On May 20, 2006, 52 years will have passed since Mr. William Walker passed away in a Fresno, California rest home.  Times have changed quite dramatically since his day, when being an Indian was not something many people would openly brag about.

His father, pioneer Charles Frank Walker, who came to the Central Valley via the Sierra Mountain pass that bears the family name "Walker Pass," married into the Chukchansi people in the mid 1860’s.  His bride was a young girl named Sah-wa-yok, who was later given the Christian name of Mary.

As a “half-breed” Indian, William was subjected to rejection from the white society and from the Indian society as well.  But, he did not let that deter him from working for what was right for his chosen people, the Chukchansi’s and the rest of the Indian people in California.

William became the Director of the Indians of California, Inc., who’s lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. were instrumental in obtaining an interest payment to the Indians by the federal government based upon the land agreements found in the Treaties from 1851 and 1852.  These concessions would lead to further reparations on behalf of the US government, paltry as they were.

When these efforts are placed into the historical context of the early 1900’s, they show themselves as being not only determined, but even heroic.  William, a half-Scottish, half-Chukchansi, traveled many times to Washington to bring his cause to the gates of the Capitol.  The frontier was still open, Indians were still the enemy and he still went anyways.

William’s efforts would have a ripple effect that is still resonating in California and the rest of the Nation even to this day.  If it weren’t for courageous men like William, the Tribes might still be kept in virtual prisoner of war status, locked away on reservations far from the rest of the world.

When William retired, he spent most of his spare time working as an unpaid representative for Indian groups, doing everything he could to make a difference.  His dedication to helping others lasted throughout his life.

In 1952, William was in a serious auto accident that left him debilitated for the remaining years of his life.  His passing did not go unnoticed, and his achievements were noted in the papers of the day.

But, did they actually capture the true spirit of his triumphs and tribulations?  The writer who wrote his obituary couldn’t have known that William placed himself into mortal peril by asserting the needs of the Indian Country into the spotlight.  And, the many states that he would travel across were not any friendlier to Indians either.

An example would be the state of Virginia, which borders Washington D.C., and had laws on their books that made it illegal to refer to any Native American in the state as an Indian on any official document (birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, etc).  This policy lasted from the 1920’s through the late 1960’s.  The state even made a conscience effort to destroy historical documents in an effort to wipe out the history of the Indian people.

When William died on May 20, 1955, he left behind a large footprint to fill.  He has been greatly under appreciated and under celebrated by the Chukchansi people or any other Tribe that would have come to benefit from his efforts.  But, I believe that he wouldn’t mind that at all.  He was a Chukchansi Indian and proud of it.  He wasn’t afraid to take on those that didn’t like him for it, and he prevailed against their racism, bigotry and callousness in a time when it wasn’t even thought possible.

What I do believe he would find shocking is the new age of Indian affairs that allows Tribal governments to disenroll their own people.  It dishonors his memory and the work he placed so much value upon when the people he was working the hardest for spend more time trying to screw each other than they do trying to give each other a helping hand.

Thank you William, for risking it all to create hope for a future when no one else believed it was possible.  Perhaps one day the Native people will come to see the vision that you laid out for all of us to see, harmony and unification of the Native People of Californi