The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) represents 70 per cent of the American Indian and Alaska Native populations. NCAI president Jefferson Keel is also Lieutenant Governor for the Chickasaw tribe. He speaks to Faumuinā Tafuna’i about Chickasaw and the issues facing Indian Country.

Q. It seems that Indians have undergone a drawn-out genocide programme. Is that impression correct?
A. It was perpetrated over centuries. It didn’t just start in the 1830s, it began in the late 1700s.  It actually began when [Thomas] Jefferson was president of the United States. He began with the Chickasaw, with a programme to steal Chickasaw land.

Q. So where were Chickasaw originally?
A. Originally we were in the south-eastern part of the United States, which is now part of north-eastern Mississippi, north-western Alabama, south-central Tennessee all the way up to Kentucky. We had over 30 million acres of land that we owned as Chickasaw.

Q. When they moved you to Oklahoma, how much land did you have then.
A. They originally gave us about 7500 square miles (4,800,000 acres). It was really a poor process. Indian Removal Act when Andrew Jackson required the five civilised tribes to move west to what is now Oklahoma. We have a series of treaties with the United States of America and we expect them to honour them.

Q. Casinos are often used to generate revenue for tribes. Can you explain the rationale behind using gaming?
A. I know a lot of people don’t like gambling, and I am not necessarily a gaming proponent but I can tell you it is a source of revenue and it enables tribes to engage in other activities. It gives you access to capital.

Q. So is it no different to the state lottery?
A. No different.  As a  matter of fact, many states operate a lottery and it is the very same. It is gaming. Well, the idea of a lottery is to enable the state to place those funds in public services that benefit all the citizens. In Chickasaw Nation we invest every dollar back into services for our people. Every dollar we realise is an investment in our people. We are able to supplement federal programmes simply because there is not enough money in those programmes. We provide scholarships for our people.

Q. Do you do direct distribution.
A. No we do not.

Q. Does your tribe pay a direct dividend to your members?
A. I am not in favour of per-capita payments. I think it is better take the money and provide more and greater and higher services for all people.

Q. Many indigenous peoples have poor showings in socio-economic indicators. Are American Indians the same?
A. Economically, many of our reservations are located in the poorest parts of the country. Agriculture is not effective – the ground is not amenable to it, natural resources are under-developed, many of the people live in sub-standard housing. We lack healthcare. Many of our people are without hope and that is frustrating. It is frustrating to see many of people lack affordable, quality housing.

The economic health of this country is struggling. We are facing severe cuts in programmes and services. And Indians are the poorest of the poor. Our challenge is to convince [the US] Congress to hold Indian tribes harmless in these budget cuts.

[Within] law enforcement, we lack jurisdiction to police our own neighbourhoods. We have been so dependent on the federal government for years that many of our reservations have become dumping grounds for drugs, for criminals. People will come onto our reservations and commit crimes and leave because we don’t have  the jurisdiction  to prosecute them. Our courts don’t have that jurisdiction.

We are now in the process of correcting that.

The Tribal Law and Order Act was passed last year, which is a step in the right direction but is still a long way from being implemented correctly.

Q. Is your job advocating for Indians made harder by dominant ethnic groups such as Afro-Americans, Hispanics and Native Hawaiians in America, does this create a competition for resources?
A. The difference is  tribal governments have a Federal-Trust relationship. We have a history and the United States has a responsibility to tribal governments because of our inherent sovereignty. We are unique because we were here before the United States was formed.  Many of our nations were operating as tribal governments before the country was formed and in the Constitution of the United States this is recognised and re-affirmed. These other groups do not have a relationship with America other than being citizens.

Q. Yet, is it difficult to gain visibility because Indians are outnumbered by these minorities?
A. It is hard because we are outnumbered but there is a reason for that. There was this intent by the federal government 150 to 200 years ago to do away with Indian people – ‘Kill the Indian, Save the man’ – to strip away our cultural identity. But we have survived and over the past 70 years we have been able to re-establish and re-invigorate those lines of communication between the federal government, Congress, and Native American tribal governments across the country, so our population is starting to return. But again, it comes back to our sovereign status with this country. Minorities are minorities – they are not governments.

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