Native American Ethics Today
Contrast this historical view discussed in
the previous section with that of today’s non-Indian
perspective on Native American ethics. Non-Indian
newspapers are quick to print stories on embezzlements,
stealing, robberies, Indian on Indian violence, abuse of
all kinds. Alas, the portrait of the highly ethical and
moral Native American of yesteryears has been replaced by
an image of Native American leaders who have little or no
moral fiber. Tribal and non-tribal members alike share this
perception.
Like all general pictures there are, of course, exceptions.
We can all identify many tribal leaders of outstanding
integrity. Still, this does not change the fact that our
society is different now. Anyone who claims that Native
American society is always a role model of ethics for other
communities just hasn't been paying attention to some of
the scandals and problems afflicting us today.
We hope you did not enroll in this course so you can go out
and start accusing different tribal members of ethical
violations. Instead, we hoped you enrolled in this course
to learn what you have to do to conduct yourself in an
ethical manner. Only when you apply and start practicing
ethical standards will you have the moral authority to
speak up against ethical practices in others.
The section also emphasizes the importance of “sound
institutions of government’ as essential to building strong
tribal communities and society (Kalt et al, 2007). The
report recognizes several tribes that have effective tribal
governments: the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian, the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and the Winnebago
of Nebraska. For any government to be effective their
leaders have to have a solid base of moral and ethical
behavior. I would be willing to bet that the leaders of
tribes are highly ethical and moral people. I would also
say the majority of tribal workers and/or tribal members
would not tolerate any unethical or immoral behavior by
their leaders, program directors, and tribal members.