Native advocate down to earth

 

By Jodi Rave
The Missoulian

 

Joe Garcia strums guitar chords with the same ease that roots him in tribal tradition - and the same conviction that inspires him to speak his mind on any issue.

They are qualities that have propelled Garcia to leadership within the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in New Mexico, and most recently to a top leadership role as the newly elected president of the National Congress of American Indians.

Garcia never sought a role in politics, though. “Basically, I'm not a political person,” he said. “I've never really been involved in tribal government up until '91. I had no intentions at all of serving on the tribal government because our system is appointment. There is no election.”

His first elected leadership position arrived only four years ago, when he became first vice president of the National Congress of American Indians. Garcia didn't even attend his first NCAI conference until 1995, having previously believed the organization irrelevant to tribal sovereignty - a tribe's right to govern itself.

“I always thought NCAI was a buffer,” said Garcia. “I thought that it was wrong for the federal government to go to NCAI for any information or consultations without first coming to the tribe. So not knowing anything about NCAI, that's the way I felt.”

His thoughts quickly changed. Now he's set on leading the country's oldest and largest Native advocacy organization into the year ahead.

Garcia's down-to-earth leadership style help set the stage for his transition from governor of the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, formerly known as San Juan Pueblo, to the top seat at the NCAI.

He's typically described as a witty, sincere, outspoken man who likes to tell jokes, stories, sing and play guitar.

“I've known him since he was a young boy,” said Herman Agoyo, a former Ohkay Owingeh governor. “He can get his points across and he's much committed to the Indian Country causes. He's going to do a grand job of advocating for Indian America.”

Agoyo, a lifetime member of the Ohkay Owingeh Tribal Council, was one of the elders responsible for appointing Garcia to the council as lieutenant governor in 1991 and again in 1993.

The council consists of religious leaders, former pueblo governors and four appointed positions. In addition to leadership qualities and professional experience, council members must be fluent Tewa speakers and actively participate in dances and ceremonies. The council chose Garcia as the pueblo's governor in 1995.

That year, he also attended his first NCAI meeting - and walked away from the San Diego conference as the NCAI area vice president for the Southwest. In 2001, he was elected to NCAI's top ranks as first vice president. He ran unopposed for the same seat in 2003.

Others soon sought him to run for president. He won that seat easily in November during the NCAI's annual convention in Tulsa, Okla. Today, he is making bold plans for the year ahead.

The 52-year-old pueblo governor comes to NCAI from a career spanning more than two decades at Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the world's largest multidisciplinary science institutions.

After earning an electrical engineering degree from the University of New Mexico, Garcia's Los Alamos career path ran the gamut from senior engineer in weapons research, to quality improvement, to a team leader for the Department of Energy, the laboratory and the pueblos, to management.

As NCAI president, he'll use that experience as he works to represent the organization's 250 member tribes, nearly half of all federally recognized tribes in the United States. NCAI's membership ranges from Public Law 280 tribes, to those operating under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, to corporation-based Alaskan villages, to large treaty-based tribes, to landless bands.

Despite differences, tribes share common concerns such as preserving sovereignty, said Garcia. The NCAI ought to devote 80 percent of its resources to addressing the top 20 percent of tribal concerns, he said, requiring greater unification, integration and collaboration among the tribes.

“Man, have we got some powerful minds out there in Indian Country,” said Garcia. “But we don't use that as such. We kind of run over each other, bump into each other, step on each other's foot, this, that and the other.”

His past experience with the NCAI has allowed him to both embrace and find ways to improve the organization. He plans to continue the State of the Indian Nations Address adopted by former president Tex Hall, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. The next address is scheduled for February.

Garcia also proposes to make some changes, including early involvement in the federal budget process. And he sees the need to strengthen communication between the organization and its 12 regions. The tribes should have a chance to do more than listen to reports at the annual conference, said Garcia.

He'd like the NCAI to start organizing meetings in each region, a day or two in length. “If we're going to have meetings, let's have some fruitful meetings,” said Garcia. “Let's sit face to face.”

He'd like the NCAI leadership to meet with tribes on their own ground - to spend meaningful time talking about “their issues, their solutions, their suggestions, their ideas.”

It's familiar territory for a man whose career and everyday life have centered on being a conciliator. “He looks out for the best interest of the community members,” said Peter Garcia Jr., the pueblo's gaming commissioner and the new NCAI president's oldest brother. “He's flexible. I think you need to be flexible if you're going to become a leader. You can't have your way all the time. You have to listen to people.”

Garcia has worked with his brother on tribal and traditional matters, including education and health care. The two men grew up in a family of nine siblings in the fertile farmland of the Rio Grande Valley. Their ancestors have occupied the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo for seven centuries.

Some of their favorite memories are of riding horses and swimming in the Rio Grande. Joe Garcia, now a husband and father of three, remembers some of his boyhood days as “being naughty,” meaning he stole a few watermelons from nearby village fields and picked and roasted “corn we shouldn't be picking,” he said.

Garcia also worked the fields and tended crops of squash, white corn, green chilies and melons near the pueblo, about 30 miles north of Santa Fe. He later channeled his energy into playing country music, a passion that remains a part of his life.

“If I've had a tense day, I go home and my guitar sits on a stand right there in the living room,” he said. “If my wife would let me, I'd have a guitar in every room. Right now, my guitars are in my workroom ... I pick it up, strum a few chords, sing a few notes. A few songs and the tension's released.”

He's always held country music and a Les Paul guitar close.

“As long as we've known each other, I used to tell him, ‘You know, you could have made a career singing if you only allowed me to manage you,' ” said Wilfred “Will” Garcia, a former governor of the tribe and a first cousin.

Today, much of Garcia's singing and playing are at fundraisers, wedding receptions and more recently at NCAI events. “That's not a way to make a living anymore,” said Garcia, punctuating the sentence with a laugh. “Nonetheless, I still enjoy it.”

His reputation as a musician became a focal point during the NCAI presidential debates. He said he still owes Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier a song. “When we were debating, he said to me, ‘Joe, if I lose this election you need to sing a song for me.' ”

“I said, ‘What do you want to hear?' ”

He said, “Cowboy Rides Away.”

“I said, ‘Sure, I'll do that.' ”

“Then he said, ‘And if you lose, we'll sing, ‘Good-bye Joe, we gotta go, me-oh-mio ...' ”

“The other day I saw him,” said Garcia. “I said, ‘Chairman, I still owe you a song.' ”

“He said, ‘Yeah, you do.' ”

As soon as the weather warms up, Garcia said he'll travel to South Dakota. “Then, we'll sing that song for him.”

Among his repertoire of songs, one is likely to hear Garcia sing a John Anderson song, his favorite country music performer. The lyrics to one of Anderson's songs, “Let Go of the Stone,” speak of the need to allow something better to happen in life.

The words should speak to Native people, Garcia said. “That message is pretty strong. That's part of what ails Indian Country overall - the fear of change - if we'd realize it. Let's not be fearful if we need to change to do something different.”