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I was just reading an article Erich sent me from Indian Country Today about Cecilia Fire Thunder. She was chair at Pine Ridge and was removed by the tribal council for saying the clinic at Pine Ridge might be able to perform abortions. Her career prior to politics was mostly in women's health.
In the article Cecilia Fire Thunder said''Tribal attorneys at [the National Congress of American Indians] pulled me into a corner and said, 'You know, you were the first president ever removed for standing by her principles. Everyone else was removed for embezzlement or corruption,''' she said.
My question is, whether you agree with her politically or not, who do you think her experience, being removed from office, is going to affect other tribal leaders. Do you think people will be inspired by her example? Do you think they will be afraid they will have the same fate and lose their jobs?
Or do you think it will have no impact at all?
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I think it's interesting that in this tribal council, someone's priniciples are considered to be in the same category as embezzlement and corruption. It definitely says a lot about the system itself. I think that her experience may affect other tribal leaders on an emotional level - they may realize that others feel the same way they feel, and that there is more than one way of thinking about issues such as abortion. However, no one wants to lose their job or position in society. It takes a very strong-willed person to do what she did. It would be nice to think that Cecilia would influence others to act in the way that she did - after all, this is the only way that a real change can occur. However, I don't think that is very realistic, unfortunately.
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I think it will have some impact. It depends upon how much publicity (national) it gets. It would be nice to see her example be the start of something positive in Indian Country. It is also very interesting to note that the Council removed her from office, not the people.
Last edited by Willie (2007-07-10 23:16:14)
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I think her experience will create a negative impact in Indian Country. Those who do want to take a stand whether as a council member or simply a community member will most likely feel threatened to do so in order not to be shunned by their community. So often do we see people in powerful positions with an alternate agenda like the above mentioned embezzlement rather than individuals wanting to create societal change. It is unfortunate that those individuals willing to stand for their principles are treated like criminals.
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here's a link to an article on her http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413261
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Here is a link to another article about her importance to women as a role model and an advocate.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096409864
I know that a lot of people feel strongly on one side or the other of the abortion issue. My ethical question is whether it is acceptable to overturn an election illegally if you truly believe the elected official is behaving immorally or unethically. I am not saying that the people who ousted President Fire Thunder were correct on the abortion issue, but let's just assume for the sake of argument that they were. Does the end justify the means?
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