Native American Self-Determination

Native American Self-Determination

Native American Self-determination refers to the series of social movements, legislation, and beliefs that support the ability of the tribes of Native Americans in the United States to have a greater level of self-governance and decision making in affairs that affect their own people. Self-Determination's primary goal was and still is to reverse the paternalistic policies enacted upon Native American tribes since the creation of the tribal system and to enact and enforce new legislation that enables Native Americans to control their own affairs.-- () 03:00, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Origin of Self-Determination

Self-determination is defined as the movement in which the Native Americans sought to achieve tribal restoration, self-government, cultural renewal, reservation development, educational control and equal or controlling input in government decisions concerning policies and programs. Even though the most noted portion of Indian self-determination is the renewal during the 1960s and 1970s, the beginnings of the actual federal policy date back to the 1930s. During this era, the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was established. This act was created to secure certain rights of Native Americans. A decade earlier, the power of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had become so powerful that it almost destroyed many of the present tribal governments. The term that is used for this type of control is paternalism. Later - four years before the passing of the Indian Reorganization Act - the government admitted that this "paternalism" was unfair to the Indian tribes and their people. The response to this paternalism leads back to the IRA, which was called the Indian "New Deal" by the Roosevelt administration. Even though the IRA aided Native Americans by providing them with a number of new opportunities concerning tribal government, it fell short of the policy of "Indian self-determination without termination."1

The strength that the movement gained during the 1930s began to diminish into the 1950s which was considered the termination era. During this era, the government wanted to fully terminate the federal recognition (government to government relationship) of Native American tribes. Over 100 tribes were terminated while those that were left became enveloped with a renewed governmental paternalism.1 Just as in the 1930s, Native American self-determination began to gain strength again during the 1960s.1-- () 04:23, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Self-Determination: After 1960

The official boost didn't come until 1970 when Richard Nixon addressed the issue in his July 8th congressional "Message from the President of the United States Transmitting Recommendations for Indian Policy." His purpose was to deliver a statement about Indian affairs in order to set the current view on federal policy.

It is long past time that the Indian policies of the Federal government began to recognize and build upon the capacities and insights of the Indian people. Both as a matter of Justice and as a matter of enlightened social policy, we must begin to act on the basis of what the Indians themselves have long been telling us. The time has come to break decisively with the past and to create the conditions for a new era in which the Indian future is determined by Indian acts and Indian decisions.

After this speech, Congress debated and decided to pass the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Self-Determination_and_Education_Assistance_Act_of_1975] . This act legalized the process of making direct contracts between the government and the Indian tribes just as the federal government does with the states. The broader outlook on the act shows that it determined the strength of the effect of tribal rejuvenation by admitting, rejecting and countering the past year's paternalistic policies.1

Along with the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, another important act was passed but a few years before. In 1968, the Indian Civil Rights Act was passed. The Indian termination policy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_termination_policy] was regarded as a failure during the 1960s. This caused the assimilationist ideal to fade. Partially due to this movement and independent reasons, Congress passed the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. The main mission that this act set out to accomplish was to impose most of the requirements of the Bill of Rights on the tribes. During the following years, Congress passed several items that included the measures afore mentioned by President Nixon which mainly stressed a stronger trust relationship between the federal government and the tribes and to allow the tribes to manage their own affairs. The Indian Financing Act of 1974 and the Self-Determination and Education Act of 1975 are two of the most recognized legal policies of the era.4-- () 21:09, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Native Americans involved with Self-Determination movement

Allan Yazzie

Allan Yazzie was a Navajo tribal member who helped propose the creation of a Native American run school to be built on the tribe’s land in Arizona. The project was called the Rough Rock Demonstration School, and it would be administered solely by the Navajo Indians (with no interference by the Bureau of Indian Affairs). Although many politicians thought that the school would fail immediately, it prevailed and stood out as a sign of Indian self-determination and success.

Paul Bernal

Paul Bernal fought for the Taos Pueblo tribe of New Mexico who wanted to reclaim their religious refuge called Blue Lake which had been taken by the Forest Service at the start of the twentieth century. Throughout the 1960s, Bernal and the Pueblo had little success in regaining the lake back, however, with the election of Nixon, hope returned, and after Senate hearings (where Bernal was harassed by senators who thought that the Indians wanted the land for other than religious purposes) Nixon signed a bill to return the lake to the Taos Pueblo people. Ada Deer

Ada Deer (b. 1935) is a leader of the Menominee tribe which has a reservation in Wisconsin. As the termination policies of the federal government got more intense throughout the 1960s, Deer helped mobilize her tribe to fight the government, and ultimately succeeded. By 1972, Deer had gained support for her tribe’s movement, and many governors, senators, and congressman gave her and the Menominee tribe their full-fledged approval. Deer had to fight against the Interior Committee chairman (Wayne Aspinall), who supported the tribe’s termination, and their loss of 250,000 acres under termination policies. With determination and perseverance, Ada Deer continued to lobby for the Menominee Restoration Act, and when Aspinall failed to win an election, the tribe prevailed and the act was ratified by President Nixon. Ada Deer is one of the early examples of self-determination in tribal members, and her efforts helped restore all the terminated lands back to the Menominee tribe. -- () 18:46, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Rosalind McClanahan

A member of the Navajo tribe, McClanahan fought against Arizona because the state was taxing members of her tribe that lived and worked within the Navajo Reservation. McClanahan herself lived and worked in the reservation, and therefore was taxed a small amount in her paycheck. McClanahan saw an opportunity to fight for tribal sovereignty, and restore some Native American rights to the Navajo peoples. She enlisted the help of DNA (a group of Native American rights attorneys), and in 1973, the United States supreme court had begun working on the case (after the state court had decided in favor of Arizona, and the DNA lawyers had appealed). The resulting court opinion ruled in favor of McClanahan, and with this case, she helped establish stronger self-rule for the Navajos as well as other Native American tribes.-- () 18:34, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Organizations

Several Native American organizations provided an immense amount of support that either helped set the precedent for the self-determination movement or further strengthen the policy.

One of the earliest of such organizations was the Determination of Rights and Unity for Menominee Shareholders (DRUMS) - a citizens' group founded in 1970. It focused on stopping the Legend Lake sales, establishing Menominee control over the Menominee Enterprises, Inc. (MEI), and, eventually, even reversing termination, which was the main purpose of self-determination. DRUMS made an immediate impact. Within months of establishment, the Menominee organized a series of well-planned and smoothly executed demonstrations. In an effort to interrupt the Legend Lake land development, DRUMS picketed Legend Lake’s Menominee County sales office and promotional events in nearby cities, such as Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Appleton. In October 1971, DRUMS led an impressive 12-day, 220-mile from Menominee County, to the state capitol in Madison. Like the other DRUMS protests, the march to Madison, was non-violent but sharp-edged nonetheless. Minnesota Governor Patrick Lucey met with DRUMS leaders and discussed prevalent issues in the Menominee community. Within a month of the march, Governor Lucey visited Menominee County, and consistently supported the Menominee movement. In addition, DRUMS managed to produce a first draft of the Menominee restoration bill by the end of 1971 and by early 1972 the tribe had already obtained an astounding level of support, including the support of Democratic Presidential nominee Henry Jackson. Though it took a prodigious amount of work, the Menominee Restoration Act moved through Congress with rare speed. In April 1975, MEI was dissolved and all Menominee lands were transferred back to the tribe, to be held in trust by the United States of America and governed by the sovereign Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Although DRUMS set its sights on improving the status of the local Menominee people, it was a big step toward the nation-wide self-determination movement.5-- () 00:48, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), a result of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty legislation and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, allowed grants and other funds to directly benefit tribal governments rather than only state and federal agencies. -- () 12:07, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

External Links

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Self-Determination_and_Education_Assistance_Act_of_1975

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_termination_policy

References

* 1. Utter, Jack. American Indians: Answers to Today’s Questions. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001 Pgs. 269, 277-278, 400-
* 2. Image Source: www.naswfoundation.org/pioneers/d/deer.html
* 3. Image Source: www.indianz.com/News/2007/003333.asp, copyright indianz.com
* 4. Canby Jr., William C. American Indian Law in a Nutshell. St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 2004 Pgs. 29-33-- () 02:54, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
* 5. Wilkinson, Charles. Blood Struggle : The Rise of Modern Indian Nations. Boston: W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated, 2005.


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