Nation’s tribes hold convention in Sacramento

By Jake Henshaw
Sesert Sun Sacramento Bureau

This week I plan to sort out a puzzle that I have wondered about. Why didn't all of the Indians join the fight in the Indian Wars of the 1850s?

The nation's oldest Indian organization opened its annual convention in Sacramento on Monday with major sponsors from Coachella Valley tribes and a push for American Indians to vote.

"We are always working on getting out the vote," Chairman Richard Milanovich of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs said in an interview. "There is a lot of apathy among our people like the rest of the community."

The tribe contributed $50,000 toward the costs of the convention, and the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations, which includes Inland Empire tribes, donated $100,000, he and others said.

The 63rd annual National Congress of American Indians convention, which runs through Friday, focuses on a wide range of topics, including health, education, tribal gaming and law enforcement, including methamphetamine, which one tribal leader said is "almost an epidemic" on some tribal land nationwide.

Milanovich said he wasn't aware of a methamphetamine problem on his tribe's lands but noted that it is a county and state problem familiar to tribal and public safety officials.

Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, said the convention offers a chance for his tribe, which is phasing in an elementary school one year at a time, to learn from tribes that have operated schools for years.

"This is a chance to learn 'best practices,'" Macarro said in an interview.

In response to questions at a news conference displaying signs saying "2006 Native Vote, Every Vote Counts," convention leaders urged Indians to participate in elections in November.

"It's more important to get Native people to the polls than ever before," said National Congress of American Indians President Joe Garcia, who also is governor of the Pueblo of San Juan in New Mexico.

He and other leaders defended campaign contributions by tribes with casinos

"They are simply exercising rights that everybody else has had for years and years and years," said former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.

Milanovich said his tribe is making state and national campaign contributions.

"When it comes down to it, we'll probably have a slate of candidates," Milanovich said, though he wouldn't identify anyone Monday.