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Abstract

Wendell Chino was not just another tribal president, he was a nationally recognized leader. For many years of Mr. Chinos life he served as the president on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation, In Southern New Mexico. During those years Mr. Chino led the Mescalero Apache people out of poverty and onto becoming one of the most prosperous tribes in the history of America.

Mr. Wendell Chino

Wendell Chino was Born December 25, 1923 in Mescalero, New Mexico. Only 11 years prior to Mr. Chinos birth, his parents Sam Chino and Lizzie Tortilla were released by the the U.S Army from being prisoners of war. A year after Mr. Chinos birth in 1924, congress granted Native Americans citizenship.

In 1912 after their release, Sam, Lizzie and a handful of others were given two choices, they could settle in Oklahoma or New Mexico. They chose New Mexico and settled on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation, a 720 square mile piece of land located in the Sacramento Mountains. The reservation had been established in 1873 and was home to around 4,000 Apaches. Each family was housed in one room barn like structures, that had a crop or two outside. The Apaches still relied very much on the government and the rations of supplies they provided them. There was nothing there in terms of facilities or employment. The Mescalero Apaches were one of the poorest tribes, until 1955 when Wendell Chino was elected chairman.

Mr. Chinos childhood has very little records, up until his college years. He graduated from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan in 1951. A few months later he became an ordained minister in the Reformed Church, he then returned home to the Mescalero Reservation. At only 28 years old Mr. Chino was elected chairman of the Mescalero Apache Tribe. He held that position for the next 43 years, Until his death in 1998. He was reelected 16 terms in a row to lead his people, and thats what he did.

Wendell Chino had a very loud, deep, demanding voice. His facial expression matched his voice, very stoic and serious. Mr. Chino often challenged the United States legal system, making sure the government kept their word from the treaties they held with the Indian tribes. Often Mr. Chino would waste no time and when problems arose he would take them straight up to the federal level. Mr. Chino fought for the rights of not just his tribe but every Native American in the United States. He fought for and advanced the area of tribal souvernty for tribes across the nation. Tribal sovereignty is the concept that individual tribes, rather than the state or federal government, possess the authority to make decisions regarding anything related to the tribe as a whole or its members. (Staff)

The first thing Mr. Chino did as the newly elected chairman, he let the natural resource contracts the tribe held with the Bureau of Indian Affairs expire. One would think that is not a smart move, but Mr. Chino knew exactly what he was doing. The Bureau no longer had control of the timber, water use, mining, grazing rights, or any other natural resource within the reservation. Mr. Chino enabled the tribe to then directly open up their own saw mill, and cattle company. This directly profited the tribe and also opened up employment opportunities. The bureau was not happy and in 1977 there was a court case on who controlled the natural resources. Mr. Chino led the tribe to victory, soon after the Mescalero Apache Tribe began pulling in revenue and became its own empire. A community center, tribal offices, a hospital, and a school among other enterprises were all established while Mr. Chino held his position.

No matter what you do, theres always going to be someone against you. This proved right when in April of 1996 several members of the tribe began questioning Mr. Chinos leadership skills. This all came after a negation between Mr. Chino, the tribal council, and Northern States Power. The negotiation was about placing a temporary nuclear power waste storage on the reservation. Mr. Chino believed the tribe could profit tremendously from this idea of temperarly storing the waste product for up to 4o years before it would be moved away to a permenant location. When the tribal members caught wind of this they argued of the dangers and the effects this would have on the people and environment. In the end the tribal members won this argument. This incident opened up other bad things for Mr. Chino, he was accused of taking gifts and bribery. The members also then started to question the voting process and if the numbers were all counted honestly. Mr. Chino being the iron fisted man he was said in an interview right before being elected for his 17^th term, "Wendell Chino doesn't elect himself. If they didn't like the way I was operating, they would have booted me out a long time ago." (contributors, n.d.)

Mr. Chino achieved many of his goals of making the Mescalero Tribe a prosperous tribe. He held many high titles and received numerous awards in his lifetime. Mr. Chino became a well known name when it came to Native American rights, and the fight for sovernty. When Mr. Chino died from a massive heart attack at 74, it sent waves of shock all across the Indian Nation. In his honor there have been buildings and many awards named after him. He was a warrior that pulled his tribe out of poverty and led them to becoming one of the most successful tribes in history. (McDonald, 2020)