Projects
American Indian Community Data Profile, 2002
Namadji Youth and Elders Project Report, 2001
Forum Reports
1997 Fall: Tribal Sovereignty and
American Indian Leadership
1996 Fall: Tribal Governments: What will they look like in the year 2010?
1996 Spring: The Threatened State of Tribal Sovereignty
Indians must face new wave of threats to sovereignty together
by John Poupart, President
A cornerstone of American Indian political legal definition, tribal sovereignty,
continues to face threats from many quarters. It should surprise no one
familiar with Indian Country that attacks on Indians continue. Throughout
history, Indians are familiar with these kinds of actions. It seems Indians
have always faced challenging and threatening conditions. It is simply
time to recognize another wave is here.
In the past, Indians faced environmental challenges like hunger, disease
and a general lack of life-giving resources. These kinds of challenges
were to be expected, but then other types of challenges arose. These included
issues that Indians were not familiar with, like lumber, mining, railroads,
land speculation, fur trade, buffalo hunting, military, missionaries,
relocation and termination. Now, the new challenges come in the form of
unfavorable court decisions, hostile state governments and congressional
actions.
The American Indian Research and Policy Institute is in a key position
to help American Indians engage the newest and latest challenges. This
report outlines a beginning strategy involving steps to be taken to counter
these threats. A common front among American Indian tribes must be established.
The development of this strategy began on May 30 and 31, 1996, when we
sponsored a public forum. The purpose of this report, in the narrowest
definition, is to describe the events of the forum when more than 150
people sat down to discuss "The Threatened State of Tribal Sovereignty."
This forum was the first in a series of discussions that will be held
throughout Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana.
Interestingly, 11 tribes in Wisconsin recently banded together forming
a coalition to build economic strengths and to join forces on political
issues. The American Indian Research and Policy Institute will sponsor
forums for Indians to express their ideas. Ultimately, these ideas will
be shared with other Indian tribes to shape a collective such as the one
in Wisconsin. Our staff will serve as the information catalyst bringing
tribes together to discuss their views. The tribes could conceivably form
an agenda synthesizing their resources to arrive at a common voice for
handling unfavorable court decisions, congressional actions and state
government initiatives negatively affecting their sovereign status.
In a closer examination of recent initiatives taken by certain members
of the U.S. Congress, it is clear that a level of ignorance exists about
the historical, political and legal status of American Indians. But what
can one expect when facts and reality about American Indians have been
historically missing in school curriculum? An education system lacking
a fair and balanced curriculum about American Indians results in most
Americans possessing little or no knowledge about them, including U.S.
Congressional Representatives. Left unchecked, this benign ignorance results
in federal devolution practices that place federal trust responsibility
in the hands of the various states, which have no jurisdiction over these
affairs. This is extremely challenging and much more than a fundamental
policy shift in the historic government to government relationship between
Indian tribes and the U.S. Congress. It portends devastating results for
American Indians.
It is the goal of the American Research and Policy Institute to initiate
dialogue and promote ideas for addressing American Indian policy concerns
in the twenty-first century. To achieve that end, we need active participation
of American Indian tribal leadership and their constituents. The Institute
also needs to provide constant information feedback to Indian participants
so that the integrity of the project is intact.
Indians have always dealt with adverse issues in their own way. That they
have survived gives us cause to think about how they did it. It wasn't
just the leadership of the tribe that brought them through. It was all
Indians working together toward a common mission.
A call to action is essential. American Indians need to find a posture
of recovery and reassert themselves. What held us together in the past
must be found for use in the future. If we can identify what that is and
use it in combination with new technical skills, we might have a chance.
This new introspection can have bountiful returns. We can create new and
broad coalitions of American Indian tribes starting in North Dakota, Minnesota,
South Dakota and Montana. This coalition could begin to shape a national
Indian agenda for sound, rational Indian policy. This coalition could
begin to tell policy makers in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere how to shape
policy for American Indians. It's a good place to start.
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Last updated:
Tuesday November 1, 2005