Arizona Governor Hobbs Reinstates 22 Tribal Flags in the State Capitol, a Week After Their Removal from Phoenix Veterans Hospital

The Phoenix Arena, formerly the Footprint Center, permanently displays all 22 tribal flags for tribes based in Arizona. Photo taken on January 23, 2023 by Darren Thompson.

By Darren Thompson

Phoenix—A new federal policy resulted in the removal of tribal flags at a Phoenix medical center, only to be replaced at the Arizona State Capitol days later. The removal of the tribal flags is a result of new policy was issued on Feb. 12 per Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins, but the first facility that was reported to have tribal flags removed was the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center in Phoenix on March 18. However, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs acquired the 22 tribal flags from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and displayed them at the state capitol building in Phoenix, Arizona on March 25.

“Arizona is proud of the Tribal Veterans who sacrificed for their country,” Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said in a statement on March 25. “We should be recognizing their service, not disrespecting their heritage.”

Flags representing the 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona are displayed in the rotunda of the Executive Tower at the Arizona State Capitol Building in Tempe, Arizona. Photo courtesy of Arizona Governor’s Office.

There are 22 federally recognized tribes in the state of Arizona, and some of the country’s most iconic veterans are Native American from Arizona including the Navajo and Hopi Code Talkers, Pima/Akimel O’odham Marine Ira Hayes, and Hopi Army Specialist Lori Piestewa. All of them have been memorialized by the U.S. military.

“This was an act of disrespect and contempt for Indigenous nations that all of us felt very personally,” Rep. Mae Peshlakai said on March 25 of the orders to remove the flags of the 22 Arizona Tribal Nations from the Phoenix VA facility. Pehslakai is currently serving her second term in the Arizona Senate as the state's first Native American woman senator from the Navajo Nation.

“If you did not know, Tribal Nations have the highest rate of service in the armed forces, more than five times the national average,” Peshlakai said. “First they tried to delete the history of the Navajo Code Talkers, Ira Hayes, and Lori Piestewa from their website. Now this.”

Multiple tribal leaders responded to the removal of tribal flags from the Phoenix VA Medical Center, asking for an exemption because of their sovereign status as federally recognized tribes and their contributions to the military. The flags of 22 Tribal Nations based in Arizona had been at the Phoenix VA facility for years.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren issued a statement on March 21, saying the removal of tribal flags was disheartening. “Our tribal flags being removed from the Phoenix VA hospital is completely disheartening,” he said. “Especially since Native Americans and Alaska Natives are proud members of the military, enlisting at higher rates than other nationalities, inspired by patriotism, cultural values and the desire to protect their homelands.”

Nygren’s statement came days after the Navajo Nation had to work with the federal government to restore information about the Navajo Code Talkers on federal websites.

The flags were taken to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) on March 18 and simply dropped off said SRPMIC Vice President Ricardo Leonard, a U.S. Army Veteran, in a statement. “I was surprised and appalled when the staff of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital dropped off all twenty-two Arizona Tribal Nation flags at our office, explaining that they could no longer be displayed there,” he said. “Not only is this nonsensical, but it dishonors all Native American veterans and their families who have given so much to protect this country.”

According to the new policy, it follows guidance from a longstanding Department of Defense policy instituted during the first Trump Administration, issued on July 17, 2020, and kept in place during the Biden Administration. In addition to the American flag, VA facilities and employees are authorized to display or depict the following representational flags: Flags of U.S. states and territories, or the District of Columbia; Military Service flags; VA flags; Official, branded flag of a U.S. agency; Presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed flags; Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag; Senior Executive Service (SES) and Military Department-specific SES flags; Ceremonial, command, unit, or branch flags or guidons; and Burial flags to honor a Veteran or Reservist.

“This policy will bring consistency and simplicity to the display of flags throughout the department, which now has a singular focus: serving the needs of Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins in a statement on February 12.

The Arizona Republic reported that the VA said , “like all sovereign-nation flags, those of federally recognized Indian tribes are only permitted to fly at VA facilities during dignitary visits or special ceremonies.”

Tribal flags at the Oceti Sakowin Camp in Cannonball, North Dakota on October 21, 2016. Photo by Darren Thompson.

What is a Tribal Flag?

A tribal flag is a relatively new thing with a few tribal flags created in the 1800’s and the rest created in the 1900’s. It is important to note that there is no one “Native American flag” though. Just as there is no “Asian” flag, there is no “Native American” flag. Each Tribal Nation adopted its own flag, and there are 576 federally recognized tribes in the country. It's not clear if each nation has a tribal flag, either.

The use of flags by tribal leaders is not new though. For example, many tribal leaders were given flag from European nations, with permission to fly if allied with England, for example. The Shawnee chief Tecumseh (1768-1813) was given a British flag in 1812 and it was documented to have been carried during the Battle of Thames in 1812, where Tecumseh died. The flag was passed down through the generations and is now archived at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

The first documented tribal flag was reported in 1860, adopted by the Choctaw after the Civil War broke out. The Choctaw, and other Tribes who were forced into Indian Territory, sided with the Confederacy and became the first U.S. based tribe to adopt a flag. Adopting a tribal flag is not a requirement though, as federally recognized tribes are sovereign nations and can decide to adopt and display a flag representative of their nation, or not. Many tribes have adopted flags, though, and for several reasons.

Just as most U.S. state flags were designed and adopted between 1893 and World War I, many tribal flags were adopted during that time period as well. However, since the passing of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, millions of visitors have traveled to Indian gaming establishments on tribal lands, and tribes responded with displaying an acceptable symbol of sovereignty. Some tribal governments, change their tribal flag with each new administration, while others have maintained the same flag for decades.

The “Hall of Nations” at the U.S. Department of Interior displays more than 150 tribal flags, honoring the government-to-government relationship between federally recognized tribes and the U.S. Photo by Darren Thompson.

Arizona joins Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Oklahoma, and South Dakota in displaying tribal flags in its State Capitol. At the U.S. Department of the Interior headquarters in Washington, D.C., the corridor to the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs displays 170 tribal flags and is called the "Hall of Tribal Nations”. The first tribal flag to fly in outer space is the Navajo Nation flag, in 1995, and the first to fly on top of Mount Everest is the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe flag in 2023.

VA Public Affairs Officer Jessica Jacobsen said in an email that there is one exception to the new flag policy—at the VA’s Cherokee Nation Medical Clinic in Oklahoma. The clinic is located on tribal lands, and the Cherokee Nation flag is allowed to fly there, according to a report by Arizona Mirror. “Flags of federally recognized tribal flags can still be flown at national cemeteries for Memorial Day, Veterans Day and other special events attended by a senior Tribal official,” Jacobsen said in a statement.

For now, the flags will be posted in the Executive Tower of the Arizona State Capitol in Tempe, Arizona, but Gov. Hobbs said their ultimate home should be back at Carl T. Hayden Medical Center.

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Darren Thompson is the Director of Media Relations for the Sacred Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He covers tribal sovereignty, social and environmental justice, as well as Indigenous art, music, and culture. He can be reached at darren@sacreddefense.org.