California:
The National
Congress of
American Indians
held its annual
conference last
month in Palm
Springs.
The assembly
honored Larry
EchoHawk of the
Pawnee Nation
with a standing
ovation for an
emotional
speech with
repeated
promises to
stand up for
Indian country.
EchoHawk
is Assistant
Secretary for
Indian Affairs
-- the top
appointed
official for
Indian affairs
in the Obama
administration.
He has spent
much of the last
six months
traveling to
dozens of
American Indian
and Alaska
Native
communities.
EchoHawk
described his
visits and
shared his
vision for
fulfilling his
role
“I’ve been
across Indian
country since I
haven’t worked
in the federal
government or
been on the
front battle
line as you
have. For 14
years, I’ve been
a law professor
so I needed to
reconnect. All
of this has been
a learning
process for me,
that’s why I did
it,” he said.
His experiences
“will help to
shape how I see
things and what
I will try to do
– the priorities
– as assistant
secretary.”
His experiences
resulted in
strong
commitments to
improving Indian
education,
public safety
and law
enforcement, and
economic
development.
Each area
EchoHawk visited
offered insights
and lessons
around the
themes of
federal trust
responsibility,
public safety
and law
enforcement,
education,
economic
development,
treaty rights
and the federal
trust
responsibility,
sovereignty and
cultural
preservation.
The Great
Plains, for
example, forced
him to think
about safety. “I
hate to even say
the word
suicide, but we
have to do more
to protect our
children, our
young people,”
EchoHawk said.
A
visit to an
Alaska village
made him realize
“how the past
negligence of
the federal
trust
responsibility
has been
detrimental to
Native people.”
In Alaska, EchoHawk walked along a deeply rutted mud road to visit
a tribal elder.
Outside the
elder’s home was
a bucket of raw
sewerage. “And
once in awhile,
a four wheeler
comes by and
picks it up and
what do they do?
They head down
the road with
the ruts and of
course it’s
going to spill
out and who
plays in the
road? I need to
see things like
that. I need to
see not just
your successes,
but your
challenges and
that will give
me the energy
and the
commitment to
try to do my
job,” EchoHawk
said, his voice
cracking with
emotion.
But EchoHawk
also saw
success,
especially when
visiting tribal
nations with
thriving gaming
operations.
Once criticized
for an
anti-gaming
stance, EchoHawk
learned how
gaming revenues
can build tribal
nations and
provide services
to citizens.
“I get it now, I
get it,”
EchoHawk told
the assembly.
EchoHawk also
praised Interior
Department
Secretary Ken
Salazar as “one
who looks out
for Indian
country.”
He told a story
about
accompanying
Salazar to Utah
during the
arrest of
individuals who
allegedly sold,
purchased, and
exchanged sacred
artifacts,
including some
remains. A law
enforcement
officer showed
him a
photographs of
the objects to
be used as
evidence.
“I felt like I
should not be
looking at those
objects. Other
people view them
as evidence, but
those objects
came from burial
sites and
undoubtedly in
my mind from
religious
spiritual
leaders of our
nations from the
past. Maybe –
maybe – people
will start to
understand what
that is all
about,” EchoHawk
said.
He also related
a story about
his visit to a
longhouse of the
Haundenosaunee
Confederacy.
“And they spoke
their Native
language and
began the
meeting as they
begin all their
meetings – with
prayer and
communication
and talk about
their
perspective of
life and after
they spoke in
their Native
language they
translated it
into English and
it was
beautiful. It’s
what I think all
people across
the face of the
globe need to
hear.”
EchoHawk said
the Interior
Department was
reviewing a
Bush-era
“guidance
memorandum” that
makes it almost
impossible for
tribes to
acquire
off-reservation
land for gaming.
He said the Bush
administration
had “slammed the
brakes on future
off-reservation
gaming. We will
not do that.”
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