Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Still No Honor
Most Americans, I suspect, are at least vaguely aware of the health and education services that federally-recognized Indian tribes receive as an annuity for lands ceded under various treaties, but I wonder how many understand what a bewildering process it can be for these first nations in dealing with the federal bureaucracy. The cases of the Chinook and Samish nations of Washington state illustrate this point quite well.
The Chinook were unable to gain recognition due to a requirement that they had maintained residence on ancestral territory without interruption, but when white settlers came to their lands on the heels of Lewis and Clark, the US Army forced them off at gunpoint. After finally obtaining federal status in the last days of the Clinton administration and being invited to represent the Columbia River tribes at a Voyage of Discovery bicentennial celebration at the White House, the Bush administration unceremoniously dropped the Chinook from the federal roles.
The Samish people of the renowned San Juan Islands vicinity had sent one hundred plus representatives to the treaty-signing ceremony a century and a half ago, but did not receive recognition until 1974, only to have it revoked a few years later do to a clerk's error in not publishing them on a list. It took the Samish 25 years and a fortune in lawyer's fees to get back on the list, and even then their rights guaranteed by treaty were only partially restored.
To read the indignities suffered by American tribes in government to government negotiations and transactions concerning the contractual liens incurred for the purpose of obtaining title to a continent would make Catch-22 seem almost straight forward by comparison; to see how little concern is given to finally establishing honorable relations is truly perplexing.
The Chinook were unable to gain recognition due to a requirement that they had maintained residence on ancestral territory without interruption, but when white settlers came to their lands on the heels of Lewis and Clark, the US Army forced them off at gunpoint. After finally obtaining federal status in the last days of the Clinton administration and being invited to represent the Columbia River tribes at a Voyage of Discovery bicentennial celebration at the White House, the Bush administration unceremoniously dropped the Chinook from the federal roles.
The Samish people of the renowned San Juan Islands vicinity had sent one hundred plus representatives to the treaty-signing ceremony a century and a half ago, but did not receive recognition until 1974, only to have it revoked a few years later do to a clerk's error in not publishing them on a list. It took the Samish 25 years and a fortune in lawyer's fees to get back on the list, and even then their rights guaranteed by treaty were only partially restored.
To read the indignities suffered by American tribes in government to government negotiations and transactions concerning the contractual liens incurred for the purpose of obtaining title to a continent would make Catch-22 seem almost straight forward by comparison; to see how little concern is given to finally establishing honorable relations is truly perplexing.
