A guest post by Jefe:
American Indians seek legal recognition for many reasons, usually related to sovereignty.
Tribal sovereignty refers to tribes’ right to govern themselves, define their own membership, manage tribal property, and regulate tribal affairs. It further recognizes the existence of a government-to-government relationship between such tribes and other governments, be they tribal, foreign, state or federal.
Even before the arrival of Europeans, native peoples interacted with each other as sovereign nations. This continued after European arrival as evidenced by the numerous treaties they made with foreign governments and later the US. Although governments often did not honour those treaties, the legal precedent of making treaties demonstrated that tribes were recognized as sovereign entities, a notion still present today.
A major issue facing American Indians is whether they exist in the first place. After centuries of genocide, removal from their homelands, race mixing and adaptation to Jim Crow, official records of Indian tribes often disappeared. The proliferation of “fake Indians” complicates this further.
The federal government has even terminated legal recognition of tribes previously recognized.
Legal recognition falls into four categories.
1. Intertribal recognition
Before European contact, tribes often made agreements or alliances with other tribes. They still do that that today. They also interact through various political, educational, economic and tribal organizations, such as the National Congress of American Indians.
2. International recognition
Tribes historically made treaties as sovereign entities with foreign nations and continue to interact with foreign governments today. They also participate as sovereign entities with international organizations (e.g., Organization of American States).
3. State Recognition
Many tribes are legally recognized by individual states, a carryover from colonial times. Today, there are 62 state recognized tribes.
State recognition is often a stepping stone towards meeting the requirements for federal recognition.
4. Federal Recognition
Until the 1970s, the US government tended to use blood quantum or racial criteria to determine tribal status. Since then, this has shifted to a more political definition. Obama relaxed the rules on June 29th 2015.
Federal Recognition not only means recognition of sovereignty, but also of the government’s trust responsibility to the tribe, conferring certain economic, health care, education, housing, agricultural and cultural benefits.
To be federally recognized, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has specified that a group must meet the following:
- It must comprise a distinct community and have existed as a community from historical times;
- it must have political influence over its members;
- it must have membership criteria; and
- it must have membership that consists of individuals who descend from a historical Indian tribe and who are not enrolled in any other tribe. The existence of persistent political relationship as an aspect of tribal relations is also emphasized.
Today, there are 567 federally recognized tribes. The newest one in July 2015 was the Pamunkey tribe of Virginia, the tribe of Pocahontas.
Note that not all tribe members necessarily identify as American Indian by race. Cherokee Freedmen and Black Seminoles, for example, may identify as black.
Some tribes require that both parents be members of a tribe before admitting that individual. An individual with parents from different tribes could be fully of American Indian descent yet ineligible for tribal affiliation.
See also:
- Pocahontas
- tribe
- Indian
- Fake Indians
- Cherokee Trail of Tears
- Jim Crow
- Racializing Native Montana
- Bureau of Indian Affairs – Revisions to Regulations on Federal Acknowledgment of Indian Tribes (http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/ORM/83revise/index.htm) – New rules went into effect on June 29th 2015
“The proliferation of fake Indians”: Anyone have any experience of this?
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Right now these supposedly sovereign nations are booting out members – because they have casinos and those in charge want a bigger piece of the pie.
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[…] A guest post by Jefe:American Indians seek legal recognition for many reasons, usually related tosovereignty.Tribal sovereignty refers to tribes’ right to govern themselves, define their own membership, manage tribal property, and regulate tribal affairs. It further recognizes the existence of a government-to-government relationship between such tribes and other governments, be they tribal, foreign, state or federal.Continue reading […]
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The Cherokee nation formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were bought to Oklahoma more than 170 years ago by Native American owners.
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..Real talk, Mary and once again it seems that Black folks are being used up, and then later tossed out by both whites and in this case non-whites once money and politics enter the arena..tsk, tsk,
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Not surprised.
What did I tell ya? We have no allies. We’re on our own. The sooner we realize that, the better off we’ll be and the sooner we can come up with solutions to elevate ourselves and ONLY ourselves.
If that means creating a society that’s completely closed to outsiders, then so be it.
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Interesting.. My tribe (and yes, I have a number, can vote and receive benefits) in Oregon was stripped of their federal recognition and rights to a couple million acres of land in 1954. Apparently the tribe was a little too successful and the federal government didn’t wish to pay for what they could just take. Recent court rulings have restored the rights and ownership of some lands and waterways and federal recognition was re-established in 1970. As far as booting Blacks? Well, I still have a vote on that and I have a high enough percentage to retain my tribal membership. At this point – even my kids can be members.
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I have been told that there are actually 67 state recognized tribes, at least based on this website from Feb 2015:
http://www.ncsl.org/research/state-tribal-institute/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx
I possibly got the number 62 from sources based on prior data.
In any case, this number seems to be a moving target, but regardless, it doesn’t really impact the post.
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Breaking News ***
Just last week the Pamunkey tribe got their federal recognition status put back on hold. Word leaked out that they planned to open Virginia’s first casino, and Stand Up California filed an appeal in October. BUT, it turns out that the lobby group’s main tenet is that the modern Pamunkey are not an authentic descendant of the original tribe, challenging their identity as Indians.
This hails back to the days of Walter Plecker, who tried to use Virginia’s Racial Integrity law and its one drop rule to wipe out all American Indians out of the state. Now we see another avenue of wiping out Native American identity – by trying to control the expansion of gaming interests.
Stand Up California is supposed to be a non-profit lobby group, but it actually is there to represent the interests of large corporate interests, such as MGM casinos.
http://hamptonroads.com/2015/10/putting-pamunkeys-federal-status-hold-deals-tribe-bad-hand
Putting Pamunkey’s federal status on hold deals the tribe a bad hand
By Roger Chesley
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 27, 2015
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It looks like the current process where the US government recognizes American Indian tribes is under fire since late October.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency under the Department of the Interior, an Executive branch of government. However, a bill is under discussion about transmitting this power to Congress, removing the BIA’s power over this.
One thing that sparked this reaction from Congress is Obama’s relaxation of the rules in June 2015.
This would put the recognition of over 200 tribes in jeopardy and dash the hopes of many which are in the process of applying for federal recognition. However, it would give some tribes who had been denied federal recognition in the past to reapply. Still, the vast majority of Indian tribes oppose this new bill, who believe the process to recognize American Indians is already a broken system. Giving Congress more power to decide this would give them more political control over deciding which tribes, if any, would be considered and which would not.
But some of the BIA’s past decisions are considered to be arbitrary, suggesting that both options have been infused with politics.
Bill would give Congress sole authority to recognize tribes
(http://www.theday.com/article/20151031/NWS01/151039856)
Editorial:
US official: Congress shouldn’t control tribal recognition
(http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/us-official-congress-shouldn-t-control-tribal-recognition/article_2cf91663-0318-552c-81a4-bbd34283cbfc.html)
Some tribes have been battling recognition from the US government since the 1800s. Examples of this include cases where the US govt broke or cut tribes out of treaties simply by no longer recognizing them.
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@ Mack Lyons
It will be very interesting to see the faces of those electing to boot ‘Freedmen’ descendants. Many are clearly more Anglo-Saxon in heritage and appearance rather than true Cherokee. I hope everybody here even considers that factor.
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@TeddyBearDaddy
Many of us are aware of who comprises modern “Cherokee” tribal members.
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Landmark decision by the US Federal District court in Washington, DC.
A federal court has ruled blood cannot determine tribal citizenship. Here’s why that matters.
The struggle over blood and belonging in American Indian communities
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/09/07/a-federal-court-has-ruled-blood-cannot-determine-tribal-citizenship-heres-why-that-matters/
I would argue, however, that the persons enslaved by the Cherokee were not “African-American”. They were not even American at all at that time.
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