NOVEMBER 15, 2008
Smoke Signals
17
"This was a dedication
to what needed to be done
for the future of the Grand
Ronde people, for the fu
ture of their families, their
loved ones and the larger
community. So they made
these contributions. No one
paid them, no one asked
them to do this; it was all
volunteer."
ATTORNEY continued
from page 16
things, President (Richard) Nixon
in 1970 issued the very first Indian
self-determination statement. So
the tenor and the attitude in the
government, that is the Execu
tive Branch and in Congress, was
changing in terms of looking at
and seeing what a mess they had
made of Indian policy and Indian
administration. ... Therefore, the
consciousness, if you will, about
that issue was changing. People
were just simply more aware of
the concerns of minority people;
particularly, for our purposes, of
Native people in their own com
munity. So Congress in 1977 adopted the
Restoration Act of the Siletz Tribe.
In 1973, the Menominee Tribe
was the first Restoration and that
seemed to
have broken
a hold that
Termination
or that fed
eral assimi
lation had
on that pol
icy. In 1977,
with the Si
letz being
the second
it was
like, "OK,
Menomi
nee was not
unique, but
actually the beginning. Now that
Siletz has been restored, it is impor
tant to keep moving." So, the other
Tribes said, "Yes, we want this, just
like the Menominee and the Siletz
have achieved."
Not everyone jumped on board,
but we had a much more open
atmosphere toward accepting the
idea of Restoration. There was still
a lot of work to be done and people
were getting organized around do
ing just that. They were doing good
on their own. People were paying
for themselves. People like Jackie
Colton, who would have never got
ten on the radio before, got on and
explained what it was that was go
ing on and why it was so important.
Others had bake sales, trying to
help pay for this.
When we had to go back to Wash
ington, D.C., Merle Holmes paid for
his own ticket. This was the kind of
stuff that was going on. People were
seeing that this was important, and
it was certainly important to them
personally. Hut more importantly
to the future of the community and
to the future of the Tribe.
Q. I have read about the
Tribe's Restoration that the
late '70s was kind of the tread
ing water situation, and then
finally when the Tribe received
an ANA grant to help, people
actually quit their jobs and
worked on this effort full time,
and it seemed like a dam was
broken through. Was that the
period where they were going
around talking to the commu
nity to elicit local support?
A. It is exactly as you suggested
in that it wasn't that there was no
progress; it's that there was a lot
of groundwork that needed to be
done. One of the things that had
to be done was what you have just
identified. We had to find funding
for the Tribe, we had to have more
people putting more time and effort
into this, and the ANA (Adminis
tration for Native Americans) was
the place to get it. Well, one of the
places. We went all over the place.
We went to the Catholic Church.
We asked everywhere for help with
funding. The ANA was one of the
primary focuses.
If they had given us funding in
1978, it wouldn't have made any
thing go any faster. People simply
weren't prepared yet to go there.
I mean they,
the local com
munity in par
ticular, had to
keep hearing
this over and
over again to
become used to
it, to be able to
come to some
level of under
standing and
acceptance
in their own
sense. What
they think is
going on and
whether they
fully understand it or not, they
have to come to some understand
ing for their own purposes.
You know, not everybody agreed;
there were certainly people who
opposed it. Opposition meant that
there was just a lot more work to
be done with and around those
people. And, just as importantly,
while I have given you the core of
people that were working on this,
there were others that had to work
in their own communities to spread
the word and to recruit greater par
ticipation. There is Kathryn Har
rison. She was a part of that, and
she brought an enormous amount
of credibility and focus to this lead
ership. She was a very important
part of coming along and adding to
the Restoration effort a little later
down the road. She became an icon
for the Tribe and its efforts. She
continues to be very important part
of the history of the Tribe.
Q. Can you talk about how
the work was divided between
yourself and Elizabeth Furse as
far as working on this effort?
A. Well, we worked very closely
together so there really wasn't an
awful lot of division. A lot of what
was important to moving us for
ward was Elizabeth had been to law
school. She had not graduated, she
was not a lawyer, but she under
stood the law and 8he was terrific at
community organization. She was
terrific at talking to people in posi
tions of power in the legislature.
and in other places, Congress, etc.
She just had a real touch for that.
She knew she had access to or
knowledge of an enormous amount
of resources.
For example, when we went back
to D.C., we stayed at a Friend's
house ... a house where we were
able to find a place for all of the
Tribes to stay so that it would be
less expensive for them. It was our
first trip back to D.C. to go and visit
the jurisdictional committees in
Congress, in the Senate and to talk
to the local congressmen and sena
tors about what was going on here.
Each Tribe had to talk to their own
congressman; they did not really
share that many in common. She
knew about resources and was very
good about getting them together.
She was terrific in the community,
and she really had a touch for talk
ing to and understanding people.
We had to put together a lot of
educational material; this was
something I was not particularly
good at. She understood media,
and she, with a friend of hers, put
together a slideshow that talked
about Termination. I did a good bit
of the writing, but they actually put
together the slideshow that would
give people a visual to follow and to
understand that this was a very dif
ficult story. This is not a story that
people intuitively understand. This
is a story about what happened to
Tribes; we have to be able to over
come people's misconceptions about
the way the world was. About how
"The West was won." About how
the cavalry came in and defeated
the Indians, how they began to
disappear and how they became the
vanishing America, that myth.
We had to start by saying "No,
that's not the way that it was." It's
not like telling people a story that
they're going to hear for the first
time. You have to overcome their
misconceptions and turn them
around. You have to get them to
understand what really went on
and why this is important. She was
very good at putting together that
kind of information and helping
people to understand what this was
all about.
Particularly the people we needed
most to understand. The congress
men and their staffs, the people
in the state Legislature, the local
government, people in positions of
relative influence; the churches,
folks that you do not usually think
of; the Ecumenical Council that had
its seat in Portland, Oregon.
Q. Was there a moment or
event that felt like, yes, we fi
nally have accomplished this or
yes, this is going to happen?
A. Well, we all believed, certainly
I always believed, this was going
to happen. It was never a question
in my mind, or in our minds, that
this was going to happen. It was in
our view inevitable. It was just a
matter of just when and how. I left
to go to work for the Navajo Tribe
in 1983, so t left before it was done.
It was after that that Elizabeth
took over and saw it through to its
conclusion.
Q. How did you feel when you
heard about it?
A. Well, I was elated, very happy.
I knew how much it meant, I knew
what it took to get there. I knew
how much personal sacrifice and
commitment, as well as effort, it
took the people of the Tribes, spe
cifically with respect to the Grand
Ronde. All of the Tribes individu
ally in their settings, but for Grand
Ronde what an enormous effort
it took, how much heart it took.
I mean endless meetings. I know
that you may have talked to the
very young people, but the people
who were children at the time will
tell you that they almost began to
hate the Tribe because it took their
parents away from them so much,
just to do all of this.
That is just a little window into
the level of commitment and effort
it took in the behalf of the commu
nity to get this done. The people
who were actually there did that,
the names I gave you and others,
of course, but certainly the names
that I gave you were the ones that
were most involved through the
entire process, and worked the
hardest to get thit. done. Knowing
what a sacrifice they made, this was
so richly deserved. It was important
to them, and to their future. It was
terrific.
Q. Is there something that you
think Tribal members should
know, say 25 years from now,
about this effort?
A. I think that this is a story that
needs to be told and remembered,
so that people understand their
own history of where they came
from and the roles people played.
Not that there is some reason to
canonize these people, but to under
stand that they came from a place
where people were committed to
something that they had no reason
to believe could be done on a ratio
nal basis. But they had so much
commitment and belief that it had
to be done that they were commit
ted to the thing until it was done.
As a result of that, it was done. It
was their belief and commitment
that made it get done, because at
every turn they could have easily
turned away.
I mean, the first time they went to
see the congressman, he basically
said, "No, I'm not going to risk my
career on this. You have to do all the
work." The kind of work he was tell
ing us to do was something that we
were not accustomed to doing. They
all had to learn how to do it. They
all had to take enormous personal
risks in terms of who they were
and to get out there and do things
that they were very uncomfortable
doing. Hut, they understood that it
had to be done.
So that story of personal com
mitment and personal sacrifice, I
think, is an important touchstone
for understanding who the Grand
Ronde people are and where they
came from.