Now, the View From the Tribes

Fast on the heels of President Bush's State of the Union address, Joe Garcia, the new president of the National Congress of American Indians, unveiled the State of Indian Nations address yesterday in Washington. Why the timing?

So that the issues and agenda of Indian country might actually get noticed. When Indian country makes the news, it is usually bad. These days, for example, the Mississippi Band of Chocktaw Indians, a former client of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is bringing renewed scrutiny to laws that allow tribes, as sovereign governments, to donate unlimited amounts of money to political candidates.

In an address at the National Press Club, Garcia, governor of the Ohkay Owingeh of New Mexico tribe (formerly known as the San Juan Pueblo), said that the state of Indian nations is "strong." But he added that "four areas of great challenge" persist.

Those include law enforcement and public safety, particularly for border tribes dealing with illegal immigration; health care (American Indians have a life expectancy five years shorter than the rest of the country); education and the economy (only half of Indian students complete high school); and the Indian trust lawsuit -- a class-action lawsuit against the federal government for mismanaging Indian lands held in trust that has dragged on for 10 years.

Earlier, in an interview, Garcia, 52, reflected on the issue that most makes the news (tribal casino gambling); on stereotypes, old and new, that dictate how the rest of the nation views Indian country; and on why there are no quick fixes for the problems the NCAI is tackling.

-- Evelyn Nieves

Q How has the Abramoff scandal affected Indian country -- what do you think are the repercussions for tribes and gaming?

A That's a pretty sensitive issue right now. It's like the drunken-sailor scheme -- you see one drunken sailor, all sailors are drunkards. Same as in Indian country. The Indian issues are going to be scrutinized. I think that's not right -- in every case that I'm aware of, we've followed the law about lobbyists. But the seriousness of it for Indian country is that we will be impacted by it.