Elouise Cobell is My Hero
![Image](http://web.archive.org./web/20210912123920im_/https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gGFAeqHh9EA/WDhpHE2OwwI/AAAAAAAAM4M/CNwFFsHtlZkcuxHLqDS_UoSq9UkjW0sdQCLcB/s400/President-Barack-Obama-Meets-with-Elouise-Cobell.jpeg)
After spending a week listening to the stories of Native Americans in Albuquerque and at the Indigenous Comic Con, my mind kept straying back to the story of one Native American woman, Elouise Cobell. As you can see from the articles below, she was a champion in recent Native American struggles to get redress and develop themselves economically after centuries of both abuse and neglect by the United States. She was just awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom although she passed away in 2011. I would have liked to have met her once and sat down and talked to her. What she and others accomplished in terms of suing the US Federal Government was inspirational on so many levels and largely unknown by the wider United States. ********************* Tester Announces Elouise Cobell Honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom November 16, 2016 Press Release (U.S. Senate)-Senator Jon Tester today announced that Elouise Cobell has been recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.