During the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 , Parker successfully campaigned both for the reauthorization and for the inclusion of provisions which gave tribal courts jurisdiction over violent crimes against women and families involving non – Native Americans on tribal lands . She also served in the 2016 Democratic National Convention as one of the platform committee members representing Bernie Sanders , where she " helped to ensure that Native policy initiatives were ultimately rolled into the party 's larger platform . " Deborah Parker is a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington and is of Tulalip , Lummi , Yaqui , and Apache descent ; her native name , Tsi-Cy-Altsa , extends back multiple generations on her mother 's side . Her grandfather , who was of Lummi heritage , was from Cowichan Bay ; her grandmother was from the Snohomish River area . Born in 1970 as the daughter of a Tulalip father and Yaqui – Apache mother , she grew up on the reservation , where she became intimately familiar with many of the problems facing the Native American community that she later sought to address . In 1999 , she graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in American ethnic studies and sociology . Since graduating , Parker has been involved in numerous groups and organizations
2016 Democratic National Convention
2016 Democratic National Convention
Deborah Parker