Editorial and Opinion Pago
The Way I See It
by Dr. Dean Chavers, President of the
Native American Scholarship Fund
The Hest Indian Commissioner
Copyright 199H
Often \vc overlook the bet individuals
in Indian Country The ones
who have led the good fight for years,
endured the brickbats throw n at them,
taken the insults, and stuck by their
guns, are often forgotten too soon
One of these warriors w as the best
Commission of Indian Affairs since
John Collier. He was only the second
Indian to head the BI A, He is still the
only person to go from the very bottom
rank in B1A all the way to the top
His name is Robert L Bennett He
now lives in retirement in Albuquerque,
but he headed BI A from 1966 to
1969.
He was born 86 years ago on the
Oneida Indian reservation in Wisconsin.
The other week as 1 was driving
across tow n. 1 saw the Commissioner,
as 1 call him, drive across my path I
wondered how many people know
w hat he accomplished during his tenure
at the Bureau
1 called him that day. and he invited
melocomcoverlohishousc We
spend a pleasant couple of hours talking
about what he did in his 35 years
w orking for the agency that is in more
ways than any other agency responsible
for running Indian affairs.
The Commissioner w ill only admit
to partial credit, but some monumental
things were accomplished on his
watch. Thee include the establishment
of the Amcricanlndian Graduate
Center (AIGC). the establishment of
the American Indian Law Center
(AILC) at the University of New
Mexico, the conversion of Haskell
Institute into Haskell Indian national
University (HINU). and the establishment
of the Southwestern Indian
Polytechnic Institute(SlPl)tJis technical
college
There were then only 55 Indian
attorneys in the whole US}.. so thee
was a huge need for the L<i|w Center
The Commissioner poinlep out that
AILC was started with a grant of $2
million from the Donncr Foundation
in 1968.
He helped Find the funds to shut it
John Echohawk. now E\ccuti\c Director
of the Native American Rights
Fund (NARF). was the First Director
The AILC encountered a variety of
problems with the First Few classes of
law students. The problems included
students not being able to understand
the material, and not making the commitment
to stick it out and succeed
But within a few years these problems
smoothed out. One of the main
approaches they developed which
worked was a six-week summer program
in law . which is still being held
each year.
Likewise, there were only a few
dozen Indian people with graduate
degrees ofany kind. The AIGC. original
l> called American Indian
Scholarships (A1S). was developed to
meet this huge need It was started
with a grant from the John Hay
Whitney Foundation The Commissioner
also helped to Find this money
John Rainer From the Taos Pueblo
was the original director A1S soon
developed a contractual arrangement
witlvBIA to administer all B1A postgraduate
scholarships except law.
which AILC administered (Tcnyears
ago the two program were combined,
and IGC now administers all BIA
graduate scholarships ) y
He found funds to help Haskell
convert to a degree-granting college
as well The Donncr Foundation also
provided challenge grants to get
Haskell'sconversion started The main
change at Haskell was to convert from
vocational subjects to a full academic
program The library holdings were
mostly about vocational subjects, and
the library had to be converted to
academic holdings
This conversion is still going on
there Haskell has started its First degree-granting
program, in education,
two years ago under Dr Karen
Swisher Sid Carney was the Area
Director for Anadarko. which has
charge of Haskell, when the conversion
started Sid was also involved in
initiating the conversion
The Commission remained in\ol\cd
whh Haskell after his
retirement scr\ ing as a consultant to
the Board of Regents He helped to
organize this Board and got a ta\
exemption for the Haskell Board of
Regents He scrx cd a total of 17 years
for the University "I staved too long."
he laughs
SIP1 started as the result of a meeting
the Commissioner had with some
soling Indian eductors in Albuquerque
They asked him for a school
w hich w ould help provide the type of
graduates that tribes need The curriculum
would be flexible. Programs
could be dropped or added as the
needs arose
From the very beginning S1P1 invoked
the local leaders of business
and industry They arc still involved
as adv isors and supporters Intel now
is paying or part of the coasts of a
program to produce technicians who
can work for this international computer
chip giant for instance
The corporations wanted students
graduating who had good command
of the basics ,of education?reading,
writing and math They also wanted a
heavy emphasis on math and science
in the curriculum
Plans for SI I'i siarted on his watch,
z-brtt* it actually opened thcFsJlfttftcrhis
retirement He has remained involved
with the SI PI Board howev er, and
helped it gain tax exemption for its
Board of Regents
The Commissioner also helped
organize prison program starting in
the IV.hls \\ hen he was with Northern
Utc Agency He got the prisons to lei
Indian prisoners organize into clubs,
and practicethcirNativcrcligions. He
helped the tribe take over the administration
of the prisoner program and
is proud of the fact that he never
attended one hearing on a prisoner
"My philosophy was to leach the
tribes how to do things in local government."
lie says "I didn't want litem
dependent on BIA for everything."
He is also proud of having inerctiM'tl
I hi' operating budget /hi lil I
i r
during his watch "Wc got all the
inonc> wc asked for most years." he
recalls "People in the House and Senate
supported what wc were trying to
do"
Congressman Wayne Aspinall.
w hen he was head of the 1 ndian Committee,
started the practice with him
of having copies of monthly reports
mailed to hint after they were submitted
from the Agencies to the Area
Directors, and on to Washington. Thus
some accountability was introduced
into the funding process.
The Commissioner is also proud of
the fact that he took pictures of every
tribal delegation which visited his
olTicc in Washington Many other (
Commissioners and Assistant Secre- '
tarics never followed this practice
But he felt it gave some legitimacy to
the efforts of tribes to preserve their
rights.
He also look and scheduled the
Indian princesses around to meetings,
exposing them to many people they
would not otherw ise have been able to
meet.
" If the only commitment to I ndians
is in the treaties, tribes w ill take some
serious lumps." he says. "In the interplay
between slate and federal
jurisdictions, tribes can destroy themselves
"
President Lyndon B Johnson appointed
Commissioner Bennett head
ofBIAincarly l%6. Hclookofficcon
April 27. 1966. and left the
Commissioner's job and retired on
May 11. 1969
After lie retired, he directed the
Law Center from 1969 until 1972
Sam Deloria was hired lobe Director
that year, and the Commissioner was
Director of Special Projects al the
Center until he retired again in 1976
Mr Deloria stayed in this position
until 1997. when he left to form his
own business
The Commissioner is also proud of
hav ing helped to start the American
Indian Hall of Fame during hiswatch.
The Hall of Fame is looking for a
permanent home, and is housed on the
7t .<5
Haskell campus in the meantime
One of the main accomplishments
of the Commissioner was the
"Indiani/alion'oflhcBIA Before his
tenure, there had only been one Indian
who was Commissioner. Ely S
Parker, a Seneca Indian w ho had been
a general in the Civil War Ailcr his
tenure, every head of Bl A has been an
Indian
His legacy will live on When the
position of Commission of llndian
Affairs was upgraded to Assistant
Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs
a decade after his retirement. 1
remembered the glory days he had
initiated at the tope in DC
Mostly his legacy will lis c on in the
education and social programs he pioneered
Thousands of Indian people
now have a chance at a bachelor's
degree, a law degree, and a doctoral
degree bocauscComniissioncr Bennett
fought so hard to establish these programsona
national level. Scholarship
funds were greatly increased during
his tenure, and they arc still opening
doors for young Indian students
- -*
, 1
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family will e\er need CPR. i
We hope you're right.
Pu Aiw'jn Red C?M Saft F<v??d?<?
j uoc+ui pcop^ dulls :Ki* iuy need in a" fvfr*o
Ldn CPR. water ki/rri and Nuw M a*?i Quite (
iixi^h, m iulp you lakt ca?f of yvw? famiK And
thai'* something u? all uum to do >
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Help Can't Wail"
| To fmJ oui afoul J win ui ?v?.r un, call J ^
Carolina Indian Voice
is published every ThuAdav by
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Post Office Box 1075
Pembroke, North Carolina 28372 ,
Phone(910)521-2826
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Conncc Bray boy. Editor
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Pediatric Pointers
Bv: Joseph T.Bell
One of the most worrisome medical
problems for parents and doctors
alike is that of appendicitis. Anytime
our children run a fever and complain
of belly pain, this diagnosis seems to
creep into the back of our minds.
Acute appendicitis results from a
germ infection in a small branch off
the large intestine called the appendix.
The condition is most common in
teenagers and young adults with the
peak ages between 15 and 24 years, of
course, this disease can be seen in any
age. I have even seen appendicitis in
a child as young as IS months old!
The typical signs of appendicitis
begin as a low grade fever and pain
around the area of the belly button.
The pain usually moves to the area of
the right lower abdomen (typical location
of the appendix in 80% of patients).
Usually there is a loss of appetite
with vomiting, especially in young
children.The diagnosis is often difficult
in young children because it is a
less likely age group and because the
vomiting may be the dominant symptom.
overshadowing belly pain There
arc other illnesses that can mimic ap:
pendicitis, making the diagnosis that
much harder. A few of these diseases
include inflamed pancreas, kidney infection,
spastic colon and obstructed
bowel.
If you suspect your child may have
appendicitis, they should see a doctor
as soon as possible. By examining the
child and checking a blood count, it
may make diagnosis more obvious.
The treatment is surgery. The inflamed
appendix must be removed to prevent
it from rupturing and spreading the
infection. If not treated, a perforated
appendix can lead to death. Fortunately,
this is rare in this country
Remeber, if you have any questions
you would like answered or want to
hear about a particular subject, write to
me at P.O. Box 3010, Pembroke. N.C
28372. Take care and we will talk-'
again next week.
Patricia Brayboy
Executive Director
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Robeson County Chapter
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