It's an Indian Thing in Packrat

“It’s an Indian thing you don’t understand.” We say that in Indian country when speaking of various matters, and although it’s meant more as a joke, it’s also true. Most people know there are things about us they don’t know and are respectful in asking and want to know for the right reasons; for instance, one of my clan brothers recently married a non-native girl. He’s traditional; she’s learning what that means. She asks a lot of questions so she can understand but she also knows when to be quiet.

When a clan has it’s feast, the clan members fast from midnight until the ceremony is done (usually around noon), and then we eat. She’s helped in that by making vegetable stew and frybread. She’s fed us, so we’re her friends forever! haha We like her - so much that I joked to my clan brother, “If she ever breaks up with you, remember: she’s breaking up with YOU, not us!”

Our lawsuit deals with a famous man in our tribe and our traditional beliefs. Those beliefs are important enough to be part of a law (NAGPRA, which says traditional practitioners must be consulted), but outsiders don’t seem to consider our religious beliefs as important as, say, the Catholic religion (I mention that because it’s been brought up in this case). It’s hard to explain the importance of our beliefs when someone doesn’t have anything to compare it to or doesn’t want to consider it.

One of the issues that caused Free Spirit’s breakup is our traditional belief practices. He’s a part of them but married to a non-native who doesn’t want to even hear his views. Not being a part of the culture or the people doesn’t mean you can’t understand or even participate (Clan Brother’s Wife has also taken part, nor is she the first non-native to do so).

My niece’s mother works at our tribe and has been a cook at our ceremonies. We get a head cook who then gets helpers. They have to cook an evening meal, clean up, and then get up around 3 a.m. to start cooking a full meal to be ready by 8 a.m. Then they have to keep bowls filled and clean up after. In the case of a funeral, they have to wait for the gravediggers to eat, and they’re not done until the deceased is buried and the grave is smoothed over. (They also get up around 3 a.m. to start digging the grave.)

Our tribe recognizes that we still do these ceremonies in a modern world and gives us “traditional” leave so we’re not using our own annual leave. Two of our elected leaders have been cooks, and a third’s daughter has been one. Niece’s mother’s supervisor has been giving her grief over anything she could think of - there’s a formal complaint by NM - and told her, when NM had to cook, that she had to come to work after she was done! That was pure stupidity - first, she works for a nation within a nation, and we have our own ways. She’s not expected to know all of them when she’s first hired, but she’s been here long enough to know 1) it’s really not open to question, but 2) she could ask what it means to cook. She doesn’t even have to ask NM if she doesn’t want to; she was here during the tenure of the former health director, who was a cook herself.

The current health director put a reprimand in NM’s file for going to the elected leaders when we have a public law that allows employees to go to our elected leaders AND without retaliation. He was made aware of this, since he didn’t bother to learn about our government before he started, but he did it anyway.

I’m giving a presentation there tomorrow and told the cousin who asked me that I’d have to start out with, “How stupid do you have to be to ignore a tribal identity WHEN YOU WORK FOR THAT TRIBE?” She agreed and suggested that I mention our sovereignty, which I do in a paper I compiled for new hires. A former tribal administrator held an orientation for new employees, and I send new hires the orientation paper, which consists of a brief history, our status as a nation within a nation with a government to government relationship with the U.S. (which also means the state has no jurisdiction over us), and a brief overview of our tribal traditional belief practices and how they affect the workplace.

Of course I won’t start that way, as most of the staff are understanding; my brother is a clan leader and works in the same facility in a different department. He has never had trouble with his supervisor about leaving for anything. She may not know exactly what we do, but she knows “it’s an Indian thing (she doesn’t) understand”. She’s interested, since she works for us, so my mom has answered her questions.

The cultural and traditional are what I know and work for; there are other ways in which working for a tribal government is different and can be affected by not finding out how and why. I know we’re facing some of that in our administration and finance departments. Every job is a learning experience; you can come in with all kinds of degrees and experience but each workplace has its own specific procedure for its own reasons. I’ve worked for another tribe myself; I may have an innate understanding because I’m a traditional, but there was no way I’d impose my own practices on another tribe’s ceremonies.

Someone coming to work in my country should know that this land is MY land; find out who I am!

Rant over.

Last updated November 19, 2014