SALT RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION, Ariz. — Nearly 50 years ago, a Pima native took a Greyhound bus from this sun-roasted redoubt of Indian land to the winter chill of Washington, D.C.,to witness the first day of a young American president.
“When he came home, my father was so excited because John Kennedy stood up for him when he walked by him in the parade,” said Diane Enos. “The president stood up for an Indian! He couldn’t stop talking about that.”
Next week, Diane Enos will make the same trip, along with hundreds of other American Indians who hope that Barack Obama’s inauguration will bring the wind of possiblity to Indian Country.
In less than a week’s time, the Great White Father will be black. Amidst the euphoria and stirring of fresh ideas, there remains some suspicion.
“He’s still a politician and I’m still an Indian,” said Sherman Alexie, the National Book Award-winning writer, a Spokane and Coeur d’Alene native.
“They all look like treaty-makers to me,” said Alexie, paraphrasing the native musician, John Trudell. “I guess that’s the puzzling and I suppose lovely thing about Indians’ love of Obama. Many have suspended their natural suspicion of politicians for him.”
So often, they are invisible, these first Americans, or frozen in iconic images of the past. We see them in Curtis prints and Remington poses, or hear something attributed to them in New Age spiritual circles. Cool, Indians.
And then a new casino opens off the interstate or a pottery exhibit is unveiled, and we realize: ah yes, they’re with us still.
With Obama’s rise, Indians have allowed themselves to dream — some, even to fall in love. He was adopted into an Indian family in Montana last May, given the name “Barack Black Eagle” by the Crow Nation.
When asked about immigration concerns in New Mexico, Obama pointed to a handful of elderly natives in the front row of a high school gym.
“He said, ‘The only real native people in this country are sitting right in front of me,’ ” recalled Joe Garcia, who is president of the National Congress of American Indians. “You should have heard the applause.”
The epic struggle for natives has been to avoid getting washed away by the flood of dominant culture, where Indians make up less than 2 percent of more than 300 million Americans.
That, and the physical toll that losing this big land has taken on them. Indians die younger than most other Americans, suffer from higher rates of suicide, alcoholism, debilitating dietary problems.
The Pimas, who hold to this 52,000-acre homeland amidst the predatory sprawl of 4.2 million people here in the Phoenix metro area, have one of the world’s highest rates of type 2 diabetes — a consequence of the rough adjustment from their world to one handed down by Europeans.
Presidents come and go. They promise to uphold treaty rights and appoint somebody to oversee Indian affairs who understands that history did not end when Custer fell to his hubris. It’s ho-hum, usually, with a mournful shrug on the reservations.
But on the most recent Election Day, on the Navajo Rez, which spills into three states and is the size of West Virginia, high school kids held up Obama signs at intersections in the town of Window Rock, and cheered themselves hoarse as returns came in.
“I feel very elated,” said Joe Shirley, Jr., president of the Navajo Nation. “All of Navajo Country came out strong for Obama.”
Shirley says nearly half of Navajo families heat their homes with wood they cut themselves, drink water hauled into their homes in barrels and light their rooms with kerosene lamps.
Talk about stimulus: a billion dollars, one-seven-hundredth of what taxpayers are giving the financial institutions that caused the Crash of 2008, could bring much of Navajo land into the modern age, Shirley said.
But beyond the desire for urgent, fundamental infrastructure help, Indians look to Obama as a powerful narrative. People who were subjugated, with near-genocidal brutality, feel a kinship with people who were first brought here in chains, even though Obama is an immigrant’s son.
“There’s a bond there,” said Shirley. “Birds of a feather flock together. We try to teach that there are no impossibilities to Navajo people. His election speaks to the young especially.”
Cynicism is the poison of so many young people. In Indian Country, where despair is often woven into the landscape, it takes hold even earlier.
So when Diane Enos, who is president of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, arrives in the festive capital next week she will have a teenage tribal leader with her.
“Obama’s life has been a journey to find identity,” she said. “That’s the Indian stuggle. And it starts with children.”
On Inauguration Day, the capital will host the likes of Ludacris and Chaka Khan, corporate titans and political giants, and balls too numerous to count.
Among the sea of Americans ushering in the president will be a small contingent of people who have clung to this continent longer than any other. And for once — if only for a January moment — they will feel like they belong.
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From 1 to 25 of 135 Comments
Thank you for publishing an article about people who the media usually brushes over!
— janetThe author makes it sound like it is someone else’s fault that Native Americans who live on reservations have shorter life spans, higher suicide and alcoholism rates, etc., than the general US population.
In case the residents of the reservations haven’t yet noticed, there is absolutely no future there. After a couple hundred years, it should be relatively obvious by now. I understand their desire to hang on to their roots, and of course there is nothing wrong with that. But when the obvious solution to their problems is to better integrate themselves with the rest of the country, they shouldn’t complain about their somewhat dire circumstances if they choose not to do so.
This isn’t a country of hand-holders. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions, and not expect long-term government handouts. So instead of hoping for government assistance to help them stay on reservations, Native Americans should instead be requesting help with moving off reservations and finding jobs or job training in the “real” world.
— Dave KTim mentions that $1 billion is one-seven-hundredth of what taxpayers are giving the financial institutions that caused the Crash of 2008. Certainly that amount of money would do miracles for Native Americans ability to build much needed infrastructure, as well as direly needed and entirely deserved social programs.
Unfortunately, however, that figure represents a mere drop in the bucket when compared to the $7-9 billion (and probably much more) already owed to Native Americans by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for monies missing from the BIA’s (to be charitable) breathtakingly mismanaged U.S. Indian Trust Fund. It’s worth noting that these monies are not handouts, but rather royalties owed the Tribes for oil, gas, mineral leases, et cetera.
Maybe Obama can throw some of the TARP money their way and finally resolve this despicable chapter in textbook bureaucratic larceny.
–Tio Wally, SLO, CA
— Tio WallyThey not only belong, this land is theirs, even though they do not share that same concept of ownership. That concept is a misnomer to begin, because, with the exception of the European gentry overseas, time will eventually allow all the decendents who think that they own the land in what is called America to die off.
The land will be here as before and those who thought that they owned the land will be owned by the land as the dust that they become.
Native legend has this as the white man disappearing and the People being restored as before the coming of the white man.
That is already evident in the amount of Latinos who are making the whites a minority. The last five hundred years of the white man measured against the span of eons is a flash in the pan.
— Clifford DeckerWe gave the Indians a pretty bad shuffle.
As far as I’m concerned, we should give them whatever they need to make their way in this world.
— Vox PopuliSomeone at NYT should be having extensive interviews with native Hawaiians to see how they feel, and what possibilities might lay ahead for them, considering their most difficult history with the United States…
— Patrick O’LearyLet’s hope our new president will recognize and honor the only true native Americans, whom, for centuries has been ignored, mistreated, starved, imprisoned, slaughtered and relegated to lands that no one else wanted. If other “Americans” lived as half of the Navajo Nation is forced to live, had to cut their own wood, haul their own water and use antiquated kerosene lamps for lighting, our government would have declared them “destitute” and taken steps to improve their conditions. But, our government has had a long, cruel, one-sided view and devisive opinions regarding the treatment of our Native Americans. It’s time their plight and long history of suffering came to the forefront and be recognized.
— beetle_juiceI anticipate that the high excitement amongst Native-Americans about Obama and his arguably heightened cultural sensibilities (Native-Americans being, ironically, the one ethnic/cultural group in this country of possibilities for whom the word “hope” is little more than an abstraction) will dissipate quickly, unless skeptics like myself are proven wrong and it turns out that the nation’s new leader actually has the power to bring back the dead.
— Skeptic in BostonMay the wounds of our past be healed; may the hope our new president represents find the support from us, the people, to correct what is wrong and release the fears that bind us in hate.
— WillThe remnants of North America’s Original People are endangered to a point of oblivion yet the scar of injustice produced by choices made will not go away without acknowledgment.
To the Power-That-Be I do pray: ” Show us the way, Your Way, to see this correctly that we might understand how not to do this again. For surely we are One in Source and fear’s hatred must be released if we are to move on.”
It’s time to act responsibly and correct our past errors.
Of the numerous billions of dollars which disappear without a trace into the wilds of Wall Street it would be nice to see a billion or two set aside specifically for weatherization and housing improvements on reservations. Not only would it make an enormous difference in reducing heating costs and improving the quality of life for many reservation residents, but the immediate creation of employment and skills development could have long-term impacts. Such renovations are essentially “shovel-ready projects” which could begin within a few weeks.
For the cost of a few Wall Street annual bonuses next winter the Navaho Reservation could be a warmer place and the Sioux Reservation suffer far less illness.
— Jackwould it not be lovely
— Steve Elkindif one of obama’s first gestures
as president
were to order leonard peltier
released from prison!
near-genocidal brutality?? Oh, the writer means 99.999999% genocide, not 100% genocide. I get it now - it took me a moment.
How long more will it take us to realize that the treatment of Native Americans by European settlers was genocide?
James
— James QuinnIt would be nice to have an article about native people that didn’t fall so easily into the familiar tropes of “bringing Indians into the modern age.” Indian people and land have been fundamental parts of modern America since its origin, in its films, its music, its sports, and in the resources that power its cities and fuel its bombs. Indians are modern subjects negotiating the terms by which they interact with broader American culture, just like everyone else. The article demonstrates that, even if its language doesn’t.
— AndrewNative Americans do need to be recognized, the plight of Native Americans needs to be recognized. Native Americans need to recognize their plight-circumstance-and honor their past and their future by striving to be the best we can be. Contemplate where we are and improve or future by living, working, and teaching our young in the present. I welcome the new president, I expect much from his presidency. He should know more than others what it is like to be marginalized by the system for something as basic as race. I hope our children learn and understand what this means. I hope that the county as a whole understands what this means.
— Mike Doud“The author makes it sound like it is someone else’s fault that Native Americans who live on reservations have shorter life spans, higher suicide and alcoholism rates, etc., than the general US population.”
Yes, it was someone else fault: The fault of White Americans, i. e. your grandparents. Try to familiarize yourself with your own history!
— SusanneHaving had the privilege of hearing Sherman Alexie speak on several occasions, I have a pretty good idea of how he refers to Obama when among friends.
— margaret DuckYou do remember of course the Indian question that caused Robert Rubin and Bruce Babbitt to be held in contempt of court.
I’m sure Todd Palin is touched by your concern for Native Americans.
Some would have said an African American president would never happen in our lifetimes.
Too soon then to talk about the first Native American president?
— brI also wondered about the “near-genocidal brutality.” Seems like real, 100% genocide to me. When, at times, Americans soldiers were told to kill the women and children as well as the men because, “Nits make lice.” Isn’t that genocide?
— Katherine RichardsObama’s comment about “real native people” is a great sign that a broader cultural awareness is set to inhabit the White House. At least guarded optimism is better than no optimism at all. I view the persecution and marginalization of indigenous people the world over as the greatest tragedy of humanity. Particularly here in America, the community of all beings was deprived of an incarnation of which we may never know the potential contours. My hope is that Obama will work with native people to enhance modern infrastructure where it is needed, to reweave the tattered fragments of past treaties, and to foster the space and respect essential for traditional cultures to abide and flower on their own terms.
— Nathaniel JenksHopefully Obama’s support will be about more than image and about concrete things such as pending land claims, broken treaties, resources stolen by the BIA, and other embarrassments that we have swept under the rug for 400 years.
Americans’ attitudes toward Native Americans are shockingly ignorant and childish. And they are always dead last on the list of Washington’s priorities.
— kateDave K wants to come across as though he created the world with his own two hands. Maybe he would like to enlighten us, or himself, about how his people overcame generations of betrayal by governments that took his land, rights, and wealth.
Assuming you are not native american, Dave, your situation in this country was handed to you by a race that stacked the deck in it’s favor. That’s just history.
There’s no more blind man than a man who refuses to see.
— Old McDonaldDave K -
Taking your statement (”People need to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions”) one step further, how did Native Americans come to live on reservations?
— JasonJames,
It’s genocide only when others do it. You should’ve known it by now… Same deal with the whole “torture” thing.
— ChrisI’m just happy and awed to learn from Dave the K that this isn’t a country of hand-holders — except for banks, I guess. Seems like we’re all busy holding the hands of the Wall Street profiteers as hard as we can. There’s some sort of irony in the recent turn of events, where suicide spreads from the reservations to the boardrooms.
I’m also glad to hear that people need to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions. All members of the outgoing Bush administration can just turn themselves in at the nearest police station, typed confessions in hand. What a cheery sight!
Maybe we can take responsibility for stealing this land from the murdered ancestors of the Native Americans by making some long over-due payments to them — or we could just leave. Give me some guidance, Dave, just how does this taking responsibility thing work? After all, you brought it up.
— Show Me Skeptic“near genocidal”?
genocidal. genocidal. genocidal.
— B