Pow-Wow Oklahoma! Interviews

MW: Wallace, what would you consider to be your biggest failure during your tenure if any?

WC: Well I wouldn’t look at it as failures. I have regrets that certain things didn’t get accomplished and one of them is the Convention Arena that I wanted not only for Comanche People, but the City of Lawton. The City of Lawton and Southwest Oklahoma was in favor of this but we had members on our committee that said our tribal membership wanted per capita payments. So when we gave away $14 million dollars in per capita payments we no longer have the resources to back and support the development of a Convention Arena. So that was a disappointment or a regret; but I don’t consider that to be a failure, you have to keep moving forward. One of these days, some Chairman will get the job done. But at the same time, it was a very viable project for the Southwest Community and I try to tell our tribal membership that we cannot overlook the fact that were here in Southwest Oklahoma and we have to help support Southwest Oklahoma. But one positive thing is that in giving away $14 million dollars in per capita payments, $8 million dollars stays right here locally and the local community recognizes that. I’ve received calls from various business men and women, from theatre managers to restaurant managers thanking us for catering to them when we got our per capita. Our people went out to eat; they bought clothes, they went to the retail shops, so it really benefits Southwest Oklahoma. So our vision has to be inclusive and not exclusive in that regard. We also have to look at other tribes that live in our region like the Kiowa’s, Apache’s, and other Indians that live in this area. We have to grant the opportunity to include them in some form or fashion. You can come down here to a powwow and see many different tribes that travel here to a Comanche Powwow. You used to see many people go to Apache when those were the best little powwows around but now its starting to be here at the Comanche Nation Complex. Mostly because they have protection; law enforcement, vendors, and a variety of singing groups that come and participate, so I’m really pleased that the culture in Comanche country is starting to be revived.

MW: So you wouldn’t consider anything to be a total failure, just regrets?

WC: Sometimes you’re criticized for the decisions you make but ultimately they will see the benefits of that decision. It may not be immediate; but down the road when a person criticizes, the opinion is “well what have you done”? That’s what other people will ask them “well what have you done to help your people out”? Those people that do the criticizing don’t really have a platform on the matter after that. Many times there have been people that have ran to join a committee just to oppose Wallace Coffey, not to try to work with me but to make opposition. Our people can see that real quick, they have knowledge of a person’s agenda and they let them know real quick about it.

MW: They have a way of weeding out those trouble makers I suppose?

WC: They sure do, and that’s sad because our tribe shouldn’t be taking setbacks like that. We should always be progressive but when you have people like that that come in just for the purpose of trying to get rid of someone or fire someone, that’s not a reason to run for a committee or office. If you’re going to develop our tribe and work to enhance it and to improve the future of our people your vision needs to be known.

MW: Wallace, where do you see the Comanche Nation twenty years from now?

WC: First of all, a lot of changes are in store. We’ve grown to the point where we have to make adjustments. We can’t live under the current Constitution because it has limitations. We have to realize that were going to need a Legislature, Comanche men and women making important decisions over a sovereign nation. We need an Executive Branch where this person can serve as a Chief Executive and a liaison on all national and international issues. We need a branch that can enforce our laws, we don’t have that now. We need a Judicial Branch that can enforce Comanche laws, Comanche codes, Comanche regulations and anything having to do with the jurisdiction or the sovereignty of our tribe. Those are the things that our people haven’t started to look at yet, but I think our people are now starting to stand up and realize that we need to progress into this type of undertaking.

MW: How do you unwind after you’ve had a very hectic day?

WC: I sit in a chair and cry sometimes. And sometimes that has happened because when you’re overwhelmed by somebody that has placed a very serious responsibility in your lap; sometimes the best thing to do is to sit down, calm down, think about it, and then ask God for an answer. If a major decision has to be made, I don’t do it without prayer. Usually, I will go though four nights before I make a decision. I’ll start with the first night when I remind God who I am and the dilemma that I face. The second night I pray to God and tell him this is my family and this is what I want to do to assist the family. The third night I give my reason, plan, objective, or vision and I share that with God. On the fourth night, I ask God to give me the strength and courage to get it implemented. Many times that has worked for me. There have been young people that have come to me, one girl in particular from New York City just graduated from law school and she was getting ready to take her bar exam and she asked me “What should I do?” I told her on the first night, tell God your dilemma and you want to help your people by getting your law degree. The second night, give him your ancestors, tell him who you are. The third night, tell him you want to pass your bar exam. Tell him you need help to study and your going to do everything you can to be prepared. On the fourth night you ask God for the courage to get in there and take that exam. When she graduated and passed her bar exam, she called me up and called me uncle. So I made a relative like that.

MW: So you made a real impression on her with your wisdom?

WC: Yes; I still see her on occasion and without hesitation she will come up to me, hug me, thank me, and let me know that she appreciates me. So there are a lot of days like that for me as Chairman. You have the means to look at the circumstances that have been placed in your lap and you try to sort out what you can really accomplish verses what can’t be done, then you pray about it. Way back a long time ago, my prayers used to be short, but I’ve had prayer requests over the years and now my prayers can be twenty to thirty minutes long. When people ask you for prayers, that doesn’t mean you pray one time and stop. You have to keep praying for them, all the time. I know that when some of these old men are requested to pray for a family, they pray day-in day-out. I’ve heard many times that men in prayer tell you “I’ve prayed for you and that’s the best I can offer to you at this time because I have no means” I’m at the age now to where my prayers really do mean a lot to me.

MW: I suppose that once your term ends as the Chairman of the Comanche Tribe, you’ll be able to take on more emcee gigs across the Nation? Do you remember when you took your first emcee job?

WC: Well, way back in 1967 I emceed my first powwow. So this will be my 42nd year as a Master of Ceremonies. I was a student in Northeastern State College and they had a powwow at Bacone College so I knew the powwow families such as the Anquoes, and the ones there were really instrumental in keeping the culture going. This one old man by the name of Dick West, he and I became friends and they sponsored that powwow but they were disappointed because their emcee didn’t show up so someone said “let Wallace do it, Wallace you can do it”. That was the first powwow I ever emceed, I was 21 years old. After that, I had many opportunities from the Anquoe family and the Mohawk Powwow Committee and the biggest one was with the Greyhorse War Mothers they asked me to emcee a powwow for them. So when you’re talking about emceeing, I emceed with the true masters such as Clarence Daylight, Bat Bahayle, Amos Toahty, Dana “Big Buffalo” Knight, Lee Motah, and Edgar Monetathchi. Those individuals were well known and well recognized during that time and I was a young man sitting right beside them emceeing those powwows, that was unbelievable.  During this time we made a transition between North and South. I became a brother to this group of singers called The Porcupine Singers back in 1971 as I was emceeing a youth powwow in Lincoln Nebraska. I got acquainted with them so the original Porcupine Singers made me a brother to them. To this day, I think there is only one maybe two of the original singers still alive. Now the Porcupine Singers, the younger generation calls me Uncle when they see me.

When I was thirteen years old and my sister was eleven, and my mother took us to this elder man and his name was Paul Ticeahkie. She talked to him in Comanche and she asked him to give us names. He looked at my little sister and he touched her hands and said “tsaatu mo?okaat, she’s going to be good with her hands”. And don’t you know my sister is serving as ceramics professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts going on 18 years now. She’s made a living off the pottery and masks that she’s made and she’s been good with her hands. And with me, he gave me the name “numu ekatuupi, Comanche Red". He looked at my mom and he said “It’s not going to be because he is like a redskin, but because he will like his Indian ways”. So I have a great love for my Indian ways and traditions and since that first time when I emceed, it wasn’t difficult, it came natural.

So all these events when I’ve been an emcee at a banquet or this past year when I emceed the 20th anniversary of legislation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. They had a conference at Arizona State University and they asked me to come and emcee it. I called their attention to twenty years ago when this was in the embryo stage, it was kind of like a newborn. Now twenty years have passed and were standing up on our feet utilizing our gaming operations. Indian people are now using it to make important decisions for themselves by using wise judgment and the inclusion of their traditions. I think those individuals that had a role back then really did a good job on that. So when it comes to emcee you not only call attention to what’s going on or the agenda but you take time to thank people, you take time to offer a prayer. The way I look at things, it was like a calling. When I was younger, I wanted to be a Minister but then I rebelled. I realize now when you look around that arena and you see Indian people sitting around, they come from Christian Church, they come from Sweat Lodge, they come from Peyote Ceremonies, they come from Hand Games, and other traditional backgrounds. When you look around that arena, it’s no different than a Church. The power is right there inside that circle. So I’m very respectful when I use a microphone and believe me, there are people that have used it negatively. When you use that microphone in a negative way, it falls back on you. At some point in time someone will say “well, he isn’t using it the right way”. So after 42 years, I think that’s a good accomplishment.

When you go back through those 42 years, I can recall a separation between North and South. Everything past Macy Nebraska is Northern and everything South of Winnebago Nebraska is Southern. Like the Omaha Nation, they have the “In-Lon-Schka” who created the first Grass Dance. But up North they have these Chicken Dances or Tail Dances like the Grass Dance, that’s the original version of their dance. When they brought their talents and traditions to the South, it took a long time for our Southern People to accept it. It didn’t take much for us to be accepted up North because people like my jokes and stories and a lot of the time you think up things that can be utilitized like that. Most of the time the drummers and singers enjoy hearing something that they haven’t heard before. If not they will be the first to criticize you, so you always have to come up with something new. (Wallace Laughs). I have a way of doing that, the most recent thing was “O.P.S.”.

MW: What does “O.P.S.” stand for?

WC: I tell everybody “Tonight’s O.P.S. night”! These guys sitting around the drum, they don’t know what “O.P.S.” night means so I tell them, “Well tonight is Old People Sex night, O.P.S. night”! So they really get a good kick out of that. They don’t really understand because they don’t think that old people still have sex. (MW & WC both laugh). Shoot, those are some of the nastiest people I know! (More laughter)

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