keys to native nation building

GSE A101 & KSG PED 501Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building I

Keys to Native Nation Building


IS THERE A NATIVE AMERICA?

Size – Geography and Population Location – Urban v. Rural History Social & Economic Conditions

Gaming v. Non-Gaming Agriculture, Tourism, Manufacturing, Subsistence

Culture – Historic and Contemporary Language Religion and Ceremony Arts Social Relations

Governmental Form

DIMENSIONS OF DIVERSITY


…BUT WITH COMMON CHALLENGES Political Self-Determination

Defending and Expanding Sovereignty Exercising Powers of Self-Rule

Social and Cultural Self-Determination Continuity of Shared Identity Collective Commitment to the Nation

Economic, Social, and Cultural Well-Being Reversing the Centuries of Deficits “A Place Where People Can and Want to Live”

The Challenge is Nation Building


NATION BUILDING

Definition

The enhanced capacity of indigenous nations to realize their own cultural, educational, economic, environmental, and political

objectives through foundational actions of their own design and initiation.


SUCCESSFUL NATIVE NATION BUILDING – THE COMMON PATTERN

The “Sovereignty” Attitude Capable Institutions Cultural Match

…..and Leadership


KEYS TO NATION BUILDINGIN INDIAN COUNTRY

Indian Nations That Are Successful on Their Own Terms

Use Strong Leadership to

Assert the Right to Govern Themselves and

Exercise That Right Effectively

By Building Capable Governing Institutions

That Match Their Cultures.


What Constitutes “Citizenship”?The Case of Upper Sioux


CASE SIMULATION:UPPER SIOUX CITIZENSHIP

Small Tribe, SW Minnesota <1000 Acres, <1000 Members

Successful Casino Every Upper Sioux Also a Member of Another Tribe Chair Helen Blue-Redner Seeks Constitutional Reform

Sees Lack of Loyalty & Dedication to Upper Sioux Per Capita Payments & Other Benefits = Rising Membership

Constitutional Reform Options Require Relinquishment of Citizenship in Any Other Tribe Tight, Enforced Residency Requirement – w/in 5 Miles of Res No Per Capita to Dual Enrollees and/or Non-Resident Members


Elements/Sources of Individual and Social Identity

ResidencyFamily ties+/- Economic

ContributionAchievementStatus of KinEducationFriendships

LanguageProperty OwnerCommitment +/-Shared historyPolitical ViewsPolitical ConnectionsRace/Blood QuantumDescendencyCultural Values


Strategies of Nation Building:Darrin Old Coyote

Vice-Secretary of the Crow Nation


Oil and Gas

Sand and Gravel Resource Areas

Limestone Resource Areas

Coal Resource Areas

Bentonite Resource Areas


Coal Resource Areas


Oil and Gas, CBM


Legal and Policy Foundationsof Tribal Sovereignty


FORMS OF TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY

Sovereignty as Self-Rule

De Jure…by Law De Facto…in Practice De Recto…by Moral Right


ORIGINS OF TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY

Pre-Contact Proto-Nationhood in North America The Colonial Period

British v. Spanish and French Experience Conflicts and Alliances

Early U.S. State-Tribal and Federal Tribal Relations Alliances and Power Balances The Founders and the Iroquois Confederacy The U.S. Constitution


THE EBB AND FLOW OF TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY IN THE UNITED STATES

Status Chronology Distribution

International Treaties c. 1776…Military alliances, conflict,

land acquisition,

Law(and Military Expansion)

c. 1830…Intra-US and border Native

nations

Military Conquest c. 1865…Internment, “pacification”,

genocide

Termination through Allotment c. 1885…

Haphazard targeting of selected reservations

Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 1934…

All federally-recognized Native nations

Termination through Derecognition 1953… 100+ selected Native nations

Self-Determination Policy c. 1970…All federally-recognized

Native nations

Tribal Practice c. 1970… Self-selected Native nations


TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY ANDTHE U.S. CONSTITUTION

Article I, Section 8, Clause 3: The Congress shall have Power To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes…

Article I, Section 2, Clause 3: Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed…

Article I, Section 8, Clause 18: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.


THE FORMATION OFFEDERAL INDIAN POLICY

Trade and Intercourse Act, 1790 (Permit Required for Trade with Tribes)

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831 (Tribes Not “Foreign Nations”, but “Domestic Dependent Nations”)

Worcester v. Georgia, 1832 (Federal law supreme; tribes are “distinct, independent political communities retaining…original natural rights)

Jackson Removal Act, 1830 (Attempt to remove tribes to the western territories)

U.S. v. Kagama, 1886 (Federal Government is as a “guardian to a ward”)

Allotment Act, 1887 (Allotment of reservation lands to individual Indians; sale of surplus lands)


VASCILATING FEDERAL POLICY:SELF-DETERMINATION OR TERMINATION?

Indian Reorganization Act, 1934 (Repeal of Allotment; Constitutional Tribal Governments)

Termination Policy, 1953 (Official Policy to Terminate & Disband Tribes; 100+ Terminated)

Indian Civil Rights Act, 1968 (Apply U.S. Bill of Rights to Tribes, Except Religious Non-Establishment, Voting Based on Race; Review by Tribal Courts)

Nixon Self-Determination Policy, 1970 (Reverses Policy of Termination)

Indian Self-Determination and Education Act, 1975 (Tribal Take-Over of Federal Programs)

Clinton Government-to-Government Executive Order, 1998 (Tribal Consultation, Easier Waivers of Federal Statutes and Regulations).


RECENT EVOLUTION OF TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY

Oliphant v. Suquamish Tribe, 1978 (Tribes Lack Jurisdiction over Non-Indians)

California v. Cabazon, 1987 (States Lack Jurisdiction over Tribal Government Gaming)

Brendale v. Yakima Nation, 1989 (Tribes Lack Jurisdiction over Non-Indian Lands on Res)

Atkinson Trading Co. v. Shirley, 2001 (Tribes Can’t Tax Non-Indian On-Res Land Owners)

Nevada v. Hicks, 2001 (Tribes Lack Jurisdiction over Non-Indian Law Enforcement on Res)

Type of Tax

Indians Who Work On/Live On

Res

Indians Who Work On/Live Off

Res

Indians Who Work

Off/ Live On Res

Federal Income Tax YES YES YES

State Income Tax NO YES YES

FICA YES YES YES

State Unemployment Tax

YES YES YES

Property Tax YES (Fee Lands)*

YES YES (Fee Lands)*

State Sales Tax** YES YES YES

Liquor, Gas & Cigarette Tax**

YES YES YES

Motor Vehicle Tax** YES YES YES

TAX STATUS OF INDIANS

SOURCES OF TRIBE’S SOVEREIGNTY

“American Indians were conquered and lost their sovereignty.”

“There can’t be multiple sovereigns in the same geographic area.”

“Tribal sovereignty means ‘special’ rights for Indians.”

“Indian rights of sovereignty are race-based.”

THE STATE OF TRIBES’ SOVEREIGNTY

“Tribes aren’t really nations; they’re more like clubs.”

“The treaties are out-of-date anachronisms.”

“Even if Indians originally had rights of self-rule, there are no authentic Indians left.”

“The U.S. is anti-sovereignty.”

CONSEQUENCES OF TRIBES’ SOVEREIGNTY

“Tribes may be sovereign, but their sovereignty produces lawlessness.”

“Sovereignty is a shibboleth. Reservations are just welfare states funded by the federal government.”

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