Thread by @robmaxim

On this #IndigenousPeoplesDay, I want to highlight an ongoing way that the U.S. harms Tribal sovereignty.

Many Americans assume all Tribes have a reservation. In fact, the Supreme Court has actually forbidden many Tribes from reclaiming their lands.

Here’s a thread on how 👇

The U.S. has a long history of Native land theft, from European colonization to the Dawes Act and the Termination Era.

This policy begins in 2009. That year, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the Interior Secretary may not create reservations for Tribes recognized after 1934.

The case, Carcieri v. Salazar, centered on the Narragansett Tribe’s efforts to expand their reservation in what is today Rhode Island. Despite having recorded contact with Europeans as far back as 1584, the federal government did not recognize the Narragansetts until 1983.

In 1991, the Narragansetts purchased 31 acres of land that they wanted to use for elder housing. In 1998, the Secretary of the Interior agreed to take it into trust and add it to their existing reservation.

However, the state of Rhode Island sued to block the acquisition.

What was Rhode Island’s claim? It was that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which said that any Tribe “now under federal jurisdiction” was eligible to have land taken into trust by the federal government, in fact ONLY applied to Tribes recognized in 1934 or earlier.

In other words, because the Naragansetts weren’t recognized until 1983, Rhode Island argued they were ineligible to have the Secretary of the Interior take land into trust on their behalf

Neither the District nor the Appeals Court bought this logic, and both ruled for the Tribe.

However, the state then appealed to the Supreme Court, which overturned the District and Appeals Court rulings. The Supreme Court ruled that the phrase “now under federal jurisdiction” did, in fact, refer ONLY to Tribes recognized in 1934 or earlier.

As a result, the Narragansetts, and any other Tribe recognized after 1934, were ineligible to have land taken into trust by Interior and turned into a reservation.

This has created a two-tiered system where some Tribes are able to reclaim their lands while others aren’t.

And this system is based entirely on the arbitrary distinction of when the U.S. government “recognized” Tribes—Tribes that have been on this continent for untold millennia.
hcn.org/articles/indig…

This ruling has affected the dozens—if not hundreds—of Tribes recognized after 1934 (I haven’t been able to find an exact count). Not only that, it leaves even Tribes recognized before 1934 open to legal risk, and wastes government resources defending against legal challenges.

My own Tribe was one of the many who were affected. Despite an extensively documented history, including meeting the Pilgrims in 1620, we were not “recognized” until 2007. As a result, we have been engulfed in a years-long legal battle for our land.
boston.com/news/local-new…

Some Tribes have found ways around this ruling. For example, our Tribe was able to present evidence that we were under “federal jurisdiction” before 1934 (including children in our Tribe being forced to attend BIA boarding schools), even though we weren’t “recognized.”

(As an aside, if it seems like these are all arbitrary legal distinctions, it’s because they are).

However, that process created years of additional burden and legal costs, and wouldn’t necessarily work for all Tribes. Tribes shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to prove they existed before 1934—if the federal government recognizes them today, that should be evidence enough.

Congress could change this policy at any time. In fact, they came close two years ago, with the House passing a “Carcieri fix.” However, it died in the Senate after Trump had tweeted out his opposition to it (using a racial slur, no less).
indianz.com/News/2019/05/1…

It’s great that we have individuals like Secretary Deb Haaland working tirelessly for Indian Country. However, there is only so much that she and others can do when the law currently forbids Interior from taking land into trust on behalf of many Tribes.

Nearly every Democratic candidate proposed a Carcieri fix in their presidential platform, including President Biden. However, like many other issues pertaining to Indian Country, it has fallen by the wayside as Congress takes on more high-profile issues: joebiden.com/tribalnations/

If the U.S. wants to make #IndigenousPeoplesDay more than just a slogan, it must start with restoring land sovereignty. However, that can never be achieved if many Tribes are categorically ineligible to have their lands restored. It’s past time to fix the Carcieri ruling.

If you want to read more on the history of the Carcieri ruling and the context surrounding it, I highly recommend this piece by Narragansett writer @UrbanN8VWarrior:
indianz.com/News/2020/02/2…