Interest of Amicus Curiae Historic Shingle Springs Miwok

http://www.mklaw.com/mdewakanton.htm
http://www.mklaw.com/documents/BriefofAmicusCuriaeHistoricMiwok.pdf

If you have any questions please call:
Lisa

Here is the letter.

Other members you may want to fax to are:

Cynthia Lummis, WY,    fax:(202) 226-2301

Dan Boren, OK,  fax: (202) 225-5255

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, SD, fax: (202) 226-2301

(New)  Online version.  Automatically emails to representatives and the President.  Sign here

Congressmen Dale Kildee of Michigan and Tom Cole of Oklahoma wanted to give Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution to the Secretary of Interior.  I'm sure Ken Salazar was just diggin' that Kildee and Cole listened to his Christmas wish to have his ass saved and submitted "Interior cover-up bills" HR3742, 3697. 

The Natural Resources Committee didn't fall for it.  They put off the vote until they can do an investigation and analysis of the bills impacts to Native Americans and the surrounding communities.   

The pressure is on now.  The Assistant Secretary had no answers (not surprising) for the Natural Resources Committee. Can we say "deer caught in the headlights"?.  They weren't too happy with him.  The NRC gave the Assistant Secretary one week to report (let's see if he can do it). 

So we should help him.

We have one week to get your letters to the Natural Resources Committee.  Tell your stories.  Get the letters in. 

Immediately tell your congressman "NO" on HR 3742, HR 3697 and S 1703.  Demand a congressional investigation of the BIA cover-up.

I'm not an Indian...why should I care?

These bills don't protect Native Americans, they absolve the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian affairs from 200 years of corruption and failure to protect and administer the congress’s treaties made with the Native American’s. In a landmark decision Carcieri v. Salazar, the Federal Court ruled that land can only be taken into trust for Native American Tribes who were under "Federal Jurisdiction" at the time of the Indian Reorganization act of 1934.  

What does the wording mean?

The language in HR.3742, HR. 3697 and S.1703 has congress officially washing their hands of their Constitutional power to recognize tribes giving it to the Secretary of the Interior and the BIA.   The wording then grandfathers in all BIA identified Indian groups (even the imposter tribes) after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (without question). This gives those tribes the same entitlements as if they were the original treatied tribes who voted in the 1934 IRA.  This leaves the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs totally unaccountable for recognizing imposter tribes and not liable for the damages caused to the real tribes. Without doubt, the language of H. R. 3742 facilitates tribes seeking off reservation casinos. Congressman Kildee's language will further exacerbate California tribal claims rather than help. 

Why is this a BAD thing. Or...somebody's making money off this, aren't they?

Imposter tribes squeeze out the real tribes.

First of all, only congress can give Federal Recognition to a tribe, not unlike they recognize foreign countries and make treaties with them.  These tribes were represented as voting parties in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.  Some tribes voted “Yes”, to allow the BIA to manage their Federal entitlements.  Some tribes voted “No”...they wanted to manage their own Federal entitlements.  Some of those “No” voting tribes submitted Constitutions or Articles of Association explaining the how they would relate with the US government.  Other tribes did not, but still proudly occupied their aboriginal lands known to the rest of us as "Reservations" or "Rancherias".  Many weren’t informed that they needed to submit Articles of Association and the BIA just didn’t bother to tell them.  

Over the years, the laws changed and the People of the US voted to allow Native Americans to build casinos, hoping to help the impoverished Indians. According to the laws only Native Americans who were aboriginal to the land at the time of the 1934 IRA and before could build casinos. The Secretary of Interior required the BIA to find those tribes and help them submit constitutions so they can receive their entitlements.  They were easy to find since only voting tribes living on their aboriginal "Reservations/Rancherias" could submit constitutions and manage their lands. The BIA, for whatever reason, decided to just check off the boxes without doing their due diligence.  They failed to follow their own regulations to properly find and identify tribes (historic or newly identified), then put them before Congress for final approval.  In many cases the BIA knowingly accepted constitutions from imposter tribes taking the names of the real 1934 IRA Indians so the imposters could build casinos.  Even when the real tribe shows up and protests the BIA’s failure to follow their own regulations, the BIA ignores their pleas and tells them “it’s a membership problem now” (a membership problem the BIA created and is too  ______ to fix). The circular file receives the real tribe’s protest and the real tribe is left starving, impoverished and slowly dying off.  The tragic condition the US Congressional Appropriations was intended to solve still continues today, scorching Indian country.

HR.3742, HR. 3697 and S.1703 will protect the BIA’s failures by making all those corrupt decisions unaccountable and with “land taken into trust” by the Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, as a reward to the "imposter tribes" for defrauding the People of the United States and the real indian tribes.

Just another incentive to starve out Native Americans.

Secondly these bills encourage more Native American identity theft and dis-enfranchisement.  As if stealing 1934 IRA tribes’ heritage and identities to build casinos isn’t enough, new groups, backed by entertainment companies will continue to be “acknowledged” by the unbrideled power of the BIA. Those groups close their memberships to just a few core stakeholders and dis-enroll all the other members whom they used to qualify as a tribe.  Leaving the dis-enrolled Indians starving and impoverished, all while the core leaders (many who aren't even Native American) live in luxury on trust land.

This ain't just an indian matter...this affects all of US.

Finally these bills do nothing to protect the communities in which these “Trust Lands” are located. Though the IRA, Section 6, does specifically talk about "environmental protection on Indian lands"  today Indian trust lands do not have to meet any of the environmental laws, employment laws or pay taxes like the rest of the US people are required to when they set up their nasty businesses.  Natural Resources are devoured by “land into trust” only for an entertainment company backed casino to fill it.  Senator Dorgan says this fix needs to pass because some tribes say they want lands to build housing and communities, yet there is no language in the bills guaranteeing that will happen.  Without that guarantee, we can be sure there will be more homeless, impoverished, dis-enfranchised Indians and more casinos.

A deficient Carcieri fix is NO FIX.  It's a cover-up of the BIA's past and makes way for future abuses of Native Americans.

This was not the intent of Congress or the People of the United States.  Congress intended all Native Americans to be taken care of and appropriations set aside were to be equally administered to the Native American population by the Secretary of Interior.  These bills save the BIA and the SOI from being accountable to anyone.  Even recently a Federal District Court in Washington D.C. ordered the BIA explain why some tribes were recognized and others weren't.  The BIA blew off the court's orders.

The bills need to be-rewritten to include language: making the BIA's identification of "Tribes" accountable by the congress. Appeals and enforcement remedies for dis-enfranchised Indians.  Protections and guarentees for the purpose of the land before land is taken into trust for a "tribe".