David Yeagley is the great-great-grandson of Comanche leader Bad Eagle. 
BadEagle.com urges all American Indian leaders who have been invited to a White House conference (November 5) to boycott the meeting. This is the only self-respecting thing to do. A president who has manifested blatant contempt of Indians should not be honored with our presence.
On October 12, the White House announced an invitation to all 564 federally recognized American Indian tribes. Each tribe is to send one representative to a “Tribal Nations Conference” to be held by Obama, in Washington, DC. The Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, SD) dramatized the invitation, expounding the wonderful promise to be found in the Obama administration. The short article manages to cite the standard woes of Indian country, and the hope of more funding from the federal government.
Obama has been fluffing up mock Indian relations since his 2008 campaign, managing to get himself dramatic headdress endorsements from the Crow Indians of Montana, and the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Ft. Peck Reservation, as early as May, 2008. With classic naivety, many tribal leaders have presumed that, if the Great White Father in Washington was black, he would automatically tend to their needs more effectively. (Little did they realize how opposite the truth is.) More Crow honors ensued. Of course, no one talks about the corruption problems in Montana. No one has pursued the relationship between Obama’s campaign and the remote (but mighty) Indians in the hills of Montana. The money trail is untouched. Instead, everyone listens to Obama’s fluff talk about “nation-to-nation” communication. He likes to play on Indian pride and our traditional sense of honor. But it’s more like nation-to-pockets.
In the meantime, Obama completely destroyed an American Indian woman.
Diane Humetewa was the first American Indian woman to become a U.S. attorney general for any state. She was appointed by George Bush as Attorney General for the state of Arizona, in December, 2007. She was ousted by Obama in August, 2009.
Diane Humetewa, first American
Indian woman to be a US attorney
General, for Arizona, December, 2007.
This is the true spirit of Barry Soetoro (a.k.a. “Barack Hussein Obama”). This is the act that shows his principles: politics over honor. Game playing instead of respect. Any person in politics who is so remote, so removed from American Indians as to fail to value the hard-earned status of an American Indian woman U.S. state attorney general, is a person who needs desperately to be informed. (Barry is an alien, and really can’t be expected to know anything about American people, let alone Indian people. Therefore, he shouldn’t profess to.) Considering the blatant failure to recognize an American Indian woman, indeed, to dishonor her, Obama should be shunned by all Indians. Considering that he knowingly dissed a most respectable Indian woman of whom all Indian people are exceedingly proud, for the sake of putting one of his own cronies in office (a white man, Dennis Burke) in return for campaign favors, it is abundantly, screamingly clear that Barry Soetoro not only knows nothing about Indians, but does not care!
This November 5 invitation is an opportunity for Indians to show appropriate disdain for Obama. It is also our opportunity to show real pride and unity–which Indian leaders are so quick to profess. Well, let’s see it! Indian leaders should all openly reject Obama’s invitation, and publicly boycott–and protest–the hypocrisy and ineptitude of Barry “Obama” Soetoro. Given the fact that some Indians simply cannot refuse an opportunity to go to a Washington drinking party, and some will probably show up, BadEagle.com calls upon all Indians in the Washington area to protest the November 5 meeting. Indeed, there should be signs, marchers, and media–all calling attention to Obama’s complete lack of regard for American Indians!
Forcing the resignation of Diane Humetewa is the action that speaks louder than all Obama’s words. This act of Obama should infuriate all Indian men. Boycotting and protesting this Nov. 5 meeting is our chance to show that we care about our Indian women. Ignoring this would be all too typical of the absolute carelessness that Indian men have been known to show toward our own women. Diane is married, with children, and that may seem a foreign thing to many Indian people; the in tact family unit is not typical of Indians these days. Nevertheless, it is the strength upon which any society is built, and honoring Diane Humetewa is a way of showing that Indians do value ourselves.
Until now, Indian leaders have ignored what happened to Diane Humetewa. Other Indians, even liberal careerist, feminist women like Suzan Harjo, have ignored her. Why? They are interested only in their personal careers and fame. They are not interested in Indian people. They use their own Indianness (however nebulous and fabricated) to advance their own agendas–which are never for the good of all Indian people, but only profess to be. They simply use the Indian race as their authenticity and validation. When they stand by silently, never lifting a finger, a word, or breath of protest to what happened to Diane Humetewa, we know clearly that they are disingenuous. They are in fact inimical to the Indian cause–despite their loud professions of protest against Indian mascots!
10 responses so far ↓
1 bear // Oct 22, 2009 at 10:12 am
Humetewa Joins New Legal Firm
Monday, September 14, 2009
Former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Diane Humetewa joins Squire SandersPhoenix Business Journal
Former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Diane Humetewa has joined the Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP law firm.
Humetewa, a Hopi, was the first Native American appointed as a U.S. Attorney. She was appointed by former President George W. Bush in December 2007 replacing Paul Charlton. Charlton, now an attorney with Gallagher & Kennedy PA, was fired as part of purge of federal prosecutors by the Bush administration in late 2006.
She stepped down as federal prosecutor earlier this year with the changeover in administrations.
Humetewa will work out of Squire’s Phoenix and Washington offices and will focus on Native American law, water, natural resources and real estate.
“We are delighted and honored to have Diane join us,” said Squire Chairman R. Thomas Stanton in a statement.
She served as legal counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs when the panel was chaired by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Cleveland-based Squires has 32 offices including Cincinnati, Houston, New York, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai and Rio de Janerio.
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
(Just a little update regarding Diane. Several Natives have given Obama a free pass regarding the firing/ “resignation” of Diane, however the new position seems some what removed from her previous position. Perhaps she wasn’t perverted, corrupt, or Anti-American enough to fit in with the rest of his administration.)
2 bear // Oct 22, 2009 at 10:25 am
Just a brief background history on Diana, truly a story of strength, courage. Unfortunate on the outcome of her firing.
http://www.law.asu.edu/?id=1528
Alumni spotlight: Diane Humetewa
Diane Humetewa
Diane Humetewa (Class of 1993), the first Native American to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, was one of a handful of Native students in her law-school class, only half of whom graduated despite tremendous support from the Indian Legal Program.
“It made me realize the importance of helping other Native students succeed,” said Humetewa, who has stayed connected to the program and has served as a mentor.
“These students come from Indian communities, smaller towns, and don’t have the huge university experience,” she said. “Often they wonder, ‘How will this education matter to the community I’m going to go back to?’
“The program has helped fill in the gaps with mentors, and engaged students in the local community through clinics and summer programs.”
Law school was not something Humetewa had planned on.
She worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1986 as one of the first victim-witness advocates in the federal criminal Justice system and helped develop a victim advocacy model that was replicated nationally.
“Several of my colleagues encouraged me to go to law school,” she said.
Both Humetewa’s parents went to Indian boarding schools, her father in Santa Fe and her mother at Phoenix Indian High School. They expected their children to go to college, but were surprised and pleased when Humetewa decided on law school.
“They saw the passion I had for working with crime victims, making sure their needs were addressed, and for handling what can be emotionally draining cases, and they appreciated that,” she said.
Judge Stephen M. McNamee of the U.S. District Court of Arizona, told her to choose a local law school.
“He said, ‘You’re most familiar with the legal environment in Arizona, your primary focus is to come back and be a prosecutor here in Arizona, and you’ll have more localized opportunities for mentoring and summer work that will matter for your long-term goal,’ ” Humetewa said.
The Indian Legal Program at Arizona State University was welcoming and supportive, said Humetewa, who met Siera Russell, then-director, and Paul Bender, who taught Indian law.
“I literally had no knowledge of Indian law as it is known today,” Humetewa said. “But it felt like a nurturing place. The individuals there were just as interested in my success as I was.”
Support included study groups and tips on how to survive the first year.
“They also assigned us mentors,” Humetewa explained. “One of mine was Diane Enos, who is now president of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, dealing with some of the most sophisticated issues in Arizona.”
And she learned of an internship on Arizona Sen. John McCain’s staff.
“Taking that internship, spending a semester in Washington, D.C., helped me put a practical background to the federal Indian law I was learning,” Humetewa said. “It all jelled.”
Humetewa said the Indian Legal Program had a profound impact on her.
“The concentration of faculty and their foresight that federal Indian law touched on so many aspects of society, economically and politically, provided me a great opportunity to understand,” Humetewa said.
“What made the program so successful was the leadership of the law school and their recognition that there is a unique opportunity to expand the educational horizon that traditional law schools weren’t providing for.
“They were able to find, and tap into, Indian experience in water law, gaming law, federal Indian law. What has made the program stand out is that they really paid attention to the quality of the subject matter and the quality of the individuals they brought in to explain that subject matter.
“I’m grateful to be a very small part of it.”
Humetewa served as counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice office of Tribal Justice, and as counsel for McCain before rejoining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1996 as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, then Assistant U.S. Attorney.
She prosecuted violent crime cases including child sex crimes, homicides, assaults, bank robberies, and theft of cultural patrimony cases. She also worked in the civil section defending lawsuits brought against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and represented the United States’ interests in Bankruptcy Court.
In 2001, she was promoted to Senior Litigation Counsel/Tribal liaison and was responsible for relationships between the 21 Indian tribal governments and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and for oversight of the Victim/Witness Program.
She is considered a national expert in Indian Country issues and has instructed law enforcement and prosecutors in federal criminal procedure, jurisdiction, child abuse, federal victims’ rights, and laws protecting Native American patrimony, artifacts and grave sites.
She said she never thought about becoming a U.S. Attorney.
“In my view, I had accomplished what I set out to do, to become a prosecutor who could advocate for victims of crime and enforcement of laws. I was very content.
“Being a prosecutor is the best job in this office, because you deal with so many issues: archaeology, geography, and the variety of populations we have in Arizona that have different and distinct needs.
“You’re constantly learning not just about law enforcement in the area, but the application of that law and helping to shape that law, with convictions that are challenged and go up to the Ninth Circuit. It was the best job I ever had because I was constantly growing with each case.”
Humetewa has interns in her office who learn the variety of cases a federal prosecutor can take on.
“Some have gone on to be law clerks for tribal nations or trial attorneys in a tribe’s general counsel office,” she said. “In reverse, tribal leaders look to ASU for development and sharing information, like writing tribal codes and legal research.”
Humetewa said there has been a sea change for Native law.
“The doors have swung open,” she said. “Universities have developed Indian law programs because of the recognition that tribes are economic players, and tribes are encouraging their young people to get law degrees because they believe that will help them receive fair representation.”
3 Smile // Oct 22, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Diane Humetewa is a woman of amazing accomplishments by anyone’s standards.
She also happens to be very beautiful.
4 Indian Leftist // Oct 22, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Unless you can name at least one “Indian Leader” who regularly reads your blog, this particular piece is simply so much hot air.
5 David Yeagley // Oct 22, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Your point?
You want to present yourself as an Indian who supports a black African who disses Indian women?
Please explain.
6 John Sandusky // Oct 22, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I wonder if Max, will be one of the poor Indian leaders that attends Obama’s umpteenth Washington “need fest.”
Longtime tribal leader collects a big salary, but owes a fortune to IRS and tribe
Obama’s pay-czar needs to place a cap on Indian tribal leaders compensation if the bailout continues or increases.
7 hulagirl // Oct 22, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Alas, it’s not about black or white or indian or hispanic, it’s first and foremostly about Liberal or Conservative, Democrat or Republican. That’s the only identity that counts anymore, eh?
8 David Yeagley // Oct 23, 2009 at 9:32 am
Well, as an Indian, I see that as an anti-Indian position.
Preserving Indianness, us, our people. our traditions, our land, our treaties, etc., this the the thing that counts to Indians. Liberals and Conservatives seem both to be against this. Indians stand alone in this country, apparently.
Liberals try to use us as anti-American tools. Conservatives play right into the same perspective. The very existance of Indian people, as Indians, with national land, is an offense to everyone, or so it seems. No one knows how to reconcile the phenomenon.
All they have to do is let history be history, and honor treaties. What’s wrong or anti-American with that? It is deeply American!
9 Smile // Oct 23, 2009 at 10:23 am
“Unless you can name at least one “Indian Leader” who regularly…”
Unless – You – Can – Name – At – Least – One
I did not know Dr. Yeagley had a ‘maker of rules’ for his web site and/or his opinions. Hmm, I’ll have to think about this in order to decide how I feel
10 David Yeagley // Oct 23, 2009 at 10:44 am
Why, I had assumed every Indian in the country looks at BadEagle.com on a daily basis! Ya mean it ain’t so?
Hot air may be the ultimate effect, meaning, there is no ultimate effect, nor, no boycott, but, the idea is in print, in circulation, and, in fact, BadEagle.com has a lot of visitors, believe me. Many people look at it, though relatively few comment on site.
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