Smoke signals., November 15, 2013, 30th Restoration commemorative issue, Page 24, Image 22

24 NOVEMBER 15, 2013
Smoke Signals
WW
FURSE continued
from page 23
vidcd amazing watercolors since we
obviously did not have photographs
of all of that. We put together this
excellent slideshow, and Kathryn
used it, as did the Cow Creeks
when they went forward with their
Restoration.
Q. When this was proposed to
Congressman AuCoin and he
was still smarting from helping
the Siletz Restoration, what
was the big thing that helped
convince him to go along? Was it
having the community support?
A. All of those things, as well as
the flexibility of the Council. At first,
he was reluctant due to all of the
political ramifications. ... There was
resistance in the whole Willamina
area. People did not understand
what Restoration would mean. They
thought the Tribe would be able to
take over private lands, which the
Tribe cannot do and that would have
never occurred to them. There were
many misperceptions.
Working slowly with Congress
man AuCoin, making sure that he
trusted those Council members, and
that they were not going to say any
thing to the press that was contrary
to what they had already said. Very
disciplined, you have to be.
I think he gained a great deal of
trust with the Council and with the
Tribe. It took awhile to get him to
introduce the bill, but once he did,
he was very enthusiastic and he
worked very hard to get that bill
through.
Q. As far as the Tribal Council
that was there at the time, can
you talk about the members you
recall and what their strengths
were as far as working on the
Restoration effort?
A. Well, frankly, I always felt that
Marvin Kimsey, that was not what
he wanted to do. Well, he wanted to
govern, but he buckled down and
did what was necessary. The media
work, being in the public, being the
spokesperson; that really impressed
me.
Margaret Provost was very quiet
spoken, an intelligent voice. She
was excellent at any kind of pre
sentation. Kathryn Harrison is tremen
dously inspiring. You know, she is a
woman that has so much charisma
that she was able to get across to
people who were not interested in
this information. She was able to
get across to them that this was
something that was important and
something that was happening, and
they worked together.
Now, am I saying that there were
no disagreements? No, of course not.
You have people in such a highly
intense situation yet there were no
disagreements that got in the way
of the Tribe's best interest. They set
aside any personal conflicts of any
kind. The Tribe was always first and
foremost and the Tribal members. It
was fantastic to work with people
like that.
Q. Earlier on you were talking
about the political atmosphere
of that time, late 1970s, early
'80s. What was going on in the
nation?
A. What started the change? Well,
first, the President (Nixon) acknowl
edged the tremendous damage that
Termination had done. ... John F.
Kennedy said that there would be
no more Termination bills. So, there
was the beginning of that change.
Charles Wilkinson of NARF (Na
tive American Rights Fund), who
was a lawyer, then a law professor
at the University of Oregon, he and
Ada Deer of the Menominee came
up with the concept of Restoration.
In order to get Termination over
turned you had to put in place
something else. What you also had
to do was persuade the United
States Congress that they had made
a mistake, which was a very tough
thing to do. They do not think that
they make mistakes. Anyway, it was
the groundwork done by Ada Deer,
chair of the Menominee Nation, and
Charles Wilkinson that began to
make it feasible for the Congress to
conceive that they could admit that
they had made a mistake.
That is what every Restoration
bill is; it is the recognition by the
Congress that this was not the right
thing to do and we are righting the
wrong. ... Self-determination, of
course the whole era of self-determination
came in 1972 with the
Self-Determination Act. Tribes were
losing out if they were not restored
at that time. They were losing those
funds.
The New Tribes Money made a
difference for Tribes coming along,
because again they did not have to
persuade other Tribes, "Look you are
going to have to take a cut" like we
did with the Warm Springs. They
did not balk at all, they said, "It's a
justice issue." They saw it very clear
as a justice issue, Restoration.
Termination has been, along with
the Allotment Act, probably the
most destructive piece of legislation
that Congress has ever passed.
Q. Many of these Tribal Coun
cil members were working out
of their comfort zones. Can you
talk a little bit about the trips
back to Washington? Any anec
dotes you remember?
A. Well, first of all we were trav
eling on an absolutely "barebones
budget," so we would fly in on the
red-eye. We would arrive in Wash
ington, D.C., at 6 a.m. I would have
meetings scheduled. We did not
have time to take an extra day. I
had meetings scheduled from 9 a.m.,
9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m. We
covered those halls. Not only did we
see our own delegation, but we went
to see people who were important in
Indian issues. ... We were trying to
gather friends, but also to make sure
that the members of Congress knew
what Restoration meant. It was new
to them. Many of them were new;
they had not been there when Siletz
went through.
Kathryn always remembers ...
she is so sweet ... she remembers it
was hot and muggy. We were cross
ing from the House to the Senate
and she was so tired. I said to her,
"Would you like to sit here in the
shade and I will go over there and
see the Congressman?" She said
"Yes, Elizabeth," and she sat there
in the shade. They worked to the
bone. Nobody spent an extra mo
ment that they were not working.
They had briefings in the morning,
debriefings at night. What did you
hear? How was it presented? What
was your response? Because, of
course, we broke up into groups. If
there were four or five of us, we went
in groups of two. We sent two to this
and two to that.
Q. What was the biggest hur
dle? Just changing the com
munity's perspective on what
happened to the Tribe, the Na
tive Americans in Oregon?
A. Yes, and because Termination
had not been taught. You know, the
whole Oregon Trail of Tears has
not been taught in our schools. We
had to educate the public. We had
to educate the media. This is where
the Tribal Council was fantastic.
We would send them out to The
Oregonian, to the local newspapers
and they had the story, the true
story down. They knew it very well.
Slowly they managed to gather
that support, so that members of
Congress would feel, "I am going to
introduce this bill; yes, it is going to
be controversial, but I have a lot of
support behind me."
Q. When you heard that it had
been successful, can you remem
ber your reaction at the time?
A. I can remember the elation
when it passed. We knew it had to
pass the House, then it would go to
the Senate. The Senate was a lot
easier because Sen. Mark Hatfield
was chairman of the committee. I
cannot recall if we had a Senate
hearing, I think not. No, I think
that we just had a House hearing. It
went to the Senate committee. The
Senate committee passed it out on
to the floor. It was almost certain on
the consent calendar. It comes up on
Monday and if nobody objects, then
it passes.
Q. I read an interview from
about five years ago where you
said Tribes were terminated
because the federal government
was trying to save money.
A. That was one of the reasons.
Remember, it was after the second
World War, in the 1950s. It is my
belief that was the major reason
for Termination in Oregon to the
amount that it was. The interesting
thing about Termination for Oregon
is that Gov. (Douglas) McKay be
came Secretary of the Interior under
Eisenhower. Gov. McKay had many
friends in the timber industry. It is
my belief that it was timber, in par
ticular with the Klamath because
Klamath had the largest stand of
Ponderosa pine in the world. All
of that pine went on the market,
to McKay's friends. Moreover, it
went off and over the mountain so
the Klamath area lost millions of
dollars worth of timber. It went to
his friends on the west side, the big
timber companies.
... It is my belief that Klamath was
the goal, and while we are at it being
active as Secretary of the Interior,
let's terminate everybody else in
Oregon. Sixty-one Tribes and Bands,
many of those people are repeated
over and over in the Termination
Act. The little Bands that were not
really operating at the time and
many extinct from the terrible wars
at the Trail of Tears era. Therefore,
I think it was money, saving money.
Q. For anyone who is listening
to this 50 years from now who is
a Grand Ronde Tribal member,
what about this effort do they
really need for them to know?
A. I think that there is a percep
tion, and this is very human, that,
"Oh gosh, it must have been very
easy and that it could have been
done at anytime" just because it
happened. Not true! At any moment
that bill could have failed. The ef
fort could have failed. The bill that
finally passed was a bill that was
as good as it was going to get. The
Council was very clear on what
their priorities were and they were
very clear on listening to what the
Congressman as well as what the
Senator told them was possible.
Politics is the art of the possible. It
is no good to say we want everything
if we are not going to get anything.
I think that the Council needs to
be honored by their descendants
because they did the impossible, and
it was difficult.
Q. When you see an ad come on
television for Spirit Mountain
Casino, what do you think about
the difference in the Tribe?
A. I think it is wonderful. I think
that like any government it has the
right to develop its own economic
strengths. They did that. The legis
lation of the National Indian Gam
ing Regulatory Act is clear. Tribes
have the right to do gaming under
a contract, and the Tribe, the Grand
Ronde, have done very well with it.
They have a wonderful location. ...
I like the way the Grand Rondes
have invested in other things. They
have not put all of their eggs into
one basket. They have looked to the
future. I like what they do with their
education dollars; you have to think
about education. They live so close
to the urban areas that they need to
understand that Tribal members are
going to be out competing outside
the reservation.
Q. Is there something that you
have not talked about that you
think is important for Tribal
members to know about the
people, the effort or the hurdles
that had to be overcome?
A. I think the thing to remember
is what it was like before Restora
tion, what that was, as Kathryn's
daughter testified. As a young per
son going to the powwow and the
Indian people didn't even think
you were Indian. The hurt she felt
because she was not part of a feder
ally recognized Tribe. She testified
in Congress the hurt she felt. People
have to remember what they have
gained. There will, of course, be
people that say we should have this
or we should have had that. Not so!
They got the very best there was
going to be.
... Grand Ronde had nothing,
nothing. They had no land, no
economic development opportuni
ties. They took the very best they
could get and have made it better.
I just hope the Tribal members will
understand that, that they were
magnificent that Council.
Reprinted from the Tribe's 25th
Restoration special edition.
MMMIttin' .