Abourezk charted a principled course

SIOUX FALLS—For most of his long and productive life James Abourezk was an anomaly; an educated, erudite, progressive minded man from a rural state where men so described generally have no political future. While white South Dakotans knew Abourezk was a Democrat, few realized he was Arab American, of Lebanese descent, and so all of his life Abourezk straddled two worlds, the dominant culture corridors of power, and the rural, isolated vistas of windblown prairie grass, up to, and especially including the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

Last week Abourezk left his home in Sioux Falls and entered hospice care where he died at the age of 92, a significant political figure of the 20^th Century, who prematurely exited a successful political career, said good bye to the Washington DC deliberative body where he had achieved status and fame, fed up with the entire process, just wanting out, informing the press that the US Congress was “a chickenshit outfit.”

That observation did not remain in the news cycle long; it was just a curious footnote in his overall history, but it spoke to the unique and independent spirit Abourezk brought to a political reality sorely in need of a thousand men like him.

In 1854 Antonio Bishallany arrived at Boston Harbor, the first Lebanese to ever immigrate to the United States. Hundreds of thousands would follow. Historians and social commentators really have no explanation why so many Lebanese left their homeland over the decades to come, but in many Lebanese locales, up to fifty percent of the population jumped ship for mostly North and South America, and some of those families found their way to farms in South Dakota.

These immigrants proved to be industrious and ambitious, and they produced men with the intelligence and talent to impact not only their local community, and the rest of the state, but the nation and world as well. Abourezk was the first South Dakota Lebanese to get elected to Congress, but a fellow second generation Lebanese, Jim Abdnor, also got elected to the US Senate from South Dakota, defeating incumbent George McGovern by a wide margin, defeating McGovern by appealing to the very conservative political mentality that ran counter to the political perspective of Abourezk. Hailing from just north of Abourezk, from the 1-90 Corridor hamlet of Kennebec, Abdnor developed an affinity for his white ranching and farming neighbors, and he supported their interests and hawked their perspectives.

Abourezk was born at the reservation border town of Wood, South Dakota, in 1931. His father owned and operated two general stores and at some point, in his formative years, Abourezk developed a deep and abiding affection and respect for the Lakota people, after initially having a racist perception of them. Although he would serve only one term as a US Senator, he sponsored key legislation that has had a lasting positive impact on Indian Country to this very day.

Abourezk was graduated from high school in 1948. After four years of Naval service he bounced around from one job to another, before finally earning a civil engineering degree from the School of Mines in Rapid City. Eventually he entered the Law program at the University of South Dakota, and was graduated with a JD in 1966, at the age of 35. He may have been lagging behind his contemporaries at that time, but Abourezk quickly made up that ground. He was elected to the US Senate just six years later, and through the force of his “pugnacious personality” became a high-profile advocate with power and influence far beyond the norm for a person from his background and with his limited political experience and connections.

In a 1990 C-SPAN interview Abourezk echoed the observation of the Father of Public Relations, Edward Bernays, by stating: “…the establishment has taken over every aspect of this country’s politics, of its society, its communications, virtually every aspect.”  Bernays had written: “Those that manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country…” The difference was Bernays was advocating for this “true ruling power,” and Abourezk was calling it out.

Known for what one writer called his “pugnacious personality.” Abourezk was a fearless advocate for social justice and marginalized peoples. His work on behalf of Native interest has stood the test of time. He sponsored the Indian Self-Determination and Education Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. The legislation he is best known for is the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. He was also on the ground floor of creating the American Indian Policy Review Commission and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. What stands out about all of these sponsorships and committee creations is they ran counter to his political self-interest back home, and would have threatened his reelection, but Abourezk does not seem to have ever allowed political expediency to taint the principle of his political stances or action.

Not yet 40, Abourezk retired from politics in 1980. He founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee at that time. Nine years later his book, Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of South Dakota and the US Senate, became a must read for anyone seeking to understand the political struggles on behalf of Native interest during the 1970’s.

By James Giago Davies Native Sun News Today Managing Editor

 

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