I just finished reading Margaret Truman's Women of Courage. The book profiles
women of courage in American history. Margaret Chase Smith was one of the first
to stand up to Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the 1950's. As I was reading about
Sen. McCarthy, I couldn't help but compare his tactics to modern tribal leaders.
McCarthy had his Communists. Tribal leaders have their racists. Both raise ugly
clouds over those so labeled. Unlike McCarthy, tribal leaders show no sign of
being censured by anyone.
McCarthy
has been called the "most gifted demagogue ever bred on these shores." He found
a magic wand to focus attention on him during the Cold War era: the word "communist."
He found them everywhere, working in government, holding public office, the film
industry. The word brought fear and loathing by the American people, and brought
fear to those accused of being communist. Many careers and lives were ruined
because of McCarthy.
For
five years, he captured the American psyche and held it hostage. He was a hero
to most but a villain to a few. During the height of his rein, he "walked, then,
with a heavy tread over large parts of the Constitution of the United States,
and he cloaked his own gross figure in the sovereignty it asserts and the power
it distributes." said one commentator.
Tribal
leaders' magic wand is the word "racist." In the era of political correctness,
being labeled a racist creates much the same fear in the recipient as being
called a "communist" did in the 1950s. Jobs are lost, lawsuits are filed, and
businesses are destroyed. Tribal leaders, like Sen. McCarthy, know this. They
know the power they wield and, like Sen. McCarthy, wield it very efficiently.
Like McCarthy, it is used exclusively for their own benefit. Unlike McCarthy, no
one is stepping forward to rein in the power of the tribal leaders. Where is
Margaret Chase Smith when you need her?
Tribal
leaders use the label "racist" to stop any legislation that would bring
accountability to tribal governments or constitutional freedoms to tribal
members. The word silences the press that threatens to expose the corruption of
tribal administrations. The word snips at criminal indictments of tribal leaders
in an effort to cut off any accountability for actions. The word has power, but
it has only the power the American people assign to it. It is time we take back
the power from the word. Let's call a spade a spade. We are doing a disservice
to tribal members when we allow tribal leaders to sidestep responsibility by
using the word "racist." As long as tribal leaders can use the label "racist" to
stop accountability, we are encouraging a culture of corruption in Indian
Country.