Urban Tribal Forum amplifies grassroots movements for change 

Conference spotlights the fight for tribal sovereignty and community empowerment

Gaylene Crauser recalled a hostile protest where people, adorned in face paint and headdresses, screamed and made obscene gestures at her and fellow Native Americans –– all in response to their stance against the use of American Indian mascots as a form of cultural appropriation. 

“There is not a single study showing that being a mascot is beneficial for our community –– it’s in fact detrimental,” said the Kansas City Indian Center executive director. 

As the first of three speakers at the Urban Tribal Forum, she emphasized in her presentation on ‘Special Issue Organizing’ that these mascots create a negative perception of Indigenous peoples and encourage racism and harmful stereotypes. Other speakers echoed Crauser’s call for advocacy and community.

Cheryl Kary, executive director of Sacred Pipe Resource Center, envisions change in Bismarck-Mandan’s Indigenous community. Each year Sacred Pipe staff hold the Urban Tribal Forum in conjunction with the summit. This year, the conference was held on Sept. 6 at the Holiday Inn Bismarck. Around 20 people attended the event. 

The purpose of the gathering is to help elevate the issues of the urban tribal community, “because a lot of times we get forgotten,” said Kary. “Statistics show that most of the tribal population lives off the reservation in urban and other rural areas… a lot of times when people think about tribes and Native people, they think of on-reservation. But the reality is that there are a lot of us who live in urban areas, and we have unique challenges of living away from our homelands.”

For Crauser, the use of American Indian mascots is a particularly vexing issue for urban Natives. The argument from the other side is that these professional sports organizations say they want to represent American Indians as a winning team. “But that’s not us that they’re using… it’s what they think we are from Hollywood and films,” she said.

Crauser said teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs just want to use the Native trope and choose to only portray the “noble savage” stereotype. “We are making so many contributions in our community,” she said. “Many people don’t realize we’re still here as a people.”

Between presentations, attendees engaged in roundtable discussions, agreeing that change starts at home.

Keynote speaker Jodi Archambault told attendees to take action and not go by the status quo.

The Hunkpapa and Oglala Lakota citizen previously was a political appointee under the Obama Administration. During her tenure under the Administration, Archambault served as the Special Assistant to the president for Native American Affairs for the White House Domestic Policy Council, Deputy Secretary to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior and separately as the White House Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. 

After giving insight into her political background, Archambault discussed the power of the Native vote. “The system is set up to silence us,” she said. “Change is hard for everybody, even as individuals. But the change that’s needed is going to take a groundswell of people pushing, even if it feels like it’s not going in the [right] direction.”

In the past, Natives had to be careful about political organizing. During the 1970s, some government agencies including the FBI considered the American Indian Movement a domestic terrorist group. 

“Our ancestors did it in subtle ways. They had to be more careful about it because of the war times, and I don’t sugarcoat the past of the attempted genocide on our people and the continued systemic oppression that happens even today,” said Archambault. “But I’m also really proud to say that we’re not just still here; we’re thriving, and we’re very resilient. It’s a good day to be Native American in the United States today, even though it sometimes doesn’t feel like it.”

Archambault encourages people to get involved and advocate for their communities. But she also advised them to approach this from a place of love, rather than anger. 

“What I’ve come to is the understanding is that fighting isn’t the answer,” said Archambault. “The way that we go up against the system is that we’re pulling in the part of our brain that is ‘fight,’ because we’re angry and we’re emotional about it. I’m trying to tap into the other part of the spectrum, which is ‘love’ and ‘dream.’ That’s the only way that I can sustain what I’m doing because it’s physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually exhausting to fight.”

“The system is set up to silence us. Change is hard for everybody, even as individuals. But the change that’s needed is going to take a groundswell of people pushing, even if it feels like it’s not going in the [right] direction.”

Jodi Archambault, former political appointee under the Obama Administration

Despite how draining advocacy work can be, there are still many people who continue to put in the effort to create change and foster community. Colette August, the executive director of the Tahoma Indian Center in downtown Tacoma, knows the importance of place and space. During her presentation at the forum, she spoke about how difficult it can be to connect somewhere that isn’t your cultural homeland. While August lives in Washington state, she is a Tla’amin First Nation Citizen, Little Shell Chippewa, and has family ties to the Lower Sioux Community. 

Washington is home to 29 federally recognized tribes, each with its own tribal government. According to the American Library Association, more than 140,000 Native citizens live in the state. Indigenous people make up 0.8% of Seattle’s population and 1.14% of Tacoma’s population. The Tahoma Indian Center has served people from more than 200 tribes since the nonprofit was founded in 2017. One of the reasons August said she established the organization is because she wanted to create a safe place for Indigenous people. The center’s mission is to restore Native wellness through cultural nourishment and preservation. 

“One service that we know is especially important to all Native people is being connected to the land,” said August. “So how do you connect Indians back to the land that people don’t recognize as being their ancestral homelands? How do you create opportunities for them there? How do you make them feel whole in these new home territories that they’ve adopted? They’re within the midst of that local federally recognized tribe, but they don’t get the recognition that a local tribe will get.”

Citizens from tribes in the Dakotas are also having conversations about place. “When we talk about spaces and providing safe spaces, it’s really about reclaiming the space,” said Kary. “This is all our traditional territory.”

Sacred Pipe staff are glad to have invited the three speakers to this year’s Urban Tribal Forum, Kary said, and hope attendees gained further insight.

“I think just the sense that we’re not alone, and that there are always issues that we need to pay attention to that are impacting us,” Kary said. “When people say tribal sovereignty, they think of reservations, but tribal sovereignty means anywhere and everywhere that we are expressing who we are and reclaiming the spaces that we belong in.”

Sourcing & Methodology Statement:

Throughout the week, Buffalo’s Fire staff are covering the United Tribes Technical College Annual Tribal Leaders Summit and International Powwow. Catch up on the opening ceremony event and read about Wednesday night’s entertainment. Find out what to expect this weekend in a preview for the International Powwow.

References:

Indigenous tribes of Seattle and Washington. American Library Association. (n.d.). https://www.ala.org/aboutala/indigenous-tribes-seattle-and-washington 

Tacoma, WA. Data USA. (n.d.). https://datausa.io/profile/geo/tacoma-wa/#demographics 

Dateline:

BISMARCK, N.D.