EchoHawk says states and tribes should work together

LEHI — Larry EchoHawk told Utah tribes Wednesday that he had hesitated to accept his new job as assistant interior secretary of Indian affairs.

He wasn't excited about helping lead a federal government with so many dark chapters in its past treatment of Native Americans.

But he said he figured that solving the dire poverty, unemployment, crime, housing and health problems in Indian country will happen only if tribal, state and federal governments learn to work together as equals.

"I want to be an agent of change" toward that, he told Gov. Gary Herbert's fourth annual Native American Summit at Thanksgiving Point.

"We must not let those (dark) events of the past divide us today. Together, we can write the next chapter, and it's a much better chapter, a chapter that speaks of cooperation, mutual understanding, mutual assistance, open communication, partnership and brotherhood," he said.

EchoHawk, a Pawnee who is a former Idaho attorney general and a former Brigham Young University law professor, called for states and the federal government to treat tribes as equal governments.

The former law professor said the federal government ignored its own laws over many decades and stopped treating tribes as fellow nations as it ignored treaties, took their land and moved members into reservations, and took away much of their self-governance.

But now, "tribes must be welcomed into the family of governments in the United States of America," he said.

EchoHawk praised Herbert and Utah for being leaders in that through efforts such as Herbert's annual Native American Summit, where state, federal and tribal leaders discuss concerns and solutions.

Some tribes themselves often make a mistake in not working with their state governments, thinking it might hurt recognition of their sovereignty if they work with anyone but the federal government, he said.

EchoHawk said that when he was an attorney for the Shoshone-Bannock tribes in Idaho, they likewise hesitated to work with the state. But when they did, they solved long-standing problems, and the Idaho Legislature even created an Indian Affairs committee.

"We need to draw closer," he said. "We have common interests in a shared future. There are vexing problems that we face in Indian country."

EchoHawk said delegations from tribes nationwide have told him in recent months of the many problems they face.