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There is a great deal of satisfaction in being a member of the National Congress of American Indians, where is one associated and bound together with so many good people, working for the benefit of all Indian people. It has been my experience in working with the National Congress of American Indians that it is not an organization designed to benefit any individual or group but it is an organization in which all Indians benefit, whether they be young or old, English-speaking or not, educated or not educated. The appearance of our younger and more educated men and women in the leadership of this organization should indicate to all Indians that those who have had the advantages of an education and competition in society are reaching out their hands to help those of you who did not have the same opportunities. You should be proud that while they are making a name for themselves in society, they have not turned their backs on their own people.

In order for the National Congress of American Indians to do a good job, and one which will benefit our Indian people, the organization and its officers must have the full and complete support of every Indian and every band or tribe of Indians in the country. No organization is any than the contribution each person makes to that organization, whether that be in terms of time, effort or funds.

These are very challenging times and conditions in the world are changing from day to day. This is opening new horizons for the Indian people and it is having a tremendous effect on us as Indians, whether we care to admit it or not. We must realize, painful as it may be, that we 400,000 Indians cannot stem the tides and pressures of 150 million people in this land and the rest of the world; and , consequently, we must prepare ourselves to find and take our rightful places in society. Our thinking and planning must be with that inevitable consequence in mind, and I hope and feel that this Convention will produce the best collective thinking and planning of our Indian people, which will reflect credit to all Indians and also to our organization, the National Congress of American Indians.

JUSTICE JOHNSON: I want to present a delegate from the Cherokee Tribe of Oklahoma. He is the mayor of the City of Claremore -- one of the youngest mayors of the United States -- James Hammett.

JAMES HAMMETT: Thank you, Justice Johnson, members of the Executive Council and the National Congress of American Indians, fellow delegates from all over this great country. We have been received royally in Bellingham. Justice Johnson and I got here a few days early. On behalf of the National Congress and on behalf of my home town which is better known as the home town of a great Indian, a great leader, a man whose body lies at rest in state now on a hill overlooking Claremore, but whose philosophy and ideals and leadership continue on in our hearts, and who I would like to think would be here with us today at this meeting. I would like at this time to present to Mayor Mulhern a token of our esteem of his city, a bronze statue of Will Rogers.

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