Hail to the Chief A conversation with Wilma Mankiller BY BILL RODRIGUEZ

Other women have headed tribal governments in America, but former Chief Wilma Mankiller was the first to do so for one of the largest tribes, the Cherokee Nation. She will give the keynote address of the second annual Ivy Native Council Conference, titled " Honoring Our Ancestors, Strengthening Our Communities: A Call to Action, " on Saturday, February 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Brown University’s Salomon Center (call [401] 863-3080). The talk will be open to the general public and admission is free.

The Cherokee Nation is second in size only to that of the Navahos. Initially the tribe’s community development director, Mankiller was elected deputy chief in 1983. Two years later, upon the resignation of the principal chief, she assumed his post. That gave the 70,000-member Oklahoma tribe time to observe her leadership before they elected her to that position, with 56 percent of the vote, in 1987. Four years later 83 percent voted for her.

Named Ms. magazine’s Woman of the Year for 1987, Mankiller was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in New York City in 1993, and was given a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1998. Her 1999 autobiography is titled Mankiller: A Chief and Her People, and she compiled an anthology, Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women, in 2004.

Mankiller spoke recently from Hawaii, where she was vacationing.

Q: America has always been more of a stew than a melting pot. For Native Americans, what proportion of assimilation and cultural identity is optimal?

A: Well, I don’t know if you can parse it like that. I think that what tribal people have learned to do for many, many, many years is how to interact with society around them fully and still hold onto a strong sense of who they are. And values — traditional values. Traditional knowledge systems, tribal knowledge systems, can go with you anywhere. If you decide you want to be an astronaut or want to be in banking or want to be a teacher, whatever you want to do you can take a set of values with you.

Q: Yes, self-identity and social identity are very important to you. In 1969 the occupation of the former Alcatraz prison kick-started you into social activism. Where do you suggest that Native Americans look for inspiration today?

A: That’s an interesting question. I just did a little event at the Institute of American Indian Art in Washington. There were a lot of young Native people there. And the biggest question for them was what I just talked about. One of the issues that they’re trying to grapple with is: " How do I maintain a strong sense of who I am as a Navajo or Lakota or Creek or whatever? How do I hold on to that and still fully engage in the world around me? " It’s a very important question for young people, and I think they’re doing a much better job in figuring it out than we ever did in my generation.

Q: In the past you’ve pointed out that women historically played strong roles in tribal governments but eventually " adopted a lot of ugly things that were part of the non-Indian world, " which included sexism. Has that situation gotten better in your experience?

A: Absolutely. Absolutely. Just in the past maybe three decades we’ve seen many, many more women step up and form leadership roles with central governments.

Q: That’s encouraging. One thing that isn’t encouraging: the Blackfeet Nation is still waiting for the billions of misallocated dollars that a federal judge in 1999 said they are owed. What would it take for it to improve the relationship between Native American nations and the federal government?

A: I think what’s happened, in a nutshell, is that the tribes have changed dramatically in the last two decades or so. Dramatically. In their capacity and their ability to return to a state of self governance. And the federal government, the agencies that deal with tribes, have not quite kept up with that. I can’t say that unequivocally — there are parts of the federal government that have done an excellent job and then there are other parts of the federal government that are just a slow bureaucracy.

Q: Do you see in the reasonable future an elimination of the paternalistic attitude of the federal government toward the nations?

A: No doubt. I don’t think that paternalism is necessarily confined to the federal government. I think there is a great deal — still — of nonsensical stereotypes about Native American people. And there’s a great deal of paternalism in the general public. So it’s going to take an awful long time for that to change.

Q: Have you ever regretted not running again for tribal leader back then in 1995 to spend more time on local projects?

A: Not at all. No, I felt that I spent 18 years at the Cherokee Nation, 12 in elective office and I kind of felt that toward the end I began to sound a little like the people that I used to protest against.

Q: How so?

A: I just became too comfortable, you know? I started to defend the system — you know what I mean? I also think that people should limit the amount of time they spend in office. I’m not necessarily for enforced term limits, but people should really think about how long they want to spend in elective office. You come in, you have all these great ideas and new initiatives. And there’s a certain period of time when you might want to think about stepping aside and letting new people with new ideas come along. So I’ve never had a second’s regret.