Senator Franken Among Speakers at Edina’s Model UN Conference

This morning, Edina’s Model UN conference was opened by Minnesota Senator Al Franken. His speech, while at its core was about the cultural trauma that settlers forced upon Native Americans, included a well-received anecdote about dancing at a Powwow at the Red Lake Indian Reservation despite the potential ridicule of those attending. He displayed his four decades of work in the field of comedy in crafting the story.

While the audience was laughing Franken brought his speech around to the point, describing an Indian veteran whom he had met who was kicked out of the army because he didn’t have access to an eye doctor to get him glasses. The Red Lake Indian Reservation didn’t have an eye doctor. Then came a shocking statistic: one-third of all Native American women have been sexually assaulted, and until the Violence Against Women Act was passed, tribal courts had no way to prosecute the assailants.

Senator Franken is certainly in a position to make a speech on the topic of the rights of Native Americans. He is currently a member of the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs and worked to pass the Violence Against Women Act. He is currently working on a project to get energy to rural Indian reservations and has plans to improve schools on reservations.

Franken’s speech wasn’t the only thing that made the Model UN conference special. The conference in and of itself is a major event in the school because it marks the first ever student-run Model UN conference in the state of Minnesota and hosted around two hundred delegates from various schools. The topic of the conference was the issue of the treatment of indigenous people around the world. “I’m really excited about it… we’ve been working on it for nine months… hopefully it runs smoothly and we’ll have a great time and everyone who attends will have a great time and we’ll set a precedent for next year,” said EHS senior and Model UN member Ben Kilberg.

Franken was preceded by two other speeches by distinguished public workers. One was EHS principal Dr. Bruce Locklear, who told much of his life story in his speech. His father was an illiterate Native American who dropped out of school in the sixth grade. Despite obstacles in his way, Dr. Locklear managed to go to community college, being the first in his family to do so, and went on to get his doctorate.

The other speaker was Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Kevin Lindsey, a Model UN delegate as a student who spoke about his job at the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and his hope for more mutual negotiation between the US government and Native Americans. “We have been talking at indigenous people, at them, not with them,” said Lindsey.