Ben Barnes
Bio: Ben Barnes currently serves as the Chief of the Shawnee Tribe. Prior to becoming Chief, he worked as a Shawnee language volunteer alongside his brother in hopes to revive the Shawnee language. Upon taking office with only a small number of fluent Shawnee speakers remaining, Chief Barnes declared a State of Emergency for the Shawnee Language and declared 2021-2030 the Decade of the Shawnee language. Ben is also a member of his people’s traditional, religious community at White Oak Oklahoma. Fom this frame of reference he hopes to guide the Shawnee Tribe’s future, recognizing the importance of preserving the culture, language, and religion of the Shawnee to inform the crafting of tribal policy and law.