WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.820 Welcome this afternoon to our speaker Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee woman. 2 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:11.720 We're very honoured to be able to have Wilma come to Australia and speak to us. 3 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:20.520 Wilma is, in my language, in my way of speaking, Wilma, you're a big, big woman, you know. 4 00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:27.360 Not in the physical size, but just in terms of having done very many things 5 00:00:27.360 --> 00:00:34.420 in terms of community development and empowering community. 6 00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:40.920 So I'm just going to give one house detail at the end of this particular session. 7 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:46.740 This hall needs to be vacated, so I'll hand over to Wilma. 8 00:00:46.860 --> 00:00:50.180 Can you join with me in welcoming Wilma Mankiller? 9 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:53.440 Thank you. 10 00:00:58.940 --> 00:01:01.240 Thank you, thank you all very much. 11 00:01:01.340 --> 00:01:04.940 I want to begin by introducing my husband, Charlie Soap. 12 00:01:05.080 --> 00:01:13.720 I have some physical disabilities and I could not have made this trip without his help 13 00:01:13.720 --> 00:01:15.960 and I would have never been elected without his help. 14 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:17.200 So I want to introduce him. 15 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:19.040 He's somewhere here in the audience. 16 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:20.160 His name is Charlie Soap. 17 00:01:20.300 --> 00:01:21.040 There he is. 18 00:01:21.100 --> 00:01:21.460 Thank you. 19 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:27.140 So. 20 00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:33.780 It's really my honor to be here to participate in this wonderful festival. 21 00:01:34.080 --> 00:01:39.920 I've really, really enjoyed learning about a lot of the issues in this country 22 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:43.240 and it's been very helpful to me and I've picked up more books 23 00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:46.060 than I'll ever be able to get back home on the plane. 24 00:01:46.300 --> 00:01:51.880 So I want to begin by being clear that I don't speak for all indigenous people 25 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:57.340 or even all Cherokee people, that the thoughts that I'll share with you today, 26 00:01:57.360 --> 00:02:02.380 are derived entirely from my own experience as an elected tribal leader, 27 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.860 as an indigenous rights activist, and as a writer. 28 00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:12.400 Most of my remarks today will concern indigenous people of North America, 29 00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:19.380 though I've visited indigenous communities in China and South Africa and Ecuador and New Zealand, 30 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:21.840 as well as the rainforest of Brazil. 31 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:27.340 There are over 300 million indigenous people in virtually every region of the world. 32 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:32.960 Including the Sami peoples of Scandinavia, the Maya of Guatemala, 33 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:39.080 numerous tribal groups in the Amazon, the Dalits in the mountains of southern India, 34 00:02:39.480 --> 00:02:43.800 the San and Kwe of southern Africa, the Cherokee in Oklahoma, 35 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:46.420 and of course the Aboriginal people of Australia. 36 00:02:47.260 --> 00:02:51.300 There is enormous diversity among communities of indigenous people, 37 00:02:51.600 --> 00:02:57.320 each of which has its own distinct culture, language, history, and unique ways of living. 38 00:02:57.320 --> 00:03:03.240 Indigenous people across the globe do not share a collective sense of identity, 39 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:09.820 but many do share some common values derived from an understanding that their lives are 40 00:03:09.820 --> 00:03:13.040 part of and inseparable from the natural world. 41 00:03:13.820 --> 00:03:16.420 Onondaga Chief Orrin Lyons once said, 42 00:03:16.600 --> 00:03:21.860 Our knowledge is profound and comes from living in one place for untold generations. 43 00:03:22.580 --> 00:03:27.300 It comes from watching the sun rise in the east and set in the west from the west. 44 00:03:27.320 --> 00:03:30.400 It comes from the fact that we are all in the same place over great sections of time. 45 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:36.920 We are as familiar with the lands, rivers, and great seas that surround us as we are 46 00:03:36.920 --> 00:03:38.240 with the faces of our mothers. 47 00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:44.600 Indeed, we call the earth Iti Noha, our mother, from whence all life springs. 48 00:03:46.040 --> 00:03:52.020 This deeply felt sense of place and interdependence with all other living things fuels a duty 49 00:03:52.020 --> 00:03:57.300 and responsibility to conserve and protect the natural world that is a sacred place for 50 00:03:57.320 --> 00:03:57.480 the people of the land. 51 00:03:57.480 --> 00:04:00.900 It is a place where we can be a provider of food, medicine, and spiritual sustenance. 52 00:04:01.540 --> 00:04:07.640 Hundreds of seasonal ceremonies are regularly conducted by Indigenous people all across 53 00:04:07.640 --> 00:04:12.980 the world to express thanksgiving for the many gifts of nature, to acknowledge seasonal 54 00:04:12.980 --> 00:04:17.940 changes, and to remind people of their obligations to each other and to the earth. 55 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:24.300 In many Indigenous communities, traditional stories embody the collective memory of the 56 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:24.680 people. 57 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:27.300 These stories often describe the lives of people who have been in the land for many 58 00:04:27.320 --> 00:04:27.560 years. 59 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:29.380 They describe how things were in the distant past. 60 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:33.060 What happened to cause the world to be as it is today. 61 00:04:34.020 --> 00:04:37.080 Some stories project far into the future. 62 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:42.860 The prophecies of many Indigenous groups predict that the world will end when the people 63 00:04:42.860 --> 00:04:47.300 are no longer capable of protecting nature or restoring its balance. 64 00:04:48.140 --> 00:04:53.640 Two of the most widely quoted prophecies in the U.S. are those of the Hopi and Iroquois, 65 00:04:53.640 --> 00:04:57.980 both of whom have long predicted that the world will end if human beings 66 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:03.480 forget their responsibilities to the natural world. These prophecies seem 67 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:11.020 particularly appropriate in this era of increasing alarm about the 68 00:05:11.020 --> 00:05:16.120 catastrophic effects of climate change and questions about the long-term 69 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:22.400 survival of humankind if we continue on the same path. Indigenous peoples are 70 00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:26.300 certainly not the only people who understand their insignificance in the 71 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:32.580 totality of the planet. Former US Vice President Al Gore said, at some point 72 00:05:32.580 --> 00:05:38.140 during this journey we lost our feeling of connectedness to the rest of nature. 73 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:44.620 We now dare to wonder are we so unique and powerful as to be essentially 74 00:05:44.620 --> 00:05:49.020 separate from the earth. There are many thousands of people from different 75 00:05:49.020 --> 00:05:52.320 ethnic groups who care deeply about the 76 00:05:52.320 --> 00:05:57.260 environment and fight every day to protect the earth. The difference is that 77 00:05:57.260 --> 00:06:01.460 indigenous people have the benefit of being regularly reminded of their 78 00:06:01.460 --> 00:06:07.220 responsibilities by stories and ceremonies. They remain close to the land 79 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:11.140 not only in the way they live but in their hearts and in the way they view 80 00:06:11.140 --> 00:06:16.460 the world. Protecting the environment is not an intellectual exercise for 81 00:06:16.460 --> 00:06:22.040 indigenous people, it's a sacred duty. Author and feminist Gloria Steinem 82 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:29.400 observes that all people at one time felt that way. She says once indeed for 83 00:06:29.400 --> 00:06:33.540 nearly all the time that human beings have walked this earth you and I would 84 00:06:33.540 --> 00:06:37.960 have been living very differently in small bands raising our children 85 00:06:37.960 --> 00:06:43.100 together as if each child were our own and migrating with the seasons. There were 86 00:06:43.100 --> 00:06:48.060 no nations, no lines drawn in the sand. Instead there were migratory paths and 87 00:06:48.060 --> 00:06:51.940 watering places with trade and culture blossoming wherever the path 88 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:59.500 came together in patterns that spread over the continents like lace. I thought 89 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:04.220 that was a wonderful quote by Gloria. Too many people though I think have no 90 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:09.600 memory of that time because there's an absence of the stories and ceremonies to 91 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:14.260 remind them. They're distant from the land and therefore distant from 92 00:07:14.260 --> 00:07:19.540 themselves and they understand little have little understanding of their place 93 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:20.120 in the world. 94 00:07:20.700 --> 00:07:21.960 Last week I was 95 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:27.880 on a busy New York City street at the magical time of dusk. It was interesting 96 00:07:27.880 --> 00:07:33.220 to watch the people in New York, not a single person in the crowd pause to look 97 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:39.240 at or acknowledge the sunset and the gift of another day. It made me wonder 98 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:42.920 how many millions of urban dwellers go about their lives without ever really 99 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:48.340 seeing or ever really thinking about the miracle of the Sun rising in the morning 100 00:07:48.340 --> 00:07:50.240 and setting again in the evening. 101 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:56.340 Aside from a different view of their relationship to the natural world, many of the world's 102 00:07:56.340 --> 00:08:02.420 indigenous people also share a fragmented but still very present sense of responsibility 103 00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:08.180 for one another. Cooperation has always been necessary for the survival of tribal people 104 00:08:08.780 --> 00:08:14.640 and even today cooperation often takes precedence over competition in more traditional communities. 105 00:08:15.700 --> 00:08:20.220 It's really quite miraculous that a sense of sharing and reciprocity between tribes, 106 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:18.400 ! 107 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:21.340 The 108 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:36.360 ! 109 00:08:21.340 --> 00:08:21.440 ! 110 00:08:21.440 --> 00:08:21.540 ! 111 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:21.860 ! 112 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:22.560 ! 113 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:23.620 ! 114 00:08:27.320 --> 00:08:27.960 ! 115 00:08:28.740 --> 00:08:29.380 ! 116 00:08:29.380 --> 00:08:29.480 ! 117 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:29.660 ! 118 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:30.020 ! 119 00:08:30.020 --> 00:08:30.060 ! 120 00:08:30.060 --> 00:08:30.100 ! 121 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:31.880 ! 122 00:08:31.880 --> 00:08:31.900 ! 123 00:08:31.900 --> 00:08:32.040 ! 124 00:08:37.280 --> 00:08:58.700 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 125 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:04.000 in which low-income volunteers work together to build walking trails, community centers, 126 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:07.080 sports complexes, water lines, and houses. 127 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:14.260 This self-help movement taps into the traditional value of cooperation for the sake of the common good. 128 00:09:15.920 --> 00:09:21.580 Besides values, the world's indigenous people are also bound by the common experience of being 129 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:28.040 quote, discovered, unquote, and subjected to colonial expansion into their territories 130 00:09:28.040 --> 00:09:35.460 that led to the loss of an incalculable number of lives and millions and millions of acres of land and resources. 131 00:09:36.040 --> 00:09:39.700 The most basic rights of indigenous people were disregarded, 132 00:09:39.780 --> 00:09:47.000 and they were subjected to a series of policies that were designed to assimilate them into colonial society and culture. 133 00:09:48.160 --> 00:09:54.680 Too often, colonial policies resulted instead in poverty, high infant mortality, rampant unemployment, 134 00:09:55.400 --> 00:09:57.820 substance abuse, and all its attendant. 135 00:09:58.040 --> 00:10:02.400 The stories are shockingly similar all over the world. 136 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:10.180 When I read Achebe's Things Fall Apart, which chronicled the systematic destruction of an African tribe's social, 137 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:14.820 cultural, and economic structure, it sounded all too familiar to me. 138 00:10:15.940 --> 00:10:19.060 It's like they had a little black book in the back of their pocket that said, 139 00:10:19.100 --> 00:10:27.760 take the land, discredit the leaders, ridicule the traditional healers, send the children off to distant boarding schools. 140 00:10:28.040 --> 00:10:34.440 It happened in Africa, it happened in South America, it happened here, and it happened in the U.S. 141 00:10:34.740 --> 00:10:39.380 And when I first heard about the stolen generation report here in Australia, 142 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:43.720 I was very disturbed in a very deep way. 143 00:10:43.800 --> 00:10:49.860 My own father and my Aunt Sally were taken from my grandfather by the U.S. government 144 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:53.420 and placed in a boarding school when they were five and six. 145 00:10:55.740 --> 00:10:58.020 So the story here... 146 00:10:58.040 --> 00:11:02.660 is sad because it's so familiar, and it happened all over the world. 147 00:11:03.640 --> 00:11:09.020 And so I think when people have asked me repeatedly this week, 148 00:11:09.220 --> 00:11:16.760 what things do we have in common here, the people in the U.S., and the people here, and indeed people all over the world, 149 00:11:17.040 --> 00:11:23.820 I tell them that we're connected by our values, and we're also connected by our oppression. 150 00:11:25.680 --> 00:11:27.960 When contemplating the contemporary challenges, 151 00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:31.320 and problems faced by Indigenous people worldwide, 152 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:34.860 it's important to remember, always remember, 153 00:11:35.160 --> 00:11:42.880 that the roots of many current social, economic, and political problems can be found in colonial policies. 154 00:11:43.180 --> 00:11:47.740 And these policies continue today across the globe. 155 00:11:48.280 --> 00:11:53.280 The draconian intervention policy recently announced by the Australian government 156 00:11:53.280 --> 00:11:57.940 is an unbelievably misguided attempt to solve a series of problems. 157 00:11:57.940 --> 00:12:00.980 It's a series of social and economic problems in Indigenous communities 158 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:04.440 that the government itself helped create over time. 159 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:10.740 These policies were developed without talking to community leaders or elders. 160 00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:17.480 Indeed, in the same news cycle, there was another story about a community in the Gulf of Carpinteria 161 00:12:17.480 --> 00:12:22.760 that has dramatically decreased crime, increased the educational attainment level, 162 00:12:22.900 --> 00:12:25.820 and improved every other social indicator. 163 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:27.920 Community improvement is a key factor in the development of community development. 164 00:12:27.920 --> 00:12:28.760 The government's efforts to improve community development 165 00:12:28.760 --> 00:12:30.960 and the efforts to improve community development 166 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:34.800 are always more successful than those conceptualized by outsiders. 167 00:12:36.540 --> 00:12:39.780 The struggle continues in many other places as well. 168 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.200 In the Amazonian rainforest, Indigenous people are continually battling 169 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:47.680 large-scale destruction of their traditional home in the forest 170 00:12:47.680 --> 00:12:51.180 by multinational mining, oil, and timber companies. 171 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:56.160 Some small Amazonian Indigenous communities are on the verge of extinction 172 00:12:56.160 --> 00:12:57.900 as a result of the destruction of their homes. 173 00:13:01.040 --> 00:13:01.160 The American American Eastern 174 00:13:27.920 --> 00:13:33.820 rainforest. And a number of the international environmental groups working to protect the 175 00:13:33.820 --> 00:13:38.920 rainforest do little to protect the people of the rainforest who possess the best knowledge 176 00:13:38.920 --> 00:13:45.640 about how to live with and sustain the forest. It's not surprising that indigenous people 177 00:13:45.640 --> 00:13:50.880 are not in the consciousness of many people. There's too little accurate information about 178 00:13:50.880 --> 00:13:56.700 indigenous people available in educational institutions, in literature or films, or in 179 00:13:56.700 --> 00:14:01.820 the popular culture. The battle to protect the human and land rights of indigenous people 180 00:14:01.820 --> 00:14:08.560 is made immeasurably more difficult by the fact that so few people know much about either 181 00:14:08.560 --> 00:14:13.900 the history or contemporary lives of indigenous people. And without any kind of historical 182 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:22.020 context, it's almost impossible for outsiders to understand indigenous issues. The information 183 00:14:22.020 --> 00:14:26.600 that is available is often produced by non-native people, some of which 184 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:26.680 are not indigenous. Some of which are not indigenous. Some of which are not indigenous. 185 00:14:26.680 --> 00:14:31.260 The information being presented in Eastern American literature is being used in Eastern 186 00:14:31.260 --> 00:14:31.680 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 187 00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:34.320 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 188 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:36.020 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 189 00:14:36.020 --> 00:14:37.560 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 190 00:14:37.560 --> 00:14:37.640 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 191 00:14:37.640 --> 00:14:39.340 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 192 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:42.960 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 193 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:46.620 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 194 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.400 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 195 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:55.940 American literature, being used in Eastern American literature, being used in Eastern 196 00:14:55.940 --> 00:15:01.320 the other hand, romanticize them as innocent children of nature, spiritual but incapable 197 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:09.200 of higher thought. Either way, I think the stereotypes are very harmful. The stereotypes 198 00:15:09.880 --> 00:15:14.960 about Indigenous women are particularly appalling. While the role of Indigenous women in the 199 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:20.160 family and community now and in the past differs from community to community, women have always 200 00:15:20.160 --> 00:15:26.820 played very significant roles in tribal society. Yet in the media and the larger society, 201 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:32.740 the power, strength, and complexity of Indigenous women is rarely acknowledged or recognized. 202 00:15:33.180 --> 00:15:39.280 That will change in the future. Indigenous leaders now understand that there is a direct 203 00:15:39.280 --> 00:15:45.200 link between public perception and public policies and that they must frame their own 204 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:49.920 issues. If Indigenous people don't frame the issues for themselves, then public 205 00:15:50.160 --> 00:15:56.700 forums, their opponents most certainly will. In the future, as more Indigenous people become 206 00:15:56.700 --> 00:16:02.600 filmmakers, writers, historians, museum curators, and journalists, they'll be able to use a 207 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:08.180 dazzling array of technological tools to tell their own stories instead of having other 208 00:16:08.180 --> 00:16:11.720 people tell a very distorted story about them. 209 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:18.160 Earlier this week, a local journalist here in Adelaide asked me whether people in the 210 00:16:18.160 --> 00:16:20.120 U.S. had trouble accepting the 211 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:25.460 government of the Cherokee Nation during my tenure as principal chief. I was a little 212 00:16:25.460 --> 00:16:30.620 surprised by the question. The government of the Cherokee Nation actually predated the 213 00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:35.680 government of the United States, and the Cherokee Nation had treaties with other countries before 214 00:16:35.680 --> 00:16:41.700 it executed a treaty with one of the first U.S. colonies. Many of our tribal leaders 215 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:46.980 sent delegations to meet with the English, the Spanish, and the French in an effort to 216 00:16:46.980 --> 00:16:48.480 protect their lands and people. 217 00:16:49.380 --> 00:16:54.360 Traveling to foreign lands with a trusted interpreter, tribal ambassadors took maps 218 00:16:55.240 --> 00:17:00.480 that had been painstakingly drawn by hand to show their lands to heads of other governments. 219 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:07.320 They also took along gifts, letters, and proclamations. Though tribal leaders thought they were being 220 00:17:08.020 --> 00:17:14.380 dealt with as heads of state and as equals, historical records indicate that they were 221 00:17:14.380 --> 00:17:18.460 often merely objects of curiosity and there was a great deal of interest in the land. 222 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:22.240 The U.S. government was a great deal of disdain and ridicule of these earnest delegates. 223 00:17:23.780 --> 00:17:28.540 The journalist with a question about Cherokee government needn't apologize for her lack 224 00:17:28.540 --> 00:17:33.560 of knowledge about tribal governments in the U.S. Many people in the U.S. know very little 225 00:17:33.560 --> 00:17:39.340 about the history of indigenous people. And in my view, it's impossible to even contemplate 226 00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:45.160 the contemporary lives or future of indigenous people without some basic knowledge of tribal 227 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:48.460 history and culture. There are actually more than a hundred people in the U.S. who have 228 00:17:48.460 --> 00:17:53.020 more than 550 federally recognized tribal governments in the U.S. who have a direct 229 00:17:53.580 --> 00:17:57.980 government-to-government relationship with a federal government. The Department of Interior 230 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:03.640 is the unit of government that most frequently deals with tribal governments. Ironically, 231 00:18:03.760 --> 00:18:09.240 the Department of Interior began as the War Department and then evolved into the Department 232 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:10.340 of Interior over time. 233 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:17.080 The land base and population of tribal governments in the U.S. range from those with millions 234 00:18:17.080 --> 00:18:18.440 of acres to some with less than a hundred acres. The U.S. government is a very diverse and 235 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:22.460 diverse country with less than 25 acres of land. And the population ranges from the 236 00:18:22.460 --> 00:18:27.100 Navajo and Cherokee nations, each with an enrolled membership of more than a quarter of a million 237 00:18:27.100 --> 00:18:33.060 members to some tribal governments with less than 100 members. It's important to note that 238 00:18:33.060 --> 00:18:38.540 the population or land base of a sovereign entity does not determine the degree to which 239 00:18:38.540 --> 00:18:43.660 it enjoys the rights to self-governance. Just as the tiny principality of Monaco enjoys 240 00:18:43.660 --> 00:18:48.420 some of the same international rights as China and the U.S., tribal governments in the U.S. 241 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:05.720 exercise a range of sovereign rights. Most tribal governments have their own judicial 242 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:11.640 systems, operate their own police force, run their own schools, administer their own clinics 243 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:17.060 and hospitals, and operate a wide range of business enterprises. There are now over two 244 00:19:17.060 --> 00:19:18.400 dozen tribally controlled tribal governments. The U.S. government has a wide range of business enterprises. There are now over two dozen tribally controlled 245 00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:26.140 tribal community colleges. All these advancements benefit everybody in the community, not just 246 00:19:26.140 --> 00:19:32.980 tribal people. The history, contemporary lives, and future of tribal governments is intertwined 247 00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:39.020 with that of their neighbors. One of the most common misperceptions about indigenous people 248 00:19:39.020 --> 00:19:45.180 is that they are all the same. There is not only great diversity between indigenous peoples 249 00:19:45.180 --> 00:19:48.400 around the world, there is great diversity between indigenous peoples. There is great 250 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:53.500 diversity within each tribal community, just as there is in a larger society. If there 251 00:19:53.500 --> 00:19:58.760 is a high crime rate or alcoholism or drugs in one community, in the public there is a 252 00:19:58.760 --> 00:20:04.340 general assumption that the same is true for every tribal community. In yesterday's newspaper 253 00:20:04.340 --> 00:20:09.500 there was a lengthy article about the alcoholism problems on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which 254 00:20:09.500 --> 00:20:14.300 is one of the most troubled and most often written about tribal community in the U.S. 255 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:18.380 I have been repeatedly asked about the problems of alcoholism and drug use. The article is 256 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:24.660 alcoholism in our Cherokee communities. In truth, the alcoholism rate in Cherokee communities 257 00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:31.300 is about the same as in the larger society around us, perhaps a little lower. The University of 258 00:20:31.300 --> 00:20:37.700 Oklahoma once produced a chart showing the level of alcoholism among the 26 tribal governments in 259 00:20:37.700 --> 00:20:44.000 Oklahoma. In some cases, alcoholism was hardly a problem at all. In other cases, it was severe. 260 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:50.420 There are few, if any, news reports about the many dozens of innovative programs being 261 00:20:50.420 --> 00:20:56.220 administered by tribal governments, or the hotels in Washington, DC owned and operated by tribal 262 00:20:56.220 --> 00:21:01.980 government, or the retail outlets and shopping malls owned by Arizona tribes, or the airline 263 00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:10.700 company owned and operated by consortium of Canadian indigenous people. Again, each indigenous 264 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:13.980 community is unique, just as each community in the United States is unique. In the United States, 265 00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:20.720 the largest society is unique. Too many people, I believe, tend to view indigenous people through a 266 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:27.900 very narrow, one-dimensional lens. Alcoholism is a critical problem in Russia, yet the first question 267 00:21:27.900 --> 00:21:33.500 asked of Russian leaders is not about alcoholism in Russia. Russia is viewed, the Russian people 268 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:41.040 are viewed with a much wider lens, and the Russian citizens are seen as complex, multi-dimensional 269 00:21:41.040 --> 00:21:43.960 human beings. Indigenous people are not. 270 00:21:43.980 --> 00:21:51.040 So what does the future hold for indigenous people across the globe, and what are some 271 00:21:51.040 --> 00:21:55.260 of the challenges, and what does it mean to be an indigenous person in the 21st century? 272 00:21:55.980 --> 00:22:02.560 I believe that to see the future of indigenous people, one needs only look to the past. If 273 00:22:02.560 --> 00:22:10.680 we have, as a people, been able to survive a daunting loss of land, of rights, of resources, 274 00:22:10.940 --> 00:22:13.960 and lives, how can I not be optimistic? 275 00:22:13.980 --> 00:22:21.300 As a people, we will survive whatever challenges lie ahead, and 100 or 500 years from now, 276 00:22:21.460 --> 00:22:27.600 we'll still have viable indigenous communities. Without question, the combined efforts of 277 00:22:27.600 --> 00:22:32.800 governments and various religious groups to eradicate traditional knowledge systems has 278 00:22:32.800 --> 00:22:39.040 had a profoundly negative impact on the culture, as well as the social and economic systems 279 00:22:39.040 --> 00:22:43.660 of indigenous peoples. But if we've been able to hold onto our sense of community, 280 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:50.140 language, culture, and ceremonies despite everything, how can I not be optimistic about 281 00:22:50.140 --> 00:22:50.720 the future? 282 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:57.940 And though some original languages, ceremonies, and knowledge systems have been irretrievably 283 00:22:57.940 --> 00:23:04.060 lost, the ceremonial fires of many indigenous peoples across the globe have survived the 284 00:23:04.060 --> 00:23:10.480 storm and all its attendant upheaval. Sometimes indigenous communities that have been removed 285 00:23:11.060 --> 00:23:13.960 from their homeland have almost had to re-establish themselves. 286 00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:16.340 The indigenous people have been forced to reinvent themselves as a people, but they've 287 00:23:16.340 --> 00:23:21.960 never given up their sense of responsibility to one another and to the land. It is this 288 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:26.600 sense of interdependence that has sustained tribal people thus far, and I believe it will 289 00:23:26.600 --> 00:23:30.040 sustain them well into the 21st century and beyond. 290 00:23:30.980 --> 00:23:36.140 Indigenous people know about change and have proven time and time again that they can adapt 291 00:23:36.140 --> 00:23:41.040 to change. No matter where they go in the world, they hold onto a strong sense of tribal 292 00:23:41.040 --> 00:23:43.960 identity while interacting with and participating in the cultural and cultural events that make 293 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:45.200 them a part of society. 294 00:23:48.120 --> 00:23:53.980 In the state of Oklahoma, we have learned how to live very effectively in both worlds. 295 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:59.960 And just in our state alone, we have produced an astronaut, an indigenous astronaut, three 296 00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:07.780 wonderful prima donnas who are very active in their tribe, a prima ballerina, a United 297 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:13.780 States congressman, a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, and countless others who have made 298 00:24:13.980 --> 00:24:16.540 great contributions to the state and to the world. 299 00:24:17.300 --> 00:24:22.760 I believe that one of the great challenges for indigenous people within their own communities 300 00:24:22.760 --> 00:24:29.700 will be to develop practical models to capture, maintain, and pass on traditional knowledge 301 00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:36.100 systems to future generations in their communities. Nothing can replace the sense of continuity 302 00:24:36.100 --> 00:24:42.000 and knowing that a genuine understanding of traditional tribal knowledge brings. Many 303 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:43.460 communities are working on this. 304 00:24:43.460 --> 00:24:51.460 The American 305 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:17.720 Regrettably, in the future, the battle for human and land rights will continue. 306 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:23.460 Here in Australia, the fight for Aboriginal self-determination will be especially difficult, 307 00:25:23.800 --> 00:25:31.520 given the national government's past and present paternalistic policies and unwillingness to 308 00:25:31.520 --> 00:25:38.020 work in equal partnership with Aboriginal people to resolve entrenched problems. 309 00:25:39.360 --> 00:25:46.960 I have some faith, not everybody does, that if we can get a UN resolution passed supporting 310 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:50.060 the rights of Indigenous people, that will help. 311 00:25:50.180 --> 00:25:55.820 And there's some hope that a resolution that people have been working on for now over 30 312 00:25:55.820 --> 00:26:03.600 years will finally be passed when the United Nations convenes for its fall 2007 session 313 00:26:03.600 --> 00:26:04.320 in September. 314 00:26:04.620 --> 00:26:08.000 Interestingly, two of the nations opposing the resolution have already signed a resolution 315 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:11.100 in the United States and Australia. 316 00:26:12.080 --> 00:26:16.860 And in the U.S., the future looks somewhat better for tribal people due in large part 317 00:26:17.520 --> 00:26:22.660 to the self-governance and self-determination efforts of tribal government, particularly 318 00:26:22.660 --> 00:26:24.400 during the past four decades. 319 00:26:25.340 --> 00:26:30.080 There's a great deal of historical evidence that Indigenous people simply do better when 320 00:26:30.080 --> 00:26:31.800 we have control of our own lives. 321 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:37.200 In the case of my own people, after we were forcibly removed from the southeastern part 322 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:37.980 of the United States, we have a lot of history to tell. 323 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.300 The United States was once a state of the state to Indian territory, now Oklahoma. 324 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.020 We picked ourselves up and rebuilt our families, our communities, and our nation. 325 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:50.800 We started some of the first schools west of the Mississippi, Indian or non-Indian, and 326 00:26:50.800 --> 00:26:53.280 built schools for the higher education of women. 327 00:26:53.600 --> 00:26:57.840 We printed our own newspapers in Cherokee and English and were more literate than our 328 00:26:57.840 --> 00:26:59.140 neighbors in adjoining states. 329 00:27:00.540 --> 00:27:05.800 Then in the early 20th century, the federal government almost abolished the Cherokee nation. 330 00:27:06.320 --> 00:27:07.980 We lost our citizenship. 331 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:11.360 The American American American 332 00:27:12.100 --> 00:27:12.540 Nation escaped being escaped. 333 00:27:12.540 --> 00:27:13.380 The American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 334 00:27:14.520 --> 00:27:16.320 The American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 335 00:27:17.740 --> 00:27:20.300 The American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 336 00:27:20.300 --> 00:27:20.480 The American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 337 00:27:20.520 --> 00:27:20.540 The American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 338 00:27:20.540 --> 00:27:21.880 The American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 339 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:22.040 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 340 00:27:22.040 --> 00:27:22.140 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 341 00:27:22.140 --> 00:27:22.580 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 342 00:27:22.580 --> 00:27:23.660 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 343 00:27:23.660 --> 00:27:24.080 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 344 00:27:24.080 --> 00:27:24.260 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 345 00:27:24.780 --> 00:27:25.960 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 346 00:27:26.320 --> 00:27:27.240 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 347 00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:27.660 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 348 00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:30.260 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 349 00:27:30.800 --> 00:27:33.360 American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 350 00:27:33.660 --> 00:27:36.020 American American American American Nation escaped being escaped. 351 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:43.160 Again, Indigenous people simply do better when we have control over our own destiny. 352 00:27:44.540 --> 00:27:49.720 Harvard University recently completed over a decade of comprehensive research, which 353 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:54.440 has been published in a new and guardedly hopeful book entitled A State of Native Nations. 354 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.880 The research indicates that most of the social and economic indicators are moving in a positive 355 00:27:59.880 --> 00:28:00.280 direction. 356 00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:06.340 Many tribal governments are strong, educational attainment levels are improving, and there 357 00:28:06.340 --> 00:28:09.360 is a cultural renaissance occurring in many tribal communities. 358 00:28:11.660 --> 00:28:17.780 I think around the world there are a lot of conversations going on about what it means 359 00:28:17.780 --> 00:28:22.100 to be a traditional Indigenous person now and what it will mean in the future. 360 00:28:23.260 --> 00:28:28.000 In my view, it means being part of a group of people who possess some of the most valuable 361 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:34.380 and ancient knowledge on the planet, a people who still have a direct relationship with 362 00:28:35.040 --> 00:28:36.160 and sense of responsibility. 363 00:28:36.280 --> 00:28:36.320 Thank you. 364 00:28:36.340 --> 00:28:44.060 I think it means being part of a community that faces oppression, poverty, and a staggering 365 00:28:44.060 --> 00:28:49.280 set of problems but finds many moments of grace and comfort in traditional stories, 366 00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:50.580 language, and ceremonies. 367 00:28:52.760 --> 00:28:55.720 It means trusting our own thinking again. 368 00:28:55.880 --> 00:29:01.040 And not only articulating our own vision of the future but having within our communities 369 00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:05.720 the skill sets and leadership ability to make our own vision a reality. 370 00:29:07.580 --> 00:29:12.700 It means despite everything still being able to dream of a future in which the 371 00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:16.640 people of Australia and the world will support the human rights and 372 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:22.040 self-determination of Aboriginal people. Land and resources can be colonized but 373 00:29:22.040 --> 00:29:27.860 dreams can never be colonized. It means networking and sharing traditional 374 00:29:27.860 --> 00:29:31.280 knowledge and best practices with indigenous communities all over the 375 00:29:31.280 --> 00:29:36.260 world using the iPhone, Blackberry, Myspace, YouTube and every other 376 00:29:36.260 --> 00:29:41.480 technological tool that becomes available to us. It means being a 377 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:46.780 physician or a scientist or even an astronaut who will leave her 378 00:29:46.780 --> 00:29:52.440 footprints on the moon and then return home to participate in ceremonies that 379 00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:58.260 her people have held since the beginning of time. To be an indigenous person of the 380 00:29:58.260 --> 00:30:01.180 21st century means to pay attention to the Mohawk 381 00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:01.260 and the 382 00:30:01.260 --> 00:30:06.540 ! proverb that reminds all of us to channel our anger, to not go around with 383 00:30:06.540 --> 00:30:13.120 just anger in our heart and be paralyzed into inaction by anger about the past or 384 00:30:13.120 --> 00:30:18.140 the totality of problems we face today. The Mohawk asked us to keep our view 385 00:30:18.140 --> 00:30:22.740 firmly fixed on the future as we have always done and they teach us that it's 386 00:30:22.740 --> 00:30:25.840 hard to see the future with tears in your in your eyes. 387 00:30:26.060 --> 00:30:31.240 I am an indigenous woman of the 21st century and I'd like to leave you 388 00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:35.600 with the Mohawk proverb. It's hard to see the future with tears in your eyes. 389 00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:40.540 I'd like to thank you and hope my being here in Australia for a week has helped 390 00:30:40.540 --> 00:30:45.820 eliminate any stereotypes you might have had about what a chief looks like. Thank 391 00:30:45.820 --> 00:30:46.020 you. 392 00:30:56.820 --> 00:31:01.220 Did you want to sit and take questions? I love that. Okay, you want to sit and take questions? I love that. 393 00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:03.320 Thank you. 394 00:31:06.900 --> 00:31:08.020 Thank you. 395 00:31:09.320 --> 00:31:09.900 Thank you. 396 00:31:09.900 --> 00:31:17.700 We'll take some questions now. We have a microphone in the centre of the room here and we have one up the top right there. 397 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:19.040 Gentleman up the top. 398 00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:21.240 Yes. 399 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:31.220 Chief Mankeller, it's very good to hear you. And I'm thinking about the role of indigenous people in the world that we live in. 400 00:31:31.220 --> 00:31:31.320 The role of indigenous people. 401 00:31:31.320 --> 00:31:34.160