'Advocate for social justice' named 2014 Public Citizen of the Year
Friday, May 9, 2014
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 For her many accomplishments and work for the rights of other people, Betty Kay McGowan, Ph.D., of Grosse Ile Township was honored with the National Association of Social Workers 2014 Public Citizen Award.
McGowan, who is a member of the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, accepted the award during the 2014 annual conference, held April 3 and 4 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.
“I was honored to receive this prestigious honor from the National Association of Social Workers, Michigan Chapter,” McGowan said.
“It was a real honor to be recognized by a discipline that is not my own. I am a culture anthropologist, and to be given this wonderful recognition by social work speaks to the need for cooperation between the fields that are concerned with the human condition.
“We must all work together to improve the lives of people everywhere,” she said.
McGowan is a professor in the Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology Department at Eastern Michigan University’s College of Arts & Sciences.
Elvia Krajewski-Jaime, a professor in Eastern’s School of Social Work, said in the paperwork that she nominated McGowan “due to her passion, significant contributions, and leadership in her quest for social justice and tireless efforts on behalf of indigenous people.”
According to the nomination, McGowan represents indigenous people of the United States at the “Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” Every year in July, she testifies in Geneva, Switzerland, on issues including violence against women, water as a human right and oppression of Native American children.
McGowan also founded the National Urban Indian Family Coalition, the first national organization representing Urban Indians in the United States. She is the standing representative assigned to testify as needed on racial conditions in the United States at the United Nations Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination, held in Geneva.
She also was one of 36 people honored by the United Nations in 2010 to partake in training on peace and conflict resolution through UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. McGowan is vice president of the New York-based National Indian Youth Council Inc., and she was the keynote speaker at the annual National Women’s Equality Day, presenting “Reflections: United Nations Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination.”
Her nomination also includes examples of her significant contributions and leadership in social issues and legislative advocacy for the rights of Native Americans.
She was instrumental in writing the “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” which was approved by the United Nations on Sept. 13, 2007, as part of the Working Group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Together with other indigenous leaders, she designed a document as a consultant to the United Nations about the need for U.S. society to take responsibility for the atrocities committed by the boarding schools Native American children were forced to attend for more than 150 years.
She designed a training titled “Historical Trauma and Native American Peoples” to reduce violence and sexual assault of Native American women, representing the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
McGowan designed and coordinated training on “Experiencing Native American Culture Through the Wisdom of our Elders” for the annual spring lecture series of the Gerontology Department at EMU.
Among many others, McGowan designed the following documents and films to promote social justice concerning health and education of Native American populations.
• “Native Americans in Education: Are We Failing our Native Students?”
• “Health Disparities Among Native Americans”
• “Native Americans and Social Justice” • “Native American Gifts to the World”
• “Native Americans and the Practice of Social Work”
• “Indian School, A Survivors’ Story”
In addition to being inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, McGowan has received former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s Certificate of Tribute for Excellence in Service and has received the Harriet Tubman Feminist of the Year Award.
EMU instructors Roger Loeb, Ph.D., a professor of psychology, and Kathy Peterson, attorney, also submitted letters of support for McGowan’s nomination.
Loeb said he has known McGowan for more than 30 years, since she was in his psychology internship class at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
“She became a superb teacher, fostering the love of other cultures among her legions of devoted students,” he said, and noted several of her accomplishments.
“Listing her honors and accomplishments does not give a complete picture of this inspiring individual,” he said, however. “Whenever you talk with Kay, you learn, you feel her compassionate and impassioned commitment to the downtrodden and needy people of the world, and you are inspired to try to be a better person than you were.”
Peterson adds that McGowan had a profound influence on her life and the lives of other Michigan residents through her work in organizing and establishing the Michigan Citizens Lobby.
“I remember when the state repealed the sales tax on food in the mid-1970s,” Peterson said. “That was one of Dr. McGowan’s first statewide petition drives organized through the Michigan Citizens Lobby. She and the MCL were also responsible for the passage through our Michigan Legislature of the generic drug bill, and the auto repair protection act.”
“Dr. McGowan’s work on behalf of indigenous peoples in the United States is well known, but her advocacy efforts on behalf of women, children and the ‘common man’ are what make her an extraordinary advocate for social justice for all,” Peterson said.
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