Bineshi Albert, SAGE Council

Bineshi has been with the Sacred Alliance for Grassroots Equality Council of Albuquerque, NM, since 2000, first as a community organizer, then as a lead organizer, then as co-director and now she is on the board. SAGE Council is a community organization led by Indigenous peoples and people of color that celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006. A cornerstone of SAGE Council’s work is the protection of sites and natural resources that have been sacred to Indigenous peoples for generations.

SAGE Council first became involved in electoral work when they campaigned against a street bond ballot initiative that would have built a road through a sacred petroglyph site just outside of Albuquerque. In the video, Bineshi describes how the initial short-term campaign to defeat the initiative grew into a full-fledged integrated voter engagement program and a statewide alliance of Native American voters.

Click to hear from an organizer

Bineshi Albert: building a movement of Native American voters