"Dorreen Yellow Bird of The Grand Forks Herald interviews Ron His Horse Is Thunder, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for her "Prairie Voices" feature. His Horse Is Thunder talks about the challenges facing the tribe, including a high rate of suicide and loss of traditions, culture and language.
Q: You've been Standing Rock tribal chairman for two years. How do you
look at your position? Are you more like the king of a small kingdom or
a chairman of the board?
A: Most definitely like the chairman of the board. The tribal
chairman's powers are limited. The power to get things done actually
lies within the tribal council.
As chairman, you are a consensus builder. You may have ideas
you want to implement in terms of making the reservation better, but
you can't just dictate it and say this is how it's going to be. You
have build consensus with the tribal council to convince them that your
ideas are worth trying."
Oh, that would never work here with the Potawatomis because we have had a series of Type A personalities, you know the controlling types, running our government expecially the chair.
I understand the council is getting the extradition papers ready to haul the former chair back here to stand trial in our kangaroo court (remember that court Mamie?).
Posted by: Name withheld by request | September 17, 2007 at 08:54 AM