New U.S. president opens door to tribes
By Noel Lyn Smith
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, Dec. 30, 2009
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(Times Photo - Leigh T. Jimmie)
President Joe Shirley Jr. declared Aug. 21 "Hillary Tompkins Day" during a press conference with U.S. Interior Solicitor Hilary Tompkins, her boss, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Assistant Interior Secretary Larry Echo Hawk.
T his year marked a historical gathering on the national front when President Barack Obama invited leaders from the 564 federally recognized tribes to Washington D.C.
The Nov. 5 summit at the Department of the Interior gave tribal leaders the opportunity to voice their concerns and issues to the president and to high-ranking members of his administration.
Representing the Navajo Nation was Vice President Ben Shelly, a replacement for President Joe Shirley Jr. who was on administrative leave at the time.
When Shelly addressed Obama, he voiced his concerns that the progress the tribes will make during Obama's years in office would not move forward to the next administration.
"But the thing I'm worried about is the end of the term and what happens with all the plans that we're going to be putting together with your administration," Shelly said. "How can we make it so solid that it stays there, no matter who, what administration comes in?"
Obama assured that the consultation and partnership made during his administration will remain in place long after he leaves office.
Also attending the summit were Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan (Iyanbito/Pinedale) and council delegates Hope MacDonald LoneTree (Coalmine Canyon/Toh Nanees Dizi) and Lawrence Platero (Tohajilee).
During the president's opening remarks, he touched upon the historic and often troubled relationship between the federal government and tribes.
He mentioned the common factors that each tribe continues to face today. Among the factors Obama listed was the high unemployment rate, the high poverty level and the lack of basic utility services on reservations.
When Obama was on the campaign trail in 2008, he promised to appoint an American Indian policy adviser. He fulfilled that promise when he appointed Kimberly Teehee, a member of the Cherokee Nation, to that position.
"I also told you that we'd shake up the bureaucracy and get policymakers out of Washington so they could hear directly from you about your hopes, your dreams and the obstacles that keep you from pursuing them," Obama said at the meeting.
"I promised you we'd host this conference to develop an agenda that works for your communities because I believe Washington can't - and shouldn't - dictate a policy agenda for Indian County," he said.
Obama also signed a memorandum requiring each cabinet agency to assemble a plan of how tribal consultation can be improved within 90 days. That report is due in February.
Obama's inauguration was a celebration that the country had not seen in a while. Thousands of people braved low temperatures to watch Obama take the oath of office as the nation's 44th president.
Crowds surrounded the National Mall in Washington, D.C. the morning of Jan. 20. Some people resorted to watching the historic event on a 20-foot screen that was set up inside the main lobby of the National Museum of the American Indian, which is 400 yards away from the U.S. Capitol where Obama was sworn in.
Leonda Levchuk, NMAI public affairs specialist, remembers most people did not know the museum was opened that day but once word got out, the museum's main lobby was flooded with people.
"As people were watching it in the Potomac Atrium (main lobby), it was cramped," she said. "People were shoulder to shoulder watching the event on TV."
Museum attendance was 34,000 for inauguration day. There was a reception hosted by NMAI for tribal leaders and tribal organizations, along with an invitation to watch the event from the museum's terrace because of the cold most watched the ceremony in the boardroom.
"You felt a great oneness of the people which you don't see too much in Washington," Levchuk said.
Attendance numbers for the inauguration is estimated at 1.5 million, passing the 1.2 million who came for President Lyndon B. Johnson's ceremony in 1965. For those who did not travel to Washington for the event either viewed the ceremony on television or online.
In the evening, the American Indian Inaugural Ball was in full swing at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va. Approximately 4,000 people attended the event, which was hosted by the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C.
Among the entertainers who performed at the formal were Keith Secola, Martha Redbone, Levi and the Plateros, Gary Farmer, Derek Miller and Jana.
The American Indian Society of Washington, D.C., described the event as a gathering and celebration of Native leaders, organizations, artists, musicians and professionals from across the country.
