Tribes pleased with Obama efforts, asking for more

[ProSense]

Tribes pleased with Obama efforts, asking for more

By SUZANNE GAMBOA

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's little doubt President Barack Obama has won high esteem among Native Americans by breaking through a logjam of inaction on issues that matter to them.

The Obama administration this week proposed sweeping changes to federal tribal-land leasing rules that had not been touched in 50 years. Obama nominated a Native American to the federal bench, signed a law renewing the Indian Health Care Act and settled a tribal royalties lawsuit that had dragged on through three administrations.

"Obama has done better for tribes than the others, except for the Nixon administration," said Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a former Republican senator from Colorado. President Richard Nixon advocated tribal self-determination and opposed the termination of American Indian tribes that had been occurring since the mid-1940s.

<...>

American Indians have been both "well-served" and "hurt" by other administrations, said Bill John Baker, principal chief of the largest Indian tribe, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Obama has gone beyond lip service, Baker said, and "backed up his words with actions that have made a positive impact on the lives of Native people."

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[MineralMan]

1. Thanks, Mr. President

Even though this won't have any real effect on the 2012 elections, President Obama is taking care of neglected business for Native Americans.

[mikekohr]

20. Two DEmocrat Senators owe their seat to the Native Vote; Tim Johnson SD and Patty Murray WA

The Native Vote may be small but without it we would be in big trouble in the Senate. If the Native vote was not important Republicans would not be expending so much time and effort in suppressing it.

[DocMac]

2. Why did someone unrec this??

[PufPuf23]

4. I did. See Post #3. Maybe I should have reced for more visibility? nt

[PufPuf23]

3. For the WH and current Indian leaders to claim the settlement of Cobell vs Salazar as a "success"

when the settlement is nothing but short-term political expediency, willful ignorance, and a sell out of the Indian Peoples by their own current leadership.

There are individual Tribes harmed more than the settlement for the entire USA.

Cobell vs Salazar was the longest and potentially largest class action suit in the history of the USA.

The settlement is the sealing wax on American Indian genocide.

The suit limited members of the class action, ignored 100s of lawsuits of BIA mis-management prior to or excluded from Cobell, and less than 2 cents on the dollar for damages, and pays only $2 billion for 90 million acres of Indian Trust lands sold by the BIA to whites and corporations under the Dawes Act. Imagine paying $2 Billion dollars for California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act

The Dawes Act, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into allotments for individual Indians. The Act was named for its sponsor, Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act. The stated objective of the Dawes Act was to stimulate assimilation of Indians into American society. Individual ownership of land was seen as an essential step. The act also provided that the government would purchase Indian land excess to that needed for allotment and open it up for settlement by non-Indians.

The impact on Indians of the Dawes Act was negative. The act "was the culmination of American attempts to destroy tribes and their governments and to open Indian lands to settlement by non-Indians and to development by railroads."<1> Land owned by Indians decreased from 138 million acres (560,000 km2) in 1887 to 48 million acres (190,000 km2) in 1934.<2>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobell_v._Salazar


Cobell v. Salazar (previously Cobell v. Kempthorne and Cobell v. Norton and Cobell v. Babbitt) is a class-action lawsuit brought by Native American representatives against two departments of the United States government. The plaintiffs claim that the U.S. government has incorrectly accounted for Indian trust assets, which belong to individual Native Americans (as beneficial owners) but are managed by the Department of the Interior (as the legal owner and fiduciary trustee). The case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The original complaint asserted claims for mismanagement of the trust assets; these were subsequently disallowed since such claims could only properly be asserted in the United States Court of Federal Claims.

The case is sometimes reported as the largest class-action lawsuit against the U.S. in history, but the basis for this claim is a matter of dispute. Plaintiffs contend that the number of class members is around 500,000, while defendants maintain it is closer to 250,000. The potential liability of the U.S. government in the case is also disputed: plaintiffs have suggested a figure as high as $176 billion, and defendants have suggested a number in the low millions, at most. In 2008, the district court awarded the plaintiffs $455.6 million, which both sides have appealed. Cobell v. Kempthorne, 569 F. Supp.2d 223, 226 (D.D.C. 2008).

On July 29, 2009, the D.C. Court of Appeals vacated the award and remanded the District Court's previous decision in Cobell XXI. See, Cobell v. Salazar (Cobell XXII), 573 F.3d 808 (D.C. Cir. 2009).

On December 8, 2009, a $3.4 billion settlement was announced.<1> $1.4 billion of the settlement is allocated to plaintiffs in the suit, and up to $2 billion is allocated for re-purchase of lands distributed under the Dawes Act. President Barack Obama signed legislation authorizing government funding of a final version of the $3.4 billion settlement in December 2010, raising the possibility of resolution after fourteen years of litigation. Judge Thomas Hogan will oversee a fairness hearing on the settlement in the spring of 2011.


PS There is a frequent poster here at DU that posted an article re: Cobell vs Salazar and linked to the WH Blog that appeared at DU before being posted on the WH Blog and another frequent poster who tried to do damage control and the thread rapidly sank.

[AtomicKitten]

5. oops

sorry, wrong place

[truedelphi]

16. Thank you for this post. This is not a matter most of us

Are aware of, and since it is not easy to find the truth on things like this unless you get involved personally, you end up convinced by the M$M message on this.

Are the Lakota of Pine Ridge affected? I know that a while ago (five yrs back, ten yrs back?) They refused some twenty billions of dollars for their lands. So it would be shame after refusing that larger sum, to be shoved into this lousy lawsuit and receive far far less than what they originally refused.

[PufPuf23]

17. Sorry, I don't know anything specific about the Lakota.

Cobell vs Salazar went under the media radar and I won't deny that many Indian applaud the settlement but they are short-sighted and the settlement was politically expediant

Until about 25 years ago, Indian Trust lands were managed by the USDI thrugh the BIA. This management included timber, mineral, grazing, and a variety of natural resources. Since then, the Tribes have directly managed their own lands. The mis-management occured before many were born and few are cognisant of the scale, particularly the BIA land sales under the Dawes Act.

As I quoted from wiki, under the Dawes Act Indian trust lands were reduced from 138 million acres to 48 million acres by BIA land sales to whites and corporations between 1887 and 1934. Dawes Act land sales on what is now the Yurok Reservation continued until the 1950s. Most of the Yurok Reservation was a vast expanse of untouched and unroaded primeval Redwood and Douglas-fir stands until the boom following WWII. More of the Yurok Reservation belongs to Simpson Timber Company than the Tribe because of the Dawes Act.

Cobell vs Salazar settles Indian monetary claims against the Federal goverment; specifically $2 billion was for repurchase of lands sold under the Dawes Act. As a comparison, California is about 100 million acres and $2 billion is supposed to account for the loss of 90 million acres of Indian Trust lands in the USA? Note from wiki, Indian claims had been for as much as $187 billion for those included in the lawsuit. Less than 10% of American Indians were included in the class action lawsuit. Some Tribe claims had previously been settled piece meal, notably in southeast Alaska, and the main source of income and operating funds for many Tribes is Federal Grant monies.

The Cobell vs Salazar settlement was good for the taxpayers, politically expedient, and popular even among most Indians. A period of American history has been closed.

[johnaries]

18. If the act was a "sell out of the Indian Peoples

by their own current leadership" then that means it is an internal issue. Basically, what you are arguing is that the Obama Admin should have done "what is for their own good whether they wanted it or not." :eyes:

[PufPuf23]

19. The Indian attorneys argued for $187 billion and for more Individuals

and Tribes to be qualified under the class action.

The Cobell vs Salazar settlement for $3.4 billion is a cheap to the tax payer and politically expedient close to an unfortunate and shameful part of American history.

I never said anything about POTUS Obama and I agree with the OP in that Obama has been the best POTUS for American Indians since Nixon.

[AtomicKitten]

6. Barack 'Black Eagle' is their adopted son.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/obama-adopted-by-native-americans/

[PufPuf23]

7. Did you read post #3?

The settlement applies to at most 500,000 of 5.2 million American Indians.

The settlement pays only $2 billion dollars for 90 million acres of resource rich (and exploited)lands, an area nearly the size of California.

For example: More of the Yurok Reservation in northcoast California belongs to Simpson Timber Company, a private corporation, than the Yurok Tribe . Most of the Simpson lands within the Yurok Reservation were untouched redwood lands adjacent to the Tall Tree Grove of Redwood National Park until after WWII.

Google the Redwood National Park Expansion and what the Feds paid for 48,000 acres of which 42,000 acres was less than 40 year old clearcuts.

Google Pacific Lumber - Maxxum and the 12,000 acres Headwaters Forest bought by the Feds and how much paid.

I have been involved in this issue all my life and did court work in Colorado and New Mexico as far back as the 1980s for claims of mismanagement of Indian Trust lands by the BIA.

Read post #3 and think. Many of the more educated and aware American Indians realize the fraud.

[ProSense]

8. Well,

"Did you read post #3?"

...I read the post. It includes an opinion, a couple of links to wiki that do not support the opinion and an irrelevant point about a couple of DU posters.


President Obama Hosts 2011 White House Tribal Nations Conference

Today, President Obama is hosting the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior. As part of President Obama’s ongoing outreach to the American people, this conference provides leaders from the 565 federally recognized tribes the opportunity to interact directly with the President and representatives from his Administration. This is the third White House Tribal Nations Conference the Obama Administration has hosted and continues to build upon the President’s commitment to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with Indian Country.

<...>

[PufPuf23]

10. Please explain how I did not support my claim.

There were 138 million acres of Indian Trust Lands (Reservations and Allotments). The Bureau of Indian Affairs sold 90 million acres where they had fiduciary duty to the Indian Peoples including land then and still with Reservations (see my Yurok example) under the Dawes Act leaving only 48 million acres of Indian Trust Lands. Cobell vs Salazar provides $2 billion for land repurchase. The $2 billion would not suffice to purchase the Simpson Timber's lands within the Yurok Reservation today (though simpson is selling the Tribe about 20,000 acres of the poorest land that has been clearcut since 1950 in a separate deal but Simpson will still own more of the Reservation than the Tribe. These are the most valuable timberlands per acre in the world. I gave two examples where the Feds purchased corporate unlogged redwood lands for comparables.

There are at most 500,000 Indians with status under Cobell vs Salazar or less than 10% of the 5.2 million Indians in the USA.

Indian Tribal politics is brutal and crony.

I was delayed in answering this post because I was talking to the ex Governance Officer of the Yurok Tribe who is a lifelong brother. The Tribal Goverance Officer is essentially the Foreign Minister for the government to government relationship.

I am sure the meeting with the POTUS will be a joyous event and everyone that attends will be thrilled to get a free trip to DC for the conference. I did not say that all the initiatives by the WH are bad, just Cobell vs Salazar that settles for all time all monetary claims by the American Indians against the USA for BIA mismanagement and fraudulent sales of Indian Trust lands and natural resources.

Do you know any Indians? Have you been on a Reservation?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

9. I work for HUD, and we are working *DIRECTLY* with the tribal communities

to address quality of housing, poverty and unemployment, and job creation in those communities.

I must say that it's been years since we've done so more and with a much greater focus.

Way to go, Mr. President!

[PufPuf23]

11. During the GWB Administration I sold 302 acres purchased with HUD

funds to a Tribe. I also gave under gift deed about $250,000 of real estate that has altars, trails, dance ground, etc of a 7,000 to 10,000 year old ceremony and an first option should I sell or from my Estate to purchase the remainder of my "yard".

In my nearly 60 years of life, Indian Country's situation regarding housing, health care, education, environment, cultural values, and sovereignty has shown incredible improvement. Jobs that are not Federal grant based are poor except for Tribes with casinos and some exceptions like the Warm Springs and Meninomee (sp) timber programs. Business development on Sea Alaska and other SE Alaska Native Corporations has been marked by poor business decisions.

Edit to add: A couple that are some of my dearest friends live on an Indian Allotment within National Forests. HUD gave them a 2000 foot manufactured house, an improved water system, and a pilton wheel, solar array, diesel generator for electricity. They had been living in a camp trailed because the original cabin burned down and using a gas generator when they needed electricity. They still do not have phone access by landline or cell. So good work HUD.

[ellisonz]

12. You've got good points.

I'd just add that things are bad everywhere right now, we are broke as a nation, and government has a lot of misappropriated funds. I'm not an expert on the issue, but I'd say that we all need to come together and work for a better future, for Indian Country and the United States. Nothing is ever set in stone. :thumbsup:

[PufPuf23]

13. Thank you. Another positive example from Indian Country is

Indian Health Services and dedicated doctors and caregivers that is a good working example of socialized medicine.

[ellisonz]

14. I think they do a stellar job of managing their lands too.

I wish the rest of the country could feel so connected to their land. It makes me sad, having lived in Hawaii for a number of years, to see how disconnected we are as a culture. I think a big part of repairing the social ills on the reservations is to restore respect for the original culture (edit: both within and without).

In Hawaii, there's been what's known as the "Hawaiian Renaissance" over the last 40 years and the Hawaiian community has made progress in re-uniting and standing up for what they believe in. Unfortunately, John McCain, Jon Kyl and other Republican Senators have put holds on the Akaka Bill to grant Hawaiians true self-government of their own lands under the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.

I really wish that part of the Bill would be ceding the State Park and nature reserve systems to a new Hawaiian government because the State of Hawaii has mismanaged them badly. The DHHL neighborhood I visited most often had a "bad reputation," but what I saw as a civil process server was a community that other neighborhoods should have been envious of how people looked after each other.

Some resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akaka_Bill

http://hawaii.gov/dhhl/applicants/appforms/applyhhl/

The Hawaiian Renaissance by George S. Kanahele
May 1979

But, first, let's not quibble about the use of the term "renaissance." Although it has become a popular term, used by the media and writers and ordinary people, a few people are upset. It is French meaning "rebirth" and because they take it literally, do not like the implication, I guess, that Hawaiian culture was ever dead. OThers, like Pierre Bowman, argue that if you are looking for something like the European Renaissance--that period from the 14th to the 16th centuries marked by the flowering of the arts, literature and the beginnings of modern science--then, it is too early to tell whether a Hawaiian renaissance is really taking place.

Writing in the Star Bulletin (Feb. 20, 1979), he says the term implies the "tangible creation of works of art and literature" and that there is "scant evidence of such work in a Hawaiian Renaissance." I don't know what he considers to be "scant evidence" in view of the prolific production of music, art and craft work, dances, and so on that Hawaiians have been responsible for during recent years. I would very much like to learn what he would consider to be "renaissance quality" work. If he is using standards comparable to Michelangelo, Van der Meer, Leonardo da Vinci, Bacon, Erasmus, Machiavelli, the luminaries of the European Renaissance, I think he is kidding himself. It is more realistic and sensible to use the standards of the culture in which the renaissance is happening. I say let the Hawaiians themselves decide collectively what is "scant" or non scant "evidence" of what is good or bad.

Besides, the renaissance encompasses more than the creation of works of art and literature. It also includes a revival of interest in the past, in the pursuit of knowledge or learning and in the the future. In short, it deals with the revitalization of the human spirit in all aspects of endeavor. And when we look very carefully at what is occurring among Hawaiians today economically, artistically, politically, socially, culturally, it is impossible to ignore the spirit of rebirth. I think the word "renaissance" fits.

In any even, if you're hung up on semantics, eh, hang loose, use whatever term suits you. What's important is the reality, not the rhetoric.

http://kapalama.ksbe.edu/archives/PVSA/primary%202/79%20kanahele/kanahele.htm

P.S. I hope this isn't too much to digest. :D

[mikekohr]

21. Bingo, seems no matter what the President does, it's never enough nt

[Number23]

15. Lovely

"Obama has gone beyond lip service, Baker said, and "backed up his words with actions that have made a positive impact on the lives of Native people."

Rec'd

[mikekohr]

22. Here's How the Last Administration Treated Native People

http://www.brotherhooddays.com/HEROES.html#PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:
While campaigning for president, Bush stated that he believed states had higher legal authority than tribal governments, a view that is in direct conflict with established constitutional law. Bush later retreated from this indefensible position.


"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
-President-elect George W. Bush- 12/18/2000 50).


In November, 2001, at the height of the conflict in Afghanistan, Bush quietly rescinded a Clinton-era executive order that streamlined the cumbersome process tribal governments were required to complete while using their own money to buy back their own lands and returning the land to trust status. Approximately 66% of tribal land holdings were removed from tribal control after the passage of the "infamous" Dawes act in 1884. First Nations have attempted to buy back as much of this "lost reservation land" as possible but have been thwarted and impeded by the legal barriers placed in their way. The Clinton-era executive order would have greatly aided First Nation's attempts to recover their own land. The Bush administration bent to the will of State-attorney Generals, municipalities and governors that were concerned of a loss of tax revenues and feared, among other things, the possibility of "low income housing" being placed on such land. Ron Allen, vice president of the National Congress of American Indians said, " ....quite frankly they are afraid of Indians. They are afraid of Indian power, they don't trust tribes and they don't trust tribal government, and it really has racist overtones." The Bush administration, claiming the wording of the Clinton-era order was unclear, promised to issue a similar order with less ambiguous language. Months later, no action has yet been taken on this promise. 47).

In December of 2001, an organization of tribal governments from across the nation met with Bush's Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, to protest the Bush administration's proposed re-organization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The tribal leaders protested that tribes were not consulted in the process and had serious questions about the plan. After the gathering unanimously rejected the proposal, Norton told the gathering that the plan would proceed without their support or consent. 48).

In 2003, the Bush administration, effectively stopped completion of a decade long project, named Mni Wiconi.. The ambitious project was designed to pipe treated water from the Missouri River to the arid Pine Ridge Reservation. Mni Wiconi, which means "water of life," would have brought water to what has been historically America's most economically depressed county.
Many of the 35,000 people on Pine Ridge do not have running water and many of the wells on the reservation are polluted by septic system percolation or contaminated by nitrates. It is not uncommon for many of the Lakota People on Pine Ridge to get their water delivered by truck or transported in jugs.
As the pipeline was laid across the arid landscape of South Dakota, it brought water to Indian as well as non-Indian residents. The project was nearing completion in 2002, an election year.
George W. Bush hand-picked John Thune in 2002 to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Johnson. An effort to register voters in the Indian communities of South Dakota resulted in large numbers of new voters, that voted overwhelmingly in favor of Johnson. Pine Ridge voters voted in particularly high numbers.. The "Indian vote" propelled Johnson to the slimmest of victories. Thune's loss did not go unnoticed by the Bush White House.
Within months, the Bush administration, slashed funding to Mni Wiconi, that stopped the work on the project just as the pipeline was reaching the borders of Pine Ridge. Without access to a dependable supply of fresh water, Pine Ridge has little hope of economic development. Stopping the project just as it nears its destination is a cut of the cruelest sort, that perpetuates conditions normally associated with third world nations long suffered by the people of Pine Ridge.

George Bush describes himself as a, "compassionate conservative," and wears his Christian faith on his sleeve. Call the President, and remind him that exacting political retribution and revenge on America's most destitute ethnic group is neither compassionate nor Christian. 63). http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/03/17/news/local/news04.txt

[mikekohr]

23. Here's How Reagan Regarded Native People

http://www.brotherhooddays.com/HEROES.html#RONALD REAGAN:

RONALD REAGAN: The Great Communicator:

While campaigning in South Dakota during the 1980 presidential campaign, candidate Reagan promised to uphold treaty law and to fulfill America's obligation to Native People. Reagan quickly broke these promises upon becoming President. As president, Reagan cut funding to Indian programs in unprecedented proportions.
Indian Appropriations accounted for .04% of the federal budget when Reagan took office In 1982 2.5% of all federal budget cuts came entirely from that meager .04% of the Federal budget. 77).

Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, called Indians "social misfits" whose homelands were "examples of the failure of socialism." 31).

While visiting Russia, Reagan was questioned about the status of Native Americans. Reagan responded with the following paternalistic, insulting, and indefensible, display of ignorance and confusion:
"Let me tell you just a little something about the American Indian in our land. We have provided millions of acres for what are called preservations, or the reservations I should say. They from the beginning, announced that they wanted to maintain their way of life as they had always lived, there in the desert and the plains and so forth, and we set up these reservations so they could and had a Bureau of Indian Affairs to help take care of them, at the same time we provide education for them, schools on the reservations, and they are free, also, to leave the reservations and be American citizens among the rest of us, and many do. Some still prefer, however, that early way of life and we've done everything we can to meet their demands on how they want to live. Maybe we made a mistake. Maybe we should not have humored them in that wanting to stay in that kind of primitive lifestyle. Maybe we should have said, 'No, come join us, be citizens. "31).

In all fairness, Reagan was probably unaware of the level of understanding and concern for Native Americans by people outside our country's borders. He was obviously caught off-guard and un-prepared, which explains in part, the nearly incoherent syntax and bewildering logic of his answer. However, his lack of understanding of history, his insensitivity, his Euro-centric sense of superiority, his disdain for Native culture and Native People, was to our collective shame, a fair representation of the nation and the people he served as president