Hail to the chief: A day in the life of Susan Masten, chairperson of the Yurok tribe

Published in the Day in the Life series of More magazine in 2004. Susan Masten is seen standing in the photo shown here. For more on topics like this, see my book, American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle....

7:00 am  “I leave the Hoopa reservation, where my husband is police chief, and where we’ve lived for the last five years. For twenty years before that, we lived on the Yurok reservation. I stay here a few nights a week at my mother’s place to save on the commute. Those days, I say my morning prayers overlooking the spot by the Klamath River where our Creator stood and prepared this land for us.”

8:30 am  “I arrive at the office. Today, I meet with my assistants to follow up on the last two days of Tribal Council meetings.”

9:45 am  “I have an emergency meeting with a tribal member who has child-welfare issues.”

11:00 am  “Driving back to the office, I get a cell phone call from an official at another tribe, telling me that the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs [part of the US Department of the Interior] is about to announce his resignation. As an Interior Department Special Trustee for trust reform, I’m worried. This change may cause us to lose ground in our negotiations for billions of dollars in arrears payments for land that the federal government held in trust for Indians and leased to timber, mining and other enterprises.”

12:00 noon “The Indian Health Service is here for a lunch and to give me an award for supporting improvements in Indian health care.”

1:30 pm  “I run to our local IHS clinic to get something for my cough. I’ve had a tough two weeks, traveling to give keynote speeches and to participate in meetings of national Indian organizations in San Diego and San Francisco. Then I emceed an annual festival of Native films.”

2:45 pm “I get a call from a nationally syndicated reporter for a comment on the BIA director’s departure.”

3:00 pm “The tribe’s finance director and attorney have documents for me to review, and a medicine woman needs to schedule dances for next summer. I return calls, including one about Senator Barbara Boxer’s fundraiser.”

5:30 pm “I drive home. It’s a good day if I’ve done something concrete to help my people. I can’t forget the urgency of their needs; many tribal members can’t put food on the table.”

7:30 pm “My husband, the love of my life, without whose support I couldn’t do any of this, cooks our dinner. He and I are blessed with two children and six grandchildren.”

11:00 pm “It’s off to bed, unless I have to write a speech or perhaps prepare Congressional testimony. In that case, I may be up till 1 am.”  

Text c. Stephanie Woodard; photo courtesy the Yurok Tribe.

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