Swiftcanoeing

Wednesday night meetings have become, I think, regular. Now I am perfectly aware that by our Tribal laws we are required to hold them twice per month, so to use the word “regular” in historical context is kind of redundant. Of course they’ve always been regular, duh!

But what I really mean is that Wednesday night meetings have come to mirror different American social institutions, like book clubs, bowling leagues, organized pick-up games down at the local parks, etc. They have come to feature the same cast of characters, many of whom show up early, converse, and at times even plot attacks. In our job because you are privvy to so much information that most people aren’t, when we convene the meetings a quick scan of faces in the crowd can often predict what will be brought up under Other Business and by who. There are a handful of people whose mere presence at the meeting immediately sets my mind racing, because while the reasons aren’t always obvious, I fully expect them to attack somebody, once in a while me. Sadly, that new instinct has been born of experience.

The July 2 meeting was close to being that kind of meeting, with the exception that there would not necessarily be people lining up to attack me, but they would be there to attack the anonymous person who had mailed out a letter that was basically an indictment of our Tribal Vice-Chair and his family. Who spoke, and what they said, I could have just about scripted out myself ahead of time. And it was hard to bite my tongue, because there is a certain word we have in English that is used to describe the act of doing the same things that we denounce, usually unawares, and if there were some magical way to convert this into oil, what happened Wednesday night could have solved our nation’s fuel crisis. I am exaggerating of course, but you get the point. In thinking of the names of those present that night, I could probably come up with half a dozen or so that had at one point been attached to some sort of negative political letter, which goes to show that many of us still rarely equate our actions with that which we despise. Even from my college days, I remember being taught the psychological theory of cognitive dissonance.

What I find most ironic about the whole situation is that Monday night I had watched a special news story on CNN about John McCain and his military service. Evidently General Wesley Clark, an Obama supporter, had made some remarks about how that McCain being shot down in a plane during Vietnam didn’t automatically qualify him to be president. I understand what Clark was trying to say, but he might have chosen his words more carefully. The McCain camp was outraged by the comments, and as would be expected sent an emissary to respond, a fellow Vietnam veteran who interviewed for the piece. To this day I will never understand why the McCain campaign, in this story, would send one of the leaders of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth to denounce perceived attacks on McCain’s military service, and the reporter covering th story obviously picked up on the same thing. Not surprisingly, the McCain rep felt there were sharp differences between this present debacle and what happened to John Kerry in 2004…

I spoke briefly and vaguely toward this Wednesday night, noting that when first elected I always believed that politics in Indian Country would and should be different than mainstream, especially presidential politics. But they aren’t, and I pointed out that there were people in the audience who had spat on the now-infamous Leno-family letter but who had applauded when attacks were made at me, or Angie Blackwell, or Kathleen Tom. If we are serious about changing the politics, I told people, the practice of turning a blind eye to attacks on those we don’t like or support politically and acting indignant when we or those in our group are on the receiving end needs to end. We need to make this kind of crap unacceptable regardless of who it happens to.

My improvised speech drew applause, though that did little to satisfy me. Only the future will show if all the grandstanding Wednesday night was legitimate and sincere, or just that, grandstanding. I have no choice but to wait and see.