Emanuel Red Bear is a leader with a distinguished heritage. He is the great-great-grandson of Sitting Bull, one of the most famous Sioux chiefs in history. His mother is a descendant of Crazy Horse. Like his ancestors, Emanuel Red Bear has a vision for a better future for his people. But Emanuel is not a warrior, and he's not even a politician. He is a teacher and a builder of character. Through mutual friends in Arizona and Connecticut, we arranged to meet Emanuel Red Bear at a pow wow on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

Of the 14,000 members of the Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux tribe, only about 15% are fluent in their native language. Some can speak the language but cannot read and write it. Emanuel teaches the Lakota language as part of the curriculum at Eagle Butte's high school on the reservation, and also at the local community college. He also plays the tribal drums or dances at pow wows. He speaks, in his native tongue, at ceremonies of all kinds. When school is not in session, he teaches traditional practices, religion and language at summer camps.

Traditional practices and values have helped Emanuel find his way in an often uncaring world, and he hopes that others will also be helped by them. Many families become fragmented as they try to make their way with few resources or advantages. Young people who are struggling can build personal strength through understanding traditions and applying the spiritual values of an older, more coherent culture. Without the help of teachers and mentors like Emanuel, too many young people give in to hopelessness. Despair often follows the personal and cultural traumas that many Native.Americans face in our time.

Leaders on the reservation face many challenges similar to those in third world countries. The Cheyenne River tribe is the only Sioux tribe in South Dakota that maintains its governmental autonomy (the others have given up their sovereignty to South Dakota as a prerequisite for licenses to run casinos that provide much needed income). Looking for economic alternatives, the Cheyenne River Sioux find it hard to attract outside investors to the reservation. Investors are wary because U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over disputes that might arise there. This also makes it nearly impossible for reservation residents to buy things on credit or to conduct ordinary forms of business with the mainstream U.S. economy. Emanuel and other respected members of the communities are trying to prepare young people to find solutions to these problems by becoming comfortable in multicultural settings and proficient in modern skills, while still retaining the inner strength of their unique heritage.

Outsiders can barely begin to grasp the layers of meaning that underlie the effort to retain and restore the music, language and spirit of a small nation of people living within a larger, very different culture. But outsiders like us are welcomed and made to feel at home during beautiful tribal celebrations like the one we chanced to attend on our trip of discovery.