INDIANS 101 UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS Source: of photos: National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
o Provide some historical and cultural context needed to understand complex contemporary tribal issues “Centuries of mistreatment, cultural suppression, disenfranchisement, and federal policies that, by the middle of the twentieth century, had left tribes dependent on a paternalistic federal government.” – Joseph P. Kalt o Increase awareness of federal Indian policy “Policies of self-determination are poorly understood by many Americans and federal and state policymakers.” – Joseph P. Kalt o Increase awareness of bias and nonsensical stereotypes o Make the connection between trust, sovereignty, and self- determination o Introduce SAIGE
THE PENDULUM OF FEDERAL INDIAN POLICY
1492-1787 INDEPENDENCE o Peaceful relations when it suited the interests of Europeans o Violence between Indians and settlers increased over time o Disease, introduced by Europeans, decimated Indian population o European population increased at a great rate o Invading Indian territory and taking possession begins 1788-1828 TREATY MAKING o Indian tribes were viewed as separate nations o Negotiations were done by treaty o Laws were passed to protect against the taking of Indian land o Few of the laws were actively enforced o Expansion into Indian land was encouraged o More than 400 treaties
1828-1887 RELOCATION o Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to treaties that forced most eastern Indian tribes to the west o TRAIL OF TEARS o Federal courts were authorized to prosecute Indians who committed certain crimes on the reservation o 1871 Congress passed law that stopped additional treaties with Indian tribes o By 1887, 200 boarding schools were established with 14,000 Indian forcibly enrolled o Indian tribes no longer seen as independent nations
1887-1934 ASSIMILATION/ ALLOTMENT o Extinguish tribal sovereignty o Assimilation into white society o Kill the Indian, Save the Man o Allotment of tribal lands o Surplus lands sold to non-Indians o Tribal culture disrupted, communal life destroyed o 1924- Indians become US citizens
The Thick Dark Fog
1887-1934 ASSIMILATION/ ALLOTMENT o Allotment acts severed reservations and tribal communal lands into smaller parcels and allotted to individual Indians. o Indian lands were reduced from 138 million acres to about 48 million acres. o Assumption that amassing and protecting private property is valued. January 5, 1903 : The day Lone Wolf was handed down was called one of the darkest days in the history of the American Indian. Senator Henry Dawes o In 1887, Congress passed the general Allotment Act (known as the Dawes act). o Authorized the President to divide land into allotments for individual Indians and families. o The allotment act was applied to reservations whenever, in the presidents opinion, it was advantageous for particular Indian nations. o Members of the selected tribe or reservation either selected pieces of land—usually 40 to 160 acres in size—or the tracts were assigned by the agency superintendent.
• Not all land within a reservation may belong to the tribe. • Tribes may own land, including trust land, outside the limits of a reservation. • Tribes may have jurisdiction over land now occupied by others (often referred to as jurisdictional boundaries). Complex ownership patterns Reservations Tribal jurisdictional boundaries Tribally owned lands (Trust/Non- Trust) Allotted lands (Trust/Non-Trust) Fee lands Restricted lands Fractionated ownership interests Checkerboard
DAWES ROLLS
1934-1953 REORGANIZATION o Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1935- ends allotment and encourages tribes to adopt constitutions, and engage in self- government. o IRA has been criticized as paternalistic , ethnocentric, and insufficient. It has been charged that the BIA in implementing the IRA went around the country imposing a “model constitution” based overwhelmingly on non-Indian structures and values and that the chief effect of the period of constitution-building following passage of this landmark statute was to suppress traditional governing structures, which were much more attuned than the new ones to Native American culture and values. - Elmer Rusco, A Fateful Time: The Background and Legislative History of the Indian Reorganization Act
Culture Matters. Successful nations stand on the shoulders of legitimate, culturally grounded institutions of self- government. Indigenous societies are diverse; each nation must equip itself with a governing structure, economic system, policies, and procedures that fit its own contemporary culture. – Native Nations Institute & Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
1953-1968 TERMINATION o IRA goals were abandoned o Termination of the federal government’s trust relationship with Indian tribes became the new policy with the goal of assimilation ( again ). o Federal benefits and support services were eliminated. o Public Law 280 gave six states criminal jurisdiction over Indian reservations. o Many tribal governments were disbanded and reservations abolished. BUNKY ECHO-HAWK
1953-1968 TERMINATION Relocation programs offered job training and housing assistance to Indians who would leave the reservation for urban areas. INDIAN COUNTRY DIARIES
1970 - present SELF-DETERMINATION
1970 - present SELF-DETERMINATION o Federal policies generally aim at facilitating tribal self- determination without termination. o Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act- described as both progress and frustration o The Federal trust responsibility to tribes is often fulfilled when Departments contract with tribal governments to provide Federal services. o Tribal governments are more directly accountable to the people they represent. o Tribal governments can best meet the needs of Indian people.
AMERICAN INDIANS NATIVE AMERICANS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
AMERICAN INDIAN A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or recognition.
o Without true information about American Indians in the 21 st century, there is a void that is filled with nonsensical stereotypes. o Nonsensical & false stereotypes can be harmful.
BUNKY ECHO-HAWK
INDIAN TRIBES TRIBAL NATIONS
INDIAN TRIBES/ TRIBAL NATIONS Wilma Mankiller, Former Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation
INDIAN TRIBE/ NATION “Indian Nations had always been considered as distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights, as the undisputed possessors of the soil...the very term ‘nation’ so generally applied to them means ‘a people distinct from other.’” —Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall , Worcester v. Georgia (1832) o Tribes are domestic sovereign self-governing nations. o Tribes have a nation-to-nation relationship with the U.S. o State governments have very limited power over tribes. o Tribal laws reflect tribal jurisprudence. FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED: Tribes with a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. and are eligible to receive certain protections, services, and benefits (567 tribes).
INDIAN TRIBES/ TRIBAL NATIONS Source: NCAI
INDIAN LANDS ARE NOT PUBLIC LANDS Oversight Hearing on “The GAO Report on ‘INDIAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT: Poor Management by BIA Has Hindered Development on Indian Lands.’”
SOVEREIGNTY Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; Bill Anoatubby, Governor, Chickasaw Nation; Wilma Mankiller, Former Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation; Sophie Pierre, Former Chief, Ktunaxa Nation
SOVEREIGNTY o Political bodies with powers of self-government ( Worcester v. Georgia ) o Indian tribes have all the powers of self-government of any sovereign except insofar as those powers have been limited or repealed by federal law. o Domestic dependent ( Cherokee Nation v. Georgia ) o Only the federal government can regulate Indian affairs ( Worcester v. Georgia ) o Congress has plenary power over tribal nations ( Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock) “The plenary power doctrine was seemingly plucked out of thin air by the Supreme Court against the backdrop of federal guardianship of a dependent, supposedly inferior race of people…” - Walter Echo-Hawk, In The Courts of The Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided
SOVEREIGNTY Sovereignty Matters. When Native nations make their own decisions about what development approaches to take, they consistently out-perform external decision makers on matters as diverse as governmental form, natural resource management, economic development, health care, and social service provision. – Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development & Native Nations Institute
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