OCTOBER 6, 1978 PAGE 3
"America Needs To Know"
Indian Panel Urges Press to Cover Resource z Trust Issues
by Cynthia Stowell
Consciousness-raising by a
panel of Indian advocates at the
Associated Press
Managing
Editors’ convention in Portland
September 28 was given immed
iate fuel when the assembly
adjourned to Timberline Lodge
for Indian dancing and a salmon
bake staged by the
Warm
Springs Tribes.
The special Indian Day for
visiting pressmen
combined
challenges for better coverage
with relaxed social interaction,
and as one Massachusetts editor
remarked, “Today has gone a
long way toward improving rela
tions.”
Panel moods ranged from
Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter
McDonald’s friendly suggestions
to “American for Indian Oppor
tunity” head LaDonna Harris’
frustrated pleas for understand
ing. Senator Jam es Abourezk
(D-S.D.) and Assistant Secretary
of the Interior Forrest Gerard
found themselves at odds on spe
cific Indian issues but agreed
that journalists have inadequate
ly addressed Indian
affairs,
dwelling on the sensational or
controversial.
Assembled by editor Larry '
Fuller of the Argus-Leader in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the
panel brought a diversity of
opinions and styles together to
“ increase the awareness” of
convening editors and encour
aged them to “look at Indian
problems in a more serious
way.” And as Fuller told the
gathering, “As you enjoy the
hospitality of the Warm Springs
Confederation this afternoon per
haps we can also be thinking of
ways we can build better under
standing.”
At Timberline Lodge editors
were exposed to Nelson Wallula-
tum’s Wasco dance tradition,
Nathan Jim ’s, powwow dancing,
salmon baking and the erecting
of a tepee. The outing also
proved to be a rare opportunity
for many of the editors to discuss
Indian affairs and issues one-to-
one with tribal representatives.
Panel members’ remarks
earlier in the day focused on the
critical need for in-depth cover
age of Indians’ resource rights
and the government’s fulfillment
of its trust responsibility.
On resource conflicts Mc
Donald commented, “We are an
available scapegoat for a nation
that needs land, water, uranium,
coal, oil, tourism, fishing, urban
growth, industrial expansion. We
try to claim what little is ours,
what little is left us. We are likely
to be viewed as evil and selfish
people . . . To make us the target
is to pretend that if it were not for
the Indians, America could still
have unlimited growth, land,
energy and resources. If you took
everything we had, you would
still face the same problems, the
same lim its,' the same hard
choices.”
LaDonna Harris noted that
“when we were quaint tourist
attractions” people found In
dians to be acceptable. But now
“we want to be a part of the
economy,” and the pursuit of
fishing rights and claims to
water are viewèd as threatening.
Appealing to the press, Mc
Donald said, “We ask you to find
ways to help people understand
that when Navajos and other
Native Americans reach for self-
sufficiency— political, economic
and governmental self-sufficien
cy — we are not declaring war on
the American people.”
Senator Abourezk,
whose
history of Indian advocacy in
Congress started in the drama of
Wounded Knee, continued
through the American Indian
Policy Review Commission, and
will end this year when he leaves
Congress and the chair of the
Senate Select Committee on In
dian Affairs, criticized bitterly
the bureaucracy that is entrust
ed with Indian affairs — the
B.I.A.
He said in reference to
media treatment, “The reality is
that press coverage of govern
ment mismanagement of Indian
affairs is at best skimpy and at
worst non-existent, which en
ables the Indian bureaucracy to
commit the crimes against hu
manity which they have gotten
away with over the past several
decades.” Abourezk described
these “crim es” as medical ex
perimentation, removal of In
dian children to
boarding
schools, and the relocation of
adults to urban areas.
Abourezk, who earlier this
year asked for the resignation of
B.I.A. head Gerard, labeled the
current B.I.A. policy “survival
management — survival not of
the Indian people but of the
bureaucracy itself.”
Convention, asking them to be aware of the issues behind controversies. Also on the panel were Navajo
Chairman Peter McDonald, LaDonha Harris of the Americans for Indian Opportunity, and Senator
James Abourezk of South Dakota.
CDS Photo
Gerard responded that the
problems of the B.I.A. “should
be laid ,at the feet of other
institutions of government — the
White House, top leadership, the
Department of Interior as well as
previous directors of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs.”
To which Abourezk rebound
ed, “Forrest Gerard can sit there
and say ‘Well, Congress ought to
change this stuff’ and yet he and
the bureaucrats with him are
responsible for preventing that
change.”
What the Assistant Secre
tary later called the “Abourezk-
Gerard Show,” referring to yet
another episode in their long
standing difference in style and
approach, McDonald used as an
illustration for his points.
“As you can see, this could
go on all day,” the chairman of
the 150,000-member
Navajo
Tribe remarked. “The Senator
says ‘the B.I.A. and Interior’.
B.I.A. and Interior says it’s
Congress. And if you bring both
of them together they say it’s the
Indians.”
“That is why I say there has
to be much understanding by
you,” he told the collected edi
tors.
All panel members seemed
to agree that the media tend to
cover only crisis situations be
STORYTELLER - Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter McDonald mesmerized press people from Florida
when managing editors and Indian representatives gathered at Timberline Lddge September 28. A panel
of Indian adv ocates advised A Peditorsoftheirconcernsearlierin the day.
CDS Photo
cause they lack the necessary
legal, historical and cultural
background in Indian. affairs to
provide in-depth, ongoing cover
age. As Gerard said, “reporters
often have a tendency to under
estimate the importance of the
developing story” and “contro
versy becomes the only apparent
available story.”
Recognizing the complexity
of Indian issues, the panel mem
bers encouraged editors and re
porters to spend time trying to
grasp such concepts as the dual
role tribes play as dependent but
sovereign nations. Said Gerard,
“I doubt if there are many in the
audience who realize that these
governments . . . carry on many
dynamic and innovative endea-
vors.”
One question from the floor
spoke io diffieui ilGS encountered
by newspaper staffs in attempted
coverage of local tribal affairs,
to which Gerard responded, “It’s
a matter, of people meeting on
common ground.”
Another editor challenged
the panel to encourage more
Indians to enter the field of
journalism.
McDonald, who was received
warmly by the newspapermen,
couched his criticism in respect
for the press and left the gather
ing with this message and chal
lenge :
“You are trustees of the
conscience of America — and
America needs to know.”
1979 Tribal Budget Posted
Tribal Council approved the
1979 budget for the Confederated
Tribes October 2 and posted it for
thirty days of public inspection,
thus ending their month-long
. review.
It has been eight months
since the budget process began
with the development of depart
ment, branch, and tribal objec
tives. Tribal Council Resolution
No. 5314 formally attached fi
gures to those objectives.
A general council will be
held in November for the presen
tation and discussion of the bud
get.
Total projected revenue for
the coming year is $19,873,430
which is approximately $6 mil
lion more than the income pro
jected for 1978. The Tribes are
exceeding income expectations
this year, however, mainly due
to the unexpected right-of-way
agreement made with Bonneville
Power Authority.
The budget, which came out
of council looking somewhat dif
ferent than when it went in,
shows an outlay of $10,218,193 for
program expenses. This is a 23
per cent increase over 1978 when
$7,864,351 were budgeted for ex
penditures. Management had
proposed a 28 per cent increase.
Deleted, added or held up
Tribal Council reduced the
total proposed budget by $79,344
in the process of deleting and
adding select program expenses.
Council is also holding funds for
at least 15 positions and ..prqr .
grams for further review.
Management was involved
in all council budget sessions
with the exception of one execu
tive session, so the changes were
not met with surprise.
In the Health Branch, the
Community Health Educator and
Wilderness Program were axed,
while the Health Plannèr’s bud
get was cut in half. Thé Jackson
Home residential child care pro
gram was put on hold.
Several positions in
the
Municipal Branch have been eli-
mina ted, including the recently-
acquired assistant police chief,
as well as the juvenile officer. In
officer and juvenile officer. In
fact the whole juvenile justice
program is being questioned by
the Council and will be scruti
nized for progress and accomp
lishments. Four of the positions
in the police department are in
need of justification and review,
including two patrolmen, one
dispatcher and one Kah-Nee-Ta
security position. A merit in
crease for the police chief was
also denied.
The Natural Resources De
partment and Police Depart
ment are gaining a surveillance
airplane to enhance enforement.
One range rider, two radios and
a vehicle have also been added to
Natural Resources.
The Community Center had
$10,000 lopped off its budget
because of under-expenditure in
1978. The difference in the male
’/ .. .fCpritinùçdonPage 12)