1934 may be key to Oneida Indian Nation land trust suit
North East News
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 11 March 2010
1934 may be key to Oneida Indian Nation land trust suit Published: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 By CAITLIN TRAYNOR Dispatch Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — After a Supreme Court ruling decided only Native American tribes federally recognized before the inception of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act are eligible to put land into trust, there have been reports that Department of Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar may attempt to bypass that ruling.
The Supreme Court’s Carcieri v. Salazar decision withdrew the DOI’s authority to put land into trust for some Indian tribes.
Three proposed laws are currently before Congress that would overrule the Supreme Court.
Congressmen Dale Kildee, D-Mich, and Tom Cole, R-Okla. and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. have submitted bills to “amend the (Indian Reorganization Act) of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes.”
The bills seek to amend the IRA so the term “Indian tribe” refers to any tribe the Secretary of Interior acknowledges as such, regardless of the date of its recognition.
NH Indian Commission bill passes House Mark Mitchell 3-10-2010
Rep Neil Kurk Rep Frank Sapareto
HB1610 passed the NH House 201-132 as amended by the committee.
Efforts led by Rep Neil Kurk (R) Hillsborough- District 07, to amend the bill further from the floor to remove recognizing Native Americans as a minority failed 154 - 185.
A second motion to table the bill by Rep Frank Sapareto (R) representing Rockingham District 05, also failed 157 -176.
Questioning the need for a NH Indian Commission and what impact it would have on any future BIA decisions, Rep David Hess (R), (Merrimack- District 09), had HB1610 removed from the consent calendar on March 3, 2010 bringing bill to floor debate.
VT Senate Committee votes out S.222 Mark Mitchell March 10, 2010
The VT Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs, today voted out unanimously S.222, (an act relating to recognition of Abenaki bands and tribes).
The AG's efforts to use “unintended consequences” simply comes from the same old playbook. The committee although, took the first step in righting a wrong.
Fifteen other states have recognized their resident native people as American Indian Tribes, without any of those tribes previously or subsequently acquiring federal recognition.
In May of 2006, the General Assembly passed S117, in an effort to recognize the Abenaki people fell short. The act failed to comport with the recognition requirements of the IACB.
3 Va. tribes gain state recognition
National News
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 11 March 2010
3 Va. tribes gain state recognition Nottoway tribes nearly forgotten – but also receive recognition By Vincent Schilling, Today correspondent Story Published: Mar 9, 2010
RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Indian Patawomeck Tribe has ended a 16-year battle for state recognition in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Approximately one week after an appearance by Patawomeck tribal member and entertainer Wayne Newton, the Virginia House and Senate approved HJ 150 granting the tribe state recognition and a seat on the Virginia Council on Indians.
The Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia and the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe received state recognition and VCI seats approximately one week after the Patawomecks.
The passing of the Senate and House resolutions end a 21-year drought since any Indian tribe has been recognized in the Commonwealth.
When witnesses were invited to testify prior to official voting on the Senate and House floors, Newton, who canceled a performance in Las Vegas to testify, transformed the first committee meeting at the Virginia House of Delegates in Richmond, Va. into a media circus.
U.S. Announces $42 Million In Grants For Native Americans
National News
Written by Administrator
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
U.S. Announces $42 Million In Grants For Native Americans Tuesday, 09 March 2010
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration for Native Americans (ANA) announces the availability of $42 million in competitive grant funding for fiscal year 2010 for community-based projects.
The projects will need to promote economic and social self-sufficiency and cultural preservation for American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Native American Pacific Islanders from American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The fiscal year 2010 funding includes $27 million for continuing multi-year projects.
“Many Native Americans continue to face profound social and economic challenges,” said Carmen R. Nazario, HHS assistant secretary for children and families. “The funding opportunities we are announcing today will help provide the stability and financial assistance designed to improve the lives of Native children, youth and families.”
Salazar sets countdown to Cape Wind decision Tribal nations decline $1m offer to abandon opposition By Gale Courey Toensing Story Published: Mar 9, 2010
WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has ended the historic preservation consultation process on a controversial wind energy proposal off Cape Cod after the developer failed to convince the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag nations to abandon its opposition to the project, which would be built in an area they consider sacred.
The nations declined a $1 million incentive from Cape Wind to give up their opposition.
Salazar, who had set a March 1 deadline for the tribes to reach an agreement on the proposal, announced in a media release that he has notified the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation “that the parties to the consultations have not been able to reach agreement on mitigation actions for the proposed wind turbine farm in federal waters off Nantucket Sound.”
Nantucket Sound is a sacred area to the Wampanoag nations – the People of the First Light. The wind energy plant would obscure their view of the rising sun in ceremony, and the Sound, which was once dry land, is where the ancestors lived and were buried, the nations say.
Mohawk tribe evicts non-natives From PRI's The World 08 March, 2010
A Mohawk community near Montreal, Canada, is divided over the basic question of who is allowed to live in their community. Last month, Mohawk leaders of the Kahnawake Reservation issued eviction notices to 25 non-native residents.
The move is based on a tribal law that is meant to protect the community’s Mohawk culture and identity. It says only people who are at least 50 percent Mohawk can live in the 20-square-mile reservation.
But some of the people who received the order to move out are fighting back. They say the eviction is unfair and amounts to racism.
That’s not the way Joe Delaronde sees it. He’s a spokesman for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake.
RI gambling dispute headed to trial By Associated Press Monday, March 8, 2010
CHARLESTOWN, R.I. — A $10 million dispute between the Narragansett Indian Tribe and its former gambling partner appears headed to trial after efforts at reaching a settlement failed.
Paul Beckwith, a lawyer for Capital Gaming International LLC, tells The Westerly Sun of Westerly that a trial date will likely be set later this month.
Mohawk tribe exploring public transportation By LORI SHULL TIMES STAFF WRITER SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2010
HOGANSBURG — St. Regis Mohawk tribe members might have another way to get around soon.
The tribe is beginning to conduct a feasibility study about the potential uses and profits of a public transportation system. The study is being funded through a $25,000 grant from the federal Food and Drug Administration.
"The last couple of years, the tribe has wanted to explore this," said Steven B. Cook, tribal director of economic development. "This is an important step we need to do to see if it's worth starting before we just do it."
The tribe is beginning to interview residents about their interest in such a system to determine whether the community would use it. Though no route has been discussed formally, drop-off and pickup locations might include Massena's St. Lawrence Centre mall, other locations in Massena and Malone and links with other bus systems and routes.
Teen suicide and infant mortality in Indian country rising
National News
Written by Administrator
Monday, 08 March 2010
Teen suicide and infant mortality in Indian country rising By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) March 8, 2010
The British statesman, Benjamin Disraeli, purportedly said, "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics."
Native Americans have been the guinea pigs of statistics since the politicians in Washington began to use arithmetic to figure out their landholdings and numbers before embarking on God's mission of conquest and divestiture in the name of Manifest Destiny.
Since that time innumerable governmental agencies and consulting firms have joined the circle of statisticians to turn the lives of Native Americans into a virtual pie-chart of statistics. There are stats for health, housing, gaming, education and more. There are consulting firms that make their entire living by compiling statistics on Native Americans.
The statistic are compiled and filed. What happens next is anybody's guess. If the tons of statistics compiled over the past 100 years have made any impact upon the lives of Native Americans the results are far from discernable. It seems that the only benefactors of statistics are the consulting firms, but I do not have the statistics to back up that assumption.
The only problem with basing all of the ills of society on statistics is that it entirely removes the human factor. And that is why it is nearly impossible to compile statistics that would explain the extremely high rate of teenage suicides in Indian country. The infant mortality rate on Indian reservations is so much higher than in any other place in America that it should have set off alarm bells from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota all the way to the office of Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services the titular head of the Indian Health Service.
All most of us living out here in Indian country need do when discussing the high rate of teen suicide is to read the obituary columns in any newspaper on or bordering an Indian reservation. Statistics be damned: Indian children are killing themselves and we do not seem able to stop it. Babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth and we are not able to stop it. I counted eight stillborns on the Pine Ridge Reservation in a span of two months. And the loss from teen suicides and infant deaths go on with no end in sight.
