James Abourezk | |
|---|---|
 Abourezk in 1977 | |
| Chair of theSenate Indian Affairs Committee | |
| In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph C. O'Mahoney (1947) |
| Succeeded by | John Melcher |
| United States Senator fromSouth Dakota | |
| In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Karl Mundt |
| Succeeded by | Larry Pressler |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's2nd district | |
| In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973 | |
| Preceded by | E. Y. Berry |
| Succeeded by | James Abdnor |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James George Abourezk (1931-02-24)February 24, 1931 Wood, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Died | February 24, 2023(2023-02-24) (aged 92) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1948–1952 |
| Battles/wars | Korean War |
James George Abourezk (/ˈæbərɛsk/AB-ur-esk;[1] February 24, 1931 – February 24, 2023) was an American attorney and politician fromSouth Dakota. A member of theDemocratic Party, he served in both chambers of theUnited States Congress for one term each, and was the firstArab to serve in the United States Senate.[2] After he left Congress, Abourezk in 1980 founded theAmerican-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) with the goal of counteractinganti-Arab racism in the country.[3] He served in theUnited States Navy during theKorean War, but was also a critic ofUnited States foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly with regard to theArab–Israeli conflict. Under his leadership, the ADC became especially active following theIraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequentGulf War, during which he became concerned about the rising rate of targeted hate crimes against Arabs and also against people mistaken for Arabs.
Abourezk represented South Dakota in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1973 and in the United States Senate from 1973 to 1979. He was the primary author of theIndian Child Welfare Act, which was passed by theUnited States Congress in 1978 to help preserve the families and culture ofNative Americans. As a federal law, the Indian Child Welfare Act givesNative tribal governments exclusive jurisdiction over children who reside on or are domiciled on anIndian reservation; and it gives them concurrent, but presumptive jurisdiction over foster care placement proceedings for children who do not live on a Native reservation.
James George Abourezk (Arabic:جيمس جورج أبو رزق) was born inWood, South Dakota, to a family ofLebanese Greek Orthodox Christians. He was one of five children and both of his parents were immigrants fromLebanon: his mother Lena Abourezk (née Mickel;Arabic:لينا ميكل أبو رزق) was a homemaker, and his father Charles Abourezk (Arabic:تشارلز أبو رزق) was an owner of twogeneral stores.[3][4][5] Growing up on theRosebud Indian Reservation, he spoke onlyArabic at home and did not learn English until he went to elementary school.[3] At the age of 16, he was expelled from school for playing a prank on a teacher and left home to live with his brother Tom.[3] He completed high school in 1948.[3]
Between 1948 and 1952, Abourezk served in theUnited States Navy before and during theKorean War.[6] Following 12 weeks of boot camp, he enrolled in Electricians' Mates School, after which he was sent to support Navy ships stationed in Japan.[3][6]
Following military service, Abourezk worked on a ranch, in a casino, and as a judo instructor.[2] For a time, he ran the Gay Lady (later known as the Gaslight) Bar inRockerville, South Dakota, where he employed futureGovernor of South DakotaBill Janklow as a bartender, and where futureAmerican Indian MovementRussell Means and his brother Ted also worked. He earned a degree in civil engineering from theSouth Dakota School of Mines and Technology inRapid City, South Dakota in 1961,[3] and worked as a civil engineer inCalifornia, before returning to South Dakota to work on the Minuteman silos being built as part of the new 44th Strategic Missile Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base. At the age of 32, he decided to pursue law, and earned aJuris Doctor degree fromUniversity of South Dakota School of Law inVermillion, South Dakota in 1966.[3][7]
Abourezk began a legal practice inRapid City, South Dakota, and joined theDemocratic Party.[6] He ran in 1968 forAttorney General of South Dakota but was defeated byGordon Mydland.[8] In 1970, he was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives fromSouth Dakota's 2nd Congressional district, which would later be eliminated following the 1980 census.[9]
In1972, Abourezk was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1973 to 1979, after which he chose not to seek a second term. He was the first chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.[7] In 1974,Time magazine named Senator Abourezk as one of the "200 Faces for the Future".[7]
His legislative successes in the Senate included the1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, as well as theAmerican Indian Religious Freedom Act.[9][1]
His signature legislation was theIndian Child Welfare Act (ICWA, 1978), designed to protect Native American children and families from being torn apart. Native American children have been removed by state social agencies from their families and placed infoster care or adoption at a disproportionately high rate, and usually placed with non-Native American families. This both deprived the children of their culture and threatened the very survival of the tribes. This legislation was intended to provide a federal standard that emphasized the needs of Native American children to be raised in their own cultures, and gave precedence to tribal courts for decisions about children domiciled on the reservation, as well as concurrent but presumptive jurisdiction with state courts for Native American children off the reservation.[10] He also authored and passed theIndian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, which provided Indian tribes with greater autonomy. The BIA made grants to the tribes but they could manage contracts and funds to control their own destiny. That legislation also reduced the direct influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the tribes.[1]
As a senator, Abourezk condemned theOffice of Public Safety (OPS), aCold War-era program within theUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided training to foreign police forces and was prone to human rights abuses.[11] Abourezk introduced legislation that resulted in the banning of overseas police assistance in 1974, and the closure of the OPS in 1975.[11]
After taking office, Abourezk was approached almost daily by representatives of various sides of theconflict in the Middle East.[3] In 1973, Abourezk was invited by theLebanese embassy to visit Beirut.[3] Later that year, he met with Arab leaders to discuss a possible peace settlement, and attempted to negotiate a truce contingent on Israel's return of the Old City of Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, which was rejected by Israel.[3] In 1976, Abourezk voted against the rest of the Senate on a measure to stop foreign aid to countries harboring international terrorists, arguing that there was no provision for terrorist acts committed by the Israeli military.[1]
In 1973, Senators Abourezk andGeorge McGovern attempted to end theWounded Knee Occupation by negotiating withAmerican Indian Movement leaders,[2][12] who were in a standoff with federal law enforcement after demanding that the federal government honor its historical treaties with theOglala Sioux nation.[13][14] The summer after the occupation, Abourezk introduced the American Indian Policy Review Commission Act,[15] which created the eleven-member commission, and served as its chairman until its landmark report was published in 1977.[16][17] He took the gavel as chairman of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs from its creation in 1977 to 1979, when he left the Senate.[18]
In 1976, Abourezk ordered theGeneral Accounting Office carry out an investigation after doctor and lawyerConnie Redbird Pinkerman-Uri published a report suggesting that up to a quarter of Native American women had been involuntarily sterilised.[19]
Abourezk was an early champion of more direct democracy through aNational initiative process, similar to the state initiative process adopted by South Dakota in 1898.[20] In July 1977, he co-sponsored a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would allow federal laws to be enacted through popular vote, together with fellow SenatorMark Hatfield (R-OR).[21][22] Under the Abourezk resolution, voters could put legislation on the national election ballot if they secured signatures from three percent of voters in the previous presidential election.[20] His efforts received national media coverage, and Abourezk chaired hearings and testified that the proposal was based on "belief in the wisdom of the American people".[20] Although the national initiative movement gained additional cosponsors in both the House and Senate in 1978, no further action was taken during the 95th Congress, after which interest waned.[20]
In 1977, Senators Abourezk and McGovern went to Cuba with a group of basketball players from theUniversity of South Dakota andSouth Dakota State who played against the Cuban national men's basketball team.[9][1]
In 1978, Abourezk chose not to run for re-election. He was succeeded in office by RepublicanLarry Pressler, with whom he had a long-running political feud.[23]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Abourezk onAdvise and Dissent, March 25, 1990,C-SPAN |
After leaving the Senate, Abourezk served as legal counsel for the Islamic Republic ofIran in Washington, D.C., leadingThe New York Times to call him "Iran's Man in Washington".[24] He defended the Islamic Republic in lawsuits seeking payment for contracts entered into by the former Shah's government, and sought to recoup Iranian assets that were allegedly taken byMohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife.[1]
Senator Abourezk was outraged by the 1967USSLiberty incident and openly inquired about the circumstances of the attack:[25]
"The shame of the U.S.S.Liberty incident is that our sailors were treated as though they were enemies, rather than the patriots and heroes that they were. There is no other incident beyond Israeli attack on the U.S.S.Liberty – that shows the power of the Israeli Lobby by being able to silence successive American governments. Allowing the lies told by the Israelis and their minions in the U.S. is disheartening to all of us who are proud of our servicemen."[26]
In 1980, Abourezk founded theAmerican-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, agrassrootscivil rights organization.[3] In 1989, he published hisAdvise and Dissent: Memoirs of South Dakota and the U.S. Senate (ISBN 1-55652-066-2). He was the co-author, along withAmerican Jewish Committee, ofThrough Different Eyes: Two Leading Americans — a Jew and an Arab — Debate U. S. Policy in the Middle East (1987), (ISBN 0917561392).
In 2003, Abourezk’ represented by Charles Abourezk, sued the websiteProbush.com for defamation.[27][28] He was later joined byJane Fonda andRoxanne Dunbar-Ortiz as plaintiffs, and settled the lawsuit with the Internet site in 2005.[29]
In 2007, Abourezk gave an interview to the Hezbollah funded news channelAl-Manar. In this interview Abourezk said that he believed that Zionists used the terrorists that perpetrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a way to sowIslamophobia, that Zionists control the United States Congress, and thatHezbollah andHamas are resistance fighters.[30] He continued to criticize Israel in 2014, writing that "ending theoccupation... would end the rockets fired by Hamas."[31]
After his retirement from the Senate, Abourezk worked as a lawyer and writer inSioux Falls, South Dakota. He continued to be active in supporting tribal sovereignty and culture. In July 2015 he spoke out against a suit filed against the ICWA by theGoldwater Institute; it was one of three suits seeking to overturn the act. Some states and adoption groups, who make money off adoptions, have opposed any prohibitions on their placements of Native American children. Abourezk considered this his signature legislation and the new rules instrumental in protecting Native American children and preserving tribal families. He noted that the late SenatorBarry Goldwater, his friend and colleague, had voted for the legislation in 1977 and had often consulted with him in tribal matters.[10]
HuffPost writerJames Zogby in 2014 praised Abourezk as a "bold and courageous former Senator" for protesting to theFederal Bureau of Investigation after theAbscam operation.[32]
He died at home in Sioux Falls on February 24, 2023, on his 92nd birthday. His funeral was held on Sunday, May 28, 2023, at theWashington Pavilion of Arts and Science in downtown Sioux Falls.[1][33][34]
Abourezk was married three times. His first marriage was to Mary Ann Houlton in 1952, which ended in divorce in 1981.[3] They had three children.[2] He subsequently married and divorced Margaret Bethea, before marrying Sanaa Dieb in 1991, with the couple remaining together until his death.[1][35]
Abourezk was aGreek Orthodox Christian. He lived in South Dakota for most of his life.[36]
'I was born and grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I was the son of Lebanese immigrants who settled in Mellette County. My father came to South Dakota in the year of 1898, returned to Lebanon and married my mother ... my mother was finally able to leave Lebanon and come to South Dakota in 1920, to make South Dakota their home,' the senator said in his statement.
He was the youngest child of Charles T. and Lena Mickel Abourezk, immigrants from a small farming village in Lebanon.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromSouth Dakota's 2nd congressional district 1971–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Donn Wright | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromSouth Dakota (Class 2) 1972 | Succeeded by Don Barrett |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 2) from South Dakota 1973–1979 Served alongside:George McGovern | Succeeded by |
| Vacant Title last held by Joseph C. O'Mahoney1947 | Chair of theSenate Indian Affairs Committee 1977–1979 | Succeeded by |
Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs | ||
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| Full Committee (1820–1947) |  | |
| Select Committee (1977–1993) | ||
| Full Committee (1993–) | ||
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| One at-large seat (1983–present) |
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