Code Red for Indian Country

With the recent changes we are facing in Indian country it is CODE RED for all our people and those we serve. There have been a lot of changes since the first month of the new administration and it is having a major impact on our Tribal and urban communities. The move towards efficency is being done with a sledgehammer and is not well thought out. It is affecting Tribal health, child welfare, the education of our children and so many other areas.

In 1832 the Supreme Court case of Worchester vs Georgia was rendered which stated that President Jackson at the time could not remove the Cherokee Nation from Georgia to Oklahoma. Jackson stated that 'the court has made their ruling, now let them enforce it." This was cited as one of the top ten worst legal cases in the history of the Supreme Court by Walter Ecohawk. President Jackson did not obey the rule and this resulted in the Trail of Tears where many Cherokees died and suffered greatly.

The current president has one picture of a former president in his oval office and you guessed it, President Andrew Jackson. There are a number of cases that are on their way to the supreme court right now to try to put a check on the power of the current president. Some have already been decided. The one about freezing federal funds is the one that most affects our people and right now it is on pause. Even if the court decides to check the power of the president there is no reason to believe he is going to follow it. At that point we will have a full blown constitutional crisis and it will have a severe impact on all Tribes and especially those who depend more heavily on government services.

The chinese word for crisis has a double meaning which is danger and opportunity. We know the dangers here and while we can not assume the outcome we can prepare for it so our communities are better able to deal with the potential negative impacts. My training firm, Red Road Leadership Consulting, has developed a training to help communities deal with this situation and it is called Building a Healthy Tribal Community. It covers how healthy our communities were before the first contact, how we were impacted by the attempt to divide and conquer us and what we need to do to strengthen our current communities. The model is first we heal ourselves, then our family, then the organization and then the community. We must not lose hope during these dark times but we also need to have some specific tools and strategies to help us to not only survive but thrive.

For more information on this topic and other trainings we conduct for Tribal and nonprofit staff contact me at [email protected]