Notes from Indian Country
Professor Bill Dulaney: A one of a kind journalistBy Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji – Stands Up For Them) My old friend, the man who encouraged me and other Native journalists to form an association of Indian editors and journalists in 1984 is terminally ill. I want to share with all Indian newspaper, radio, and Internet journalists and with other journalists who knew him as a friend, a letter I got from Professor William Dulaney describing how it was he became associated with Indian journalists and how he helped to form the Native American Journalists Association. Professor Dulaney (Bill) wrote:
My association with Native Americans began when I was a Professor of Journalism at Penn State University. We hosted meetings of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association and the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors and I thought, Why not Native American publishers and editors? Easy answer: There was no such association. But the need was evident when I pondered the fact that the ancestors of the original owners of the land we tread had little voice in its use and had been marginalized by the larger society. It escapes me who first termed the media as the fourth branch of the government, but I had little doubt in my mind that the media serving primarily Native Americans could, in addition to objectively reporting news, address concerns of indigenous peoples and perhaps effect change when needed. My next step was to find a respected Native American who shared my interest. I’m not sure how I got Tim Giago’s name but I was told there was ink in Tim’s veins and that he could not be intimidated. I talked with him several times and we went to work – me with the arrangements for a meeting of Native journalists at Penn State – and Tim – founder of the Lakota Times – searching out and rallying Native journalists and editors. After all of the letters had been sent out and a date set for our initial meeting, the wait began. It was late in the afternoon and so far Tim, and his managing editor Adrian Louis, were the only people who showed up and we were very worried so we were having a beer at a sidewalk café at State College, Pennsylvania and anxiously looking for a third Indian to show up who could be a tie-breaker on a substantive issue, when here comes a some kind of bus belching blue flames down College Avenue with a load of Native Americans on board. The next day when the meeting began more than 30 Native editors and journalists had showed up. From there it was on to Tuskahoma, Oklahoma on the Choctaw Nation where our first elected officers were chosen. They were Tim Giago, Lakota Times, President, Loren Tapahe, Navajo Times, Vice President, Anita Austin, Native American Rights Fund Magazine, Treasurer, and Mary Polanco, Jicarilla Chieftain, Secretary. Thirty five years later, the organization they formed is still a viable force in journalism in Indian Country. I miss greeting my old friends from Indian country. The joy of knowing all of you has been the highlight of my life. Oh yes, there is one other: Tim had a ceremony for me where I was given the Lakota name of Waonspekiye, or teacher, and that award hangs above my desk and along with an award from NAJA, it is the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Sincerely, Prof. Bill DulaneyOf all of the things Bill Dulaney has accomplished in his life, he holds dearest the time he spent working with his new found friends in Indian Country.
Adrian Louis, my managing editor at the Lakota Times, worked side by side with me to locate as many Native owned newspapers and journalists so that we could send invitations to all of them to join us at Penn State for our initial meeting. Adrian passed away earlier this year. He was a great writer and a great friend.
He was followed in death by Jerry Reynolds, another journalist who worked for me at the Lakota Times and Indian Country Today. Jerry was also with us all the way as we fought to make NAJA a viable organization of Indian journalists.
The Native American Journalists will be meeting in September in Prior Lake, Minnesota for their annual convention. I have been invited to be a keynote speaker as I close out my career as a newspaper publisher and editor. I hope that many of the Indian journalists I have met and worked with over these many years will be there with us. I would like to renew our friendships and discuss old times, probably for the last time. Professor Dulaney may not live to see September, but I know that if he was well and able, he would be there to cheer us on. Contact Tim Giago at najournalist1@gmail.comJoin the Conversation
