Chickasaw official fires back at Oklahoma anti-Indian group

By Tony Choate
Reprinted by permission of the Chickasaw Times

Neal McCaleb

NORMAN, Okla. - Cleveland County Republicans recently heard a rousing oration by a Chickasaw official on the contributions of Indian tribes in Oklahoma.

Former U.S. Assistant Interior Secretary of Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb, a Chickasaw and a Republican, was the featured speaker at the Republican luncheon Dec. 3 at Coaches Restaurant in Norman. McCaleb was invited to speak following earlier comments to the Republicans from representatives of One Nation, an Oklahoma-based anti-Indian group. One Nation literature claims it was formed to "push back" against what One Nation members call "the massive expansion of tribal authority."

McCaleb used his time to rebut two points often made by One Nation, a group he said is a "fountain of misinformation." He spoke first on the assertion that tribal governments are not legitimate or relevant. After that he countered the claim that tribal governments have a negative affect on the state economy.

In respect to the sovereignty of tribal governments, McCaleb pointed out that, historically, European nations and the United States dealt with tribes as nations "in order to - let us be blunt - get their hands on the land."

He then went on to briefly recount the history of tribal governments from the 1832 ruling (on Worcester v. Georgia) by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall that Indian governments were "sovereign, dependent nations" to more recent decisions in the late 20th century.

McCaleb then turned to the state constitution. "When Oklahoma was granted the opportunity to write a constitution, one of the things that was said in the enabling act was ‘nothing in said constitution should be construed to limit or impair rights of persons or property of Indians of said territory.' ...the state relinquished any relationship with the tribes, and it is invested entirely in the federal government. And that's what the Congress of the United States said when they passed the Non Intercourse Act. Nobody does business with the tribe but the U.S. of A ."

Citing the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Act, the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulation Act and the 1990 Indian Self-Governance Act, McCaleb hammered home the point.

"This is not some archaic, ancient relationship that has no relationship with the way that government is done today," McCaleb said. "It has been recognized by Congress for the history of our country and in legislation as recently as in the last decade.

"Congress has shown no interest in retreating from that relationship of tribal sovereignty as dependent, sovereign nations."

He then pointed out that "in fact, states are dependent sovereign states. We call ourselves the sovereign state of Oklahoma. Those folks at One Nation created this big furor that there are 39 tribes in the state of Oklahoma. There are 50 sovereign states in the United States.

"It just so happens that the tribes' authority predates any of those states within the constitution. Therefore, their sovereignty in relationship to the federal government is superior to that of the states under the law."

Making his point that Indian sovereignty is the law of the land, the crowd cheered and applauded as McCaleb said, "if this country stands for anything, if our party stands for anything, it stands for the rule of law and not the rule of men."

Turning to the impact of tribal governments on the state economy, McCaleb pointed out that tribal governments bring more than $650 million to Oklahoma for health care, housing, road construction and other government functions.All that funding would be unavailable were it not for tribal governments.Tribes also employ 17,000 people in the state, making them the fourth-largest employer in Oklahoma. Virtually all these jobs are in rural Oklahoma, helping to ease unemployment in those areas where the problem is most severe.

McCaleb couldn't resist having some fun addressing the One Nation complaint that tribes don't pay taxes.

"What government does pay any taxes?" he asked. "The federal government? No! The county government? No! The city government? No! The state government? No! The school board? No! Even the rural water districts are tax-exempt. No government pays taxes. Why? There's a reason for that, because they are providing governmental services. So the Chickasaw tribe and all the other tribes don't pay any taxes."

Speaking to the issue of what One Nation calls an "unlevel playing field," McCaleb acknowledged that while tribes do enjoy certain tax advantages, that is not a unique situation.

"We've passed all kinds of tax incentives and tax preferences," said McCaleb. "One of the people supporting the One Nation group is the independent oil producers. They have some of the best tax shelters in this country. I'm not knocking that. The oil business is a mainstay of the Oklahoma economy. I'm just thinking it's not some astounding thing that we have tax preferences for different enterprises as well as governments.

"The other thing is that because of these tax preferences they are going to somehow roll over and crush all private enterprise that's in the same business. That just hasn't happened.

"We were here a couple of months ago and they said that and I asked a question. ‘Can you name two convenience stores that went out of business specifically because of tribal competition?' And they were silent on that point.

"Well, I can name two that started up right across the street from the Chickasaw Plaza at Highway 7 and I-35 that have been there for how long? Fifteen years that I can remember. And other folks have moved in within the last two years one right across the street that you can throw a rock at the Chickasaw travel post. And they're just doing a great business."

The gathering in Norman included several prominent state Republicans, including retired Oklahoma state Sen. Helen Cole, a Chickasaw, who was introduced as the "Grand Matriarch of Cleveland County Republicans." Mrs. Cole is the mother of Oklahoma Fourth District Representative Tom Cole.