WASHINGTON – Tribal nations are facing a paradoxical situation, according to Brian Patterson, the president of United South and Eastern Tribes. While opportunities have opened up for tribes to have their voice heard in Congress and the White House, a concerted assault on tribal sovereignty has been unleashed by the courts and states.
USET held its annual impact week in February. The nonprofit organization is comprised of 25 tribes and is dedicated to promoting Indian leadership, improving the quality of life for American Indians, and protecting Indian rights, natural resources and sovereignty.
During impact week tribal leaders from Maine to Florida converge on Washington to meet with federal officials, members of Congress and each other to talk about issues ranging from health care and housing to environmental concerns, a tribal college, and the government-to-government relationship between tribal nations and the federal government.
“Things are moving fast and furious and they’re changing every day. Circumstances are bad, but there seems to be support for Indian country on the hill as well as within the administration,” Patterson said.
During the week, USET held a reception for congressional representatives and met with White House officials.
“We had a meeting with Cecilia Munoz (director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs) and Jodi Gillette (associate director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs) and expressed key sentiments with regards to the unique relationships between the government and Indian country. The expressed sentiment was it’s not enough to have a relationship, you must leverage that relationship in order for it to be meaningful,” Patterson said.
“I really think the current situation provides an opportunity for Indian country to have a place at the table fully realizing we won’t agree on every issue, but at least our voice and our issues will be made known and that’s a tremendous opportunity to begin advancing the priorities of Indian country.”
USET outlined some of its priorities in two dozen resolutions that included, among others:
• A resolution to Housing and Urban Development Agency for Native representation on the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act;
• A resolution seeking the prompt distribution of HUD’s Indian Housing Block Grant funds;
• A call to the Interior Department to stop action on the Cape Wind Project on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts due to the absence of good faith consultation with the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, including a discussion of the tribe’s spiritual landscape;
• A resolution supporting the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act;
• Support for an intertribal college on the eastern coast.
Impact week took place Feb. 9 – 12, a week-and-a-half before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Feb. 24 ruling that the interior cannot put land into trust for tribes that were not federally acknowledged in 1934 when the Indian Reorganization Act was passed.
In Carcieri v. Salazar the State of Rhode Island challenged the interior secretary’s authority to take land into trust for tribes not under federal jurisdiction in 1934.
The ruling, which places pending as well as established trust land in jeopardy, went over like a lead balloon in Indian country.
USET has spent “a tremendous amount of time” on the high court ruling, Patterson said.
“It’s a frontal attack on Indian country. It’s a very discriminatory ruling that targets tribal sovereignty and our ability to govern ourselves and the status of our businesses and enterprises, and it’s racist in the fact that it attempts to create a second class citizenry within Indian country. It’s a divide and conquer strategy.”
There is support from the interior and justice departments and from some members of Congress for a legislative fix to Carcieri. There’s also a pervading sense of urgency that it should be done soon, Patterson said, noting that around 30 states joined Rhode Island in the case.
“I think states are executing ruthless strategies to contain and diminish tribal sovereignty and they’re using the courts and Congress to do this. There are those members in Congress who will advance that agenda. So part of the urgency to address this is to get it done before the states further line up and further oppose the government-to-government relationship between Indian country and the federal government.”
USET is working with the National Congress of American Indians and the Native American Rights Fund to address the Carcieri decision.
The four-part strategy involves working with the interior to ensure the legal interpretation it relies on in addressing trust land issues is in the best interests of the tribes; working with Indian communities and Congress to pass a legislative fix to protect the land interests of as many USET members as possible using resources to help member tribes engage in the legal and historical research needed to develop arguments to address the issues raised in Carcieri, and preparing for litigation to help support member tribes when Indian opponents try to use the courts to impose state and local jurisdiction on tribal land.
Patterson said the Carcieri decision, which is so troublesome and opens so many doors for tribal opponents, also presents an opportunity for the nations to stand in solidarity.
“I think Indian country will come to this unified in our approach with the same message and advocating for the best interests of our nations. So I think it will be good in that regard to spur us to become proactive in advancing our issues, rather than reactive.”
