Remembering Ben Nighthorse Campbell

On what would have been his 93rd birthday, friends, family and fellow leaders gathered in Ignacio on April 13th to honor the life and legacy of Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Those who knew him best reflect on a man who transformed Native American representation in American politics, championed tribal sovereignty, and proved that anybody can make a real difference.

By Sadie Smith. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Whatever he did, he did it at 100%. If he took on something, it was full force taking it on.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

People like Ben and the role he played are history making within the native community.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

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SPEAKER_02 0:27

I think that one of Ben's most powerful attributes was his capacity as what I would call a boundary walker. He chose to challenge those boundaries. At the same time, he remembered on whose behalf he was acting to pierce those boundaries in ways that made the larger community understand, first of all, that we were here, and second, that we were part of the fabric of his country.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

People felt like they finally had some representation in Washington. And we, when he became the first Native American chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee in the Senate, I think that was just an incredible moment. He held up a mirror to the members of the Senate about our real history and the failures of the federal government to fulfill our responsibilities with respect to the tribes. And Ben, I think, was a champion above all other champions for the tribes.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Ben always felt that there was history to be preserved on behalf of tribes and Native people throughout the United States. But there was a future also to be created. He took a very holistic view of looking at both the past, but the past only in the context of trying to make sure that there was a guarantee of a cultural and political future for tribes.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Whatever he puts his mind in, he did a thousand percent. He ran nine races, never lost a race. I remember one time I was at a town hall meeting where somebody was saying, Well, we pay all of your salary. And Ben said, he was very quick and he said, Well, I just checked with the accounting service in Washington, D.C. before I got home, and I found out that every person in the 3rd Congressional District pays 23 cents of my salary. And he had a quarter in his pocket and flipped it on the audience and said, Here's your money's back. I mean, he was just, he was just, you know, he was so different than any other politician I'd ever seen. He came from a really poor, bad home life. His mom had tuberculosis from the time she was 18 to 31, and then his dad was an alcoholic, and so his mom couldn't take care of him a lot of times, and so he and his sister would be in orphanages. And coming from such a poor beginning and with no structure in his life or no discipline, I think it was really judo. And then he had joined the Air Force when he was 17 and went to the Korean War, to the military, that really put structure in his life.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

His example is something that we should all try to live up to. We all have the chance to make this a better world. And Ben, nobody in that room said he was perfect, but he was an incredible example for the rest of us, and proof that anybody can make a real difference if they set their mind to it and if they're not scared of being criticized, and Ben never was.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

He was just a one of a kind. I I think there will never be another one like him. It could touch as many people and as many lives as as he did.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

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