Hurricane Katrina & Rita

3 April 2006

The Nature of Leadership

Around the conference tables and meeting halls of Indian country we discus and debate the issues and incidents that concern the governments and citizens of Indigenous Nations. We debate and define concepts like sovereignty and self-determination, we talk about economic development and grant proposals, we speak of Federal Recognition and language revitalization, but inevitably we get to the subject of native leadership.

The academics among us struggle to put into words the character attributes of a true indigenous leader. We look back to the great leaders of old and try to determine what qualities they possessed that enabled them to rise to the challenges they faced.

As with most aspects of indigenous life and culture, the answers to those questions are better understood if they are experienced and not merely researched.

Among the Houma, patterns of leadership changed substantially in the early nineteenth century. Because of the pressures associated with the American colonization of Louisiana we were forced from a pattern of single seasonal settlements to a system of clan or extended family based communities.

Though this pattern seemed too unsophisticated and informal to the structured western mind it has served us well, the collective needs of the Houma people have always given the impetus to those among us called to meet those needs. Indigenous leadership does not have the “top-heavy” character of its western counterpart; the nature of an indigenous leader is a true expression of the “public servant”.

There is no better way to bring out true leadership qualities than in the heat of a crisis. For the United Houma Nation that crisis has been the impact of hurricane Katrina and hurricane Rita, with over eight thousand tribal citizens suffering from the devastation brought by one or both storms.

While we have focused, and rightfully so, on the tremendous amount of aide that has poured in from a wide variety of sources some light needs to be shone on the aide that has come from within my Nation.

There are many examples such as Nolan Verret, a community leader from Bayou DuLarge. While Nolan and his family were made homeless by the flood waters of hurricane Rita he continues to work diligently for the benefit of his people. Nolan leads community outreaches, organizes work and clean-up crews and personally delivers relief supplies to Houma elders in his devastated community. His efforts have enabled the Tribal Council to effectively channel much-needed relief to the Houma settlement on Bayou DuLarge.

Douglas Fazzio, a Houma who grew up on Bayou Dulac, moved up to the city of Houma a couple of years ago. Though his new home escaped the hurricane driven flood waters he still was driven to help his people. When the flood waters were at their highest Douglas came down the bayou in his boat to help Houma families escape the waters that were enveloping their homes. When the flood subsided Douglas was there leading some of the first Houma relief teams into the community.

Others, like Roy and Doris Billiot, took time away from cleaning out their own flooded home to help relief teams reach out to their Houma brethren. Their knowledge of the Houma community and the Houma people gave valuable direction to the volunteers that came to render assistance to the tribe.

These are just a couple examples of how real indigenous leadership always rises to challenge. Though none of these Houma mentioned here hold any “official” position in the United Houma Nation government they have the defining feature of a native leader, a strong sense of responsibility to their people.

Throughout our hurricane relief effort this has been the driving force of those of us within tribal government and our tribal citizens. Indeed this is the nature of our existence as indigenous people and the common character trait of all great native leaders; the needs of the many are set far above the needs of the few or the needs of the one.

The United Houma Nation is recovering from this catastrophe, with the help of many concerned tribes, groups and individuals around the world but we are also recovering because of the strength and leadership that has risen from within our Nation.

Michael “T.Mayheart” Dardar