American Indian Selected as Co-Marshal of Rose Parade

In an unprecedented capitulation to critics, Tournament of Roses officials on Monday appointed a second grand marshal for the Rose Parade--an American Indian to share honors with a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus.

As a gesture to soothe hurt feelings among American Indian groups, Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo.), the only American Indian in Congress, has been chosen to join Spanish aristocrat Cristobal Colon at the head of the 103-year-old New Year’s Day parade.

The parade has weathered other controversies, but this is the first time in its history that the tournament has bowed to pressure from critics in its grand marshal selection, tournament President Robert L. Cheney said.

“Hurt is not what the Rose Parade is all about,” Cheney said during a ceremony in Pasadena to introduce Campbell. “Our goal is to generate goodwill, not controversy.”

The selection of Colon last month brought a torrent of criticism from American Indian groups and others, who charged that the Spaniard symbolized the beginning of the ruthless 16th-Century Spanish conquest, which brought death and enslavement to millions of Indians in North and South America.

Critics of the Colon selection noted that the Pasadena parade, whose theme will be “Voyages of Discovery,” is in effect the first event of the quincentennial observance of Columbus’ arrival in the New World.

“I would hope that (the addition of Campbell) will set the tone,” said Christina Guillen-Cook, a board member of El Centro de Accion, a Pasadena community group, and an early critic of the tournament’s decision to name Colon. “The inclusiveness of native people--it’s a real important concept.”

American Indians are sensitive about the word discover in connection with Columbus’ arrival in America, Campbell said. “How could a people be discovered when they have already been here 33,000 years?” he asked.

In a statement from Madrid, Colon said he was “delighted” to share grand marshal honors with Campbell because “the Indians are an important part of the development of the United States.”

Campbell, who is a Northern Cheyenne, said he had weighed the tournament’s offer for about three weeks.

“I was very concerned about the reaction of the (American Indian) community,” said Campbell, 58, a third-term congressman from Ignacio, Colo.

Ultimately, he said, he chose to participate in the parade because it offered an opportunity to dramatize the plight of American Indians.

“Very simply, the buffalo are not coming back,” Campbell said. “We need to tell our own stories, which simply cannot be done if we drop out of the system.”

In the parade, Colon will appear in an open car; the congressman said he will wear full Indian regalia, including a chief’s war bonnet with 72 eagle feathers, and ride a piebald horse. Campbell is the great-grandson of Black Horse, who fought Gen. George Armstrong Custer in the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn.

Pasadena Vice Mayor Rick Cole, who launched a scathing attack on the tournament the day after Colon was presented as the grand marshal, said he was reassured by the appointment of Campbell.

Vera Rocha, Gabrielino nation chief and a critic of the Colon selection, said she also approved the choice.

Others said they found the gesture less than satisfactory.

“We knew they’d find an Indian, somewhere,” said Helen Anderson, chairman of the Alliance of Native Americans, a statewide group. “It’s fine with us.”

But she said that Campbell’s participation does not change the plans of Indian groups to carry out a “major action” at the parade.

“We’re going to turn the tide in a way that people will understand all the history that’s been left out,” Anderson said.

The parade has attracted demonstrators before. During the early 1970s, Vietnam War protesters carried placards denouncing the U.S. military and two years ago, AIDS activists tried to block the parade route.

The selection of previous grand marshals has generated controversy as well.

During the Vietnam War, the tournament chose a series of figures perceived as sympathetic to the war effort, including Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen, Bob Hope, the Rev. Billy Graham and John Wayne.

More recently, critics have attacked grand marshals Gregory Peck as being too liberal, Frank Sinatra for allegedly having organized crime ties and former President Gerald R. Ford for pardoning his predecessor, Richard M. Nixon.