Jo Ann O'Bregon (Kaw Education Director): A treaty was signed and the tribe was removed from Kansas and relocated in Washunga along the banks of the Arkansas River -- they called it Beaver ... and built the traditional bark homes.
Narrator: The Kaw Tribe arrived in Indian Territory in 1873. It's now the state of Oklahoma, and much of the original site where the Kaw located -- not far south of the Kansas border -- is covered by a reservoir that bears their name. Relocated to higher ground, Kaw City now occupies a peninsula that juts out into the west side of Kaw Lake. This is where the administrative offices and the tribal museum can be found. About 600 of the tribe's 2400 members live in this part of Oklahoma. The education and social services director for the tribe, Jo Ann O'Bregon edits the tribal newsletter and presides over its cultural committee. She recalls what she's been told about the tribe's relocation from Kansas.
Jo Ann: From talking with my uncle ... who has passed away -- Jesse Mehugi ... he talked about his dad, who was Jesse, Sr. being a small boy when they made the trip down from Kansas, and he said that he never talked about it. He remembered it, but he just wouldn't talk about it. So from that I thought it was traumatic for them.
Narrator: The Kaw Tribe -- also known as the Kanza -- now appears to be more concerned with its prospects for the future than with the losses suffered in the past. Leadership is no longer provided by various chiefs but by an elected executive council. For the past several years, Wanda Stone has served as the chairperson of the council. We spoke with her when she came to Council Grove to represent the tribe at a Santa Fe Trail symposium.
Wanda Stone (Chairperson, Kaw Nation): We have an electoral process where we elect the chairman, the vice chairman, the secretary and four other council members. That has only been true since our constitution was written in 1990. Before that, we were under a resolution that said that we could elect seven ... or six people, at that time, and then we would pick our chairman within. So that's been changed in the last nine years.
Narrator: The tribe's relationship to the federal government has also changed over the years. As with other tribes, the Kaw were basically treated as wards of the government, dependent upon federal dollars funneled to them through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Now the Kaw have more control over their own affairs and can apply for federal grants such as those available through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The tribal museum is a case in point.
Wanda: That was one of the first HUD grants that we ever received. And we built the museum. It also has offices in it for social services. We hold our general council meetings there ... it has a large auditorium. And it's kind of an atrium room. It's beautiful. The museum is really nice. ... that was one of our first ones, but we've come a long way since then. We received funding for ... oh, it's kind of a general building that has a full basketball court in it for our youth, and they can have all kinds of activities there -- wrestling, volleyball, whatever they want to do. Then we went back and we did a proposal for a clinic. It's right within our housing area and that's where a lot of our people live -- in Newkirk. Right out there by the clinic east of Newkirk. There are about 57 houses out there, I believe. So we built the clinic. We opened a pharmacy downtown in Newkirk and we thought that it might make us a little money. As it turned out, it didn't, so we moved it out to the clinic. Ok then, we went for disease prevention. So then we built a wellness center and it has a 25-meter indoor swimming pool it's beautiful. It has physical therapy equipment. You can go out there and exercise. And now we're getting ready to build a childcare center on that same location ... that will not only serve our Indian kids, but it'll serve the outside community also. So we get along really well with the Newkirk community. We've brought a lot in there, and they appreciate it.
Narrator: Wanda points out that the Kaw, and most of the other Indian tribes in Oklahoma, do not have a reservation, except for the historical boundaries, which no longer apply. Although the heart of the Kaw Tribe may be associated with the powwow grounds near Kaw Lake and the tribal headquarters on the opposite shore in Kaw City, tribal enterprises can be found as far away as the town of Braman, about 30 miles northwest of Kaw City.
Wanda: We have a truck stop; it's on I-35. And we just recently received a grant from HUD that will allow us to rebuild the whole convenience store building and truck stop. And it'll make us more competitive with the other truck stops along I-35. When we purchased it in 1990, it was kind of a mom-and-pop operation. And we've upgraded it through the years, but it's just not competitive. So we did a proposal and got the money from HUD to redo it.
Narrator: The tribe also generates significant income from a bingo hall and a smoke shop near its residential area east of Newkirk. A greenhouse near Kaw Lake has the potential to bring in additional income, although it's not currently in operation.
Jo Ann: Economic development -- I think that's really important. You know, like I said, we have our bingo hall, but we really need to concentrate on other areas because, you know, will it last forever? Will people get tired of this? There's other avenues that we really need to look at to try to become more self supportive.
Wanda: We're really proud of our accomplishments, you know. We've moved along really fast in the last nine years and we've made a lot of ... maybe not a lot of money, but we've put into process facilities that will handle the services to our people, and that's what they wanted. So that's what we're trying to provide. 2 #####