One of the nation's finest civil-rights warriors is dead at 49.

Scott Kayla Morrison, member of the Choctaw tribe, brilliant lawyer, and warrior for civil rights for both Indian and non-Indian peoples died last August 8. And I'm still in mourning for this remarkable woman, so I thought I'd tell you more about her.

When I first heard of her work to obtain civil rights for Indians on Reservation Land (called Trust Land in Oklahoma), and her battles to change what she saw as a destructive Indian Child We l f a re Act, I sent her a letter and some CERA information. Evidently, she read it, because she called me and introduced herself by saying, "I'd heard you we re as bad as the KKK and Hitler all wrapped into one, but I read your information and I think what you're trying to do is just fine. I'd like to meet you in person."

And there began an association that I'll always treasure. Scott was not only a student of the law, she was a fine writer and communicator. She believed that without the protection of the U. S. Constitution, tribal members we re particularly vulnerable to abuses by tribal governments, and she could explain the law and the abuses in terms anyone could understand. She took on the toughest civil rights cases, she wrote articles, she went to Washington with the CERA group, explaining the facts, the myths and the injustices to many groups. And all the while, debunking the notion that those who opposed the current federal Indian policy were racists.

When I appeared with her on KSTP radio last March, to explain to the talk-show hosts the kinds of situations she was talking about, she told the story of how three Choctaw citizens (including a 64-year-old grandmother) we re arrested for passing out political literature on tribal land. And when it was found that there was no such crime, they we re charged with a variety of other crimes which threatened jail times of 3 to 5 years. Those arrested we re forced to defend themselves , even though they we re being tried in a supposedly federally-administered court. "One thing is sure," she said, "The U.S. Constitution does not apply on Choctaw land, even though federal criminal jurisdiction is being exercised ."

On the same radio show, she outlined the economics of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She told how Congress has been allocating roughly $3 billion a year for 25 years to the BIA for less than 1,000,000 tribal members (last year they asked for $9.4 billion). "Where does the money go?" Asked the hosts, for it was as obvious to them as to us there are many unmet needs on reservations. "For my tribe," said Scott, of every dollar, 89 cents goes to BIA administration. (My translation: bureaucracy.) "That leaves 11 cents that comes to the tribe," she went on. "Now, tribes can take an indirect administrative cost, which is determined by the BIA. It ranges from 40-60% (of the 11 cents) depending on the tribe. Ours (Choctaw) is 43%. So of the 11 cents that comes to our tribe, 5.5 cents goes to support 1% of our population, the tribal administration. That leaves the other 99% of the population 5.5 cents of every dollar. My share, as a non-administrative individual, is .0005 cents!"

When a person dies, there is a certain kind of immortality in their thoughts and ideas as they have been written or recorded during their lifetime. Carl Sagan, the scientist who awakened non-scientific America to the wonder and vastness of the universe with his book and TV series Cosmos in the 80's, was once asked in an interview what he thought was the most important discovery of humankind in our history on earth. Without hesitation he said, "Written language." W h e n asked why, he explained that any of us could have the same thought in the same way as Platoor Aristotle or anyone had thousands of years before.

After the Supreme Court Mille Lacs treaty case decision, Scott wrote a letter to Sandra Day O' Conner, who had delivered the court opinion, about her disappointment with the decision. In it she wrote, "The decision is a case of the federal-tribal symbiotic relationship. Tribes have no legitimacy--legally or economically--without the federal government. The federal government uses tribes as a vehicle to expand federal authority extra -constitutionally. Nowhere in this decision is tribal sovereignty or tribal regulation mentioned. The Supreme Court said that the federal government and state governments share regulatory authority. Nonetheless, the federal government delegated its regulatory authority to the tribe. This means the tribe is exercising federal authority without any safeguards or accountability of the U.S. Constitution. This is not inherent tribal sovereignty. Tribes, by this process, have become a land-laundering, money laundering operation for the federal government."

"As a lawyer and a Choctaw woman, I am deeply concerned by the implementation of the court's decision. It perpetuates the myth of inherent tribal sovereignty, when the reality is tribes are wards of the federal government. By hiding behind tribal authority that is not accountable under the U.S. Constitution, the federal government may develop two sets of laws to govern Indians and non-Indians with no liberty guarantees. It perpetuates separatism and divisiveness which is not allowed with any other group of people. With the assistance of the federal government, tribal law becomes 'separate but superior. '

Scott Kayla Morrison is gone, but at least we still have her thoughts and words.