“You’ve heard the Earth referred to as Mother Earth,” Ms. Haaland said at her Senate confirmation hearing. “It’s difficult to not feel obligated to protect this land. And I feel every Indigenous person in the country understands that,” she is quoted in the New York Times. Deborah Haaland is the first Native American Secretary of the Interior.
She was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris, who said, “History is being made yet again.” Her daughter, Somah Haaland, held the Bible at the ceremony on March 16, 2021.
Haaland is a 35th-generation New Mexican and a member of Laguna Pueblo. “A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” she wrote on Twitter. “Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce. I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”
Haaland wore a traditional ribbon skirt with corn butterflies by Agnes Woodward, traditional Laguna Pueblo moccasins and dragonfly earrings by fellow Laguna Pueblo artist, Pat Pruitt. Her voice resonates in her traditional attire.
Deb Haaland was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris as the 54th Secretary of the Interior – Photo credit Tami Heilemann from Interior Dept.
Secretary Haaland in Pat Pruitt’s Dragonfly Earrings after her swearing in. Courtesy photo.