Indigenous Leadership

Indigenous Peoples Leadership

~ Lance Sands

I intend to bring awareness about leadership. What is leadership?  This question is asked constantly in the United States. In the U.S. presently, few citizens are happy with the state of the union. When things are in such disproportion as they are, people less fortunate express their anxiety. The disenfranchised seem more impressed by ideas borne by their situation than by deep reflection. A movement asking for action is baseless without leadership.

In the 1960's, Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led a movement toward civil rights. They presented a more humane and equal way to govern. His leadership today is well documented and a statue of him resides in Washington D.C. He was the first man who was not a president and could lead us as United States citizens in a direction of self-determination and equality. His assassination began the decline of the vibration sent out from the Lincoln Monument.

One such leader was my uncle, Clifton Hill. He applied the Muscogee way of leadership he learned from those who walked on the Trail of Tears. His knowledge appealed to those who sought his confidence as well as a peek at the past when things were different. So much so, my grandfather was first asked by tribal town miccos (Chiefs) to look into how the Creeks (Muscogee) could receive leadership by a  free election process rather than federal appointees. Because of focus around health issues my Uncle Clifton was asked to look into what could be done. His path led him to Washington D.C. with a Traditional Congressional Delegation and to visit the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). He wanted to discuss people elected Chiefs BIA appointed ones.

Subsequently, in the midst of Clifton's meetings; my mother-- his youngest sister -- told me he was asked to join in The Poor People's March. He wore a suit in meetings; on the day of the march he dressed in Indian regalia. He meant to bring attention to the fact that indigenous peoples were conscious of the Civil Rights Movement and agreed with its proclamations, at least he did. His picture presented in the Washington Post beside the recently widowed Coretta King hopefully did just that. 

It is unclear, but either during the march or soon after my Uncle Clifton was told that there was a sub-committee hearing. The sub-committee led by the Minnesota Congressman Scoop Jackson, who also headed up the Committee on Indian Affairs, was presenting the Omnibus Bill. The bill would give monies to Indians (Indigenous Peoples) to start small businesses. However, it would extinguish tribes and would absorb the Indigenous population into citizenry. This was to happen without any representation from the people it would affect the most. The nearest nations were the Five Nations Iroquois Confederacy (five nations); they received the information just in time to despair. They realized their closest advocate was my uncle and somehow got word to him. Since the five nations were close to Washington D.C., primarily as etiquette, my uncle had previously contacted the five nations to let them know of his intentions. 

Consequently, my uncle, with little preparation went to the committee meeting. He was 37 years old. He witnessed the injustice of this world in many different ways. His formal education was that of experience. He rose to the occasion and who followed but the very people he had recently marched with. He walked into the sub-committee, and some of the marchers entered with him.  The sub-committee members became alarmed when my uncle asked to speak and the once open room was now filled with people incensed with revolution. Scoop Jackson was uncomfortable with the proceedings. 

Jackson asked, "Mr. Hill. Are these people with you?"

My uncle responded, "No. I am with them."

The marchers then lifted their fists in the air and in unison exclaimed "Sock soul!" 

The sub-committee adjourned. The Congressmen decided to wait.  Indigenous nations succeeded in getting enough time to send forward representation.

Today, I asked my other uncle, Dr. Joyotpaul Chaudhuri, retired Associate Dean of Arizona State University and professor of Political Science, about the comparison and contrast of today's Occupy Wall Street Movement and The Poor People's March in 1968. 

He noted that the Occupy Wall Street Movement rose like the1968 Poor People's March. Both were disorganized as in, insufficiently organized. Both movements had in common their attempt to draw to attention the deep and growing ever deeper gulf between the very rich, on the one hand, and the battered middle class and increasing numbers of those who are impoverished on the other. The Occupy Wall Street Movement really does not have what a movement yet needs: powerful leadership.  The Poor People's March, when it took place, was after Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had already expanded his stated public vision to include not only civil rights but attacking poverty and unnecessary military ventures. And then he was shot down. The Poor People's March couldn't get the same vibration going without him.  The Wall Street Movement might connect the dots together with additional leadership.

Time returns to speak up for the equality of people. We all are leaders. We can take responsibility for our government. We have but to remember what has been done previously. We needn't reinvent the wheel; we can find creative and inventive ways to create a world where we can exist together. Anytime, I find myself doubting that possibility, I remember the first elected Chief of the Muscogee Nation Claude Cox and what happened in 1971.  It was a beginning for Muscogees to educate themselves on what they want and what goals they aspire to as a people.

No matter the difficulties, we can obtain freedom when we work together.