A Q&A with Anthony Abbie, a Newly Elected Local Tribal Council Member
By Analisa Hurt and Zack Quigley
Anthony Abbie was elected Nov. 4 as one of the four newest members of the Reno Sparks Indian Colony tribal council. He received the highest amount of votes out of all of the candidates, and was sworn in to his new position in December 2017.
Abbie is also a father, husband, teacher and coach at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks, Nevada. We met him at the high school and spoke with him outside of his classroom, where he helps special needs students with a variety of subjects.
We focused on his plans as a newly elected tribal council member.
What are the current issues that need to be addressed, and how do you plan to be part of the solution?
As far as the issues are concerned, I’m new to this political aspect of it. The issues that I have interests in are education, recreation, seniors [and] economic development. But as far as what is going on right now, I am really a novice at this, this is my first time in the tribal council. As far as me being an integral part of it would be getting all the information I can from both sides of whatever the issues are and making a decision that’s going to benefit the Reno Sparks Indian Colony community members.
Is there anything you can expand on, or what you hope to specifically accomplish for the colony?
There’s ideas that I want to do, but again, I am one person out of nine people that are going to be a part of this council. I know they have already established some types of issues that are going on, and I want to be part of that to help them move on with it, [to] make some corrections. At the same time, as far as I’m concerned I’d just like to strengthen those issues that I talked about: education, seniors, recreation [and] economic development.
You mentioned wanting a rehabilitation center for seniors, is it specifically for seniors?
Well, it would be a start there, the simple fact is that I wanted to look into a senior center. I had the displeasure of my father going through sickness and being in and out of rehabilitation centers and visiting him at these places wasn’t a very good, healthy sight for him to be rehabilitating. When he did have some other people come in that were of native descent he seemed to pep up and talk and have somebody to converse with and talk about things that they’ve seen in the past. I just felt, at the time when he was going through that, since the time I’ve been there there’s a lot of older people that are going through being seniors and they’re going to be in that same situation.
I just don’t want those families or those people to go through that same type of situation where they just feel a sense of loss, desperation. But when they’re with their own community members or family members I think it just gives them a little bit more of an incentive to live on, to fight. […] It’s tough for families to be there 24/7, to watch your family or be supportive, so I think it’s just beneficial to have another family member or somebody that he knows there spend 15 minutes to an hour just saying ‘hi’ or ‘how are things going?’ That’s just a huge burst of self esteem and again, just fight.
So what made you pursue politics since you don’t have as much experience in the past?
You know it’s kind of funny. So I’ve been teaching for 22 years. I keep telling kids to go out and do whatever they want. If they have any aspirations, desires [or] motivation to do something, don’t live the game of ‘what if I would’ve done this.’ Don’t say ‘what if I did that.’ A couple years ago I was thinking about it, but at the same time I didn’t go for it. I didn’t preach what I teach the kids, to go out and do something that you really want to do. [I say] try it, if you don’t make it it’s no big deal, you put out an effort. This year I just decided to put my name in and go through the process and see what happens. I was lucky enough to be elected as one of the four tribal council members.
So you were actually the top voted tribal council member, do you have anything specific things that you think caused you to be so popular with the election?
Again, I think it has to do with me being a teacher, being able to teach some of the kids that are voting now, that are actually in the voting electorate. I had the opportunity to teach them, [and] I got to teach some of their parents, so I have some of their kids that are in there. So I think being a…and I hate saying this, I don’t even know if I’m a positive role model, but being a role model, a teacher, being out there, and doing some things. Letting our kids know that there’s more out there than just doing the mediocre thing. If you really want to strive to do something, it’s out there. It’s all about you going out there and striving to be the best that you could be.
I read that you went to [University of Nevada, Reno] UNR for college. Did you grow up out here?
I grew up in Nevada pretty much most of my life but I lived in Carson approximately since I was like 12 or 13. Then we moved here [Reno/Washoe County]. My dad was an employee at the Stewart Indian School and then he got a job at the DMV. So he moved here to the Reno Sparks Indian Colony where he was a member ever since I was in middle school. I’ve been going to school there and been an enrolled member since about 1980 or ’79. So it tells you how old I am. Then I went to the University of Nevada and got my elementary education degree and then I went back to the university and got my masters in special education.
At the University of Nevada do you think your experience as a native might be different from how a native’s experience would be now going to the university?
As far as technology, yes. As far as motivation and self-determination, I don’t think so. Because I think if anybody, again, if you have the self-determination, the motivation, [and] a little bit of support from your family, I think anybody can accomplish what I have accomplished. And that’s something I have also said in the tribal elections is that if it wasn’t for the Reno Sparks Indian Colony education department and their finances and their guidance to help me go through school, I’m not sure I would have made it.
With the financial part of it, and I think that’s a huge component of why I wanted to run and be in education is that, if you’re a Native American student or kid at the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, I believe they [the education department] provide a tremendous amount of financial support, educational support, mentoring support to go through what it is that you want to do. That’s just a huge component of what the Reno Sparks Indian Colony can do and I want to continue to have those programs implemented and supported more because the more education we have as a people, a community, the more diverse, the more economic development, the more strong we can be as people.
What are your favorite hobbies?
You know I don’t have a lot of free time. I’m here [Spanish Springs High School] and I’m a Native American liaison. I coach football, I coach girls’ varsity basketball, so I’m here from seven o’clock in the morning until about 6 [p.m.]. Then I go home and take care of my family. But when I do have time I love to hunt, I love to fish, I love to golf, I like hanging out with my family. Like I said, I enjoy teaching, I enjoy encouraging kids to do the best and being involved in school. If you’re not involved, I think it’s very difficult to be successful in school because it’s tough to just go to school to be a student. I think being involved in anything; band, chess, cheerleading. Whatever it is, I think if you’re involved, you feel like you’re a part of something.
Out of all the sports teams, which one is your favorite to coach?
Man, I love both of them, you know I love coaching football, just getting the kids to go out there to do, I’m a line coach, giving them the opportunity to do bigger things that they can achieve. At the same time, I love coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team because their drive, their incentive is just as intense and just as strong as the boys. The girls give me a better chance to coach because sometimes I have to tone it down a little bit as far as a coach is concerned and explain a little bit and be a little bit more sensitive. But at the same time, the girls’ desire is none less than the boys. So I love both of them.
Since you’ve been elected, has life changed at all for you?
No, as far as I’m concerned my main job and duty is here to these kids, making sure that the kids here and the kids that I teach are first and foremost and then once I get into politics the community is going to be the same part of it, doing what’s best for the community. But as far as who I am, what I do, what this comes with hasn’t changed me a bit. You know I like to think I’m pretty personable, I like to mingle a bit, have a good time, and just be helpful to people.
We did talk a little bit about your father, Joe, and Stacey mentioned he may have been in the tribal council?
Yeah, my dad was in the tribal council for, gosh, I couldn’t even tell you how many terms. He’s had a couple there. He was sick a while back and just kind of stayed home and did his own thing there but he was in [the] tribal council. I remember when I was in high school so that was a while back. I think he had some on and off terms here and there but he’s been a big part of what goes on in the community and I think that’s another reason why I ran this year is because he just passed and I think he would have wanted me to do something like that. But not only my father, my sister was on the tribal council a while back before too. She served a term or two, but they’re much smarter than I am. I’m just the guy that likes to go out and try to help.
What should people that aren’t part of the colony or tribe know?
As far as Reno Sparks community members are concerned, I think they’re just like any other community members. You have great people that go out there and work hard every day, blue collar and white collar jobs. At the same time we have people that are struggling a little bit. But the Reno Sparks Indian Colony is a great place to live. I think some people think of it as some place that you’re just kind of pushed away and hidden. But there’s 200 homes out there and I could probably tell you who lives in each house with the exception of four or five. You could go down the doors or leave your doors open. It’s like the old school days where kids are running up and down the street and somebody’s mom yells and people are running back to the houses. You could literally walk four or five houses and maybe there’s a relative or close friend. People are more than willing to give the shirt off their back to you. It’s a really close-knit community and it’s like an old school village type of scene. It’s just a great place to live.
People have asked me why don’t I live off of it, and I just tell them that’s where I come from. That’s my culture, that’s who I am and I want my kids to know that you can do anything you want in life. You can come back as long as you don’t lose your identity, who you are, where you come from, and what you can be.
More information on Abbie and the Reno Sparks Indian Colony can be found on their site, http://www.rsic.org.
