Leadership Cameos
Preserving Culture,Voice and Balance
By Barbara Sorensen

Winds of Change asked Ava Hamilton, Maurice Smith and Kerry Langford, three Native Americans working in very different fields, to discuss their thoughts on leadership. All three have defined leadership in terms of their own aspirations, dreams and successes. With creativity and courage, they live out their unique definitions of leadership, yet in the process have come up with similar conclusions: leadership must be nurtured in young people by tribal and government leaders, teachers, parents, coaches, grandparents and relatives.

Mo Smith promotes sports and wellness within tribal communities. His work aids Native American athletes in reaching personal excellence in sport activities through the use of traditional and comprehensive approaches that balance physical, mental, spiritual and cultural aspects. MO competed in track and field for 20 years and is the first Native American to break the subfour- minute mile, with a personal best time of three minutes and 53 seconds. He is a five-time national collegiate champion in the men's 1,500 meter dash.

I grew up in Denver, Colorado so I was exposed to urban life. My mom lived on the Navajo Reservation and was a sheepherder until she was 13. She was sent to a boarding school and only then began to speak English. She met my father when she attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. My father is African-American. I was accepted in both worlds. Very early in my life the seeds of accomplishments were embedded in my family stories. I remember sitting around fires listening to stories about Navajos running from one end of the Navajo Reservation to a trading post on the other end. I always had the spirit of running. I wanted to be like my grandfathers who were great distance runners.
We moved to the Montbello section of Denver and I ran to aspire to my vision that I was trying to manifest. The community embraced me and protected me because I ran. Then, if I went into the Indian world on the reservation, I was also protected. The Indian tradition of running wasn't to win, it was just a driving force. I would get up at dawn and greet the sun and run to meet the sun.
I struggled through school because I hadn't yet learned how to apply the discipline of athletics to academics. I went to many colleges and universities, eventually graduating with honors from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado in 1987. Now, as executive director of the Native American Sports Council (NASC), I'm very passionate about my work. NASC is really breaking ground in creating opportunities for Native young people so they don't fall through the cracks. Our training methods, unlike the European ways, are holistic.

Leadership Needs a Vision
I think that leadership is extremely important and Indian Country needs new and adaptive programs to serve both urban and rural communities. Leadership in Indian Country needs a vision and people need to help manifest that vision. Our current leadership must understand that Elders are not the only ones with leadership potential. Leadership must understand what our young people are going through. Our young people are looking for leaders who walk their talk and are inspiring. Mentoring is vital because we have the responsibility to give back to our communities. Indian Country needs more mentoring by demonstration and setting standards. The young are hungry for direction and achievable standards. We need to hold them to expectations.
Mentoring can be done in many ways, through an organized capacity or within the family or extended family. Parents, coaches and communities must make a better effort to prepare our students to transition from secondary to postsecondary schools. We can sensitize them to the arena they aspire to. They're all looking for identity.
I speak of leadership gingerly and respectfully because everyone uses it in a different way. Leadership must be quantified by the community and society in which we live. I don't refer to myself as a leader because I don't want to be disrespectful. I just say I want to make a difference and promote culture and celebrate diversity.
Many Native American leaders have inspired me. Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation, and Billy Mills, Oglala-Lakota, are examples. Billy Mills mentored me and through him I learned that an Indian man should walk with pride. The women I look up to are Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee, and my mother. Past leaders can inspire us too. Geronimo, Apache, is one of my heroes, as is Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Sioux. I can take something from each of them and learn. For instance, Geronimo had courage and Sitting Bull had wisdom. The Crow leader, Plenty Coup, had a vision of the whites coming and that there would be a place for them. He taught me negotiation. Chief Joseph, Nez Perce, was poetic and I can learn how to articulate things through him. I would tell young people to find the people and programs that will inspire you. Find your passion and your desires and keep them sacred. Those inspirations will carry you through life.

Ava Hamilton is a recipient of the 1998 Rockefeller Fellowship for film/video/multimedia and has won numerous awards in international and national film festivals. She continues to work on and seek funding for historical documentaries of Native people. The presence of the Arapahoe people in the Front Range area is an important topic for her and through her craft she hopes to preserve the storytelling process of history and culture.

There are all kinds of leaders, but a good leader takes charge of something and carries it out. It's a person who is fearless. Being elected to a position doesn't necessarily make you a leader. In this country, elected leaders seem to be about popularity and what they can provide for the people who voted them in. In some tribes, leaders are appointed to positions of responsibility and are expected to accept that responsibility for the good of the tribe.
I grew up on the Wind River Reservation in Arapaho, Wyoming. I was surrounded by gentle, caring relatives and friends and, yes, one or two mean ones. Everyone expected us to do well in life and receive a good education. Good things were expected of us. I was the oldest in my family and I was expected to be responsible for my own decisions and for the care of my younger brothers and sisters. I think women are more prepared because we are often put into these positions of responsibility early in life.
I've always had role models. They were and are people around me: my peers who were smart and perceptive who could help me resolve a situation, a "big sister" who would make me feel better if I was feeling bad and even peers who were younger influenced me. There were people who did good things for me and made me feel loved. I continually got messages to think for myself as well.

Telling Our Own Stories
In my work as a documentry filmmaker I have met people who are doing incredible things in leadership roles and I'm not talking of elected leaders. I would have to say a great number of them are women involved in their communities with everything from justice issues to language and cultural preservation. Thanks to the Internet, Indians are up to speed, connected and informed on a personal level with what is happening now. Sometimes it's almost too much to think of: all the battles that are still being fought to defend our rights, health issues, all of it—daily Indian life.
My peers have greatly influenced me in the documentation of the present. What do we look like, what are we concerned about and what are we doing about it—what kind of people are we? A hundred years in the future our descendants will be able to see things that are happening today, in our own words, through the use of modern technology. We will be the history that they learn.
I see that tribal people are taking the reins in many areas. They are educated, have a good work ethic, and are very intelligent. They are taking care of business and are directing their destinies while retaining their languages and cultures. That's not to say that there isn't the opposite end of the spectrum—that's a given— and we always hear about that. There are both men and women warriors who are not recognized for their efforts and hard work. Though there are more opportunities for women today, I think there needs to be even more. I see a lot of support for emerging film makers, but there is a need for a balance of support for experienced filmmakers too. It's almost like you are penalized for your experience and expertise in the move for "younger, fresh material." Experienced producers/directors have valuable life experience to support their story telling.
I think it would be great if tribes, organizations and Indian communities would invest in Native filmmakers. You know, when we pay those dollars to go to the theaters to see the latest Hollywood production, we are supporting that industry. There are so many awesome independent productions that have not been seen by a great majority of Indian audiences today. Someone could host a Native produced/directed independent production, charge a nominal fee and contribute it to the independent filmmaker for their next work. Be creative, support "our industry." You don't necessarily have to have a film festival, though that would be good too. There are so many producers with good projects on hold because they lack funding.
Through the use of film and video we are telling our own stories. Some of us see it as economic development as well as artistic creation. I mean, just look at the dollars that come out of the Hollywood industry. Tribes could fund and produce. It would be economic development, cultural preservation and protection. Then we wouldn't have to wait to be the "flavor of the year," when Indian subjects are "in" and a little more funding from outside sources are available. The technology is more affordable than it has ever been and we have filmmakers with stories to tell, who know the technology and have expertise and talent to complete a production. I know of only a very small number of tribes who do this. When we invest in ourselves it is self-empowerment.

Being In Balance
The filmmaking business is not easy—you really have to be self-motivated, survive rejection and adversity. You must believe in yourself and your ideas. Some people will like what you do, some won't and they'll let you know. The indigenous filmmakers that I know are intelligent, know what they're doing and are dedicated. It's not a career for the weak, either physically or mentally. On top of all that, a majority of Native producers are also active within their own tribal communities. That is the area that sets us apart from non-Indian producers. Our information does not come just from research, it comes primarily from our own people, our own recollections and experiences, some of which cannot be found in books. Not only do you need to keep up with all kinds of information, new technology and be a good writer, you also want to keep a balance with participation in family and tribal ceremonial and social activities. Sometimes you have to deal with limitations of what your tribe or community does not want said about certain information.
Today my strongest interest is in the history of Colorado and particularly the people I come from—the Arapaho. I am going to do a short documentary on the Arapaho names of places (rivers, mountains) and very likely a documentary on Chief Left Hand, who was wounded at Sand Creek and died three days later. The Southern Arapaho people lived all around the Boulder area. There are also some Arapaho, Kiowa and Cheyenne petroglyphs that I am going to shoot along the Front Range as well as some Medicine Wheel sites. I would also like to create a documentary about the Sand Creek Massacre. I have several things in the works, including an animation project and a music video.
Currently, I am seeking funding for an hour-long historical documentary set in the mid 1800s. It is about the last organized camp of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, lead by Chief Tall Bull. It was the Summit Springs Massacre of 1869. Richard Tall Bull from Denver, a descendant of Tall Bull and Dr. Tim Kloberdanze (professor of anthropology at the University of North Dakota from Sterling, Colorado) inspired me to research this story. They tried to participate in activities in Sterling to commemorate the 100-year anniversary and were denied approval by the town. They set up their own marker at the site. I am also working on a contemporary story, about a young Cheyenne woman, a hero story. It's a feature film script set in Denver.

Kerry Langford helped save his tribe's language, "gawoninhisdi," using IBM technology. Langford used IBM Translation Manager software which builds a memory as it translates. The program then taps into the memory when translating new documents. The Cherokee tribe can now fulfill its own legislative act, which requires all legal and cultural documents to be in English and Cherokee.

I am not a registered tribal member, but do I have three ancestors who were Cherokee. Two of these were orphaned/adopted children from the "Trail of Tears;" and the third was a woman who married in Georgia prior to the removal. My family tree also has part Scottish, Irish, and English heritage. By birth I am a Texan, by legal residence and voter registration I am a Minnesotan, and by religion I am a Christian. With all that said about the mixture of my heritage, I can claim to be truly and thoroughly "American."
I was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and spent most of my time at a small private school called Fort Worth Christian School (2nd to 12th grade). I graduated in 1982 as valedictorian of my class, with interests in science and engineering. I went on to pursue a bachelor's degree in computer science engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington in the Engineering College.
My most influential teacher during high school was a teacher named Jack Graham who was my physics teacher. He taught me to have a true interest in the field of engineering and problem solving. During college, I worked for IBM in marketing technical support in Dallas, Texas. Many older IBM service engineers and customer engineers greatly inspired and influenced me during those years.
As far as a definition of leadership, an older IBM engineer taught me this very simple principle: "As an engineer, if you see a problem, it is your problem until you fix it, or find someone who can." Simply put, leadership is taking responsibility for something and acting upon it. If you want to be a leader it really does not matter where you came from, it matters most where you are going such that others would want to follow. Often you yourself are following others who have gone before you, but just ahead of you on the same path.
I picked up a lot of things from watching and observing other people lead. I also had a few good mentors guiding me and showing me what they knew about leadership. Often, out of respect for their experience and opinions, I would ask their advice on a situation I was facing on a project. Other times, I would reflect on how some of these people handled similar situations and applied the lesson. There are also lot of good books out there in the library on leaders and leading.
Young people must try things, and then be willing to learn from the experience. Participating in a co-op program with a major corporation is a great way to gain experience and confidence in leadership. There are usually many opportunities to take responsibility for projects and tasks where your leadership skills can be practiced and expanded. As whatever you focus on expands, the more you think about leading, the more it grows and becomes second nature.
I would tell parents, teachers and mentors that they must give young people true responsibilities and then let them be in control. It is best if there is a chance for both failure and success in the opportunity. Most people are motivated to choose success and are willing to apply and prove themselves to the task or challenge at hand. Even in failures, there are wonderful opportunities to reflect on what happened and chalk it up to experience. The biggest risk an individual can take is not believing in themselves.