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4 Starting from Scratch Struggling to Improve Indian Lives After she was fired from her job of fourteen years because of persistent absenteeism caused by health problems, Mildred Smith of the Louisiana Band of Choctaw found herself in a dire situation. A mother of four, Smith was burdened with sight and hearing impairments. Although resourceful enough to continue earning an income with a part-time position as a telephone operator at a law office, she was unable to procure quality health insurance coverage .In need of a new pair of trifocal glasses and set of hearing aids—a more pressing necessity given her difficulty hearing the phone ring at work—a desperate Smith wrote a hasty letter to the Louisiana Office of Indian Affairs (LOIA) in 1982. “Any help you give me would be greatly appreciated,” Smith wrote after first recounting the other resources she had already explored. She reached out to LOIA as her last hope.1 A few weeks after Smith’s letter arrived at the Louisiana Office of Indian Affairs (LOIA), an even more alarming letter came to the desk of the executive director. Elsie Billiot of the Houma community claimed to be at her “wit’s end,” as things seemed to be getting “steadily worse” for her, her tenyear -old son, and her two teenage daughters. There must be “some sort of program to help needy families,” Billiot wrote after itemizing how she spent her monthly income of $463.20. With approximately $2.06 left after paying rent and utilities, the family could not afford adequate medical insurance or groceries. Also, with one of her daughters in need of medical care for a hearing problem and all of the children needing dental care, Billiot felt compelled to seek outside help. The most immediate concern, however, was the lack of food. “We are completely out of food except a few cans of vegetables,” Billiot explained. “We have been having to go next door and eat with my sister.” 100 Chapter 4 Like Smith, Billiot also sought aid elsewhere before writing to the state Indian agency for help. She explained how she had applied for food stamps but could not wait the thirty-plus days necessary for her application to be processed . Fearing that her family would soon starve, Billiot stressed, “We need help now.”2 As mothers, the primary source of income for their families, and members of non–federally recognized tribal communities,Smith and Billiot represented dozens of other women and men whose economic situations inspired them to pick up a pen and write to the Indian commissions for aid. These letters reflected not only the immediacy of their needs but also the success of tribal leaders in awakening Indians to the existence of state offices established to represent their interests. Even more telling than the letters, however , were the responses to them as commission staff revealed their struggles to provide even the most basic aid. Despite the strides made in the movement throughout the 1970s, the 1980s ushered in a new set of challenges in meeting the needs of Indian people. With the Reagan administration’s budgetary cutbacks—particularly in programs and services most sought after by southern tribes—and the institution of a block grant system that gave funding discretion to state governments, state offices could do little to help people like Smith and Billiot.3 The 1980s proved to be a difficult time for southern tribal development as leaders struggled with limited resources to build the economic and political infrastructures of tribal governments while responding to the immediate needs of their community members. “[Tribes] had fun in the 1970s,” reflected one Louisiana tribal chairman who fondly remembered the “brainstorm meetings” and support rallies that marked the early years of the movement, but he continued, “hard times are here with us now.”4 Poarch Creek leaders agreed, calling the period a “crisis situation” that demanded strategic planning.5 Tribal leaders in Alabama and Louisiana maneuvered through this economic and political “crisis” by creatively procuring, coordinating, and delivering services to their Indian populations.Despite the diverse range of attitudes and approaches employed by tribal leaders, they agreed to focus on alleviating problems associated with poverty, poor health care, and housing, as well as limited education and unemployment in Indian communities.“We all have people that are in bad shape,” recognized one Louisiana tribal chairman in a 1981 meeting.6 The daunting questions, however, revolved around where to begin, whether tribal governments or consortiums should apply...

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