Indigenous Voters Reject Being Labeled By Media As "Something Else"

During last month's election, Indigenous voters were key to President-Elect Joe Biden winning counties in Arizona, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Although they represent a smaller portion of the electorate, Indigenous voters can wield a lot of power.

Many Indigenous people were angered by how they were characterized on election night. As results came in, CNN displayed a graphic breaking down presidential exit polling by race. Listed were white, Latino, Black, Asian and a category labeled "Something Else." Native voters were not listed by name.

The reaction was swift.

Oklahoma-based organizations IllumiNative and the Native American Journalists Association called for an apology, more visibility and more ethical newsroom practices.

"But the truth is, we've been battling this erasure from history and from contemporary life," said Judith Le Blanc, the director of the Native Organizers Alliance and an enrolled citizen of the Caddo Nation in Oklahoma.

Le Blanc said she smiled when seeing the graphic on CNN. She spent time organizing to get out the Native vote all over the country and knew who that "Something Else" was.

"I knew of three specific instances of elders — 85, 96 and 83 — who were voting for the first time," she said. "I felt, kind of like, oh, my goodness, CNN is missing an important and historic story of the Native vote."

In key swing states, the Native vote made the difference. One map in Arizona showed that counties that went for Biden were ones heavily populated by Indigenous voters.

After the election, a "Something Else" survey was shared by IllumiNative, a non-profit committed to increasing Indigenous visibility in education, media and entertainment. It found that more than 90 percent of Indigenous people felt angry after being labeled as "Something Else" in the CNN poll.

For Native people, voting and participating in elections is a fairly recent phenomenon. They didn't fully have the right to vote in every state until the 1960s.

Barriers to voting like longer distances to polling sites have created a lot of distrust in the process. And that extends to government and media.

Francine Compton, the President of the Native American Journalists Association Board of Directors, says news outlets need more education about how to cover Indigenous communities, but they also need more Native journalists in the newsroom.

"We're not just looking at seeing reporters and journalists and hosts in newsrooms. We're looking at being producers and senior newsroom leadership," said Compton.

Choctaw Chief Gary Batton wrote a letter to CNN after the election saying the lack of acknowledgement of Indigenous people continued the marginalization of communities like his.

CNN President Jeff Zucker responded to Batton saying that the network was wrong and exercised a poor choice in words by calling Native people 'Something Else.' Zucker says they have corrected the problem for future coverage.

A record-breaking six Indigenous representatives were elected to Congress in the November election. Oklahoma Reps. Tom Cole (R) and Markwayne Mullin (R), Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids (D) and New Mexico Rep. Debra Haaland (D) all won reelection. Kaiali’i Kahele (D) in Hawaii and Yvette Herrell in New Mexico (R) both won for the first time.

Voting advocates like Le Blanc say they expect voter participation to increase even more in the 2022 midterms. By that time, Indigenous voters hope that the label "Something Else" won't be a graphic that's even considered.

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