NextGen Native
Dennis Worden chats with young Native Americans making a difference for the
Recent Episodes
Chris James is the President & CEO of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED). He returned to the show where we discussed current trends in business, leadership development in Indian Country, and the upcoming Northwest Enterprise Development Conference.
The event will take place in September 5-7 2017 at the Tulalip Casino. The NCAIED will also celebrate its 2017 class of the 40 Under 40 in Indian Country.
We talked several trends in business, living away from home, taking on new challenges, disconnecting from technology and identifying the priorities in work and personal lives.
A great conversation with one of Indian Country's leaders in business!
Lance Morgan on the decline of federal Indian law:
"What we're not teaching in law school is the other half of the system, where tribes are aggressively using their newly educated lawyers, their economic power, and their desire to do good to really change the equation."
"Once you make the mental leap that the entire system is ridiculous...you don't ever go back."
Lance Morgan (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska) is President & CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc. He is also the managing partner of the law firm Frederick Peebles and Morgan. And if you know Lance, or have read his previous work, you know that he is always good for a big idea, or an idea that pushes boundaries, in Indian Country. Lance returned to the show to discuss one of those ideas: the Rise of Tribal Law and the Decline of Federal Indian Law and he recently published an article by the same name in the Arizona State University Law Journal.
Many NextGen Natives are practicers of, or generally interested in, federal Indian law. Lance's article is great because it forces readers to ask themselves the question how can tribal law be on the rise and federal Indian law be on the decline? The basic point is that tribal law is an exercise of tribal sovereignty whereas federal Indian law is the enforcement of restrictions imposed upon tribes over the last few centuries. And the decline of federal Indian law may not be a bad thing necessarily, if tribes exercise and use tribal law. You should go read it (after you listen to our discussion, of course).
The article is great for a few reasons. First, it forces us to re-think the way we approach law and policy in our communities. Even people who are thinking about how to proactively make a difference often use federal Indian law as an anchoring point. And it's a losing one for us. Lance captured it succinctly when he wrote "We need to stop playing their game because we cannot win it. If we have any hope of progress, we need to play a new game." Second, although it is published in a law journal, it is deliberately written so that non-lawyers (such as myself) can read and understand it. People should share this with tribal council members, business people, and community members to think about what Lance is suggesting and how to approach it.
We could have focused the entire conversation on the article, but that would not have been nearly as much fun. And I think the conversation about the other topics packs as much, if not more, food-for-thought for listeners.
Here's the tip of the iceberg of a few of the topics we discussed:
- How Lance approaches his work as CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc.
- How Winnebago has built a thriving community using land that was entirely fee, and not trust, property.
- If we don't plan decades ahead, the current housing shortages in Indian Country will be significantly worse.
- Education trends in Indian Country.
- Building non-governmental institutions in tribal communities that can make a real impact.
- The difference between principles, culture, and traditions and how confusing the concepts can be used as a weapon in a bad way.
- Rebuilding cultural myths-as in collective stories that we use to guide the community.
We packed a lot of ideas into the 60-70 minutes we spoke. Each topic could be its own show. I hope it sparks some conversation, and thought. Tell me what you think on the Facebook page! Tell me what kind of action it inspires you to take!
When Joe Sarcinella and I spoke, he was days away from becoming a father. As of publishing this episode, he is now a proud father (congrats!!). As a recent parent, I thought it would be fun to have Joe on NextGen Native to get the perspective of a recent first-time parent and a to-be parent. For those that aren't parents, or have kids out of the house, this episode is also for you.
Although we talk about being parents, the conversation occurred in the same context that our conversations did below. That is, the topic of parenting is centered within living life with intentionality, in control. How does one intentionally raise their child? How does one intentionally plan the rest of their life? One example: how do you raise a child in a 500 square foot apartment?
We also discussed Joe's latest diet (previously vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, paleo), and his latest approach to physical fitness (weight lifting, to ultra marathons, to weight lifting, back to ultra marathons), and minimalism.
It's a fun episode, and I hope that you benefit from it as much as I've had. Personally, I'm trying to apply more minimalism into my life, or at least rethinking it, thanks to Joe.
"People like genuine people. People like people who are authentic, people lke people who show up with their true identity. And being Chickasaw is part of who I am."-Heath Clayton
One of the areas in which I love to dabble is what I call "life system hacking." The basic idea is finding ways to create a life, circumvent expectations or bypass the norms of which we all are led to believe cannot be bypassed or circumvented. There are a lot of people who write about the subject online, and it can get a bit of a reputation as self-help like content. But I continue to expose myself to it because I think there are gems that can be found, if you know what you are looking for. I was excited to interview someone I think hacked the system quite successfully. That person is Heath Clayton (Chicksaw).
Heath earned a Bachelor's degree for about $3,000 without stepping foot onto a university campus. After "college" he worked in the White House at age 21. Not after 21 years of working in politics. At 21 years old.
After home school and then earning a bachelor's degree without going to college, he earned a Master's from Carnegie Mellon University Heinz School of Public Policy.
Oh, he also achieved a goal of visiting 100 countries by the time he turned 30.
Now he is working to give back to other young Native people with the goal of showing them that much more is possible than they may realize. He's mentored 40-50 people by his estimate.
It's a story that you need to hear. It's a good reminder that there are amazing resources out there to utilize, and there are amazing people that will help you along the way. Have a listen.
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Heath's bio
When he is not busy working in corporate philanthropy for a consulting firm, Heath Clayton is usually visiting a new country to feed his insatiable curiosity of the world. He spent the last few years working towards a goal of visiting 100 countries before his 30th birthday, a goal he achieved in January 2017. Heath is Chickasaw Indian and attended Carnegie Mellon University for graduate school on a tribal affairs fellowship. Heath previously worked in The White House under the George W. Bush Administration and on Capitol Hill before beginning his consulting career. Mentoring native youth on potential careers in corporate America or public policy excites him, and he is always looking for ways to stay in engaged with his tribe and Indian country.
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Some random links mentioned in this episode:
"There is a trap [in decolonization] that hinders a lot of potential growth. And that is centered in how we think about things. If you are only trained [to deconstruct] then you are stuck in a gear of deconstruction, which is important and useful. But if the goal is to increase capacity in Indian Country, then you are asking for builders, not destroyers, and that is a completely different type of thinking."
Ryan Red Corn (Osage) created the design firm Buffalo Nickel Creative and is also a member of the 1491s. He joined NextGen Native for a wide-ranging conversation.
Although we touched on comedy and had some light hearted moments, our conversation covered much more beyond comedy. We talked about the role his work and the work of others in graphic design and branding can play a role in Indian Country telling its stories better. We discussed how being creative and artistic is closely related to being an entrepreneur. We talked about the media he uses to tell stories and how each is suited to have a certain impact. I dug into Ryan's intentionality and how he uses it to manage his time and drive his art.
One of the many things I enjoy about NextGen Native is diving into ideas and issues that take a deeper look into issues and events in Indian Country and my conversation with Ryan was very much in this vein. For example, Ryan discussed the impact and power of branding touched on using graphic design and branding in efforts to address the use of mascots. Or how when we engage in efforts to make change, we shouldn't focus on telling "our story" but on "a story" that will resonate not only with those trying to tell it, but those who are listening. Or how our traditional economies were just that, economies. And how that history informs the work people do today.
I hope this conversation sparks additional conversation on social media, at home, and in tribal council meetings. Let me know what you think or add to the conversation on social media!