December Mittark
Chairman Weeden Elected as NCAI First Vice President
On Friday, November 17, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Chairman Brian Weeden was elected and sworn in as the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) First Vice President. Chairman Weeden was selected for the national post by an electorate of more than 2,000 attendees representing Tribes across Indian Country at the NCAI 80th Annual Convention. He is the first Wampanoag elected to serve on the Executive Board for NCAI as an officer.
“As the newly elected First Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians, I am deeply honored to serve in a role that represents not just my Tribal Nation, but all Native Nations,” said Chairman Weeden. “We look forward to working together as a team to address the various issues facing us all in Indian Country and promise to work for all of our relations as we uphold our trust responsibilities.”
Joining Chairman Weeden on the executive committee will be Mark Macarro of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians as the NCAI President, Nickolaus D. Lewis of the Lummi Nation as Secretary, and David Woerz from the Chickasaw Nation as Treasurer. The officers were elected on Thursday, November 16, and sworn in on Friday, November 17, during the final day of the convention.
Linda Coombs Wants Young Readers to Know the Past
“Some people think we all disappeared,” says Linda Coombs, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah who for nearly 50 years has been a historian and museum curator specializing in knowledge of the Southern New England tribes. Born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard and currently based in Mashpee, she’s been program director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center, associate director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation, and worked in the Native American program at Boston Children’s Museum.
“I remember serving on a museum committee,” she says, “and one gentleman on the museum’s board asked me, ‘Do the Indians have any sort of organization?’ Oh, my goodness! I explained to him how it’s all structured. But for him to ask that question — as if we’re all wandering aimlessly over the landscape.”
Last month, I was honored to be elected as the First Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians during their 80th annual Convention and Marketplace. I see this as a win not only for our tribe, but for all northeast tribes who now have an elevated seat at the table on the national level.
During the convention, NCAI members were presented with a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit NCAI membership to only include federally recognized tribes and remove the voting rights from state recognized member tribes. I was happy to see that when this amendment was brought to membership it ultimately failed, and the vote was in favor of continuing to support and acknowledge state recognized tribes.
As we all know, the federal recognition process is lengthy, expensive, arduous, and subject to bureaucratic obstacles caused by administrative changes. Our own tribe fought for more than 3 decades to be re-acknowledged as a federally recognized tribe.
Explore Additional News in this month's Nashauonk Mittark
List of Committee and Board Seat Openings
