Wisdom From Mel: It's Okay to Not Know Everything

Author
Year

Mel Tonasket was not formally educated but he had lobbied and negotiated with Congressman and Senators. When Mel was in Washington D.C. he heard the fancy words from the Solicitors office. He was determined to fight for tribes and not let the “Suyapees” (Anglos) get the best of us — so when he traveled he carried a little dictionary and would look up words so they couldn’t beat him with fancy words.

Mel would tell you himself that he struggled in school. He’d laugh and say he was good at Art and P.E. Sometimes he would tell the NCAI Executive Director, Chuck Trimble what he wanted to say and his E.D. would write it up...

Resource Type
Citation

Hill, Margo. "Wisdom From Mel: It's Okay to Not Know Everything." Indian Country Today Media Network. September 11, 2013. Article. (https://ictnews.org/archive/wisdom-from-mel-its-okay-to-not-know-everything, accessed February 23, 2023)

Related Resources

Thumbnail

Wilson Justin is a cultural ambassador for Cheesh’na Tribal council and serves as a Vice Chair Board of Directors for Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium.  He relays his expertise and perspective on the intricacies of Indigenous governance in Alaska through adapting cultural traditions, creating a…

Thumbnail

In this presentation, Chief Oren Lyons discusses the topic of international leadership and empowerment. The speech was given on March 18, 2011, at Humboldt State University.

Image
Indigenous Leadership in a Flat World

The world is flat, so we are now told. In his recent book The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Friedman argues that since the beginning of the Twentieth century globalization has evolved at an astronomically fast rate. As a result, the world is now inter-connected…