JACQUELINE JOHNSON PATA: KEYNOTE SPEECH NATIONAL CONGRESS

Jacqueline Johnson Pata, Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) delivers today’s keynote address at the inaugural National Congress Meeting.

“NCAI was founded in a context where Native people were under attack from many sides. In the shadow of the termination era where the federal government was taking a unilateral approach to terminate tribes and change the policy context for Native people, our founders realized, perhaps for the first time, that there are some things that we as Native nations can only do together.

A voice for Indigenous peoples is not an optional extra. A strong institution that can unify Indigenous communities and hold governments accountable is a critical component of meaningful self-determination.”
Read her speech here.