Time Now To Share And Welcome Home

Everyone will benefit from an aggressive plan approved by North Idaho College to reach out to the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe and other Native Americans.

The Coeur d’Alenes finally will get a chance to establish a high-profile presence and an educational pipeline for their future leaders - in a town and on a lake named for them.

The college, which sits on the tribe’s historic gathering place, could become a magnet for Native American students.

And the Coeur d’Alene area will have something more than chamber of commerce handouts to combat negative publicity generated by North Idaho’s few racists.

Jeanne Givens, NIC board chairwoman and a Coeur d’Alene tribal member, put the importance of the partnership into context last week when she told trustees: “What you have before you is a dream.”

The Coeur d’Alenes cherish education.

In the mid-1800s, the first building they constructed after the Cataldo mission was a school. As part of their gaming compact with the state, they readily agreed to pump 5 percent of their gambling revenue into public schools.

Currently, however, only seven Coeur d’Alenes attend NIC; in the past three years, 10 others have felt unwanted and dropped out. Race played a part, as did the uncomfortable adjustment from a reservation setting to an urban one.

NIC’s new nine-point plan should make transitions smoother. It calls for actively recruiting Native American students, naming special places on campus for tribal leaders or cultural happenings, creating an American Indian Studies program, including study of the Coeur d’Alene language, and construction of a campus “long house” that will be a tribal cultural and social center.

Tribal leaders, such as Chairman Ernie Stensgar who spoke to Lewis-Clark State College graduates in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday, understand the importance of investing in future leaders - not only for the tribe but also for the region.

Again and again, the Coeur d’Alenes have proved colorblind as they have charted a course toward self-sufficiency. Their Benewah Market in Plummer serves western Benewah County. Their Benewah Medical Center is open to all. They employ whites as well as tribal members at the Coeur d’Alene Bingo Casino.

Now, it’s time for non-Indian North Idahoans to show their appreciation to the Coeur d’Alenes - by recognizing the history they share and by welcoming them home.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board