POLITICS
Indian Country Welcomes President-Elect Barack Obama
by Steve Cadue
C
ongratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama! Congratulations also to each of the newly elected members to the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Our sovereign Indian nations are domestic dependent nations subject to restrictions which have developed with our unique relationship with the United States of America. Our Indian treaties were negotiated with presidents and are the supreme law of the land. It is this law and policy that Obama enunciated many times in his campaign addresses and meetings with Indian tribal leaders and Indian people. Sovereignty and tribal self-government qualified by our Indian treaties and express legislation of Congress is a promise that Obama has given and will be sworn to uphold in the responsibilities of the president. Many times our Indian people have experienced broken promises and endured great suffering from laws ignored. The last eight years have evidenced the president ignoring Indian treaty laws and eroding tribal self-government. Obama’s presidential leadership promises great hope, much change and is inspiring to the nation and the world. Today the United States is both at war and suffering a deepening economic recession that impacts all citizens and reaches into every Indian tribe, Indian reservation and community. We are not immune or aloof from national and world developments. The war, injustice, the economy, the cost of a barrel of oil, energy, health costs, and mortgage foreclosures are all priority issues on the agenda that are also of vital concern for our Indian people. We are not the vanishing American. Obama’s agenda, deliberations and decisions will affect Indian Country, and our Indian leaders stand ready to work with him in consultation to find solutions. Obama visited parts of Indian Country during his campaign and reached out to our Indian people. His visits to our homelands were very much appreciated and it is our expectation that he will visit many other Indian communities during his administration. Likewise, it is also important for Obama’s cabinet secretaries to visit our Indian people in our homelands to learn first-hand of our goals and needs. Such visits are vital in educating one another, but these visits also demonstrate that our Indian people are recognized. Sovereignty is meaningless without economic wherewithal and that is the purpose of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives on 24 Indian Gaming
January 2009
October 17, 1988. Sec.3. The purpose of the Act is (1) to provide a statutory basis for the operation of gaming by Indian tribes as a means of promoting tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, and strong tribal governments. Indian gaming is a sovereign right of tribal selfgovernment and for many of our Indian tribes is the economic mainstay meeting the purposes of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The Act calls for the appointment of three full-time members to the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). The NIGC commissioners must understand the purpose of the Act and recognize sovereign powers of tribal self-government. Tribal infrastructure has been built with Indian gaming revenue, schools have been built, health clinics have been established, Indian businesses have been established, tribal roadways have been built and, most of all, genuine tribal sovereignty has been strengthened. However, most Indian tribes have not been able to capitalize on gaming primarily due to geographic location. Economic development is a huge need on Indian reservations and will require significant federal government assistance from all cabinet agencies and federal policies such as the proposed 2009 Economic Recovery Plan. On January 20, 2009, Obama will begin a history-making journey. The journey is the mountaintop long foreseen but yet unknown. We will ask the Creator to journey with him, to give him guidance, to be with him and his family. Obama will become our commander-in-chief. We salute him and the sacred eagle staff is raised in his honor as he accepts the powers and responsibilities of the greatest nation on Mother Earth. p Steve Cadue is the former Tribal Chairman of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas and served as a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He can be reached by calling (785) 393-6999 or email steve.cadue@hotmail.com.