Indian Voices: Listening to Native Americans

2. “Indians 101”: Elizabeth Lohan Homer (Osage)

18  c h a p t e r 2 “Indians 101” elizabeth lohah homer (osage) In her sparkling office at Homer Law, a few steps off Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Lohah Homer was having her standard lunch of “roast beast” sandwich, as she calls it, Diet Coke, and a small bag of Utz potato chips. Resplendent in a black-and-pink-pinstriped power suit that perfectly complemented her black hair and pink fingernails, Elizabeth, an attractive and hearty woman with a dimple in her chin and a voice that carries , was talking between bites and sips about myths—not myths that figure in tribal creation stories, but myths that non-Natives believe about Natives. As she talked, she looked increasingly exasperated. A common myth: only tribal members live on reservations. “The impression is that tribes are somehow divorced from the rest of the country. Most reservations today, like my own, the Osage Reservation, are populated with people from all different races, creeds, colors, and religions.” Few if any reservations, she added, do not include nontribal members. A more harmful myth: Native Americans do not pay taxes. “The fact of the matter is, Indians do pay taxes like everybody else, but there are some limited exceptions.” In Elizabeth’s opinion, the tax issue “is among the most poorly understood by nontribal members, and has caused no end of grief for tribal peoples over the years, particularly when it comes to politics.” A particularly harmful myth: Native people get government handouts. Again, wrong. “This is one of the most entrenched misconceptions, ideas, myths . . . call it what you want, it’s absolutely, completely wrong. Indians CH002.qxd 12/14/10 7:43 AM Page 18 do not get ‘free money from the government just because they’re Indians.’” Yes, tribal governments receive federal subsidies for such matters as fire and police protection, she said, after a sip of Diet Coke, “but these types of federal subsidies are provided to state and local governments as well.” A tribal member may get federal welfare aid, too, like any other citizen. The “free money” myth began, she believes, when the U.S. Treasury, after collecting payments and royalties from lands that tribes leased out, usually for the development of oil, gas, minerals, or timber, sent checks for the payments and royalties to tribal members. Once the checks were seen in town, perhaps by a bank teller, the myth began. “No matter how many times you put out the information—you write it down, you clarify it, you testify before the Hill, you do videos—it seems to be one of those intransigent myths that people can’t get over. Myths like these make it very difficult for tribes to work on certain kinds of legislation or deal with policy makers. You always have to start at the very beginning.” That she does, over and over. Among Native Americans, the endless introductory lessons, usually to people of power, influence, and ignorance, are known ironically as “Indians 101.”1 “I’ve taught ‘Indians 101’ courses many, many times. I can’t tell you how many.” She added, wiping pink lips, she continues to teach the courses because tribes face so many difficulties “based upon stereotypes and ignorance . Ignorance and stereotypes, it kind of goes hand in hand.” “We’re either stoic and noble or tragically flawed, you know? I get so tired of that.” Like many other Native people, she loved the television series Northern Exposure for showing “a complex, diverse, varied world. An incredibly fascinating and interesting one filled with all kinds of different personalities—people with different interests, thoughts, ideas, and ways of doing things.” She went on, almost imploringly, “The real world, the way it really is for tribal people, is infinitely more interesting and complex than I think most people in this society appreciate. I enjoyed Northern Exposure because here would be all the Natives sitting around in Levis and a cowboy shirt, talking about nuclear power and geoglobal politics. That’s really how it is. Tribal people are intelligent. They’re part of the twenty-first century. You’re not trapped in some nineteenth-century doomsday scenario. It’s a elizabeth lohah homer 19 CH002.qxd 12/14/10 7:43 AM Page 19 survival story, it’s uplifting, triumph of the human spirit, all of that,” she said, waving pink nails. To...