American Indian Constitutional Reform and the Rebuilding of Native Nations

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS Jaime Barrientoz Jaime Barrientoz is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians located in the northwest part of Lower Michigan. He is the former vice chair of the Grand Traverse Band, chair of the Band’s Constitutional Reform Committee, and chair of its Economic Development Corporation. Prior to his service on the Band’s Tribal Council and Economic Development Corporation, he worked in the Band’s casinos for approximately eleven years. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Native American Rights Fund. He lives in Peshawbestown, Michigan, with his wife, Tara, and three children. Martha Berry After spending twenty-five years as wife, mother, and travel agent, Martha Berry began teaching herself American Indian beadwork in 1994. After seven years of study, experimentation, and discipline, she is becoming well known as a Cherokee and Southeastern Woodlands beadwork artist. Her work, inspired by the creations of Southeastern Woodlands Native American beaders prior to 1840, can be found in museums and private collections throughout the United States and England. She served as a delegate to the Cherokee Nation’s 1999 Constitution Convention . A Cherokee Nation citizen living in Tyler, Texas, she is actively involved in Cherokee community organizations in Texas and New Mexico as well as the Cherokee National Historical Society, and is a charter member of the First Families of the Cherokee Nation. Steve Brady, Sr. Steve Brady, Sr. is a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. He is fluent in the Cheyenne language and is a headsman of the Northern Cheyenne Crazy Dog Society. He is a teacher of tribal government, tribal history, and Cheyenne language at Lame Deer High School, president of the Northern Cheyenne Sand Creek Massacre Descendants, and co-chair of the Northern Cheyenne Sand Creek Massacre Site Committee. He served as vice chair and subsequently chair of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s Constitution Revision Committee from 1990 to 1994. He has testified on numerous occasions before the U.S. Congress on sacred sites and religious freedom for Native Americans and legislation pertaining to the Sand Creek Massacre and treaty rights. His Cheyenne name is Taa’evaho’nehe, or Night Wolf. Duane Champagne Duane Champagne is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa from North Dakota. He is a professor of sociology and American Indian studies and a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the UCLA Native Nations Law and Policy Center, and is acting director of the Tribal Learning Community and Educational Exchange. He was Director of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center from 1991 to 2002 and editor of the American Indian Culture and Research Journal from 1986 to 2003. He has authored or edited more than ninety publications , including Native America: Portraits of the Peoples, The Native North American Almanac, and Social Order and Political Change: Constitutional Governments among the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek. Steven Chestnut Steven Chestnut has been a partner since 1974 in Ziontz, Chestnut, Varnell, Berley & Slonim, a law firm representing Indian tribes for more than forty years. He is currently the firm’s most senior partner. His practice focuses on the areas of tribal governance, environmental matters, cultural matters, commercial development , mineral development, timber development, water rights, litigation including United States Supreme Court litigation, and securing federal legislation. Mr. Chestnut has represented the Northern Cheyenne Tribe since 1973. Leonard D. Dixon Leonard D. Dixon is a Persian Gulf War (Desert Shield/Desert Storm) veteran of the United States Navy and an enrolled member of the Lummi Nation. He is the past Community Education and Outreach Coordinator within the Lummi Nation Constitution Office. He continues to work for the Lummi Nation as a 334 American Indian Constitutional Reform About the Contributors 335 member of the policy team within the chairman’s office. He is also a principal of LD Consulting Services, which provides environmental planning and policy support to tribal governments, and a partner of Chachoosen Enterprises, LLC, a land acquisition and development company intended to strengthen the development of the Lummi Nation’s reservation economy at Lummi. Michelle Dotson Michelle Dotson is Legal Counsel in the Office of the Navajo Nations President/ Vice President. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of the Navajo Nation’s Office of Government Development. She is a member of the Navajo Nation. Joseph Thomas Flies-Away Joseph Thomas Flies-Away (Hualapai) is...