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WASHINGTON - The week of the White House Tribal Nations Conference was one of many high notes, including strong promises from the president and his administration, unprecedented representation from tribal leadership, and the festive opening of an international Embassy of Tribal Nations.
The Nov. 3 kickoff of the tribal embassy, located at 1514 P St., N.W in the heart of the nation's capital, embodied the climax of years of planning by the National Congress of American Indians to enhance the presence of tribal sovereign nations.
The address of the large grey building is in the Dupont Circle area near Embassy Row, where many foreign embassies and diplomatic facilities have their homes.
"It's a glorious time," said W Ron Alien, an NCAI board member and chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. "I'm pretty happy."
Establishing the embassy has been one of Alien's top priorities during the several years he's served with NCAI. Ideas for the embassy were spawned in the 1980s, he said, and donations from tribes started being seriously collected in the 2000s.
"It's been my baby for so long, and it will continue to be until it's totally paid off."
NCAI leaders spent...