Diana Marrero of Gannett News Service interviews Joe Garcia, the newly elected president of the National Congress of American Indians.

Garcia, the governor of Ohkay Owingeh, or San Juan Pueblo in New Mexico, took control of the organization this month. He said his goal as NCAI was to keep Indian Country united and to promote Indian culture and issues. The full interview is linked below.

"Question: What is your agenda for Indian country?

Answer: What I want to do is unite the Indian nations of the United States of America. What it means is that we all have to be working and supporting each other.

Q: One of your group's core missions is to increase the public's awareness of American Indian issues. What should non-Indians know about Indians?

A: We are all Indians or Native Americans, however we choose to be called, but we are not the same in the sense that the Pueblo Indians are diverse and they are different than the Plains Indians. So solutions people may impose or provide, one shoe does not fit all."

Get the Story:
Culture crucial to Indian president (Gannett News Service 11/26)

Relevant Links:
National Congress of American Indians - http://www.ncai.org

Related Stories:
Joe Garcia, Pueblo leader, ready to take on NCAI (11/15)
Live from NCAI annual convention in Tulsa (11/03)
Pueblo leader completes National Statuary Hall (09/23)
Leader of New Mexico tribe seeks to change name (09/19)