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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

Greetings from San Diego
The 59th annual session of the National Congress of American Indians is winding down here in San Diego, California. On the downside, it's not as explosive as last year's conference, when tribes were reacting to BITAM, but on the upside it's much warmer.

That doesn't mean there haven't been some sparks. A breakout session on trust reform degenerated into a court hearing when Shenan Atcitty, a Holland & Knight attorney doing pro-bono work for the Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association (ITMA), challenged Native American Rights Fund (NARF) attorney and Cobell co-counsel Keith Harper in front of tribal leaders.

It wasn't an all-out brawl but after it was over, some though Atcitty stepped a little bit over the line. "It was embarrassing. Indian Country doesn't need to see that," said one prominent tribal leader.

There's also rumblings over the passive trust legislation that's come out of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and is being supported by NCAI but opposed by other segments of Indian Country. Private discussions over the bill were held and may result in a withdrawal of an NCAI resolution in its favor and a separate one against it.

The biggest debate, however, may come this morning when tribal leaders will discuss increasing NCAI's fees. Money is power, said president Tex Hall, and will help protect tribal sovereignty and advance the Indian agenda.

"We need a war chest," he told delegates on Monday.

Senior Moments
Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb spoke to NCAI on Monday. Normally, his speeches are news.

But Indianz.Com didn't cover it, although we may do so in the future. Why? When asked, we were honest: the one-hour, often rambling affair, was filled with too many, in McCaleb's own words, "senior moments."

Like the time when he forgot whether Passamaquoddy Gov. Rick Doyle had told him about the tribe's environmental battles with the state of Maine. The lapse, however, was understandable -- McCaleb gets lobbied by hundreds of different tribal leaders on thousands of different issues.

But our favorite was the "Bible Lesson" portion that is part and parcel of every McCaleb speech. This time it was about money and how it seems to flow out of Indian Country faster than you can delete e-mails.

"We need to create cash and we need to keep it," he told tribal leaderse. "The Bible doesn't say that money is the root of all evil, it says the love of money is the root of all evil." (Followed by scattered laughter.)

"So we don't have to love it," he continued, "but let's keep a little of it." (Followed by applause.)

Shoutouts
Cherokee hip-hop mogul Litefoot was promoting his clothing lines and other Red Vinyl products. Catch him in Spike Jonze's Adaptation with Meryl Streep where he plays a character, in his own words, that is "nothing" like the real Foot. In theaters December 6...We also caught up with the lovely Yvonne Russo, whose work with Valerie Red Horse on True Whispers, the real story about the Navajo Code Talkers has premiered on PBS this month...Pat Murphy, formerly of KTNN and now with AMERIND Risk Management was manning his booth and guarding the chocolate...Former Shalimar guitarist Micki Free who didn't believe our late 1980s concert experience with his old music group... Osage Nation Chief Jim Gray, who we just saw last week at Oklahoma University's Native media symposium, was in full gear...Outgoing Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Gregg Bourland still has trust reform on his mind after all these years...Congratulations to Natalie Charley, of Quinault Nation and Sovereignty Run fame, for her new business...Carrie and Mary Dann, the renegade Western Shoshone sisters, who cornered Sen. Ben Nighhorse Campbell (R-Colo.)...Deputy assistant secretary Aurene Martin was engaged in deep conversation with Ietan Consulting founding member and Osage Nation attorney Wilson Pipestem...Floyd Red Crow Westerman was representing Indian adoptees...The good folks at the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, recipients of a $20 million grant from the Northwest Area Foundation to protect the Indian estate. Good luck!

In Your Hoop
What's your favorite Neal McCaleb moment? Email In the Hoop and let us know.