| Summary: | THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES Oral History Office INTERVIEW WITH: Rachel "Kisipienacoa" Romo DATE: November 14, 1992 PLACE: Institute of Texan Cultures Gelo: I'd like to introduce our first speaker for this afternoon, reporter from the tribal community. Our guest now is Rachel "Kisipienacoa" Romo, Kickapoo, from Eagle Pass, Texas, who works in the Prevention and Intervention Program and is a Counselor-in-Training for the tribal program on substance abuse, Rachel - Romo: Good afternoon. I'm going to go ahead and tell you a little bit about myself. I am a member of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas and I'm full-blooded Kickapoo. I work with the Kickapoo Prevention/Intervention Program and I'm currently in training to be a certified . licensed chemical dependency counselor. I'm going to have to ask you to forgive me because this is the first time I've ever spoken - in front of anybody about my tribe, so bear with me, please. I was born in West Texas and until I was 15, then I moved down to Eagle Pass where we have the reservation now. So I've been with my tribe for 7 years now. And I've learned a lot and I'm still learning about my tribe. So at the end of my presentation I'm going to ask you to ask me questions and I'm going to try to answer them as best as I can. I'm going to tell you a little bit about the history of Romo 2 my tribe now. My tribe is of the Algonquin origin from the Great Lakes Region. In the early 1800s my people were forced to relinquish their home-lands in this area. Two bands moved south to present day Kansas, but again disputes over land made one band move further down to South Texas, in the Eagle Pass vicinity and Coahuila, Mexico. In the late 1800s the tribe was awarded 17,000 acres of land at the base of the Sierra Madre Mountains from the Mexican Government for assisting them in controlling marauding Southwest tribes. This land is now called ".", Coahuila, Mexico, and that is currently our ceremonial homeland. We have two reservations, one is in Eagle Pass, and we only have 125 acres there. Basically we just move back and forth throughout the whole year. But in the summer most of the tribe moves up to migrate, because of the lack of education that we have, there are no job skills, a lot of people just migrate with the harvest. I'm getting a little off here - For the first several decades my tribe lived year-round in . Coahuila, in the 1800s. But due to a drought that made farming impossible some families migrated to Eagle Pass, living under the International Bridge. We lived there since the 1940s but we still travel back and forth from Mexico and to Eagle Pass. The tribe's American citizenship status was clarified in 1983. At this time we were still considered a sub-group of the Kickapoo tribe of Oklahoma. But in 1987, Romo 3 separation proceedings began due to the lack of proper or equal sharing of social services. We acquired 125 acres of land nine miles southeast of Eagle Pass, Texas, in 1985. On July 11, 1989, with tribal constitutional approval, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas was recognized as an independent sovereign nation. With this we began to apply for grants and contracts from different agencies. In 1988 the Kickapoo Community Center was completed. It houses the Tribal Administration Office, Community Health Services Program, Texas Migrant Head-start Program and the Elderly Nutrition Program, also the computer lab and as well as shower facilities for tribal members. Presently there is no in-door plumbing or sewer service in the homes, only a water faucet on each lot and an outhouse. And that's the way it is today. We working on a sewer . a sewer plant that's going to be run by the Eagle Pass . I'm going to give you a little bit of statistics about the Kickapoo tribe. We have approximately 600 persons enrolled with the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. Forty-nine percent are less than 18 years of age, thirty-two percent are 19 to 39 years of age, seventeen percent are between 40 and 54, twelve percent are 55 and older. We have only 103 Kickapoo students enrolled in the Eagle Pass Independent School District. We have only two graduates of high school and about 15 persons with GED. So you can imagine what little education that we Romo 4 really have. Our number one problem in the tribe right now is an inhalant abuse. And our number two problem, health-wise, is diabetes. The program that I work for is the Prevention/Intervention Program. It is not a counseling center but we refer a lot. The median age of inhalant abusers is 28.5 years and we have 25 chronic cases. Which sounds like a little - but it is just a small tribe. I'm going to go ahead and tell you a little bit about our culture. We have 6 Clans . I don't have the names right now. Myself, I'm from the War Clan and my name is kinda hard to explain so I'm not even going to go into it right now . and if you want to ask me later on you can . I'll try to explain to you'all. We have ceremonies in February. We have the Naming Ceremonies for the children, the babies that are born that new year, and then we have the Burial Ceremonies and then we do . I just guess you could call it church . yeah, it would be church for you'all. And we go by the seasons as far as the homes. In November we build the winter homes and we have pictures over there if you want to see them later on, and in the summer, like in May, we start building the summer homes and they are different from the winter homes. We do this every year and that's how come we don't leave . this is . And in Eagle Pass we don't have . we only have dwellings and it's not really the traditional houses, so if Romo 5 you ever visit Eagle Pass, the reservation there, don't expect to see the real traditional homes because . those homes are in . where we think of as our real home. There's 3 Kickapoo Nations, there's the Kansas Kickapoo, the Oklahoma Kickapoo, and of course, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. We're only 3 1/2 years old, so we're really a young nation, very, very young. We're trying to make a better future for our children. And it's just started and I can just see the people working together now, we're just now starting to . this is the first time that we've ever been able to talk about our tribe, even in front of as many as you people, so we're just trying, this is just the beginning. I hope next year, or the year after we do a better presentation. (laughter) In the future we're having the Housing/Urban Development Grant. It's the construction of 20 low income rent homes. So those 20 houses are going to be built on the reservation in Eagle Pass. We have . we're going to have a day care center, and it's a $250,000 project, which is not very much 'cause everybody is asking for more than that. We have the sewer service also, the grant from the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, for construction of collection system and . stations that will join the city of Eagle Pass. The City of Eagle Pass is going to operate and maintain it, because we don't have sewer service on the reservation, I think I stressed that Romo 6 earlier. We barely had electricity in December of 1990, so it's . there's changes that are occuring every year but it's a slow process, but we're growing. Right now our biggest program, I guess, is the Community Health Service. They have $951,000, that pays the salaries and medical care. It pays all medical bills for the Kickapoo tribal members, it uses alternative resource though. It employees our PHN, a Program Manager, 3 Facilitators and 1 Secretary. We also have a Community Health Representative. I think I got off the subject of our culture. You know, we not really allowed to talk a lot about our culture because . and even to take pictures of any of the ceremonies. I mean, you'll come across in some books, that they went ahead and took these pictures, but originally we're not really allowed to do any of that, so that's how come . I guess, . we don't share, really, what we really do specifically in the ceremonies . so I'm not going to go into that at all. But I would like to tell you that it's very sacred what we do and I really want people to respect that and to understand it. And a lot of people think that we're being selfish, how come we can't share it, but I think in a way that's what make us . what keeps us so traditional because that exposure . we don't want to expose too much . I mean, in the ceremonies. I don't know what else to say . so if you'all have Romo 7 questions maybe I can answer . Yes, ma'am? She's asking me about education and what the problem is . We have currently 4 Kickapoo tutors involved with the school district, they work under the Johnson-. Grant. And what they do is they encourage the kids to go to school and they also work with them after school, with their homework and stuff. But it's really hard 'cause when you go to school they either teach you Spanish or English and our first language is Kickapoo. I mean, it's Algonquin, so we don't understand in kindergarten and Head-Start what they're all talking about, but . so we have problems right from the very start, so that's where they put the tutors now so they can start talking to the kids in Kickapoo and translating it between English and Kickapoo or Spanish and Kickapoo. So its . there's progress being made right there and every year we have more people going to school. In fact, this January we have seven people that . that are enrolled to go to college. It's a junior college but . Yes? With GEDs, I told you we had about 15 people with GEDS, then they are going with their GEDs. Yes. We have dual citizenship with Mexico and here, the United States. Yes? Okay. A few years ago a lot of people didn't believe in education . my people didn't believe in education. They Romo 8 thought we could live without it, we can migrate the rest of our lives, we can work in the fields, but it's not like that anymore. They are starting to realize that education is the only way that they are going to survive. So, it's changing, that attitude is changing, that's how come we have more people getting . going to school every year, I guess. Yes? Okay, between the two tribes? Outside the tribes . okay . that's a good question. I myself am married to a Hispanic and that was kinda hard for the tribe to deal with because I've been the youngest to marry outside my race. It's very hard and it's going to take a long time before my tribe completely accepts me back, because it's really . they really stressed it when I was growing up - do not marry outside your race . don't marry anybody that's non-Indian. It's changing, now. We have people marrying frequently now. Anybody else? Yes, sir. Okay. He asked me if the census was growing. Yes, the Kickapoo is growing, it's growing. The only thing that I want to say about that is - a few years ago we were still a sub-group of the Oklahoma tribe, now we have two tribes in Eagle Pass, the Oklahoma Tribe and the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. So, that split us up right there in Eagle Pass. So, that's why the number is only about 600, when it used to be about a 1,000 . used to be a 1,000, now it's just . On what basis did that split occur? Okay, since we were Romo 9 a sub-group of Oklahoma we were getting our social services supposedly from Oklahoma tribe in McCloud, Oklahoma. We weren't getting the social services down there 'cause of the distance, so we decided on our own to split from that tribe and . Yes? Yes. There's still people in Eagle Pass that are Kickapoo that are enrolled with the Oklahoma tribe. So we, actually, have two tribes in Eagle Pass. Yes. It was a personal decision. Okay. She asked me that we had a medical facility on the reservation and since most of my tribe migrates what do we do? The facility only has a PHN, so what we do . we contract health care services . to the states where the Kickapoo travel. So we have contracts with all the providers to wherever the Kickapoo travel. But they make sure they have an ID to identify them. (laughter) Well, Okay, I'll try and explain the meaning of my name. Since I'm from the War Clan, they have stories about when my people used to fight with other tribes and foreigners . it's a story about a warrior who got wounded during one of these attacks and since they had camped a few miles away from where this attack was, they had to bring this warrior . and he was wounded so he couldn't walk . and they had to carry him all the way back to camp. So the name means . "All ready brought here" . so that means that . "I was Romo 10 already brought there" . (laughter) . that's what it means . it's kinda hard to explain. Yes, sir? Okay, how does naming take place? Okay, the way I got my name . usually the father gives you the name. And there is a certain thing they have to do - they have to go hunt, and then they have to kill certain game and then they have to cook it, and then they go into that ceremony and then you have to be there all day long . and then they give you a name. But your father does that . it's not . he could give you away to like godparents, which is probably . would probably be his sister or his brother or somebody in the family. Any more questions? Yes, ma'am? Okay, she asked me when we inter-marry do we retain our traditions or do we go with the husband if he is Hispanic or another race? We retain our traditions. We're very proud of it. But the husband cannot or the wife cannot participate in any of the ceremonies. So, its very . if they are non-Indian they can't. Okay. I didn't hear all of that . Okay, you asked me when we inter-marry, if he's Catholic do we also . are we also Catholic and keep our traditional . ? Okay, yes. In my situation, yes, when he's Catholic, so I go also with his . with his religion. So I have two. Okay, no. Most of the younger people in my tribe are traditional. There is no other . there is no other . religion. Then when they inter-marry then there might be.Romo 11 . Exactly, that would be the only time. Okay. Yes, sir? I practice his. Yes. My traditional, yes. . I try to keep them separate as possible, it's very hard to have two religions, our traditional and also the Catholic, it's very hard. My kids, I don't know what they are going to do when they grow up. They'll be . He asked me if the children will be accepted by the tribe if they are half-bloods, Okay? It depends. Okay, since I'm married to a Hispanic, he's male, my children are considered more Hispanic than Kickapoo. Okay, so in that case, no, it would be very hard for them to be accepted, but in the other case, if I . if a man was Kickapoo and he was married to a Hispanic woman then the kids would be considered more Kickapoo and then therefor it would be easier to accept them. Yes, sir? (applause) Thank you.
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