Reznet

Inauguration a Chance to Be Inspired, Reminded

By Kevin Abourezk

In August, I joined thousands of journalists, politicos and young volunteers in Denver for the Democratic National Convention.

As journalists for this Web site, Victor Merina, Jaime Hughes and I wrote stories about Native leaders who traveled to the convention in the hopes of making their people's stories known.

With backpacks filled with video equipment, notebooks and a laptop slung over our shoulders, we hiked for miles over the course of three days in downtown Denver, interviewing established and up-and-coming Native leaders.

The culmination of the weeklong convention was Barack Obama's acceptance speech - and he didn't disappoint, inspiring his audience of 84,000 with his signature message of hope.

In five days, Obama ends one journey and begins another. I wish I could be there to see him take the stage again, see him swear an oath to protect the Constitution and take the office of president.

Alas, I won't be among the throngs on Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday. Instead, I'll be in my Lincoln, Neb., newsroom, watching him on TV do what no other black person has done.

I don't know exactly what I'll feel in that moment, but, if it's anything like the convention, it will likely be an oil-and-water mixture of hope and alienation.

Yes, this is history.

Yes, a black president is a step in the right direction for minority people.

Yes, Obama has reached out to Native people more than any presidential candidate in recent history, perhaps symbolized best by his adoption into the Crow Tribe, who gave him the name "Barack Black Eagle."

Still, I may wonder: where are Indian Country's representatives in Washington, D.C.? Shouldn't the fact that we make up 2 percent of the U.S. population mean we deserve more than just one lonely congressman, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma?

What happened to the White House-level Native policy adviser position Obama promised to create if elected? With nearly all his of cabinet and White House staff chosen, is Obama really going to fulfill his promise to Indian Country and give us a voice among his closest advisers?

History has been a strict teacher to Indian people, ever reminding us of the duplicity of fine words and the ephemeral nature of real change when it comes to politicians addressing Native problems.

Still, as Indian people, we've certainly earned the right to feel inspired by a president who seems to share our ideals and troubled history.

But we should be careful not to let those politicians who ask for and win our votes forget their promises.
We should remind them at every turn of their sweet rhetoric.

And we should always remember who we are - a proud and sovereign people willing to give our country a second chance while still mindful of its deplorable past.

Kevin Abourezk's "Red Clout" columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet's "Red Clout" political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

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