Champion of Tribes Resists Stereotype : Lone Indian in Congress Embraces 2 Cultures

WASHINGTON —  On the wall is a portrait of a raven-haired warrior, his profile proud and handsome, clad in the feathers, bones and colored beads of traditional Indian dress.

Sitting on the sofa is a U.S. congressman in a gray Western-cut suit, with close-cropped hair graying at the temples.

The man in the portrait is the man on the sofa: Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne and a U.S. representative from Colorado.

Campbell is the only Native American in the 100th Congress, and the eighth Indian in history to reach the corridors of the nation’s Capitol.

As such, he is a source of pride for the nation’s 1.3 million Indians, and he feels a responsibility to them.

“Because I’m the only Indian here, I’ve developed a quiet constituency,” Campbell said. “I don’t think a day goes by that at least one Indian tribe doesn’t come by to see me--from South Dakota or New York or Florida.”

‘They Know I’m Here’

“They know I have a special sensitivity, being of the blood, you might say, and the moccasin grapevine filters out through the Indian community. They know I’m here.”

Recently, leaders of the Sac and Fox tribe of Oklahoma stopped by to talk about gambling, and delegates from the Lac Vieux Desert tribe of Michigan consulted with him about federal recognition.

He said he won’t take the lead on Indian issues nationwide (“My one vote can’t fix up all the tragedies they face”), but he quietly informs his colleagues about Indians and corrects misconceptions that come to his attention.

At a recent hearing on Indian-sponsored gambling, he listened to a fellow House member’s harangue about crime on Indian reservations, then retorted: “I think there’s more crime in this city in one night than there is in Indian country all year long.”

A slight exaggeration, but his point was made.

Campbell, born in 1933 to a Portuguese mother and a Cheyenne father, grew up in California. As an adult he moved to Colorado to ranch, but he says his home is with his relatives at the Cheyenne agency at Lame Deer, Mont.

‘Back to the Blanket’

“I go back two, three times a year and go Indian. It’s called ‘going back to the blanket.’ It means becoming Indian again.”

He often joins in tribal ceremonies, resplendent in a 6-foot-long war bonnet with 72 golden eagle feathers and blue face paint. The costume is a reminder of ancestors that included a warrior named Black Horse who rode with Two Moons at Little Big Horn. There, among the Cheyenne, Campbell is a respected member of the Council of Chiefs.

In Washington, he is a member of another elite body, the House of Representatives.

“I’m half white, I’m half Indian. I’m not going to abandon either side,” Campbell said. “I am what God made me and I’m not going to be polarized--only the traditional Indian role or only the modern role. I used to have trouble with that; a lot of half-breeds do.”

Though his upbringing was middle class, he has known discrimination. He recounted an episode in Montana, where he booked some motel rooms. When his companions, all Indians, joined him, the clerk suddenly remembered there were no vacancies. In Utah, he was refused service at a restaurant.

Insisted on Service

“I don’t take that lying down. I raised hell and made a scene and I got somebody to serve us,” he said. “I won’t put up with it, very simply.”

He has no love for the Reagan Administration, which has cut and cut again the federal funds that have for decades supported the tribes.

“There is no question that in Indian country the Administration is the enemy. I mean, they have devastated Indian country,” he said.

Not that the reservations weren’t depressed before--with 80% unemployment, alcoholism and drug problems. Campbell chose to raise his children in Colorado, away from the pull downward.

He was elected twice to the Colorado House before Democratic Party officials persuaded him to run against GOP Rep. Mike Strang last year. The election promptly was dubbed the “cowboy and Indian” race. One East Coast newspaper ran photos of Strang, also a rancher, in a tall white cowboy hat and Campbell in full Indian regalia. Campbell polled 52% of the vote.

He is also an artist. His Indian-inspired silver and turquoise jewelry designs earned him $20,000 last year. Campbell doesn’t own a tie. He makes the distinctive scarf rings that he wears each day. (House rules require male members to wear coats and ties, but Speaker Jim Wright gave Campbell permission to wear a scarf instead.)