Dr. Nicky Kay Michael

A Future of Uncertainty; Indian Country in the Trump Administration There is no easy way to say what our future holds given the uncertain political climate.   Many days, the rhetoric of the President Elect harkened similar language to Hitler.   I looked up speeches to try and re-assure myself that what I was thinking was false and instead, confirmed similar wording between Trump and Hitler.   The news reported Al Gore recently met with Trump and his daughter Ivanka, which gave me some hope that perhaps what we heard in the campaigning was not going to be the substance of his policies.   Of course, today’s headlines state otherwise.   How can we prepare ourselves for this uncertain future when we have no real gauge of Trump’s policies? As a historian of Native American and United States policy I often see the waves of progress and backlash in public policy toward “Indians.”   It takes more than this linear thinking though to prepare for the unknown future.   We can anticipate

In December the majority of Tribal Council members removed me as Secretary. In the process, my rights were violated as both the Secretary and as a tribal member.  I did not receive due process, nor were any of the grievances discussed openly with me. However, I've never been convinced my removal ever had anything to do with the minutes. Instead, I believe my removal was because I insisted on the resolutions being turned in 5 days previous to the TC meetings and that I be privy to incoming and outgoing communications. Regardless of my personal involvement, I adamantly defend the Secretary's mandated duties in our constitution.  I'm sure it surprised everyone that I have defended Secretary Ketchum in her duties, even though she exercises them minimally. She states she saw what they did to me and did not want the same treatment. Today, I had the honor of supporting her in her duties and acted as the process server to hand Chief Brooks the Secretary's petition for Tribal

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Protect and Prepare Kulamàlsihëmo hàch?  I hope this article finds you well and in good spirits.  Because my last article covered constitutional questions, I want to take this opportunity to provide a few highlights of projects I am personally involved as a Tribal Council member.  In preparing this article, I felt that two strong themes were evident, protection and preparation.  These are two values I exercise in daily life and it stands to reason I would do this for our people. One of the most important projects we were able to achieve last year was to obtain Section 106 guidance from the Caddo Chairwoman Tamara Francis-Fourkiller.  As a result we passed a resolution to increase our consultation prices.  Section 106 is a federal program assuring cell tower companies consult with us before building or adding to an existing tower on or near our historic lands.  Increasing the consultation fee significantly advanced our Delaware Tribal Historic Preservation’s revenue stream.  P