding the Freedom of Information Act's primary goal of promoting transparency in government decision-making, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled by a 7-to-2 vote that the public policy of facilitating agency candor in exercising its expertise in preliminary agency deliberations can outweigh such transparency and accountability concerns. Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered the 11-page opinion, her first majority opinion since joining the court in October. It was a natural debut given that the case, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, was the first oral argument that Barrett heard after joining the bench.
Karen Sokol, Robert Verchick | March 9, 2021
In the United States, many people think the world's worst human rights abuses take place elsewhere. Unless you are among those in the United States who are subjected to such mistreatment. On March 2, human rights experts called the world's attention to some of the most egregious and systematic human rights violations perpetuated here in the United States — and in particular in our neck of the woods in southeast Louisiana. International human rights experts condemned long-standing environmental racism in "Cancer Alley" — a heavily industrialized and polluted corridor along the Lower Mississippi River — and said it must end.
Daniel Farber | March 8, 2021
The COVID pandemic has provided a vivid picture of what happens when ill-prepared governments are suddenly hit with huge responsibilities. Underfunded state and local public health agencies were overwhelmed, while governors and local officials found themselves struggling to obtain and distribute vital supplies, from respirators to vaccines. Efforts to accelerate the transition away from carbon, such as a green stimulus, may run into similar problems if we neglect the agencies that will have to implement policies.
Maggie Dewane | March 8, 2021
International Women’s Day celebrates the changes made by women and calls for action to accelerate women’s equality. This year, International Women’s Day notes that a challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change.
Hannah Wiseman, Maggie Dewane | March 5, 2021
To commemorate Women’s History Month, we’re interviewing women at the Center for Progressive Reform about how they’re building a more just America.
Sidney A. Shapiro | March 3, 2021
Amid the Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) of politics these days, one fact stands out — a large majority of Americans want more regulatory protection in a wide variety of areas, according to a recent poll of likely voters. The results are consistent with previous polls that indicate that Americans understand the importance of government regulation in protecting them from financial and health risks beyond their control. They also indicate majority support for efforts by the Biden administration to renew government regulation — as well as a stark repudiation of former President Trump’s extreme anti-regulatory agenda.