Native Priorities And The GOP

‘Tribes look to the federal government as partners.’

Bottom Line: In Cleveland, there was more than gaming and Donald Trump on tribal minds during the Republican National Convention.

Largely overshadowed—but hardly absent—during last week’s unruly Republican National Convention in Cleveland, were the concerns of Native Americans.

On July 20, about three dozen tribal leaders and their staffs attended a luncheon hosted by the Mashantucket Pequots aboard a boat on Lake Erie. Against a backdrop of convention drama, the tribes gathered calmly to discuss the many policy issues confronting their governments in the near and long terms.

An article of faith among the group was the importance of maintaining tribal sovereignty and working with the legislative and executive branches to uphold federal trust and treaty obligations, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office―or which party controls Congress―come January 2017.

“We’re here doing the business of our respective governments in letting those who are here know that we have a seat at the table, regardless of party politics,” said Todd Hembree, attorney general for the Cherokee Nation. “For Indian tribes, it’s not a binary choice of ‘Democrats’ or ‘Republicans,’ but the effort to engage and educate individuals who understand our issues that are in play.”

Hembree acknowledged that Indian gaming usually attracts most of the attention in the national dialogue about Indian people. But he noted that tribal gatherings held throughout convention week focused on health, education, housing and economic development.

“We came here to let everyone know that we have a government-to-government relationship with Congress and the President and that they are going to have to deal with us,” he said. “So we’ve been forward-looking in terms of committee appointments and chairmanships in Congress, as well as working with the federal agencies.”

Healthcare, for example, is one of the biggest challenges confronting tribal nations, many of whom are struggling to meet demand with understaffed clinics and hospitals. In June, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) introduced his healthcare plan “A Better Way” as a replacement for the Affordable Healthcare Act, which specifically included the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act (IHIC). The Ryan plan would remove the IHIC and require Indian people to buy their own private insurance.

Critics of Ryan’s plan, including Hembree, say the bill that would further defund critical health services that tribal nations provide to their members, which are already underfunded. Further, they contend that many Indian people live well below the poverty line and would struggle to afford health insurance premiums in communities that have few resources or economic development.

“The Cherokee Nation is building a $170 million expansion to our hospital in Tahlequah that will change the way healthcare is provided to our citizens for generations,” Hembree said. “Under our current agreement, the tribe is expected to receive $75 million a year for the next 30 years for healthcare. But Ryan’s plan would gut the funding for our providers, and that can’t happen.

Boos and catcalls accompanied Sen. Ted Cruz’s refusal to endorse nominee Donald Trump on the third day of the convention. Matt Rourke/AP Images

“So we fully expect the government to uphold those agreements because those are not entitlements or line item expenditures. They are legally binding treaty obligations to Indian people.”

Another concern was a nebulous, unspecified provision in the convention platform to “convey certain federally controlled public lands to the states.” It is a hot-button issue for many tribal nations whose ancestral lands are contained within such national treasures as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks.

The item has been a part of previous Republican platforms. But it was reignited earlier this year during the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, the ancestral lands of the Northern Paiute tribes, including the Burns Paiute. During the siege, militants defiled culturally sensitive lands by digging trenches and latrines that contained, authorities determined, a “significant amount” of human feces.

“Tribes look to the federal government as partners and stewards of the hundreds of millions of acres in ancient lands that they inhabited, owned or occupied for many millennia,” said one tribal leader in attendance. “This is not just a matter of simply signing a deed of ownership over to the states. These lands are tribal lands that have been placed under federal protection in perpetuity as a solemn promise to Indian people and we do not want to see them destroyed and exploited. We want them protected as a part of our national heritage for everyone to enjoy.”

Summing up the convention events of July 18-21, Hembree took the long view.

“It’s an ongoing effort with every election cycle,” Hembree said. “But our job is to educate and engage both parties so that they have a clear understanding on the issues that face the tribes so that we can work more effectively with them when we have to do the hard, gritty, everyday work when Congress is in session.” http://bit.ly/2a4WPlV

Indian Health Service Under Fire

Critical tribal testimony before House subcommittee

Bottom Line: ‘People are dying’ was the message this month on Capitol Hill.

Babies born on bathroom floors. Stolen narcotics. Surgical instruments washed by hand. Nurses who cannot operate a crash cart or start a dopamine drip. Unlicensed medical personnel. Funds unaccounted for.

Such were some of the many woes that tribal leaders cited before a legislative hearing of the House Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs on July 12. The subcommittee was charged with reviewing the HEALTTH (Helping to Ensure Accountability, Leadership, and Trust in Tribal Healthcare) Act, with a view toward improving the Indian Health Service (IHS).

Many of aforementioned complaints predate both the hearing and “In Critical Condition,” the now-famous 2010 Senate report on conditions at Aberdeen (now Great Plains) Area IHS hospitals. However, their continued presence led to the closure of the Rosebud Hospital emergency department in December. The closure took place after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) determined that conditions were so bad that they would no longer reimburse for services provided there.

One speaker, Victoria Kitcheyan, treasurer of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, testified about conditions at the Winnebago Hospital. There, her aunt and others died under poorly documented circumstances with no follow-up investigations.

“We’ll never know how many people died unnecessarily,” said Kitcheyan. “We’ll never know how many people were misdiagnosed.” Until systematic changes are made within IHS, she said, “Winnebago Hospital will continue to be the only place where you can legally kill an Indian.”

Congressional leaders have heard similar testimony before. However, the responses of some subcommittee members on July 12 sometimes proved frustrating.

For instance, Dan Benishek (R-Michigan) said he was “not aware of the severity of the problem.” Benishek also said he had not known that the federal government operated any hospitals outside of the Veterans Administration.

“So this hospital [Rosebud] is run by the IHS?” he asked. “Is that the story?”

Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) urged tribes to be more forceful in insisting that IHS answer to them. But Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota), who authored the HEALTTH Act, pointed out what she characterized as a fundamental lack of tribal consultation on the part of IHS.

“Listening to the committee questions,” said William Bear Shield, a Rosebud Sioux Tribe council member and chairman of the tribe’s health board, “there needs to be some education.”

Mary Smith, principal deputy director of IHS, parried many questions during the hearing by noting that she had been on the job for only a few months. One focus of scrutiny was the appointment of Susan V. Karol (Tuscarora) as Chief Medical Officer for the Great Plains Area, on Smith’s watch. Karol had reportedly said of babies being born without physician assistance at a South Dakota IHS facility, “If you’ve only had two babies hit the floor in eight years that’s pretty good.”

Subcommittee chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) and ranking member Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-California) heard testimony at the legislative hearing.Courtesy House Committee on Natural Resources

Asked by Noem to explain, Smith said, “There was no chief medical officer in the Great Plains and there was no full-time person, and as I’ve said at this hearing, we have very serious recruitment and retention problems . . . I thought it was important to have a full-time chief medical officer there.”

Karol apologized for the comment at a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing in February.

“Especially in a time of crisis,” Noem wrote in an email to ICTMN, “it’s important we have a Chief Medical Officer in place in the Great Plains region, but the comments that have been made are indicative of an IHS culture that needs to change. That is one of many reasons why my legislation includes cultural sensitivity training. We must ensure the people who are serving tribal communities respect tribal communities and their way of life.”

The HEALTTH Act, introduced to the House in June, is similar to the IHS Accountability Act of 2016, which was introduced in the Senate in May.  An oversight/legislative field hearing on the legislation was held in June.

Noem says her office and that of Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), who introduced the Accountability Act, are working to align the two bills. They hope to send the legislation to President Obama’s desk for his signature in the near future.

A footnote: On July 14, CMS announced that after seven months—during which five babies were born in ambulances en route to hospitals 50 miles away and the deaths of nine people being transported to other facilities—the Rosebud emergency department was set to reopen July 15. Bear Shield has called for an independent investigation of the deaths. http://bit.ly/29NP0Sr

Native Woman On A High Court

‘I knew I needed to choose another path.’

Editor’s Note: At the end of August, Anne McKeig—a descendant of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe—will become the first Native woman to sit on the Minnesota Supreme Court, the highest in the state. That a Republican governor (Tim Pawlenty) made her first bench appointment, and that a Democrat (Mark Dayton) made her latest, reflects broad confidence in and bipartisan appeal for her abilities.

Anne McKeig grew up in the tiny town of Federal Dam, Minnesota (pop: approximately 100), bordering the Leech Lake Ojibwe Reservation. She received a bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Catherine in 1989 and graduated from Hamline University School of Law in 1992.

After law school she joined the Hennepin County Attorney’s office in Minneapolis as an assistant attorney in the Child Protection Division, specializing in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). She was also a part-time staff attorney for the American Prosecutors Research Institute and joined the American Indian Bar Association. In 2008, she was appointed to her first judgeship; since 2013 she has been the Family Court Presiding Judge in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District.

Judge McKeig’s new appointment was announced on June 28; she will take her seat after Associate Justice Christopher Dietzen retires at the end of August. She took time to answer a few questions from Indian Country Today.

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What drew you to law as a career? Was there anything about growing up in Federal Dam that influenced you in this direction? Or what did you plan to grow up to be back then?

I am not really sure. When I was in ninth grade, we had to do a project regarding our career choice. I chose to be a dentist and researched the job requirements. I then realized being a dentist required a lot of science study—and I was never very good at science. So I knew I needed to choose another path.

Since I enjoyed helping people—and was never afraid of a good argument—I decided I would be a lawyer. I can see now that I was influenced by both my parents, who were always helping someone in one way or another. My dad was a mechanic and never made much money because he would help anyone who needed it. He would say, “Pay me later” or he would take something in trade.

My mother, who was the director of Indian Education at Remer (Minnesota) High School for 30-plus years, was always helping a child in some way. Whether it was listening, giving a ride, a hug, or lunch money (that we did not have), she would always do anything she could to help.

You have mentioned as an inspiration Judge Robert Blaeser, the first and longest-serving Native judge appointed in Minnesota and who is also from White Earth. How do you feel knowing that you, too, as a Native woman, will be an inspiration now for girls and Native youth?

I was so lucky to have met Judge Blaeser. After his swearing-in, he eventually made his way to the juvenile court where he served not only as a judge, but eventually as the presiding judge. He took an interest in mentoring me as a young Native lawyer in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office. He was truly invested in my future, and I so appreciated it.

I was not always easy to mentor as I was young, passionate and stubborn, and I am sure I thought I knew more than I did. He was patient but firm and hung in there with me throughout my career. We became close friends over time, and his support for me has never wavered. He was never afraid to tell me the truth, direct and to the point. When I was wrong, he told me. He really helped mold me into the professional I am today, and I am forever grateful.

As far as me being an inspiration, it is my hope and dream that someone will see in me what I saw in Judge Blaeser, and I intend to work hard to pay forward what he has done for me.

Early in your career with the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, you specialized in ICWA. Have you seen the benefits of ICWA in your role back then, and do you think recent national court decisions may be eroding it?

I may not have stayed in the child protection division without the work on ICWA cases. We formulated a really solid team and despite our disagreements, we all understood that everyone was working for the benefit of the best interest of the child. That looked different on occasion depending on one’s view but in the end, we settled the majority of those cases. That took real dedication, hard work and collective collaboration.

I saw through that work how influential and helpful the court could be in leading the charge to ensure that children were not lost in litigation. Judge Blaeser was also extremely influential in his capacity as the presiding judge.

Gov. Mark Dayton appointed McKeig to her current post on June 28.Courtesy Anne McKeig’s Office

The recent national court decisions are fact specific, and I do not believe they are eroding ICWA. The message that I would hope we take from those cases is that stakeholders need to comply with the provisions of ICWA from the beginning so that children do not get lost along the way. Litigation tears people apart and does nothing to bring people together. Working on ICWA cases for so many years, I know that compliance can be accomplished, but it takes dedication and a desire to do the right thing.

Do you have any thoughts on the larger impact of the provisions within the Violence Against Women Act allowing tribal courts to prosecute non-Native offenders on reservations? How significant is this legal tool, and are there other areas where similar recognition of the tribal courts could or should be recognized?

It is a very important step to have tribal courts treated equally to state courts. Many states across the country have worked tirelessly to accomplish equal recognition, though we have a long way to go.

Domestic violence is a very serious issue and one that needs particular attention as it has such a negative impact on families and oftentimes is misunderstood. Statistics show it is a serious problem in our Native communities and thus it is important that tribal courts be given the tools and the power to address this issue.

There are many other areas where our justice system would benefit from having tribal courts recognized as equal with state courts. One of my hopes is that someday tribal court will have equal access to court information systems and that we have complete sharing of information between state and tribal courts so that we are not working in silos but are working side-by-side. We do not have the resources to duplicate efforts.

It’s been noted that when you take your seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court in August, it will have a majority of women justices for the first time in 25 years and you will be the first Native member on that court. Given that justice is supposed to be “blind,” why is diversity on the bench so important?

Without diversity, the judicial system would not reflect the communities we serve and, more importantly, those who come before us. We all bring our personal histories with us and, in some way, I suspect it seeps into our decision-making. Certainly, that is true for me. The ability to look at issues through a different lens, or a lens that is familiar with a litigant, brings humanity to our decisions.

I think there is nothing more comforting than walking into a courtroom and seeing someone who looks like you and who may have a better understanding of your experiences and where you come from.

In a related question, what did you think of Donald Trump’s charges that a Mexican-American judge was biased against him because of his heritage?

As judges, we have to, at times, examine our decisions to make sure that we are not basing it on our personal feelings. I know that I have had to do that. It is not always easy, but it is something we learn to do as lawyers and judges. Our job is to search for the truth and to find justice. I think the judiciary works very hard in treating all people fairly.

Your heritage is noted as “White Earth descendant.” Can you tell me a little about your family background? Are you enrolled at White Earth?

My paternal grandfather was raised in Ogema on the White Earth reservation. He was one of 14 children and spoke fluent Ojibwe all his life. He attended Indian boarding school at Morris, was a brakeman for the Soo Line and a veteran of World War I. My father was an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, and was born in Onigum and raised in Federal Dam.

My paternal grandmother was Bohemian and my mother is Polish. Thus I do not have the required blood quantum to be a fully enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. Several of my cousins, who have the same blood quantum as me, are enrolled members because they were born prior to 1963, when federal pressure came down for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and White Earth to establish a blood-quantum rule. Therefore I use the term “descendant” out of respect for enrolled members. In my heart, I am Native, regardless of how much blood is running through my veins.

What has been the most rewarding part of your career so far?

I am very proud of the work that I did in child protection. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman allowed me to be creative and gave me the time to go out to the reservations to build relationships that had been lost. That allowed for us to set up a very strong infrastructure on how to best handle ICWA cases. That system is still there today, and I have been gone for over eight years.

Children are our most important resource in this country, and we all have to care about what happens to them. We cannot leave it to a few professionals who make it their life’s work. It is too important. http://bit.ly/29Kr7ZQ

How Did I Miss That?

Toddlers in washing machines, the Hong Kong singles scene and the never-ending search for intelligent life in the universe

WFLA reported that a Garrett, Indiana teen has been detained regarding an incident that occurred while he was babysitting two neighbors, ages 5 and 3. Some of the babysitter’s “friends” showed up and they all got to drinking …

Damage to the apartment included wrecked toilets, a broken TV and a smashed window. Worse, the teenagers put the 3-year-old in a washing machine and a dryer. The toddler had bruises all over her body and the 5-year-old told what really happened after the babysitter claimed he had taken the children to the park and the younger girl had fallen off the merry-go-round.

“It could have been worse.” My cousin Ray Sixkiller was glum. “It could have been the microwave.”

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CNN Money reported that Apple is filming a reality TV show that pits software developers against each other for the chance to be mentored and funded by Silicon Valley experts. Naturally, the casting call was limited to developers using IOS. The show will be called “Planet of the Apps.”

* * *

The South China Morning Post reported that crunching numbers from a dating app, “Coffee Meets Bagel,” shows the world’s most desperate singles are found in Hong Kong. The app has been running up numbers and has smoked Tinder, which is based primarily on geographical proximity, by screening for tastes and traits that might predict compatibility.

Cousin Ray pointed out that in Hong Kong, everybody is close. Geography doesn’t do much screening.

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Secretary of State John Kerry had his diplomatic neutrality severely tested when he appeared at a joint press conference with the new U.K. foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. Johnson, the former mayor of London, is often called “the Donald Trump of the U.K.” because of his strange hair, racism, xenophobia and loose relationship with the truth.

Kerry struggled not to react as reporters savaged Johnson with his own words—his references to President Obama’s “ancestral dislike of the British Empire,” Hillary Clinton’s persona as a “sadistic nurse in a mental hospital,” George W. Bush being “a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inarticulate, who epitomizes the arrogance of American foreign policy,” and so on.

Of a diplomatic mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Johnson predicted, “The tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.” He claimed Queen Elizabeth loves the Commonwealth “because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving pickaninnies.”

As reporters asked Johnson if he should apologize, and Kerry struggled to maintain his composure, the Foreign Secretary admitted he had insulted too many people for such a lengthy apology tour and so he would smooth over relationships one at a time.

Seeing the Trumpness in Johnson, Cousin Ray was still optimistic. “It may be Trump’s election to lose,” he said, “but Trump is doing his best to lose it.”

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Reuters reported that clerics in Saudi Arabia have renewed a 15-year-old fatwa against Pokemon, although they deny the renewal is related to the worldwide popularity of Pokemon Go.

The original fatwa held that Pokemon is blasphemous in that it promotes the theory of evolution and uses non-Islamic religious symbols, including Shinto, Freemasonry, and Christianity.

“Evolution?” Cousin Ray was stunned. “I guess they don’t study much biology in the desert.”

* * *

The Internet was crackling with claims that NASA cut a video feed from the International Space Station to suppress the discovery of a UFO. NASA claimed that the cameras were on a normal rotation and there was no human being at the controls.

I believe NASA. No human being would blow the opportunity to prove there is intelligent life in the universe.

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Donald Trump, it has been widely reported, is warning NATO members that if they were to be attacked, he would examine their conduct and come to their defense only if they have been meeting what he sees as their obligations to the U.S.

   Cousin Ray told me to chill out, because it was not that long ago Trump wanted to withdraw from NATO entirely. http://bit.ly/2agJGs1