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Elizabeth Homer: "People are afraid of that word, sovereignty."AIJI Photo by Adelle Watts

That Scary Word: Sovereignty

By Jamie Hughes

VERMILLION, S.D.—Elizabeth Homer says one message would clear up much confusion about Indian affairs: Tribes are governments.

Homer, one of the top experts on Indian gaming in Indian Country, told Native American journalism students about the importance they make within Indian Country and the policies formed there.

"Tribal sovereignty is the backdrop of all of Indian affairs of all Indian relationships in this country," said Homer, a member of the Osage Nation and the founder of Homer Law. "People are afraid of that word, sovereignty. Sovereignty is a lot more mundane."

According to Homer, sovereignty simply means the power to govern oneself. The government has the power to provide basic services — such as police departments, judges and social workers — for tribal members because the state does not provide these services, she said.

Homer also spoke about tribal gaming issues. She mentioned a 2002 Time magazine report about tribal gaming that "inflicted enormous damage to tribes politically in Washington." She said the article made Indian gaming look like the rich owners were oppressing their people and keeping all the money. Homer is also the former vice chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

"The fact of the matter is that gaming is just like anything else, any other subject you're going to cover," Homer said. "There are going to be good aspects of it, there are going to be things that are negative, and what you're shooting for as a journalist, I would hope, is a fair and balanced coverage of the issue."

Gaming revenues are like state property taxes to tribes, revenues are used exclusively for governmental purposes, and no one person benefits, she said.

After the speech, Homer answered questions from the audience of journalism students. April Gregory, of the Crow Tribe, asked what Homer thought were other benefits from gaming. When gaming started getting big in the 1980s, Homer said, she thought gaming would be negative for the tribes. She said over the course of her life she has seen the difference in communities, and crime and social problems have gone down in Indian country where the community's economy has grown.

"Yes, we still do have pockets of severe poverty in the United States," Homer said. "Not every tribe has a good gaming market, but it has made a humongous difference."

Indian Country is more exciting than it used to be, said Homer, former director of the Interior Department's Office of American Indian Trust. Homer also gave other advice for journalists covering American Indians who do not want to talk. She said one must have a sense of humor about themselves and patience in life.

One student said she was more interested in the gaming issue. Sarah Brubeck, of the Cherokee Nation, 19, said she had never been interested in gaming before, but that listening to Homer speak with knowledge made her look at tribal governments in a different way.

"We're all beginning on our career path," said Patrick Delabrue, a Menominee AIJI student. Homer "can be an inspiration to anyone with challenges."

[EDITORS' NOTE: This story was written as a class assignment at the American Indian Journalism Institute and originally published on AIJI: Freedom Forum Diversity Institute. It is used with permission.]

Jamie Hughes, Creek, is studying journalism at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. After graduating from the Freedom Forum's 2008 American Indian Journalism Institute in June, she interned as a reporter at the Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls, S.D.

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