Native American Netroots - legislation

Centuries of Genocide: Modoc Indians, Part V (Termination Era, 1954-1986)

nulwee — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:33:40 GMT

^{photo credit: Aaron Huey}

Don't worry if you missed previous installments. This diary will serve as a stand-alone and as part of the series.

In the 20th century, there were two separate, legal, Modoc entities: the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, which includes the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahuskin peoples (a band of Snake Indians), created by an 1864 Treaty, and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, who were created out of the US Army's POWs from the Modoc War of 1872-1873.

Blogging is a self-reflexive and responsive activity. Several commentators have appeared, calling these diaries "whining" about the past. Not relevant to present concerns. That is not true. This is a generational series, and by starting off with contact, we've worked our way with a context to the 20th century. We've covered the eras of (Fur) Trade, the First Reservation System (they stay over there) the Second Reservation System, (they move to there) the Indian Wars in the West, (kill the people) forced removal (we send them there) the Assimilation Era (save the man, kill the Indian) and now we come to a forgotten time. It's forgotten even though many of its survivors are still alive: The Termination Era. And many of you were alive then, too.

What is Termination? If I was to tell you that an Indian tribe legally existed and then it later didn't, you might find that a little surprising. But that's exactly what happened, multiple times, in modern American history. So along came a proponent of assimilation. He was a Western senator, a Mormon, moderately conservative, of the Republican Party. And he had a plan that would legally extinguish Modoc people in Oregon.

Geographic and Economic Context

In order to understand the termination of the Klamath Tribes, we need to talk about money, politics and God. With the Fourth and Fifth Generations since contact nearly all dead, Modoc people in Oregon were fully transformed. Once a people of marshes (originally called "Lake Indians") who would subsist on the woca lily, fish, waterfowl and their eggs, and big game, the Modoc people now lived far to the north, east of Crater Lake in the Ponderosa pine forests of the Klamath Reservation. The Sixth and Seventh Generations grew up speaking English and were Christians--Methodists mostly. Forced dependency on western foods--flour, sugar, salt--made for a semi-Western diet.

All together, the land that had been lost by the three tribes totaled 23 million acres. By comparison, in 1888, the Klamath reservation spanned 1,056,000 acres (that equals 4.5%). The rights to fish, hunt and gather on the reservation were retained. However, the reservation was resource poorer land than the wetlands and the major rivers to the south. Attempts to farm as instructed by missionaries had failed. But since all three tribes considered horses a form of wealth, cattle ranching easily translated into a major industry. Back in the 1850s, cattle on Modoc land was a source of contention as settlers passed through, and Modocs treated the animals as game. But historically, the largest industry of all proved to be timber. Shortly before the war had began in 1870, a sawmill was finally constructed, as promised in the 1864 treaty.

By the 1880s, Modoc people were transporting goods across Klamath County, down to the main settlement at Linkville, now Klamath Falls, which is on the eastern side of Klamath Lake. In 1911, reservation timber sales soared with the advent of the railroad economy in the county.

At the turn of the century, the US was reaching a peak of industrialization; port cities across the West Coast blossomed. That meant a lot of construction--wood construction.

Timber management made the Klamath Tribes one of the richest in the nation. While pictures of early Portland show a tree-bereft landscape out to the horizon, the Klamath Tribes did not clear-cut. They would select individual trees, from which sale proceeds would enter a tribal (communal) fund. There always was (and still is) resentment towards Indians, especially Klamath Tribes people, as to Indian wealth management and resource rights.

Ideology

Indian policy at this time had taken a turn. Now considered mostly Westernized--educated at boarding schools, English speaking, hair cut, and Christian, not to mention off the valuable land and hidden away at former POW camps--officials saw Indians as mostly benign. In their eyes, assimilation had succeeded. Indians were granted the right to vote in the 20th century. To complete assimilation, Indians would have to be no longer legally separated from society.

The path to termination began in the 1940s, coinciding with the Cold War. The Cold War was at its "hottest" from 1948, when Stalin blockaded Berlin, to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Washington D.C. saw itself in a struggle to defend free markets and democracy both against collective ownership and authoritarian government. With an American people firmly adhering to generations of rugged individualism philosophy, with warfare seen as positive again (it was despised in the 20th century until WWII) and a deep animosity towards collective ownership, it's not hard to imagine the sentiments felt by both non-Indians in Klamath County and non-Indian lawmakers in Washington as to the Tribes.

From 1947 to 1959, Arthur V. Watkins served as US senator (sorry for the error) from Utah. He had been a rancher on 600 acres, a Columbia University-educated lawyer and a missionary for the Church of Latter-Day Saints. He remained highly active in the Church.

Watkins was not a rabid anticommunist, but he was fully anathema to Indian values and became the leading proponent of Termination. He saw termination as the completion of assimilation. The senator envisioned benefits from the erasure of differences between Indians and whites (who would eventually breed out the Indian). Actually, he went further, comparing termination to the emancipation of slaves during the Civil War, freeing them from wardship of the state. Watkins chaired the Senate Interior Committee Subcommittee on Indian Affairs.

Termination Begins

In 1953, the US Congress officially began Termination Era legislation with House Concurrent Resolution 108:

Whereas it is the policy of Congress, as rapidly as possible, to make the Indians within the territorial limits of the United States subject to the same laws and entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities as are applicable to other citizens of the United States, to end their status as wards of the United States, and to grant them all of the rights and prerogatives pertaining to American citizenship.

Responsibilities here means federal and state taxes to which legally recognized Indian tribes were not subject. This use of wards arises from perception, dating to surveys in 1943, that found that American Indians were living in abject poverty across the nation. Officials believed they were doing the morally right thing and correcting government abuse by termination. Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled a list of the most economically prosperous tribes to start the termination process. The Klamath Tribes were the second richest. That year, Congress passed Public Law 280, which gave the states legal jurisdiction over all but a couple reservations in the US.

The next year, 1954, was the 90th anniversary of the creation of the Klamath Tribes. Through the heavy involvement of Watkins and like-minded legislators, the first American Indian tribe would be terminated by the Menominee Termination Act. That August, Congress passed the Klamath Termination Act. Only four years prior, Jennie Clinton, the last Modoc War survivor died. The Modoc people would legally no longer exist. It only took seven generations since contact.

1954-1986

Termination was not immediate. In fact, Klamath Tribes members could choose between remaining as tribal members or accepting a payment for an individual land parcel to be ceded, but only one choice had much incentive. Federal recognition of the tribe ceased, and with that, the hunting and fishing rights. And with that abrogation, even more water rights had been lost across the generations. A total of 1660 people withdrew from the tribe. Those remaining became part of a management plan handled by a bank up north in Portland.

The Klamath Reservation lands entered the US Forest Service system, where the lands were badly managed. One portion of former reservation fell under US Fish and Wildlife management. The Tribes state that "the Deer population (while in State and Federal control) went from 60 per sq. mile in the 1950's, to approximately 4 per sq. mile today, in the former reservation area."

Modoc people along with the other tribes suffered increasing poverty. The small town of Chiloquin, at the former center of the Klamath Reservation, saw an influx of new whites and a rise in violence. A town of less than 1000 became known as one of the most dangerous places in Oregon: robberies, kidnappings, unsolved disappearances and shootings.

The Seventh and Eighth Generations knew Termination. Kossack deeproots bears witness in the comments:

I remember what happened with the Klamath/Modoc (2+ / 0-)
termination. Although my family is not Native American, my father had lived and worked in Klamath County and had a number of Klamath friends. He was in anguish as he saw what happened to so many members of the tribe. Those who took the cash settlements were preyed upon by merchants in Klamath Falls who sold them stoves and refrigerators when some didn't even have electricity in their homes, and they jacked up the prices of everything, especially automobiles, which many Klamaths wanted. The money was soon gone for many former tribal members, who then had absolutely nothing. Those who kept their land did somewhat better, although the loss of hunting and fishing rights was grievous. My father said the U.S. government was trying to kill off the Indians and was doing a damn good job of it.

Congressional termination of tribes ended in the 1960s. Other aspects of Indian policy proved more pernicious. Discreet sterilizations of American Indian women, without their consent or knowledge, date back to the early 20th century and continued until at least the late 1970s. These were especially common in Oregon, the last state to employ sterilization, where it may have continued into the early 1980s. The Indian Adoption Era officially lasted from Termination into the 1970s. With tribes no longer federally recognized, Indian individuals could be adopted by white families and the process of assimilation completed. Even members of the Ninth Generation of Modoc people since contact, Millenials, have been adopted out to non-Indian families.

Centuries of Genocide: Modoc Indians
Part I (Contact, 1820-1852)
Part II (First Reservation Era, 1852-1872)
Part III (War and Second Reservation Era, 1872-1950)
Part IV (Removal Era, 1873-1909)
Tribal Restoration and Dick Cheney will feature in the next (and final?) part of this series.

Pass H.R.1385 To Recognize 6 Virginia Tribes

Koshari — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:02:23 GMT

Please sign the petition to help 6 Virginia Tribes

http://humanrights.change.org/...

This bill has already passed the House. It's been received in the Senate and read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. This petition will target President Obama The Committee on Indian Affairs and a few other Senators.
Please share this petition on Twitter, Facebook, Email and any other way that you are able to. Thank you for signing!
There is a provision in current law that allows unrecognized tribes to gain recognition through appeal to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 has hurt the Virginia tribes in their prior appeals to the BIA, according to the Washington Times. Tribe officials say the Act forced Indians to identify themselves as "colored" and led to the destruction and alteration of genealogical records.
Tribal proponents say the Virginia law amounted to a "paper genocide" and makes the bureau process difficult for the six groups, although there are some genealogical records that do exist and have been submitted to the bureau. Va. Gov. Tim Kaine called the vote "a major step towards reconciling an historic wrong for Virginia and the nation."
President Barack Obama has reversed from past presidents and pledged to support recognition of the Lumbee Tribe, which has sought federal oversight for more than a century. According to the AP, Obama has not said whether he will support recognition of the Virginia tribes.

S.1200/H.R.1328 and the Future of Native American Health

CodeTalker — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:07:31 GMT

Yá'át'tééh Shik'is!, and hello everyone. Since this is my first post here, let me begin by introducing myself.

I'm a (mostly) white grandfather with a bit of Mohawk in my background, and I live on the border of the Onondaga Nation in Central New York, USA. I've been disabled since 1995, and am a "handyman", computer whiz and googlegeek, or as my kids used to say: "My Daddy can fix anything!" (not true)

There's more...
I come here by way of Daily Kos and Navajo (Asdzáni Tso of the Diné), shik'is for several years now, and the reason I started "learning" Navajo words - it's MUCH easier than Mohawk, of which there is very little online. (If you see only letters+numbers when we post words in Navajo, it's because Navajo and I have a Navajo language font on our machines; I can dig it up for you if you ask - it contains all the inflection marks. There's also a great site, hanksville.org I believe, that has spoken files - it's such a beautiful sounding language.) I have a great deal of respect for Navajo and we have become good friends - she did me the great honor of letting me write a eulogy for her brother Spencer when he passed; she had asked me to join and Moderate NetRoots some time ago, but (as some of you may know) I have been in mourning for the last year, and only recently began writing again.

I had never looked deeply into my NA past before becoming friends with Diné, but have done some digging since then; along with the fact of living within 150 miles or so of the following Tribes of the Northeast, the Haudenosaunee (i.e., the indigenous peoples, the Six Nations, the Iroquois, or People of the Longhouse) - Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Mohawk, Tuscarora, and Seneca. I won't go into the various divisions of those Nations, which now are really more for Federal recognition than historical relationships, and no, I've only visited some of them - they resemble hamlets, if anything; the total population in the 11 current locations of the Haudenosaunee of New York State is only about 25,000.

So, I'm more familiar with the Haudenosaunee than any other Peoples, and that means you'll have to bear with me a bit as I try to tackle what I think is going to be a momentous piece of legislation; "S. 1200 Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2007" (which is more likely to be dated 2009 or 2010 before it is signed into law), and what it means to NA Nations. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act P.L. 94-437, is the single most influential Act affecting Native health matters ever passed, and it's no secret that until now, the Act has been poorly implemented, funded, and managed, so the Amendment has a chance to redress some of the worst faults, depending on what it contains when it finally lands on the POTUS desk. (For purposes of this series, I'm "combining" the Senate and House versions of the bills under S. 1200 for ease of use, and will highlight any substantial differences if necessary; it will of course morph into an entirely "new" piece of legislation before reaching the POTUS, but for now only the Senate version has passed - the House version is still in Committee.)

As a beginning, I'll explore the roots of the Act and its current state of authorization; then we'll look at the Amendments and their strengths and flaws; finally, I hope to help with a piece on how we can influence passage. If you find this series helpful, please don't hesitate to copy anything and pass it along to others; we'll need to bring a lot of influence to bear if it has any chance of passing in a truly meaningful form! Keep in mind that this is likely to be THE defining legislation for NA health issues in our lifetimes. Already, there are sections I find well-crafted, and parts that are repugnant, but overall it IS an improvement IMHO. We'll see, shall we?

For now, let me leave you with this section, at the end of S. 1200, just because I find it so noteworthy at this time; I never expected to see THIS in any piece of legislation from the 110th!

SEC. 301. RESOLUTION OF APOLOGY TO NATIVE PEOPLES OF UNITED STATES.
(a) Findings- Congress finds that--
(1) the ancestors of today's Native Peoples inhabited the land of the present-day United States since time immemorial and for thousands of years before the arrival of people of European descent;
(2) for millennia, Native Peoples have honored, protected, and stewarded this land we cherish;
(3) Native Peoples are spiritual people with a deep and abiding belief in the Creator, and for millennia Native Peoples have maintained a powerful spiritual connection to this land, as evidenced by their customs and legends;
(4) the arrival of Europeans in North America opened a new chapter in the history of Native Peoples;
(5) while establishment of permanent European settlements in North America did stir conflict with nearby Indian tribes, peaceful and mutually beneficial interactions also took place;
(6) the foundational English settlements in Jamestown, Virginia, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, owed their survival in large measure to the compassion and aid of Native Peoples in the vicinities of the settlements;
(7) in the infancy of the United States, the founders of the Republic expressed their desire for a just relationship with the Indian tribes, as evidenced by the Northwest Ordinance enacted by Congress in 1787, which begins with the phrase, `The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians';
(8) Indian tribes provided great assistance to the fledgling Republic as it strengthened and grew, including invaluable help to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their epic journey from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Coast;
(9) Native Peoples and non-Native settlers engaged in numerous armed conflicts in which unfortunately, both took innocent lives, including those of women and children;
(10) the Federal Government violated many of the treaties ratified by Congress and other diplomatic agreements with Indian tribes;
(11) the United States forced Indian tribes and their citizens to move away from their traditional homelands and onto federally established and controlled reservations, in accordance with such Acts as the Act of May 28, 1830 (4 Stat. 411, chapter 148) (commonly known as the `Indian Removal Act');
(12) many Native Peoples suffered and perished--
(A) during the execution of the official Federal Government policy of forced removal, including the infamous Trail of Tears and Long Walk;
(B) during bloody armed confrontations and massacres, such as the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890; and
(C) on numerous Indian reservations;
(13) the Federal Government condemned the traditions, beliefs, and customs of Native Peoples and endeavored to assimilate them by such policies as the redistribution of land under the Act of February 8, 1887 (25 U.S.C. 331; 24 Stat. 388, chapter 119) (commonly known as the `General Allotment Act'), and the forcible removal of Native children from their families to faraway boarding schools where their Native practices and languages were degraded and forbidden;
(14) officials of the Federal Government and private United States citizens harmed Native Peoples by the unlawful acquisition of recognized tribal land and the theft of tribal resources and assets from recognized tribal land;
(15) the policies of the Federal Government toward Indian tribes and the breaking of covenants with Indian tribes have contributed to the severe social ills and economic troubles in many Native communities today;
(16) despite the wrongs committed against Native Peoples by the United States, Native Peoples have remained committed to the protection of this great land, as evidenced by the fact that, on a per capita basis, more Native Peoples have served in the United States Armed Forces and placed themselves in harm's way in defense of the United States in every major military conflict than any other ethnic group;
(17) Indian tribes have actively influenced the public life of the United States by continued cooperation with Congress and the Department of the Interior, through the involvement of Native individuals in official Federal Government positions, and by leadership of their own sovereign Indian tribes;
(18) Indian tribes are resilient and determined to preserve, develop, and transmit to future generations their unique cultural identities;
(19) the National Museum of the American Indian was established within the Smithsonian Institution as a living memorial to Native Peoples and their traditions; and
(20) Native Peoples are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
(b) Acknowledgment and Apology- The United States, acting through Congress--
(1) recognizes the special legal and political relationship Indian tribes have with the United States and the solemn covenant with the land we share;
(2) commends and honors Native Peoples for the thousands of years that they have stewarded and protected this land;
(3) recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes;
(4) apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States;
(5) expresses its regret for the ramifications of former wrongs and its commitment to build on the positive relationships of the past and present to move toward a brighter future where all the people of this land live reconciled as brothers and sisters, and harmoniously steward and protect this land together;
(6) urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order to bring healing to this land; and
(7) commends the State governments that have begun reconciliation efforts with recognized Indian tribes located in their boundaries and encourages all State governments similarly to work toward reconciling relationships with Indian tribes within their boundaries.
(Passed the Senate, February 26, 2008)