{"id":27628,"date":"2022-08-30T11:15:19","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=27628"},"modified":"2022-08-30T11:20:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:20:46","slug":"native-sun-news-today-indian-country-loses-a-legend-with-passing-of-alan-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/08\/30\/native-sun-news-today-indian-country-loses-a-legend-with-passing-of-alan-parker\/","title":{"rendered":"Native Sun News Today: Indian Country loses a legend with passing of Alan Parker"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Alan<\/a>
Alan Parker, 1942-2022. Family photo<\/figcaption>\r\n
Trying to make a difference<\/div>\r\n
Alan Parker\u2019s lasting impact on Indian Country.<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, August 30, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By James Giago Davies <\/div>\r\n
Managing Editor, Native Sun News Today<\/div>\r\n
nativesunnews.today<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIt has been a couple of weeks since Alan R. Parker<\/a> lost his long battle with cancer.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n An enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Nation, Parker received a Juris Doctor degree from UCLA in 1972, and was at the forefront of political advocacy for all things tribal for many decades<\/a> thereafter. Given the fixation this culture has with celebrity and imagery, a principled, skilled, savvy professional like Parker never had much place in the fickle public eye. But his life was a microcosm of a generation of unselfish men of vision, who came out of a 1969 Indian Pre-Law Program at the University of New Mexico (UNM), and did the tough, nuts-and-bolts work over the next half century that bettered the lives of many tribal people.

<\/p>\r\nBradley Shreve, best summed up Parker\u2019s place in history in his 2018 review of Parker\u2019s memoir: Pathways to Indigenous Nation Sovereignty<\/em><\/a>: \u201cWhile historians and the public alike often fix their attention on the bombast of the Red Power movement and the larger than life personalities that animated organizations such as AIM\u2026it was really a cadre of Native lawyers and policy technocrats working through established political channels who deserve the greatest credit for the expansion of tribal sovereignty and self-determination in the late 20th century.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n \"Pathways<\/a>

Alan Parker, far right, authored Pathways to Indigenous Nation Sovereignty: A Chronicle of Federal Policy Developments<\/a>, published in 2018. The photo seen here is featured on the book cover. Courtesy photo<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nParker applied many strategies to achieve results, but aspirational rhetoric was not one of them. He had a keen eye, understood the nature of the beast all tribes battled, and he knew how to work with others, and against others, to achieve long term structural change, positive change that the first stiff wind would not blow away like it has much of the Red Power activism of the 1970\u2019s.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cAlan was going to be a priest at one time in his youth,\u201d said his lifelong friend, colleague, and 1969 classmate at UNM, Dick Trudell, \u201cand so anyone who gives thought to becoming a priest, you quickly realize how passionate they are about people and wanting to make a difference.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nWhatever else Parker might have wanted from life, a singular thread runs through all he accomplished, and the reflections of all the people who knew him best\u2014he wanted to make a difference.

<\/p>\r\nA cadre of impressive young Native minds gathered at UNM in 1969, and Trudell said that he and Parker \u201cwere part of the first group or wave of Indian attorneys. At the time there were probably less than ten in the country that were licensed to practice. A lot of us had served in the military and it was kind of the next step in our lives. We were just kind of searching for ourselves and wondering what we should do with our lives. Alan became one of my closest friends and remained close friends up until his last breath.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n
\r\n\"Alan<\/a> \r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
Alan Parker, 1942-2022. Family photo<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAfter law school, Trudell started up the American Indian Training Program, and worked with Parker: \u201cOur primary concern was to see young Native attorneys end up in private practice on or near a reservation. We also created an intern program for Indian law students which we did for about three years and had over a hundred law students go through it.\u2019

<\/p>\r\nOne of the young lawyers to benefit from this program was Mario Gonzalez, Oglala, and another member of the Class of 1969.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cAlan and Dick got a grant from the Lilly Foundation,\u201d Gonzalez said, \u201cto set up some law students that had passed the bar exam and had licenses with a law practice. I was one of the first four that got into that program.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nThis assistance helped Gonzalez launch an impressive career that had a huge impact on the struggles to get back the Black Hills in the decades to come. Later, Gonzalez would work with Parker and Suzan Harjo \u201con the Wounded Knee Bill to develop a memorial for the Wounded Knee Massacre Site. One of the things we wanted was an apology before the 100th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Alan Parker and Suzan Harjo were the main individuals I was working with to get that concurrent resolution.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nSouth Dakota Senator Tom Daschle agreed to introduce the resolution, but he changed the wording, dropping the words \u201csincere apology\u201d and keeping \u201cdeep regret.\u201d As a result, according to Gonzalez, the Wounded Knee Survivors Association \u201crejected the resolution as an apology.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\u201cAlan was a brilliant man,\u201d said Gonzalez. \u201cWhen we were in the summer program I was really amazed at how smart he was. He was really outstanding, the way he presented himself in class. He was able to articulate and really understand what was going on. It was sad to see him passing this past week and I just hope he is honored properly for his achievements.\u201d

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