Tim Johnson - a staunch and quiet defender of Native Americans

[shance]

Although he has spent 10 years in the United States Senate, Tim Johnson was the quiet man that was hardly noticed on a national level.

He did his job efficiently and without fanfare. He made it a point to seek out the Indian leadership in the state and discuss the issues important to them.

There is not one senator in Washington that has more knowledge about Indian affairs than Tim Johnson.

That is why it came as a frightening shock to nearly every Indian in the state when Sen.

Johnson fell ill with bleeding in his brain this week.

At the Lakota Nation Invitational Basketball Tournament, a 30-year-old annual event that brings nearly 10,000 Indians to Rapid City each December, the conversations of the people centered on the condition of Sen. Johnson.

The LNI, as it is affectionately known around here, is more than a basketball tournament.

The event has grown to include meetings for teachers, booksellers, handball games, boxing matches and educational events.

It has become the place where old friendships are renewed, new friendships formed and a time when whites and Indians get together at a sporting event that pits the Indian teams against the white teams as diverse as Custer High School.

Today one could not walk through the lobbies of any of the hotels and motels without observing Lakota people scanning the headline of the local daily newspaper that read, “Johnson Recovery Probable.” Television sets situated in the lobbies were tuned to CNN or MSNBC to get the latest medical reports.

People were talking about how Sen. Johnson got behind the Pya Wiconi Project (New Life) to bring fresh water to the reservations and about how he fought the Bush Administration to get cut funds restored to the Indian Health Service.

While the people of South Dakota worried about Sen. Johnson’s recovery and for the welfare of his wife Barbara and their children the talking heads of the national media speculated about how the balance in the Senate would shake out in the event of Sen. Johnson’s death or incapacitation. “They are like a bunch of vultures,” said one elderly Lakota man,

http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/017422.asp

[northzax]

1. yes, he's a good man

who works out of the limelight for most of the country.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Sounds as if he has a TOTALLY different way of interacting with his fellow South Dakota citizens

from that employed by Republican Bill "How's My Driving" Janklow, who has a long history of racist, vicious behavior in his home state.



(Great nickname created by one of two or three amazing photo shop artists. It's so great I can't forget it!)

[annabanana]

3. I didn't know this about him...

Thanks for the post!

[shance]

16. You are welcome Anna.

I didn't know this about him either.

[madrchsod]

4. tim johnson has to resign does`t he?

reading between the lines on his medical condition it may take several months before anyone can decide what he or others think best. if he can speak and understand what is going on, that would be better than strom and several other senators in recent memory.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. No, he doesn't

He can hold it until the his term is up as it is and never once cast a vote.

They had a previous situation such as this in SD in 1969 (or was it 1968) and this is what the the senator did.

[wellstone dem]

6. Biden was out for 9 months after hisbrain surgery. nt

[lies and propaganda]

19. damnit! When WE repeat this crap it has definitely went too far.

It so clearly says by their state laws you can only be replaced if you die.

We cant repeat their talking points.

[NVMojo]

7. wow, I had no idea ...how lucky for the Lakotas and other tribes who

have been helped by Johnson ...may he get well soon!

[sofa king]

8. I saw what Tim Johnson did.

I had the honor of working for the Oglalas in DC and I saw Johnson tirelessly defend the Mni Wiconi project and numerous other issues the Oglalas supported well before the Oglalas turned out in numbers far greater than usual to return him to the Senate by the smallest of margins (fewer than 600 votes as I recall, with Pine Ridge's Shannon County being the last to report in because of the unexpected turnout). They turned out for Tim, because they already knew what a helluva guy he is.

After the Oglalas secured Johnson's re-election, the Bush Department of the Interior recommended that the Mni Wiconi project be de-funded by nearly 75%. They claimed their decision was made using new evaluation software which showed that the water project was inefficient and running behind schedule.

The DOI never mentioned that Mni Wiconi has never been funded at its recommended levels, or that funding has become increasingly more difficult to get as non-Indian communities added to the project got their potable water first.

Few people outside of Pine Ridge know that most of the reservation has no running water, much less potable water, which the Mni Wiconi project promises to bring... someday. That's what the Republicans decided to deny the children of the Oglalas.

But Tim Johnson did mention those things, and loudly. It was Tim Johnson who demanded to learn more about this double-secret software which made the decision for the DOI (I'm sure it didn't exist). It was Johnson who began assembling the case that the decision was a hit-job on the Oglalas to punish them for actually daring to vote.

And it was Tim Johnson who got Mni Wiconi funded at an acceptable level that year.

Since Bush came to town, there were times when it seemed as if Tim Johnson was the only friend the Oglalas had in Washington. But he is a GREAT friend, an effective friend, and a loyal friend, even if he was their only friend. He has supported all of South Dakota's tribes honorably and honestly--something which no Republican in this Executive Branch and only a few in Congress will ever be able to say with a clear conscience.

I wish him the best of luck and a speedy recovery.

[Judi Lynn]

9. You've opened a way for us to understand how much work of REAL value

he has accomplished. He sounds far, far different from the politicians we're used to seeing. It would be so wrong to lose him now.

You're right: people outside the area have no idea how hard life is for these Native American citizens. No idea whatsoever.

Thank you for this deepening view of this man, and to shance for opening the subject.

[sofa king]

15. Thank you.

If you'd like to know a little more about it, here's some of the news that's still around.

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1045581087
http://johnson.senate.gov/~johnson/releases/200309/2003924812.html

[IndyOp]

10. Thank you for sharing this SK. Mitakuye Oyasin. (n/t)

[Cha]

11. How sweet and what an important thing

to be doing for our Native Americans..who were here first and foremost!

[shance]

13. So true Zidzi. He sounds like someone who has been an important

ally to the Native Americans and their nations.

[Redstone]

12. Is he, now? Then I double, and re-double my good wishes for him.

Redstone

[cali]

14. Good for Senator Johnson.

May his recovery be swift and total.

[shance]

17. kick

n/t

[longship]

18. The more I hear about Johnson, the more I like him.

He certainly wasn't the most visible Senator on the floor. But the more I hear about this man, the more I like him. South Dakotans must be very proud to have him represent them in the Senate.