Great White Father Knows Best, Part 257

Judge Leeds at the Tsalagi Think Tank analyzes the negative implications of the Oneida land case from Wisconsin, specifically as it would apply to the Cherokee Nation. The upshot is that this decision continues to promote the doctrine that Indians are too stupid to know how to handle our own land and must therefore rely on the benevolence of the Great White Father in Washingtion, in the form of the BIA, through the land-into-trust process. The other effect of continued dependence on land-into-trust (for lands owned in fee simple by the tribes) is that it enables local governments to have an effective veto over what tribes may or may not do (i.e., casinos) on their own land. Another blow to tribal sovereignty.

Supreme Court Poised to Screw Over Indians Yet Again

Try to contain your shock. The stakes in this case (pardon the gaming metaphor) are much higher than just Rhode Island. If the Indian Reorganization Act (the basis for land-into-trust applications) is held to apply only to tribes that were federally recognized as of 1934, then all the tribes who struggled for decades to obtain recognition after that year, and those who are still struggling, will have practically no chance to obtain a viable, economically-sustainable land base, particularly in light of the Oneida case, where the courts ruled that even though it was undisputed that Oneida land was illegally stolen by the State of New York, the only way they could get it back was through land-into-trust.

Expanding Indian Country

In a rare bit of good news, it appears very likely that the Oneida Nation will succeed in converting 13,000 acres out of a requested 17,000 in Oneida and Madison Counties in New York into trust. This is not, of course, the end; the decision will almost surely face litigation from those forces who have struggled to uphold the cherished legal principal that if you just steal something for long enough, you get to keep it. And they will continue to do so by arguing "fairness" and "equality" with a straight face.

Haudenosaunee Under Attack (Again)

The "Indian Wars" in New York State are heating up. The Seneca have voted to follow through on their threat to start charging tolls on the New York Thruway to protest the State's attempt to force them to pay taxes. Meanwhile, a Republican state lawmaker is claiming the Oneida owe $248 million in back taxes and is trying to stir up the tribe's neighbors against them. New York's 200+ year history of anti-Indian politics is continuing unabated.