[source: NativeNews; Mon, 17 Jul 2000 09:48:11 -0700] Editorials & Opinion Monday, July 17, 2000, 12:00 a.m. Pacific Guest columnist Native Americans assert rightful place at the table by W. Ron Allen Special to The Seattle Times "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." This bit of wisdom passed on to us from Plato is as true and relevant today as it was when he first said those words. As an American Indian and chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Indian Tribe, I know firsthand, and at times with brutal clarity, the impact of apathy amongst voters. Indian people have a unique perspective on our electoral system. Unlike virtually any other population in America, since we signed our treaties, our history, culture, economic well-being, and legal status are inextricably intertwined with American politics. Despite the mythology about Indian gaming, Indian reservations, generally, still have a 31 percent poverty rate (highest in the U.S.), and an unemployment rate six times the national average. Last year, the First American Education Project (FAEP) was created by a group of Tribal leaders to educate the public about issues of importance to Indian people. What has become clear is that while the public is strongly sympathetic to many issues of concern to American Indians, often there is a lack of understanding about some fundamental tenets, such as treaty rights and sovereignty. The recent actions by the Washington state Republican Party at their convention, in passing a resolution that calls for ". . . the executive and legislative branches of the federal government (to) immediately take whatever steps necessary to terminate all such non-republican forms of government on Indian reservations," is but the latest example of a dangerous ignorance on the part of policy makers. To attempt to downplay the significance of the resolution, in retrospect, is insufficient. The party, which has as its members many of our leading policy makers in Olympia and the "other" Washington, has an obligation to prevent its introduction in the first place by creating an environment wherein prejudice based on ignorance has no place. Precisely because Indian people have so much at stake in who creates the policies that directly impact them, FAEP will focus its energies this year on helping educate the public about issues presented in this year's elections. The importance of increasing public awareness of the issues that directly impact Indian people is perhaps best illustrated by the actions of U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton. The history of Sen. Gorton's actions against Indian people is renown. Whether it be his zealous (at times maniacal) representation against Washington state tribes' fishing rights, his attempts at punishing the Lummi Tribe by reducing their federal appropriations by 50 percent because of his close relationship with a local property-rights group in a water rights dispute with the tribe, or his proposals to destroy the right to self-governance that tribes acquired in exchange for relinquishing vast land and resources, Gorton appears to be on a personal mission against Indian Country. (Editor's note: Sen. Gorton repudiated the state GOP platform plank calling for an end to tribal government.) While Sen. Gorton is by no means new to Washington voters, he relies on voter apathy and a short memory to win at the polls. Virtually every survey of Washington voters shows that his political views are not at all representative of a majority of voters. Perhaps equally as important, his politics-as-usual tactics turn off voters and further alienate the citizenry. We in the Pacific Northwest have a long and treasured tradition of politicians who protect our natural heritage, work to bring people together, and condemn the "other Washington's" games of midnight legislative riders and back-room coziness with corporate lobbyists. The politics of division (rural vs. urban, everyone vs. Seattle, non-Indians vs. Indians, etc.) practiced by Gorton runs counter to our values in the Northwest. Further, his (heretofore) successful reformation of his image just prior to each election works only when voters don't take the time to study the record. The FAEP will work energetically to assure that voters don't forget. "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." Unfortunately, H. L. Mencken could have made that assessment of politics today while watching the Washington state Republican Party and Sen. Gorton appeal to fear and prejudice instead of bringing us together and honoring our shared heritage. Throughout this election season, FAEP will educate the public about the real Slade Gorton. Not the one we see now who is focused merely on his next election, but the "whole" Gorton who votes against a Patients Bill of Rights, against even the most moderate gun-control measures, and who let lobbyists from a Texas mining company write his legislation to exempt them from federal environmental laws and allow them to build a cyanide-leeching gold mine in the Okanogan. While there are some whose previous opposition to Gorton has been allayed by his support of funding for specific projects, it would be both disingenuous and hypocritical to be "bought off" by such measures. To allow his mere support for small, justifiable and essential project funding to mitigate his otherwise consistent and passionate attempts to dismantle Indian Country and jeopardize Washington's natural heritage would be to consciously ignore the hard lessons of the past. An educated electorate is the best defense to tyranny. Study up, learn who the candidates are and make an informed decision this November. --- W. Ron Allen is chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and vice president National Conference of American Indians.