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TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2002

"Merril Berg was the subject of my “Prairie Voices” interview on Sunday (“Building Cankdeska Cikana,” Page 1D, May 5). He is the interim president of the Cankdeska Cikana tribal college at Spirit Lake, Fort Totten, N.D. What is unique about Berg is that he seems comfortable and unaffected by the fact that he is a white man in Indian country. Perhaps 40 to 50 years ago, he would have been just one of many non-Natives managing and overseeing Indian programs. Today, he is the exception to the rule.

Even during my tenure with the Bureau of Indian Affairs years ago, many of the officials and leaders were non-Indians. When my ex-husband was hired for his first teaching job, it was at the Standing Rock reservation in Fort Yates, N.D. He was one of about three other Native American teachers among 20 or 30 non-Native teachers.

The high school was nearly all Native American students. The superintendent of the school, principal and agency superintendent were all non-Native. Most of the directors or managers of the BIA agencies at Fort Yates, at that time, were non-Indians, though there were a few exceptions. . ."

Get the Story:
Dorreen Yellow Bird: Native leaders take up the rein (The Grand Forks Herald 5/7)