"In reading over the 2013 State of Indian Nations address by outgoing President Jefferson Keel of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), a number of talking points of emphasis stood out as compelling subjects for further examination.

Mr. Keel touched on many subjects in this 11th annual NCAI address. Symbolically, I feel that the address should be made on the Monday preceding President Obama’s State of the Union address, not the day after, but in order to get all of the ducks in a row federally, I suppose it must be done that way.

I appreciated Mr. Keel recounting the hardscrabble beginnings of his own family, as well as his Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. He grounds me to the slim belief that even he could find exception with the current United States treatment of Onkwehonweh, albeit in background, based on enduring practice."

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Charles Kader: On Jefferson Keel's State of Indian Nations Address (Indian Country Today 2/16)