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December 30, 2011

2011’s Memorable Quotes: Good and Bad Part 1

Every year Indian country is filled with leaders, politicians, broadcasters and talking heads provide memorable quotes for anyone listening to catch. Some ignorant, some out of touch, and some commendable. Indian Country Today Media Network has compiled a list of quotes that we will break down into three parts, Perceptions, Politics, and On The Past, the Present, the Future, that will be shared over the New Year’s weekend.

Perceptions

“Why is there a Bureau of Indian Affairs? There is no Bureau of Puerto Rican Affairs or Black Affairs or Irish Affairs. And no group in America has been more helped by the government than the American Indians, because we have the treaties, we stole their land. But 200 years later, no group does worse.” – TV talking head John Stossel, speaking on Fox News about how the U.S. government has done more during the course of 200 years to “help” Indians than anyone else.

“What group of people would even want ‘help’ like this?”—Tex G. Hall, Chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, in response to Stossel’s claim.

“Our grandfathers well understood that each time a new promise was held out another was about to be broken.”—Joe Valandra, on the importance of protecting sovereignty

“So you go and so you study the area and you find out what happened, what did the indigenous people worship, you know? And…and…and…if they did blood sacrifice, like, we found some areas where they were very violent because the former culture was a murderous violent …like in Texas here and all the coast around Houston and Galveston and some other areas the Native American people were cannibals, you know? And they ate people. And so you could see a manifestation of that in the churches where people turned against people and kinda cannibalized other people’s ministries.”—Evangelist Cindy Jacobs, in a YouTube video posted by Right Wing Watch praising Rick Perry’s August 6 cluster-prayer event, The Response. Jacobs is a Perry supporter.

“If my Haudenosaunee passport is a fantasy document, I’m a fantasy person living in a fantasy land and looking at a fantasy border.”—Joyce King, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe citizen, on being told her Haudenosaunee passport is a ‘fantasy document’ when it was confiscated by the Canadian Border Services Agency.

“Citizenship by blood quantum alone is a guarantee of physical extinction. Know the tribal population, the required blood quantum, birth and death rates, rate of exogamous marriage, and the date of extinction is easily calculated. This is not opinion. This is arithmetic.”—ICTMN columnist Steve Russell in his new book, Sequoyah Rising.

“They were rejecting me because I’m unrecognized.”—Marine Sisk-Franco, explaining why she didn’t get a permit to carry an Eagle feather, and the pain of being a member of a tribe not recognized by the federal government.

“The measure of being Indian should be a pain index—How many funerals have you gone to?”—author Sherman Alexie on the many battles over blood quantum and tribal enrollment.

“Most Americans do not even consider whether the language they use about Natives might be considered discriminatory. In fact, when they think about ‘Native Americans,’ the image that comes to mind is a romanticized, historical image, not a contemporary 21st century Native. The notion that we might feel offended by their language does not even enter their minds.”—Stephanie Fryberg, an assistant professor of psychology and affiliate faculty in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona, explaining why Indians are perennially talked about negatively in mainstream society.

“The celebrations of our extinction turned out, of course, to have been premature. However, certain ideas and themes in the popular culture remain persistent and influential.”—Kevin Gover, Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, on the use of Native mascots in sports.

“[S]hut the fuck up Dan Snyder, you own the most sickeningly racist relic of a brand in all of professional sports.”—Gawker writer Hamilton Nolan calling out the hypocrisy of the National Football League’s Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder for alleging anti-Semitism based on a newspaper article published in the D.C. City Paper. Snyder in September, facing a public backlash, dropped his lawsuit against the paper.

“(The Redskins name has) been there since the early ‘40s and no one has complained about it. No one has complained until the people from the Indian nations came down here and made their complaint.”—Wiscasset High School Board of Education member Ed Stover in defense of continuing to use the offensive name for the school mascot.

“It’s spreading the word that no matter if you want to play baseball or be a mechanic—whatever it may be—your dream is your dream and nobody’s going to take it away until you take it away from yourself.”—Joba Chamberlain on the importance of emphasizing good news in Indian country.

“Honor the memory of heroic Native warriors like Geronimo, Lori Piestewa and many others, not by promoting false stereotypes, but by bringing attention to the plight of veterans, both Native and non-Native, who continue to be plagued by substandard health care and homelessness.”—ICTMN columnist Ruth Hopkins urging a change in the mindset of the leadership of the U.S. military in the wake of its offensive use of Geronimo as the code-name for Osama Bin Laden.

“To Natives Geronimo is a hero because he fought America. To Natives Bin Laden was evil because he fought America…[try to] explain that to a kid.”—Filmmaker Chris Eyre commenting on the Geronimo/Bin Laden blunder.

“Native people say they feel more welcome in town now, and shopkeepers are picking up some Ojibwe phrases. Promoting the language does a lot to bridge barriers.”—Dr. Anton Treuer, professor of Ojibwe, on the use of Ojibwe language signs in Bemidji, Minnesota.

“Another language is not just a different way to communicate the same thing. It’s a whole other thing. It’s an intricate web of meanings and relationships and thoughts.”—Alaska Native storyteller Ishmael Hope on the artist’s role in preserving Tlingit.

“Currently the public doesn’t know enough about Native people because our news is rarely covered, as many still think our people are in the past.”—Lori Edmo-Suppah, editor of the Sho-Ban News, arguing in January that the mainstream media, including the Huffington Post, need to do a much better job of covering Indian issues.

“It is important as an indigenous people that we not allow Hollywood to define who we are, and I believe we have been very successful in that endeavor.”—Quileute Nation Chairwoman Bonita Cleveland on educating fans of Twilight’s Wolf Pack.

“The first time I saw a Native actor laugh it was Chief Dan George in Little Big Man. I remember thinking, I have never seen a Native actor laugh, ever.”—Neil Diamond, director of Reel Injun, on Indians in the movies.

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February 4, 2012

BIA Officer Involved in Ute Shooting Cleared of Charges

Filed under: Bureau of Indian Affairs,News Alerts,Politics — Tags: BIA, Court Cases, Joseph Keel, News, Self Defense, Shooting, Spencer Posey, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe — Carol Berry @ 2:30 pm

An FBI investigation has cleared a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer from facing criminal charges in the shooting death of a 34-year-old man in Towaoc, headquarters of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in southwestern Colorado.

BIA Lt. Joseph Keel shot Spencer Posey, a Ute Mountain Ute tribal member, May 22, 2011 after Posey threatened to kill him and charged toward him, brandishing a hatchet, according to the FBI.

The investigation results were in a letter from U.S. Attorney John F. Walsh to Gary Hayes, Ute Mountain Ute tribal chairman. Walsh said the FBI’s investigation was limited to a decision on criminal prosecution and the BIA will conduct a separate administrative review.

Before the shooting occurred, Keel had responded to a request for help from a caller who said a shirtless, intoxicated man was outside the house. When Keel arrived and approached Posey, who was the shirtless man, Posey threw a beer can and rocks at Keel, whose attempt to use pepper spray was ineffective, the FBI said.

Posey ran, carrying the hatchet, Keel followed him, a standoff occurred during which Keel told Posey to drop the hatchet, and then Posey threatened Keel and charged him. Keel fired one shot from his Glock 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, striking Posey in the abdomen.

BIA Lt. Dale American Horse came to the scene of the shooting and saw Posey handcuffed “in a seated position on the ground,” the report said, noting that Posey “was conscious and speaking” before emergency medical services arrived. Posey was taken to Southwest Memorial Hospital in nearby Cortez, where he died the next day.

The coroner’s report said Posey died from the gunshot wound, but acute alcohol intoxication was also present.

When Keel shot Posey, a father of four, he did so under BIA policy that says “an officer may use deadly force to protect himself or others from what is reasonably believed to be an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury.”

“Lt. Keel was clearly justified under federal law in firing this single shot in self-defense based on a reasonable belief that Posey was about to kill or cause him serious bodily injury by attacking him with the hatchet,” and no criminal charges “can properly be filed against Lt. Keel for his conduct in the incident,” the report concluded.

Hayes had urged at the time of the shooting that it be given the highest priority, including “assessing the sequence of events involving Mr. Posey, and the nature and severity of the alleged criminal conduct that prompted the officer’s use of deadly force.”

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April 9, 2012

Brendan Johnson on Bootlegging Indictments and More

Filed under: Bureau of Indian Affairs,News Alerts,Politics — Tags: BIA, Bootlegging, Brendan Johnson, Court Cases, Headline News, News, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Whiteclay — Stephanie Woodard @ 7:30 pm

A federal grand jury has indicted five individuals for possessing and selling alcohol on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Dakota, an arm of the Department of Justice. According to U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, the indictments resulted from a cooperative operation targeting bootlegging by his office, the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety and the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services.

The indictments were also the product of extra attention his office has paid to individual communities’ concerns, said Johnson, who is also chair of the Justice Department’s Native American Issues Subcommittee: “Through our Community Prosecution Strategy, we work with tribes and listen to them in town-hall-style meetings. On Pine Ridge, we also have a pilot program that makes a federal prosecutor available there three days a week.”

A priority on Pine Ridge—widely reported for years both locally and nationally—has been halting the bootlegging of alcohol onto the reservation, especially from beer stores in the notorious border town, Whiteclay, Nebraska. Johnson acknowledged the importance of problems emanating from Whiteclay but cautioned that at this time his office does not know the source of the alcohol that figured in the five recent indictments. He also noted that the charges are merely accusations and that the individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty. They will be tried in separate trials on May 1, 2012.

Further, according to Johnson, it’s important to realize that most crime, on or off reservations, can be blamed on drugs and alcohol. “This is not a Native problem more than a white problem,” he said. “It’s an addiction problem.”

Johnson went on to talk about his desire to have his office perceived in Indian country as a partner and friend and not just a prosecutor of major crimes. To bring that about, his office has set up programs including the Native American Youth Leadership and Listening Conferences. “We’ve had four so far, with about 100 kids attending each,” he said. “We have a speaker, such as a rapper or poet, talk to them, then we listen to their challenges, including drugs, alcohol, gangs and suicide.”

“The main thing they tell us is that they need opportunities—for athletics, for employment,” Johnson said. “Given what I’ve heard, I’d say I have the greatest hope for these young people.”

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August 31, 2012

Deconstructing Chris Christie’s Speech at the GOP Convention

Filed under: Bureau of Indian Affairs — Tags: BIA, Chris Christie, IHS, Indian Health Service, Laura Waterman Wittstock, Republican Natioinal Convention, Richard Nixon — Laura Waterman Wittstock @ 4:00 pm

Indian viewers who tuned in and listened to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie give his keynote speech on August 28 at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, would have heard him tell stories of his immigrant family.

As he talked, it became clear this was a man who knew nothing about the country his family came to. To him, this was the land of the free where people of any class could walk out of their muddy fields and onto a boat and onto land they could take from others without recrimination. They simply took and closed the door behind them. And not all could come. Europeans kept out the Africans, the Asians, and Hispanics. These people were only accepted as slaves, servants, and laborers. In Christie’s generation, all he knew was that hard work brought reward.

The people in Christie’s family that inform his memories today knew only of Indians from what they might have read somewhere. Indians were distant, fading curiosities. There was never a tinge, a pinprick, a nudge, to tell them they had landed on what had been someone else’s land. It was after all “the land of the free.” All of the conspiratorial tales and songs and banners worked to erase the immigrant’s memories of the blood on their hands.

Christie said, “We are the great grandchildren of men and women who broke their backs in the name of American ingenuity; the grandchildren of the Greatest Generation; the sons and daughters of immigrants…” Christie said his parents were poor but worked hard. “….the brothers and sisters of everyday heroes; the neighbors of entrepreneurs and firefighters, teachers and farmers, veterans and factory workers and everyone in-between who shows up not just on the big days or the good days, but on the bad days and on the hard days.” This is an ideal population—free of crime, health needs, and old age that other communities encounter – the proverbial world where everyone is “above average.”

Christie said he balanced his state’s budget. The news is he is required to. But to do it, he cut funding to public schools and lowered aid to towns and cities. That forced cuts to the teachers and firefighters he so fondly mentions who show up. They’ll be showing up alright: in the unemployment lines.

Christie should know about American Indian history and the land on which he lives. New Jersey has a Commission on American Indian Affairs. Here is what its site says: “There are nine members of the Commission: the Secretary of State, serving ex officio, and eight public members. The public members, who are recommended by their tribes and organizations {are} appointed by the Governor…”

The Lt. Governor is a member of the commission, and as such she is there to promote: “understanding and knowledge about the history and culture of the American Indian communities of the State…” So why is Christie so ignorant of history and of the Indians who live in his own state? The answer seems to lie in the unwillingness of the Republican Party to pay the country’s debts to the Indian people. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service, and the specifics of categories of aid due to Indian people are not just niceties. They are part of agreements and understanding—land for services, set down in treaties.

The Republicans should consider their own history. On July 8, 1970, another Republican, president Richard M. Nixon stated his reasons: “…the story of the Indian in America is something more than the record of the white man’s …broken agreements, intermittent remorse and prolonged failure….Federal termination errs in one direction, Federal paternalism errs in the other. Only by clearly rejecting both of these extremes can we achieve a policy, which truly serves the best interests of the Indian people. Self-determination among the Indian people can and must be encouraged without the threat of eventual termination.”

After this Special Message to Congress on Indian Affairs, Nixon worked harder than most presidents since World War II to enact legislation favorable to self-determination by the tribes.

A national Indian policy, if there is one to be stated under a Romney/Ryan administration will cut into Indian funds as deeply as possible, no question about it. If the treaty agreements were like Social Security and every working person had to pay in a few dollars for the treaty agreements, they could hold their heads up high that they were paying their fair share for all the beautiful land they live on.

Instead, we heard Christie say, “If you’re willing to hear the truth about the hard road ahead, and the rewards for America that truth will bear, I’m here to begin with you this new era of truth-telling.”

And that’s a promise.

Laura Waterman Wittstock, Seneca Nation, is a retired nonprofit executive and journalist. She currently hosts the live weekly radio interview program, “First Person Radio” on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis.

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November 5, 2012

Democrats Stoke Unnecessary Fear Over Ryan Budget and Indian Country

Filed under: Barack Obama,Bureau of Indian Affairs — Tags: Ben Lujan, BIA, Ed Markey, IHS, Indian Health Service, Paul Ryan, Tom Cole — Rep. Tom Cole @ 7:00 pm

In their recent letter to Indian Country Today Media Network, Congressmen Ed Markey and Ben Ray Lujan expressed concern that chronically underfunded tribal programs are in jeopardy of damaging further spending reductions. I share these concerns and appreciate their efforts to highlight the unique challenges with which Indian country struggles.

However, the fears stoked by the House Natural Resources Committee Minority regarding the effects of the Ryan budget simply do not match the reality of the funding actually allocated by the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Interior and Environment on which I serve. The House majority has already been operating under the Ryan budget for two fiscal years, and in each of those years the funds appropriated for Indian country have surpassed both the dollars authorized under the budget framework and the amount requested by President Obama. House-passed appropriations for Indian programs including BIA and IHS have also been higher than final levels negotiated with the Democratically controlled Senate.

The committee report cited by the ranking members claims that BIA’s budget would be cut by $375 million and the IHS budget would be cut by $637 million. Fortunately, action in the House of Representatives speaks louder than the words found in the committee report. And action the past two fiscal years has been good for Indian country. In FY12, House-passed BIA funding surpassed the president’s request by more than $18.9 million. For IHS, the House-passed legislation included $392.4 million more than FY 11, which was the single highest percentage of any program in the Interior Appropriations bill, and $595 million more than the final funding agreed to by the Senate. For FY 13, BIA funding in the bill reported out of the House Appropriations Committee included $36.8 million more than FY 12, which was also $41.4 million more than president’s request. IHS fared equally well, with $183.4 million more than FY 12, which was $70.6 million more than the funding requested by President Obama.

Awareness is key. I’ve accompanied numerous congressional delegations to Native American reservations and seen the eye-opening effects such educational opportunities can have. Members with little prior knowledge of tribal issues come away with a sober and lasting appreciation for the challenges in Indian country, as well as the proven effectiveness and unrealized potential of support programs.

In addition to raising awareness and working to protect critical funding, there are structural changes we can make on a bipartisan basis. Earlier this year, I introduced legislation, H.R. 2362, that would have facilitated foreign investment on tribal lands with not only Turkey but any WTO nation. Unfortunately, the commonsense policy was brought down due in no small part to efforts by my Democratic colleagues to connect the legislation to the centuries old conflicts between Turks, Armenians and Greeks. My legislation had nothing to do with those disagreements and was simply aimed at drawing investments onto tribal lands, but some chose to make a political point rather than help Indian country. While it is critical that Congress appropriate money for tribal programs to help those in need and to meet our trust responsibilities to provide basic services, we could help tribes prosper if members who care about Indian Country will overcome partisan differences to enact policies breaking down barriers to development on tribal lands.

The United States’ treaty obligations are not partisan. Honoring our commitments to tribal citizens is not partisan. The work we do in the Appropriations Committee to fund essential tribal programs is not partisan. With a $16 trillion debt and persistently high unemployment, there are certainly no guarantees. Every program is subject to evaluation as we work to avoid fiscal catastrophe. However, the recent track record of the Appropriations Committee is encouraging. The reality is that in the 112th Congress, the House has funded critical programs for Indians while making cuts to other budget items, and we have done so in a bipartisan manner.

While Democrats and Republicans may not agree on the total amount the federal government should spend, there is agreement that we cannot balance any budget on the backs of the first Americans who statistically are the last Americans.

Thomas Jeffery Cole is the U.S. Representative for Oklahoma’s 4th congressional district, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. He is a Deputy Minority Whip.

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August 29, 2011

Department of Interior to Stay Out of Intratribal Matters

Filed under: Bureau of Indian Affairs,News Alerts,Politics — Tags: BIA, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Intratribal matters, United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, Wandrie v. Boswell — ICTMN Staff @ 7:30 pm

The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes have been in a legal battle to determine who is the Governor of the tribes. In the most recent move the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs made the decision to remove itself from intratribal matters.

A letter August 23 states the BIA decision as so “in the present matter [about who is the Governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes], we believe that this office acted precipitously in issuing its letter [opinion] dated January 6, 2011.”

The BIA letter follows an August 15 decision by the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma dismissing Plaintiff Leslie Wandrie-Harjo’s claims in Wandrie v. Boswell, 5:11-cv-0171-F. According to the press release from the tribe the dismissal concluded that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to decide the intratribal matter of who is the Governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

The current government of the tribe has seen two separate factions claiming leadership over the 13,000-member tribe. Gov. Janice Boswell has fought to maintain the position she was voted into in January 2010. Harjo, who was voted in as Lt. Gov. with Boswell, started her push for the Governor’s seat earlier this year. Harjo claimed a tribal court suspended Boswell which would make her the governor.

Both have accused the other faction of violating the tribal constitution and other violations.

Harjo has presented her argument in multiple arenas including the federal district court, the BIA and tribal courts—all attempts were denied.

“We are pleased with the result. Leslie has attempted to become governor by legal opinion and appears to have wanted that legal opinion from anyone. She disregarded the electorate’s choice, the Tribes’ Constitution, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ court orders, resolutions of the Tribal Council, and even submitted her claims to entities outside the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ Constitutional System,” Boswell said in the tribal press release. “Leslie is free to appeal the August 23, 2011 letter decision but in the meantime, I am still the Governor and the will of the people has been upheld.”

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October 6, 2012

Dual Citizens on the Edge of the Fiscal Cliff

Filed under: Barack Obama,Bureau of Indian Affairs,Cherokee — Tags: 26 USC § 7871, BIA, Desert Storm, George Bush, Libya, Steve Russell, Tribal Government — Steve Russell @ 11:00 am

Tribal governments that disdain being “domestic, dependent nations” should prepare two budgets, similar to the “shadow governments” that opposition parties compose in a parliamentary system.

The Plan A budget would be the one expected. The Plan B budget would be if federal funds dried up like water on a hot rock, every dime. Excepting those perpetual payments required by treaties would not help very many tribes.

The Plan B budget is not a necessity, but it’s a political document that might cause people to ask where we stand if the Indian fighters ever get their way and tribes are reduced to voluntary associations with no special legal status? How many of us would volunteer?

Unions and clubs have dues and Indian tribes should collect taxes. Those few that do so normally tax non-citizens, which misses the point.

Should the U.S. hit the fiscal cliff set up to deter the gridlock in Washington, the BIA will take a hit along with a lot of government. I will complain, you will complain, but everybody will be hurting.

Leaving aside the BIA funding, there are expensive things I think the government should do. It should build out a smart electric grid and fix every bridge in the interstate highway system that has been tagged as unsafe. This would put a lot of people to work but it would also cost a lot of money.

I would pay for it by mothballing at least two carrier strike groups.

We currently field 11. No other nation has more than one. The nations that have one are, in alphabetical order: Brazil, France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Russia, Spain and Thailand. China is building one around an old Soviet carrier they are refurbishing.

Most of these CSGs are not technologically equal to ours. Note that not only do we have more than the rest of the world combined, almost all of the other nations that have them are allies.

Mothballing is not without expense, but it is reversible. We have brought battleships out of mothball status in the past.

It’s true that World War III is unlikely to last long enough to bring anything out of mothballs. It’s also unlikely to be won or lost by carrier strike groups. The purpose of CSGs is to project power.

The U.S. is currently projecting too much power for our pocketbooks. I do not agree that we need the capability to fight two wars at once in two theaters. We need the capability to fight one.

If we go to war a second time, we should put ourselves in a situation where we must seek allies, where we cannot act unilaterally. Where we have to run our intervention the way the first President Bush ran Desert Storm and the way President Obama intervened in Libya.

We are also looking at a huge cost to refurbish our nuclear warheads. Failure to do so is unsafe. We should cut that cost by cutting the number of warheads we maintain to the number the rest of the world maintains.

The idea that we can get out of our fiscal hole by taxing millionaires alone is silly. All the Bush tax cuts need to go, including the ones that benefit you and me.

The idea that we can balance our budget by cutting discretionary non-defense spending is sillier.

Most silly of all is the idea that the arms race that bankrupted the Soviet Union will not bankrupt the U.S.

Where do I get off using terms like “we” and “our” in reference to the colonial government? Because we, American Indians, do a disproportionate amount of military service and we pay the same taxes non-Indians pay, with trivial exceptions, and we stand to pay indirectly if the BIA is subjected to across-the-board budget cuts when “we,” all of us, sail over the fiscal cliff.

We are going to have to pay more taxes as U.S. citizens. It would good, sooner rather than later, to get used to paying taxes as tribal citizens. I’m no tax lawyer, but a quick reading of 26 USC § 7871 suggests that tribal taxes are not currently deductible from federal income taxes on the same basis as state taxes or even foreign taxes.

It might be politically doable to get not just a deduction but a tax credit, and a way to make it happen would be for a tribe like mine to pass an income tax on tribal citizens contingent upon passage of a federal tax credit.

I’d rather pay the Cherokee Nation than pay Sam, and I wonder how a tribal income tax would affect turnout in tribal elections? I wonder how many paper Cherokees would disappear?

The Plan B budget. It’s what’s for dinner if you don’t want to be a “domestic, dependent nation.”

Steve Russell, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is a Texas trial court judge by assignment and associate professor emeritus of criminal justice at Indiana University-Bloomington. He lives in Georgetown, Texas.

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November 30, 2011

Easing Federal Paternalism Over Indian Land Leasing

Filed under: Bureau of Indian Affairs,Business,News Alerts,Politics — Tags: Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, BIA, Economic Development, Headline News, Larry Echo Hawk, Leasing Regulations, News, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Tribal Government, Tribal Lands, Washington DC — Rob Capriccioso @ 8:30 pm

WASHINGTON – In a move requested by tribes for decades, the federal government is easing its rules for the approval of leases on lands that the federal government holds in trust for tribes and individuals.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced November 28 what they called a “sweeping reform of federal surface leasing regulations for American Indian lands that will streamline the approval process for home ownership, expedite economic development and spur renewable energy development in Indian country.”

In doing so, the Interior Department is proposing a rule that would modify regulations governing the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ current process for land leasing to tribes and Indians. According to Interior officials, the department currently manages approximately 56 million surface acres in Indian country.

The rule calls for enforceable timelines by which the Bureau of Indian Affairs must review leases, and it establishes separate, simplified processes for residential, business, and renewable energy development, so that leases for small mortgages are distinguishable from much larger projects.

The rule offers a 30 day-limit for the BIA to issue decisions on residential leases, subleases, and mortgages. The agency would have 60-days to review leases and subleases for commercial or industrial development. The rule says that if the BIA does not complete its review of subleases in these timeframes, the agreements will automatically go into effect.

“Other proposed changes would eliminate the requirement for BIA approval of permits for short-term activities on Indian lands, such as parades; and requires the BIA to approve leases unless it finds a compelling reason to disapprove,” noted a press release from the Interior Department. “Under the new rule, the BIA would defer to the tribe’s negotiated value for a lease of tribal land and would not require additional, costly appraisals.”

Echo Hawk said the rule goes a long way to break the chains of paternalism that the federal government has held over tribes for too long. “In times past, a lot of federal laws and regulations have exhibited a paternalistic-like attitude from the federal government to First Nations leaders and communities,” Echo Hawk said in response to a question from Indian Country Today Media Network. “What you’re seeing in these regulations is that we’re no longer trying to exercise federal authority. In consultation with tribal leaders, we have come up with a plan to transfer much of the decision-making that occurs to let tribal leaders be able to make calls about how to develop their lands and resources….”

Echo Hawk added in a conference call with the press that the department believes the regulations will dramatically reduce BIA interference in tribal land use by eliminating the discretion to disapprove leases—or referring to tribal governments how much they want to charge. “So, we’re restoring the agency of these important decisions back where it belongs—to the tribes, he said.

In sum, Echo Hawk said the proposed rule show “much greater respect” for tribal self-determination: “At its core, this reform is about good government and supporting self-determination for Indian Nations,” he said. “The revised regulations will bring greater transparency, efficiency and workability to the Bureau of Indian Affairs approval process, and will provide tribal communities and individuals certainty and flexibility when it comes to decisions on the use of their land.”

Salazar said the proposed rule would replace established rules that he called “frankly outdated.” He explained that current regulations, adopted by the federal government over five decades ago, take a “one-size fits all” approach to processing all surface leases.

Congressional testimony from tribal leaders and consultation from them has indicated that under the current system simple mortgage applications have sometimes stalled for several years waiting approval from the federal government. Plus, energy and other economic development projects have been slow and difficult to establish under the old way.

Salazar said he expects the change to have a “real impact for individuals and families who want to own a home or build a business.”

“This reform underscores President Obama’s commitment to empower Indian nations and strengthen their economies by expanding opportunities for individual landowners and tribal governments – generating investment, new jobs and revenues,” Salazar said during the November 28 press conference call.

Answering a question from ICTMN, Salazar said the Obama administration has worked hard to reform the federal government’s relationship with Indian country. “I think that our deeds over the past three years speak for themselves,” he said.

“The proposed regulation incorporates numerous changes requested by tribal leaders during extensive consultations this past year and better meets the goals of facilitating and expediting the leasing process for trust lands,” added Principal Deputy Assistant for Indian Affairs Del Laverdure.

Interior officials said that during the initial consultation period more than 2,300 comments were received from more than 70 tribes as well as several federal agencies, including the Department of Housing & Urban Development, the USDA, and the IRS.

The publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register begins a 60-day public comment period. A BIA regulatory drafting workgroup is scheduled to review the comments and publish the final rule in 2012.

Interior officials said that comments and recommendations may be submitted during the tribal consultation meetings, by e-mail at consultation@bia.gov, or by U.S. Postal Service, overnight carrier or hand-delivery to:

Del Laverdure, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C St., N.W., MS-4141-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240.

A Q & A document on the proposed rule is offered by Interior Here.

A comparison of existing and proposed regulations is offered by Interior Here.

The proposed rule is online Here.

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September 5, 2012

Elections 2012: A Better Bureau of Indian Affairs Budget From Republicans

Filed under: Bureau of Indian Affairs,News Alerts,Politics — Tags: BIA, Elections 2012, GOP, Headline News, IHS, Indian Health Service, National Republican Campaign Committee, Native Roundtable, News, Obama Administration, Presidential Elections 2012, Republican National Convention, Tom Cole, Washington DC — Mark Trahant @ 6:00 pm

An omission: Yesterday I reported that Rep. Tom Cole was much less visible at the Republican Convention in Tampa than he was in St. Paul four years ago. I should have added the primary reason: He was chair of the National Republican Campaign Committee at the time.

“My lower profile at this year’s GOP Convention really didn’t have anything to do with Indian issues,” Cole said in an e-mail.

He said he was, however, active on Indian issues at the convention including hosting a round table discussion for the Romney campaign. “We had a great turn out,” he said. “Governor Romney also met with tribal leaders in Boston the week before the convention.”

Cole also wanted to make it clear that under the Ryan budget, “House Republicans actually appropriated more for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) in 2011, 2012 and 2013 than the Obama Administration requested.”

This is accurate – and complicated. As I wrote in another post, “Republicans in the House have done a good job of protecting both the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the BIA from drastic cuts.” This will be an important thought to hold onto if Republicans win enough support to shrink federal spending to 20 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. And, it’s complicated, because more federal dollars are going through to tribal clinics through other sources such as Medicaid or community health centers.

This is a good example of the strategic choice that tribal governments will have to make depending on which candidate wins in November. If it’s Romney, the best bet might be to support BIA and IHS programs over alternative funding sources. While if the president wins re-election there might be more funding programs in other areas of the government. (This has always been an interesting question, or debate, for some tribal leaders because many believe the BIA and IHS best represent the government’s implementation of treaty obligations while others say all government programs are an extension of the treaty.)

But Cole’s final point is an important one. So I’ll let him have the last word.

“To be fair, both parties have worked together in recent years to do more for Indian country. Of course, we have a very long way to go to provide Native Americans with the same benefits and opportunities enjoyed by other Americans,” Cole said. “As I have in the past, I will continue to work with Members of both parties to advance the interests of Indian country no matter who wins the election in November.”

Mark Trahant is a writer, speaker and Twitter poet. He is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and lives in Fort Hall, Idaho. He has been writing about Indian Country for more than three decades. His e-mail is: marktrahant@thecedarsgroup.org.

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April 2, 2012

Indian Country Reacts to Larry Echo Hawk’s Announcement

Filed under: Bureau of Indian Affairs,NCAI,Politics — Tags: Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, BIA, Church of Latter-Day Saints, Department of the Interior, Ernie Stevens, Gabriel Galanda, Harold Monteau, Headline News, Jacqueline Pata, Jefferson Keel, john echohawk, Larry Echo Hawk, National Congress of American Indians, News, Tribal Government, Washington DC — ICTMN Staff @ 8:12 pm

Following the March 31 announcement from the Church of Latter-day Saints, and confirmed by the Department of the Interior, that Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs (ASIA), will be stepping down from his post within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to fulfill a calling within the church, individuals connected to Indian country shared their thoughts:

Jefferson Keel, National Congress of American Indians president and Lt. Governor of the Chickasaw Nation:

“Larry Echo Hawk’s leadership at the Bureau of Indian Affairs has set a new standard for generations to come. While he will be greatly missed in this position, his legacy – the manner in which he carefully listened to tribal leaders and tribal citizens, acted to remove historic barriers for tribes, and framed a new vision for the BIA’s relationship with sovereign tribal governments – is a legacy that will continue to ripple through the federal government. Larry’s service was not only exemplary as a federal official, but also as an American Indian leader who served the United States and tribal nations with dignity and respect. He elevated our nation-to-nation relationship to its rightful place, and for that we are grateful.”

Jacqueline Pata, NCAI’s executive director:

“There is no doubt that in the last three years a new era for tribal relations with the United States has emerged and Larry Echo Hawk played no small part in it. He will always be remembered for the way he acted as the top official of the BIA. He listened with great conviction, setting a tone for consultation that we must always ensure is reflected in the federal government’s approach to nation-to-nation meetings. Larry, much like his brother John Echohawk, leads with a quiet strength. He would stay through long meetings, contentious discussions, and resolve to find clear paths for moving forward. His even keeled approach to engaging with his federal counter parts allowed so much work to get done and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

John Echohawk, Larry Echo Hawk’s brother, is the Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund:

“Well, he had a calling from the church and, as I understand it, those are the kind of calls that you really have to accept. It’s a great honor and he really felt he needed to honor the church and accept the call. I think we’re all going to miss him very much in Indian affairs.”

Bill John Baker, principal chief Cherokee Nation

“I wish Assistant Secretary [of Indian Affairs] Echo Hawk all the best as he embarks on this new endeavor with the Church of Latter-day Saints. In my short time as principal chief, he has been nothing but gracious and helpful towards my administration and I am certain that the LDS Church will benefit greatly from his keen intellect, passion for public service and courteous professionalism.”

Ernie Stevens, chairman of National Indian Gaming Association:

“It has to be a tremendous appointment for him to go into the church and serve at a level that would take him away from his responsibilities in the United States government. It’s a great disappointment for me because I like when an assistant secretary is run out of Washington. I like to see an assistant secretary beat up and just shown the door,” he joked. “It’s like my father when he left – he didn’t leave Washington, but he left the bureau (BIA) because he advocated for Indian country and he stood proud and he saved lives in so many ways. So I guess I shouldn’t joke about Larry’s departure because it is very dignified and it’s tremendous for him. Larry Echo Hawk under this Obama administration – and again I’m a bipartisan person in my job – but you’ve got to recognize that this administration has done a tremendous job in communicating and advocating and trying to understand and be visible in Indian country. And there’s a whole bunch of people under Larry’s watch that you would give credit to, I’m sure. But the bottom line starts at the top and Larry Echo Hawk has done a tremendous job and he’s someone that I respect and admire and I think wherever he goes, even if it’s working in the church, we’re still going to call on him, we’re still going to need him. He’s a compassionate person who cares deeply about Indian country. I just hope the church doesn’t keep him all to itself. I hope it’ll let him continue to work in Indian country.”

Gabriel S. Galanda, an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and partner with Galanda Broadman, PLLC, in Seattle:

“Larry Echo Hawk converted words to action for the benefit of Indian people, perhaps like nobody who previously held the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs post in modern times. Landmark federal-tribal accomplishments occurred on his watch, including the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act, the impending settlement of over 100 tribal government trust mismanagement lawsuits, the reopening of the federal fee-to-trust process, and the advancement of the federal Indian consultation right. In all of these and many other regards, instead of functioning in the silo that can be ASIA and the BIA, he successfully made inroads to various other parts of the Executive Branch and in many instances, caused federal officials in other departments and agencies to behave differently towards Indian country. In turn, change was accomplished, not just talked about. History will tell a very positive story about Secretary Echo Hawk’s time in Washington and his robust accomplishments on behalf of Indian people. His legacy will certainly last the test of time.”

Harold Monteau is a Chippewa Cree Attorney and former Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission:

“I can understand Larry’s accepting the high appointment in his church. I understand enough about the Mormon Church structure to know that this is kind of like being in a cabinet level appointment. I also can’t blame him for not wanting to depend on Indian Country for a living post-service. Indian Country does not treat its former political appointees the way non-Indians do. In the non-Indian world you are rewarded for service (usually as a lobbyist or consultant) and anyone who does serve as a political appointee knows they will be rewarded by “business arrangements” when they leave. Not so for Indian Country. We tend to treat Indians who do their service in DC political positions like so much road kill. We tend to focus on what they didn’t do for Indians, not what they did for Indians.”

Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole, R-District 4:

“Larry Echo Hawk is a great friend to Indian country. During his tenure at the BIA, [Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs] Echo Hawk has worked tirelessly to resolve important issues of tribal land and sovereignty and to bring greater economic development, education and security to tribal lands. He has been a stabilizing presence at the BIA, and his efforts will benefit tribes in Oklahoma and across the nation for years to come.

“On a personal note, I wish to note how much I will miss Larry Echo Hawk as a friend and a dedicated public servant. As I learned traveling across parts of Indian country in Larry’s company, he is a man of deep understanding, profound compassion, enormous energy and genuine bipartisanship. He has served the first Americans and all Americans with distinction and integrity.”

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