Chickasaw Listening Conference brings tribal members together
OKLAHOMA CITY - The 2008 Chickasaw Listening Conference, held Feb. 19 - 22, brought together more than 300 tribal members who live outside the Chickasaw Nation in south-central Oklahoma.
The conference was convened by Chickasaw Gov. Bill Anoatubby to acknowledge the importance and influence of the two-thirds of tribal members who live outside the 13-county boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation as established by treaty in 1856.
Conference participants attended facilitated workshops to make recommendations concerning the Chickasaw Nation's health, housing, education and aging programs for at-large tribal members.
''Wherever you live, you're still Chickasaw, and we want to include you,'' he told attendees in opening remarks.
The conference concept appears to have originated with the Chickasaw Nation in 2006, he said, although other tribal nations may have adopted it since that time.
Only about one-third of the nation's 38,000 members live within the 13-county area, while another one-third live elsewhere in Oklahoma. The final one-third resides throughout the United States in a pattern familiar to many tribes whose membership is dispersed.
Anoatubby stressed the importance of tribal unity and cohesion across the geographic boundaries that constrain most governments.
''Because we are a people, not only a government, we're able to go beyond our boundaries - and that's what we're doing here, at this conference,'' he said in an interview.
Including all tribal members in decision-making is related to the concept of entrepreneurial sovereignty economic self-sufficiency, he said.
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''Even when the Europeans came, they recognized that we had a form of government, but because of their efforts to assimilate us into the mainstream, a lot of elements were lost.''
Later, when the federal government wanted tribes to reduce their dependency on the federal dollar, Chickasaws adopted entrepreneurship, which was ''more our method,'' rather than some form of taxation.
In the intervening years, he said, the Chickasaw Nation has prospered, making tribal services available from business revenues, not taxation. ''We have some flexibility - we're family.''
Direct decision-making participation by out-of-area tribal members is also important because tribal legislators, who are required to live in one of the 13 counties, may not always represent the needs of those living outside the core area, he said.
Tribal self-sufficiency underscored the message delivered by others at the conference.
Charles Blackwell, the Chickasaw Nation's ambassador to the United States, said that in the 19th century, ''It was unthinkable to Thomas Jefferson that 4,000 Chickasaws should control 22,000 acres in the Southeast, so the tribe had to move westward but on our own terms.''
As conference workshops were under way, in the area of tribal health services, for example, participants asked for expansion of a health expenses reimbursement plan, for refinements to a mail-order prescription program and for more information about tribal health benefits, among other changes.
In a workshop on more general issues, attendees discussed legislative or other formal representation for out-of-area Chickasaws, a community-bui1ding effort, more timely and efficient communication, and other topics.
The conference included performances by the Chickasaw Nation Dance Troupe and displays of Chickasaw graphics, pottery, beadwork and other traditional crafts.
Recommendations and proposed solutions to concerns on health, housing, aging, education and other areas were to be compiled and distributed to attendees and other tribal members after the conference ended.
