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Lawrence Baca: On UCSB, Personal Success, and American
Indian Issues
prepared by Lawrence Baca
in consultation with
Pete Villarreal and Laurie Hoyle
Lawrence Baca, a Pawnee Indian, is Deputy Director of the Office of Tribal Justice,
U.S. Department of Justice. An alumnus of UCSB (class of 1973), Baca received his
B.A. in a major of his own design (individual major program) in American Indian
history and culture. He taught two courses on Indian issues during his senior year
at UCSB, then attended Harvard Law School. While in law school he was a Harvard
Teaching Fellow in American Indian history at Harvard University. He also taught
Perspectives on the Historical Development of American Indian Policy and Law at
the Harvard University Extension School. Upon graduating from Harvard Law School
in 1976, he was the first American Indian hired through the Department of Justice’s
Honor Law Program.
In his long and distinguished career with the U.S. Department of Justice, Lawrence
was the first American Indian promoted to the rank of Senior Trial Attorney. He
served in the Civil Rights Division, working in the Educational Opportunities Litigation
Section for twelve years, the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section for eight years,
the General Litigation Section for two years, and the Office of Indian Rights for
four years. Lawrence’s civil rights work on behalf of American Indians in the areas
of credit, voting rights, and education has been groundbreaking.
A member of the American Bar Association (ABA), Lawrence has chaired the ABA Commission
on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession and has worked with the Younger
Lawyers Division, the Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities, the Committee
on Minorities in the Profession, and the Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice. Lawrence
has coordinated the work of the Committee on Problems of American Indians and has
lectured widely on the role of American Indian lawyers as minority members of the
majority bar.
Lawrence also is a member of the Federal Bar Association (FBA). After chairing the
FBA’s Indian Law Committee for four years, Lawrence was asked to create and chair
the new Indian Law Section. In 1999, he organized the inaugural Washington D.C.
conference on Indian law. He continues to chair and “grow” the Indian Law Section
while providing leadership for the largest annual federal Indian law conference
in America. Lawrence is a past president of the National Native American Bar Association
(NNABA) and has served on its board of directors, in various capacities, for fourteen
of the last twenty years. He is the only person to serve as president of NNABA three
times.
Lawrence is a nationally recognized authority on federal Indian law who lectures
frequently on the role of race in society and civil rights law. In 1988, he was
invited to write the chapter on “The Legal Status of American Indians” for Volume
4 of the Smithsonian Institution’s 20-volume Handbook of North American Indians.
His article, “American Indians, The Racial Surprise in the 1964 Civil Rights Act:
They May, More Correctly, Perhaps, Be Denominated A Political Group,” was published
in the Howard Law Journal, (2005) and he wrote “Meyers v. Board of Education: The
Brown v. Board of Indian Country,” for the University of Illinois Law Review, (2004).
Lawrence has served numerous times as consulting editor for the federal Indian law
issue of the Federal Bar News & Journal. His legal work has been profiled in the
ABA journal as one of “Twelve Who Made It” and in Indian Country Today, the leading
American Indian newspaper in the country, in an article calling Lawrence “the grandfather
of Indian country credit.” In 1999, he was the first American Indian attorney ever
profiled in Minority Lawyer Magazine. His articles on the need for diversity in
the legal community have appeared in the Public Lawyer, The Goal IX Newsletter,
Student Lawyer, The American Indian Report, and the Federal Lawyer.
A noted amateur photographer with interest in American Indian rock art, Lawrence’s
work has appeared on the cover of the Federal Bar Association magazine seventeen
times. Lawrence is a recipient of UCSB’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
Baca is a recipient of UCSB’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
We connected recently with Lawrence Baca, class of 1973, who very thoughtfully and
candidly answered our questions. As you’ll see, Lawrence draws on his long and distinguished
career in law, his exceptional life experiences, and his hope for the future in
order to help the young people of today chart a course to their own success. We
thank Lawrence for being such an influential member of UCSB’s EOP family—a family
that grows stronger with each new generation of students
- What are two or three of the most important things you learned at UCSB?
The importance
of community service would be first among equals. I’m sure I was aware of its value
coming in, but the opportunities to participate at a greater level were a valuable
part of my UCSB experience. When I arrived on campus I was the only American Indian
student. There was, however, a student volunteer organization called Native American
Awareness which I joined the first week of classes. That group was dedicated to
bringing Native American cultural events and speakers to UCSB to raise campus awareness
of Indian history and contemporary issues. The group also was raising two million
dollars to bring running water to the Chumash Indian Reservation at Santa Ynez.
(It is refreshing to note the irony that the tribe now sells bottled water.) After
the water project was complete, a group of energetic students wanted to keep working
in the native community. I had the opportunity to be co-chair of the group for the
next three years and we began tutoring at the reservation and eventually in the
Santa Barbara schools. What started as a program for Indian children from the Santa
Ynez reservation morphed into any Indian kid who needed help. (Truth be told, in
the Santa Barbara schools we didn’t limit the program just to Indian children.)
Everyone in the group shared in the rewards of knowing that the kids we worked with
were moving ahead in school because of our efforts.
Personally, I obtained a great
deal of experience in leadership, too, which would be second on my list. When I
started the Native American Student Association I was the only member. I, of course,
elected myself Chair. There were five of us by the time I graduated and I was lucky
enough to be elected chair three times by my peers. As Chair, I sat on the UCSB
student council. I learned a great deal there about leadership from my peers and
mentors. In my professional life, I have been President of the National Native American
Bar Association three times, Chairman of the American Bar Association Commission
on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession for three years, and in two years
I will become the first American Indian President of the Federal Bar Association.
The leadership skills I learned at UCSB were the foundation for all that I have
accomplished as a bar leader.
-
In what ways did UCSB prepare you for your subsequent
studies and your professional positions?
The development of research skills and
the use of language would be among the most important to me. I went to law school
after UCSB, and the practice of law is a profession where research and the use of
written language is imperative. While my degree was sanctioned as an Independent
Major (in American Indian History and Culture) and I took courses in a wide variety
of fields of study, including anthropology, art, literature and theater, I wrote
my major paper for the History Department. That required intense and thorough research.
The opportunity to write poetry, short stories and street theater pieces in my other
courses taught me the importance of language. While I still claim that I am only
friendly with English grammar (we’ve dated but never married), I do believe that
I honed the use of language through my studies at UCSB. Despite the fact that in
the modern world text messaging is replacing real words with buzz phrases and shorthand,
at the highest levels of influence complete sentences and expressions with nuances
are still the verbal capital of choice.
-
What would you say to American Indian
students who are thinking about college?
Go. Prepare yourself and go. Make whatever
sacrifices are necessary. Start to lay the foundation now while you are in elementary
and secondary school through courses that emphasize reading and writing. Master
the use of language, it will serve you both in college and in life. The rewards
of a four-year college education are monumental. The income differential between
someone with a high school diploma and someone with a college degree is about 100%
ten years out of school. Your opportunity to be in a position of influence to assist
others is increased immeasurably with a college education. Remember the old ditty,
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief, Doctor,
Lawyer, Indian Chief...". Through a good application of reading and language skills
you can find out what a tinker does; the origin of the ditty; and why you’d rather
be a doctor, lawyer or Indian chief. Those professions are people of influence.
- How best can alumni support UCSB? EOP?
American Indian Cultural Services? Several
things that come to mind. Outreach to Native students to talk with them about the
opportunities that are available at UCSB and the benefits of a UCSB education. Mentor
students who are in the university, assisting them with what comes next in life—either
graduate school and/or employment. For those of us who didn’t get rich, we can fund
raise to help support students. We can try to get other people and institutions
to contribute to programs for Native students at UCSB. Teach. For me, I want to
come back to campus and teach as an adjunct. Those of us who have had a 30-year
or more career clearly have something to give back, and so we should. One of the
best ways to spend your retirement is giving back to the community.
-
Are you hopeful
for the future of American Indians?
I can be accused of being a rosy-eyed optimist.
And I willingly accept the charge, because the alternative is unacceptable to me.
I am always hopeful. As more of us with my level of education take the skills we’ve
obtained over the years back to our Native communities, the greater the opportunities
there can be for those who come behind us, “unto the Seventh Generation yet to come”
as we say in Indian country. As more American Indians become professionals we also
become more visible and that visibility tells Indian children that with hard work
they, too, can stand in our professional shoes. It also tells non-Indians that Indians
are not the stereotypes that they see displayed at college or professional sporting
events.
At the same time we cannot lose contact with our own native cultural roots.
They are the lifeblood that flows through us and the bond we have with each other.
As our elders have taught us, so we must, as elders, continue to teach. Teachers
continue to come along and our children continue to seek learning; that gives me
hope.
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