Governor Bill Anoatubby
Tribal vision of strong culture requires dedication, commitment
By Bill Anoatubby, Governor, Chickasaw Nation
Most Chickasaws know the mission statement of the Chickasaw Nation: “To enhance the overall quality of life of the Chickasaw People.”
It is a very simple mission statement, and one that goes right to the heart of what we – your elected officials and your tribal employees – work toward every day.
Most Chickasaws probably don’t know our tribal vision: “To be a Nation of successful and united people with a strong cultural identity.”
The vision statement has a bit different focus. Our fundamental mission is to make Chickasaw lives better. Our vision for the future is Chickasaws achieving success in their lives, and empowering Chickasaws to grab hold of the powerful bond that unites us. We want all Chickasaws to understand the tremendous history of our tribal culture.
We are unique. Our Chickasaw culture is built on a history of supporting each other and overcoming tremendous obstacles. Our vision is for all Chickasaws to understand, to “feel” that bond, completely.
We have developed a strategic plan for the future. Those of you in business or corporate environments have no doubt participated in strategic plans. These plans attempt to identify real needs, areas for improvement and opportunities for future success.
Our tribal strategic plan is based both on our mission statement and our vision for the future.
We have produced a number of objectives we would like to accomplish over the next five to 10 years. Of course, we want to achieve our objectives as quickly as possible, which means better service to citizens. We also realize big ideas can take time to completely mature and have the desired effect. These ideas require the effort of all of us who serve you in office and on the tribal staff.
All the strategic objectives we have formulated together are important. Each speaks to issues that, we believe, are imperative to properly serving our tribal mission statement and vision.
As an example, one of our objectives is to “increase opportunities to participate in all forms of cultural expression.” This is obviously a very important element, and one that can be nurtured and developed for many years.
Our desire is to provide more opportunities for Chickasaws to participate in cultural activities, and to bring down any walls that may hinder expressions of cultural pride.
Key portions of this objective include creating culturally inspired wellness efforts. The care of our bodies is obviously very important. We also want to incorporate a cultural awareness of the importance of our mental and spiritual health. Chickasaws with a deep understanding of their cultural heritage find this a natural thing. It is important more Chickasaws are exposed to this thinking and provided the proper cultural background.
Increasing cultural expression also includes expanded opportunities to learn and use our language. We have many speakers, and we are seeing more all the time. It is important we grow on that base and that we engage our people in their language. Not only is it rewarding, it’s fun!
There are many other examples of service to the mission and vision.
We want to increase knowledge of our Chickasaw customs; improve our communications with citizens; promote government participation and citizen involvement; improve access to services, and much more.
Each of these pieces of the puzzle takes time, energy and a willingness to “stick with it.” I plan to help see these efforts through and help enhance the quality of Chickasaw lives, and build strong cultural identity among all our people. For those of us who serve you at the tribe, these are the right things to do.
We will continue this series regarding our tribal direction with more discussion of Chickasaw Nation priorities and objectives for the future.