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From left, Asa and Lexie LaMere hand out Barack Obama buttons during the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. In January, Lexie LaMere will graduate from the U.S. Senate Page Program.Photo by Kevin Abourezk

Native Leader to Watch Inauguration, Daughter's Graduation

By Kevin Abourezk

In less than two months, a black man will take a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.

He'll be the first of his race to do so under the watchful eyes of the Secret Service and the world. On the steps of the U.S. Capitol, he'll take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

There, within the crowd of Democratic Party elite, Frank LaMere will watch history unfold.

Three days later, he'll watch another bit of history unfold not far from the Capitol.

His daughter, Lexie, will graduate as one of the few Native Americans ever to graduate from the U.S. Senate Page Program.

"That's going to be a pretty powerful thing," said LaMere, chairman of the Native American Caucus of the Democratic National Committee.

To be sure, it will be a week of celebration for LaMere, who will watch the candidate he supported as a Democratic superdelegate in the primary finally accede to the throne of the free world.

LaMere plans to attend the 11th annual American Indian Inaugural Ball, one of many such inaugural balls being held in Washington, D.C., during inaugural week.

"They're every bit as exciting and meaningful as the rest of them," he said of the American Indian Inaugural Ball. "It's just a celebration of Indian Country."

He also plans to take part in Democratic National Committee meetings, which will include a vote on the committee's next chair.

But mostly, he'll be looking forward to watching his little girl cross the graduation platform, a graduate of the prestigious Senate Page Program.

The 16-year-old junior from Bishop Heelan High School in Sioux City, Iowa, will join the ranks of such notable former Senate pages as billionaire Warren Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

"I think it's going to be a good experience for her," Frank LaMere said. "It's going to help her in a lot of different ways."

It already has, he said.

Since early September, Lexie LaMere has been helping senators and representatives, delivering correspondence and legislative material, preparing the Senate chamber, and carrying bills and amendments wherever they are needed.

She also has attended classes at the U.S. Senate Page School.

When he can, her father has watched her work on C-SPAN. She's typically among a group of a half-dozen or so pages who sit to the right of the speaker. One day, as he watched his daughter on TV, Frank LaMere saw a phone ring near his daughter.

"She immediately got up and answered the phone," he said.

She then walked in front of the camera and whispered something in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's ear.

Immediately, Reid ended the speech he was giving.

"Reid said thank you very much and then he did what he had to do," he said.

To see his daughter wield that kind of power was incredible, Frank LaMere said.

Lexie LaMere is very interested in politics, is even considering a career in politics or public policy.

"We'll see where she goes with this," her dad said.

But long before talk of a career becomes more than talk, she'll join her dad in a crowd on the steps of her nation's Capitol, where she's spent the past three months helping so many of the legislators she'll stand beside on those steps.

She'll watch a black man take the oath of the presidency.

And a few days later, she'll cross a graduation platform and embark on her own adventure.

(Editor's note: This blog was corrected to remove reference that Lexie LaMere possibly was the only Native American to graduate from the U.S. Senate Page program. Several Native Americans have graduated from that program, according to Theron Thompson, whose son, Matthew, of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, served as a Senate page in 2007.)

Kevin Abourezk's "Red Clout" columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet's "Red Clout" political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

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