Native American Rights Fund
celebrates 35 years
Building a better America for everyone
Part one
BOULDER, Colo. - Are you looking for a modern-day warrior society? Try
the Native American Rights Fund's 13 attorneys, support staff, board
of directors, the national Indian legal defense fund and, most
recently, the Tribal Supreme Court Project that NARF was asked to
lead.
Gone are the days when, with the smoke of early-morning fires at their
backs, warriors leveled arrows at invading marauders who had an
untamed lust for possession. Instead, this phalanx of contemporary men
and women warriors at NARF take their stands in law libraries, around
the sleek lines of conference tables and, finally, before the bench of
the Supreme Court of the United States.
In a low, unassuming voice projecting a quiet dignity to be reckoned
with, NARF Executive Director John Echohawk, J.D., stated, ''We are
building a better America for everyone - Indian and non-Indian.''
But it wasn't always this way. When NARF came into being 35 years ago
in 1970, as Echohawk put it, ''The very existence of Indian tribes in
America was at stake. Would the federal policy of terminating Indian
tribes altogether prevail, or could the tribes adapt to become viable
sovereign governments in modern-day America, using their strong legal
foundation in American law?''
The timing was auspicious. The era was ripe for change. Inspired by
the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision that
desegregated schools in 1954, blacks staged protests over civil
rights. Distraught by the war in Vietman and bored by middle-American
culture (or lack thereof), the counterculture and political left rose
up against its own parents, challenging the very ethics in place in
the nation. Mainstream middle-classers coming of age in the late '60s
went on to embrace the civil rights movement, become champions of
environmental and healthy living reforms and, of course, look toward
the nations within to see how they could support what was up in Indian
country.
It turns out that although there was plenty of demoralization and
dissolution that had come about through 100 years of cultural
dislocation, those coming of age in Indian country felt the same winds
brush their faces that were sweeping across America. Indeed, some,
like Echohawk, poised right on the cusp of progressive change.
''When I was a senior in high school, I decided to study law and
started on that path. So after I graduated, I enrolled at the
University of New Mexico and earned a B.A. in government.''
The year was 1967, when as an expression of the signs of the times and
part of Johnson's ''war on poverty,'' the federal government took the
unprecedented step of offering graduate scholarships to American
Indian law students. ''The school the government picked to administer
the program happened to be the University of New Mexico, and I
applied. So I was in the first class of Native American law students
with federally funded scholarships. The idea was to get some
professionals among Native Americans, since at that time we had only a
handful of doctors and lawyers.''
Echohawk and seven others received scholarships - and proceeded down a
path that has had radical implications for Indian country.
''To their credit, the U&M law faculty put together one of the
first Indian law courses, and that's where we started discovering that
we had this strong legal foundation for things none of us knew about.
Of course, we all had a general idea that things weren't right; but
not the specifics. It was a real eye-opener.''
The following year, another batch of Indian law students started
through law school. ''They came away with the same impressions we had.
And the year after there was another group,'' Echohawk said. ''By then
we had enough critical mass to form the Native American Law Student
Association, a group based on the realization that we had this strong
legal foundation that we could build on for the future of our
tribes.''
It was 1970 when Echohawk graduated from law school, and he didn't let
any grass grow under his feet. NARF was born the same year, and he was
on the ground floor. ''The federal government was still in the
mentality of terminating tribes, but that began changing as we started
bringing these cases.
''Also in 1970, Nixon became the first president to officially embrace
the idea of Indian self-determination and reject termination. Still,
it took time; I think many people in 1970 just couldn't believe the
treaties were still applicable and the tribes could exercise sovereign
authority.''
He added that another aspect of the ''war on poverty'' that ensued
during the 1970s ''dealt with the provision of legal services to poor
people by the federal government. They realized that millions had no
legal representation because they couldn't afford a lawyer.''
Legal aid services were established around the country, and ''some of
the brightest students coming out of law school ended up on
reservations. There, they basically stumbled onto the area of Indian
law on their own. They realized the potential - all these
unrepresented clients - and ended up collaborating with those of us
coming out of the U&M program,'' said Echohawk. ''I had a summer
job with these folks. It was a way to connect what was going on in the
field with what we had studied in the formal setting.''
The rest is history. NARF has enjoyed 35 years of success and, in the
process, has changed the lives of Indian people. Echohawk has been
there the entire time.
''We've been real fortunate to work on these issues of importance to
Indian country. There are a lot of people out there that need help. We
have a lot of work to do and will keep doing it as long as we can
generate the support we need,'' Echohawk said.
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