Senator Ben Campbell, right, a Northern Cheyenne Indian, applauds Southern Cheyenne Indian, W. Richard West Jr. |
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Washington -- Many people are puzzled
when they hear the U.S. president use such phrases as “government-to-government
basis with tribal governments,” “tribal sovereignty”
or “self-determination” for American Indians.
Isn’t the United States “one nation ... indivisible,"
as the Pledge of Allegiance says?
The answer is more interesting than a simple
“yes” or “no.” According to the
U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Tribal Justice, American
Indian tribes are considered "domestic dependent nations"
within the United States. As such, they retain sovereign
powers over their members and territory except where such
powers specifically have been modified by U.S. law. American
Indians are more than members of a racial minority group
in the United States; they are indigenous people of the
Americas with a status akin to dual citizenship.
In his November 1 proclamation marking National
American Indian Heritage Month, 2006, President Bush reaffirmed
his administration's adherence to a national policy of self-determination
for Indian tribes, a policy that began under President Richard
Nixon.
The United States “will continue to
work on a government-to-government basis with tribal governments,
honor the principles of tribal sovereignty and the right
to self-determination,” Bush said, “and help
ensure America remains a land of promise for American Indians,
Alaska Natives, and all our citizens.” (See
text of proclamation.)
During a February meeting of governmental
and indigenous delegates to draft an "Inter-American
Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People," U.S. Permanent
Representative to the Organization of American States John
Maisto said the United States "is proud of its longstanding
commitment to tribal sovereignty [and] self-determination,
and government-to-government relationships with federally
recognized tribes.” (See related
article.)
“A policy of self-determination for
American Indians is one of the most positive aspects of
the U.S. experience, and may potentially serve as a model
for better relations between other countries and indigenous
peoples and populations," he said.
The U.S. federal government currently recognizes
561 Indian nations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) within
the U.S. Department of the Interior manages 55.7 million
acres of land held in trust by the United States for American
Indians. The BIA also is responsible for maintaining tribal
schools serving nearly 48,000 American Indian primary, secondary
and university students.
TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP
Each tribe determines who qualifies as a
member, and an individual can qualify as a member of more
than one tribe. As a result, many of the 4.5 million U.S.
citizens -- or 1.5 percent of the total population -- identified
as full- or part-American Indians or Alaska Natives in the
most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimate (July 1, 2005),
might claim membership in more than one Indian nation.
In general, tribes use the blood-quantum
system, the descent system or a combination of the two to
determine membership. Tribes also might have residency or
other requirements for those who seek membership.
In the blood-quantum system, a prospective
member must prove he or she has inherited a certain percentage
of “Indian blood” from the tribe he or she wishes
to join. The Nez Perce Nation, for example, will grant membership
only to those who are "at least one fourth (1/4) degree
Nez Perce Indian ancestry born to a member of the Nez Perce
Tribe.”
The descent system does not set a minimum
blood requirement. Instead, prospective members must demonstrate
that they are directly descended from a tribal member from
a particular time period. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma,
for example, requires that prospective members trace their
lineage to at least one person listed on the Dawes Rolls
of 1899-1907, the official list of people accepted by the
Dawes Commission as members of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw,
Chickasaw and Seminole Indian tribes.
American Indians are active participants
in all aspects of American life. Among the more famous American
Indians are former senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern
Cheyenne); National Museum of the American Indian founding
director W. Richard West, Jr. (Southern Cheyenne, Cheyenne
and Arapaho); physicist Fred Begay (Navajo and Ute); Olympic
medalist Billy Mills (Lakota); composer Louis Ballard (Quapaw
and Cherokee); ballerina Maria Tallchief (Osage); poet Simon
Ortiz (Acoma); singer Felipe Rose (Lakota) of the Village
People; actor Floyd Red Crow Westerman (Dakota branch of
Sioux People); actress Irene Bedard (Inupiat Eskimo and
Cree); author Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo); author
N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa); and activist and writer Winona
LaDuke (Ojibwa).
For a timeline of key legal developments
affecting the status of the American Indian in the United
States, see fact
sheet.
For more information on U.S. society, see
Population
and Diversity.
Peggy B. Hu and Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writers
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