By JORDAN DRESSER
The UNITY News

The Native American Journalists Association held its annual banquet Friday at one of the few places in the nation established to accommodate the historic resettlement from Native American ancestral lands.

The American Indian Center of Chicago, one of the oldest Indian centers in the country, was formed in 1953, when the Indian Relocation Act was transporting hundreds of Native Americans into major cities. Chicago was the only one of five relocation cities without a large in-state reservation, according to the center’s Web site.

The center was formed to help ease the transition from reservations to the city. Tribes represented include Lakota, Navajo and Blackfoot. According to the 2000 Census, 0.4 percent of Chicago’s 2.9 million residents identified themselves as Native American.

At the banquet, NAJA presented the Freedom Forum with a Milestone Award for defending press freedom, last presented at the inaugural UNITY in 1994. The Freedom Forum, based in Washington, D.C., is a foundation dedicated to free press and free speech.

The banquet also included a performance by comedian Charlie Hill and a silent auction to raise funds for NAJA. Items included jewelry, pottery and pictures. NAJA had not conducted the election of its new board members by press time.

Next year’s conference is scheduled to be held in Albuquerque, N.M.