Chad Smith on Native Americans and Politics

As Told to Elizabeth Macanufo 

This article first appeared in the Winter 2008 edition of IN magazine.

Chad Smith entered the University of Madison-Wisconsin MBA program in 1973 with a goal in mind to work for Cherokee Nation.Two years later, he embarked on his journey and is now serving his third term as principal chief of the tribe.

Smith personally advocates for the 260,000 Cherokee citizens living in northeast Oklahoma, where they settled after Andrew Jackson forcibly removed their ancestors from Georgia during the Trail of Tears. Located in the Cherokee Nation capital of Tahlequah, Okla., Smith considers himself the chief executive of a government that “can do everything the American government does except have a standing army or print money.”

He hopes to hold America to its vow of recognizing the rights of Native American tribes to self-government, tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

Our government existed before the United States was in existence. We signed several treaties with Britain. Congress has to understand our long legal history, or they will damage our community. Politics is everything because it guides all policies.

The Cherokees have an odd history in voting. We elect Democrats to local offices, but Republicans to the congress and senate. Andrew Jackson was a Democrat and is detested by Cherokees. Today he’d be a Republican. It’s hard to keep political parties straight.

Political winds don’t blow dramatically here. We don’t get as excited as some people may about politics. We certainly don’t watch the talking heads on Sunday morning. There are a lot of poor people in our community, so the ebb and flow of the stock market doesn’t mean a lot to many individuals. We’re more interested in how it translates to everyday life. Politics are embodied in things such as the price of gas and that affects us.

We encounter human challenges that are common to many communities. One of the great things the president can provide is policies that can help quality of life and create inspiration so that people know they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Intelligence and creativity will ultimately prevail. People are looking at candidates from their quality of intelligence and sincerity of the heart. They relay great stories for Native Americans to understand. The current candidates are very inspirational.