Pow-Wow Oklahoma! Interviews

MW: Wallace, do you have a favorite male and female dancer that you like to watch?

WC: There is this little girl in Newtown North Dakota that I like to see, she’s my little niece and her name is Sable Coffee and she’s a Jingle Dress Dancer. When she goes out there and dances, she owns that arena. She utilizes every bit of that arena and doesn’t pay any attention to the other girls just that music, and that music moves her. When she does that, she does so in a way where she has an interaction with the music and she moves real well. Sable is my little niece from my adopted family up there that took me in a long time ago. I love that little girl. As far as the men, I always love to watch the Fancy Dancers, you know like they say in rodeos “Cowboy Up” well I say “Fancy Dancers Up”. This is your shot; I tell them, this is what we’ve been waiting for and if you don’t produce then go back and try again. So Fancy Dancing is always number one on my agenda.

MW: Do you have a favorite male Fancy Dancer?

WC: No, I can’t be partial to anybody, I like them all! (Laughter)

MW: What is your favorite Powwow Song?

WC: My favorite song is “Tehda puukunu” (Comanche Little Ponies). I remember going up to Haskell Institute when we had an inauguration for Linda Warner as the President of Haskell. She asked me to come up there and render a prayer and a blessing. I took my cedar up there and my War Bonnet and I wore it. Haskell has a logo of a warrior with an Indian Bonnet and I was standing there with that logo at my back and I said “I might be the last person to wear a bonnet here because some people think it’s embarrassing, or they get shamed”. I said “Don’t be ashamed of who you are, be proud of who you are”. So I burned cedar for Linda Warner right there on the stage while I smoked and fanned her off. I told her she’s going to get a lot of criticism but that’s what she wanted. I know because my uncles told me the same thing and then my wife put a blanket on her that said “Linda Sue Warner, President of Haskell Indian Nations University” with a big Comanche logo on it. That was really something, and we showed Haskell that the Comanche people supported her and were behind her. Immediately I said “Singers, Tehda puukunu nahubiyaaru meeku” (Singers, Little Ponies, sing it now) boy they started out with that Little Ponies Song and immediately all the Comanche’s got up and came forward, it didn’t have to be asked. I looked over and there was this little old Comanche woman that couldn’t get up fast but she did like that (waved her hand in the air) and I knew it was good. I think the people there were so impressed just by the spontaneity of it all and we got Linda down there in front and everybody danced facing the east. Several weeks later I got a letter from a professor there at Haskell indicating that he didn’t really know much about Linda or whether he would support her as President but after he realized that she had the support of the Comanche People, he would do everything to back her. So I know she has some allies and there will always be adversaries out there no matter where you go.

MW: How much longer do you see yourself being active as far as accepting emcee positions?

WC: I think I’ll always be called upon even as I get up in age because I remember when I was invited to speak up at the Pawnee College to talk about leadership. I said the first responsibility you have as a leader is to have a good memory. If you remember things that have happened in your past or in your life, you must bring that to the attention of people when it’s necessary. So I have a good memory about things that have occurred since I was a young boy and I’ve had many friends that have advised me along the way and not all of them were Comanche. So I’ve got to the point where some people consider me famous (Wallace Laughs) and when they emcee next to me, they just let me work and I’ll say “Hey man, tomorrow’s your time” and they take it because they know they’ve come this far and they’ve got too. I’ve seen a lot of newcomers come in and it’s not an easy job. You can joke and make fun, but when it really comes down to it, you’ve got to know what to say and when to say it. So I think I’ll be around for a long time.

MW: I guess as long as you can still walk and get around right?

WC: Oh yeah, some people heard that I retired but I don’t think that you ever really retire from that. You know, you may want too sometimes (Laughter) but it’s always a lot of fun for me. I noticed where Hammond (Motah) is going to be an emcee somewhere. Hammond and I were both emcees at a powwow in Ignacio Colorado about four years ago and Edmond Nevaquaya was singing at the drum. We called him up there and said “Nephew, one of these days you’re going to have to take our place up here”. I also said “You’re going to have to assume this responsibility whether you want too or not, so you pay attention and watch the way we work together”. I told him “Because one of these days, you’re going to remember a time when your uncles told you this”. Later on during that powwow I talked to Hammond in Comanche and told him “kima haitsi nanisutai” (Come friend and pray). Also at that powwow was Ralph Tsotigh and he told me the Southern Ute People really treated him good. So was my oldest daughter Opal (Pohocsucut) Gore and she came up to me and said “Dad, I have been treated so good here, they gave me a shawl and food”. So when I called Hammond my older brother to come and pray I told all the Ute people and all the visiting people that we’re going to come to a close and Hammond is going to give that closing prayer. He is going to thank the good Lord for the blessings you’ve bestowed upon us and he’s going to say thank you. After that we are going to excuse ourselves and we’ll see you somewhere down the road again. That was our way of saying farewell, not goodbye. Well the following September a drum group from Ignacio came to our Comanche Fair and when it was over, they asked if they could sing a travelling song for the Comanche People. They were going to be doing the travelling but they said we’re going to be thinking of the Comanche People, so that was good.

MW: When you feel the time has come to ride off into the sunset, where will you call home and what do you see yourself doing with your time?

WC: Well, my wife and I have been talking about that and I have been praying about it because I told her I wanted a scaffold burial and she said “Not if you pass away before me”, she said “I’m going to do it Comanche Christian custom” which is a burial at Deyo Mission in a casket and after that she said “I’m out of here, I’m going back to my people” (laughter).

MW: What tribes does your wife belong too?

WC: She belongs to the Otoe-Missouria tribe. And then I told her “If you pass away before me, then you can’t determine how I’m going to be buried”. Then I said “I’m going to go back to the mountain over here and have a scaffold burial” Then I’m going to ask the creator to take what remains of me and my spirit and maybe one of these days, I’ll crossover and see my relatives again. Because sometimes I believe that casket and vault contains you and it doesn’t really give your spirit an opportunity to be released. I think our ancestors saw something in that burial and my grandpa told me, (the late Nick Mihecoby) “Look up there, you see that Milky Way? That’s our ancestor’s crossing over to the other side. When you don’t see a Milky Way, that means our ancestors aren’t going anywhere”. So there are a lot of spirits out now, they have no place to go. So I think when there will be an eternal resting place for them, they will be there. I’m hoping our people will think like that if not, they want to create a recreation site or opportunities to educate our youth and that’s ok too. Because you’re finding that in our programs there are a limited number of young people but we have limited space to bury our loved ones. So that’s just an outlet for our people and when I was talking like that one young boy said “I want to buried that way too”. Maybe our way of thinking has come to that point.

MW: Where would your scaffold be? Medicine Bluffs?

WC: It will be up in the mountains. Our Comanche Tribe purchased two separate one hundred and sixty acre parcels totaling three hundred and twenty acres located five miles west of the Wildlife Refuge Headquarters. Part of that purchase includes a mountain and I think those are the locations our people would be best served at. We have ancestors up in the mountains right now and there’s a burial ground behind the Holy City that a lot of people don’t even know about. But they’re buried covered with rocks but if we have an open burial for a scaffold the spirits would probably embrace it and enjoy seeing that. That’s something for the future and there are other Tribes that are looking at that too.

MW: That’s a very powerful mental image seeing traditional scaffolds like that.

WC: Yes it is (Big Smile)

MW: Ok, last question for you Wallace. If you have one message for the Comanche youth of today, what would that message be?

WC: Well, I’ve always had education as my primary focus because we live in a day and age now where we can lose things. We can lose our car; we can lose our home, we can lose our life, we can lose loved ones, but you can never lose your education. Embrace your education because it can’t be taken away from you. That’s one of the main things that you can truly value and own, so it should be important to your life. Today we live in a world where we place value upon eagle feathers or moccasins and so forth, but I live in two worlds. I always say that I have a Harvard Degree and an Indian Education, what more can you ask for?

MW: So receiving your education would be your only wisdom for the youth?

WC: Yes. The first thing I ask a young person is “Are you smart?” and they nod their head because probably fifteen years ago, they wouldn’t since the esteem of our people was so low. When our adults and families are so beaten and downtrodden after awhile they will feel like they can’t make an accomplishment. I remember when the first Comanche Fair started, there was a young Indian man that came to me and said “I’ve tried to find a job, but I couldn’t get one. But I’m going to give it another try”. Six months later he came to me and said “I got a job at Reynolds Army Hospital and I’m going to work hard at it”. Two years later he said “I’m going to apply for a supervisor position, I think I can do it”. Four years later he now has some benefits and some people working under him, so I see that now everywhere. Comanche men and women having assumed responsibilities, so I’m very pleased and it makes me feel good, I like seeing that because the kids are going to benefit from that.

MW: Wallace, I would like to personally thank you for granting me time for this interview today. I believe the Pow-Wow Oklahoma! viewers will enjoy reading this interview and getting to know a different side of Wallace Coffey; Chairman of the Comanche Nation and popular Powwow Emcee.

WC: Haa Ura! (Yes Thank You)

MW: Uraako Wallace (Thank you very much)

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