New Indian Congress Head Works Toward Unification

When Joe Garcia became governor of the San Juan Pueblo Indian village in New Mexico earlier this year, he revived a community initiative to drop the name the Spaniards gave the tribe centuries ago. Garcia now boasts he heads the Ohkay Owingeh, or place of the strong people.

Garcia, 52, brings that kind of emphasis on tribal culture and history to his new role as president of the National Congress of American Indians. Elected this month at the group's annual convention in Tulsa, Okla., Garcia says he wants to focus on safeguarding tribal traditions and building unity among the country's 587 tribes.

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