Oneidas hone political skills By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle Members of the Oneida Tribe of Indians received a crash course in political science from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Saturday. The training session took place at the Norbert Hill Center on the Oneida Nation reservation. It was the first of its kind in which American Indians began developing political strategies and tactics to strengthen their political influence, according to American Indian caucus chairwoman Gwen Carr. Carr worked with colleagues from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to organize the event. Scheduled speakers included Linda Honold, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, state Democratic Sens. John Erpenbach and Spencer Coggs, and campaign representatives of presidential candidate John Kerry and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold. Carr is a member of the Cayuga tribe in New York, a sister tribe to the Wisconsin Oneidas. She has served as the political director of the American Indian Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. Before the event, which was closed to media, Carr said whether 10 or 50 attended the event did not matter as much as the fact that Saturday marked an important step toward forming a strong American Indian political voice. There are 44,000-48,000 American Indians among the 12 tribes in Wisconsin, Carr said. "The case has already been made for the importance of the American Indian vote," she said, later adding that American Indians helped Gov. Jim Doyle take office in Wisconsin. Tribal members are concerned about education, housing, health care - the same issues as everyone else, she said; maintaining sovereignty remains a central issue. "We are charged by our ancestors to protect that at all costs," Carr said. Carol Sample, executive director of Spotted Eagle Inc., a private, nonprofit organization in Milwaukee that administers education and social services and employment training, said each tribe will have different priorities. Among American Indians living off the reservation in Milwaukee, Sample said the unemployment rate is more than 17 percent. On reservations with healthy gaming industries, unemployment is not as high a priority, she said. Even so, Sample says one American Indian voice can still call for all of its members to be treated with dignity and respect. She said that speaking for all nations is considered a "taboo," but in her opinion, American Indians are not looking for compensation for horrible treatment by colonizers and the U.S. government. "We're looking for respect and someone that will treat us equitably, not with compassion but with understanding that we have 500 years of history to undo," she said. Saturday's caucus was held to inform tribal members about the U.S. political system. Carr said caucus organizers are prepared to teach participants about the political process at a beginner's level. While American Indians are studying the U.S. political process, they try to teach others about themselves. "Part of what we do is educate people in political office about who and what we are - really," Carr said, adding that tribes' identities are more than gaming. "We were here long before casinos and we'll be here long after they're gone," she said. As jobs continue to disappear - Carr referred to the 200 layoffs Georgia-Pacific announced Friday - tribal business should be more important for Indians and non-Indians. American Indians own casinos, but they also own banks and insurance companies and they support health centers that serve everyone, Carr said. In the effort to politically mobilize members of the Oneida Nation, voter registration and campaign organizers will launch a widespread campaign. According to William Gollnick, general manager of the Oneida Nation, the nation has a population of 15,000, with 5,000 tribal members living on or near the reservation.