Therefore Be It Resolved

I thought my readers would like to know about this. (Emphasis mine.)

The following excerpt from a 2009 Winter Conference Resolution of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians of the United States, can be expected to be replicated across many regional tribal entities, and incorporated into the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) platform:

From briefing paper: Clear Views of the Department of Interior,
Bureau of Indian Affairs And Various Tribal leaders
by Elaine Willman, Citizens Equal Rights Alliance

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“THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians calls upon Congress to hold summits and hearings to address the following issues:

Reaffirmation of the Indian Reorganization Act.

The need to address taxation of fee lands owned by tribes and individuals which are within the exterior boundaries of the reservation and the need to alleviate jurisdictional conflicts of such lands.

Expediting the process of federal transfers of lands to Indian tribes.

Establish a congressional process to document the loss of individual trust allotment that occurred through the establishment of Competency Commissions beginning in 1914 and the use of forced fee patents beginning in 1906, whereby thousands of allotments which were lost during the aforementioned processes, be returned to trust status upon reacquisition without the current requirement of state and/or county comments.

Provide for adequate fee to trust staffing and training for BIA and Tribal Realty offices responsible for completion of the fee to trust application process.

Enforcement of the moratorium on acceleration and foreclosure proceedings by the USDA enacted in May 22, 2008 provided in P.L. 110-234, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.”

While you're busy chewing on that, here's another little tidbit you might enjoy. The following comment was made by Cheryl Andrews-Maltais of the Aquinnah Mashpee Tribe at a July 8, 2009 consultation session conducted by the Department of Interior. Three such sessions were held across the country at various locations.

Cheryl Andrews-Maltais: I would like to invite everyone up to Massachusetts and/or the New England states because…it’s very difficult to really comprehend the totality of the impact of 400 years of encroachment when you are a tribe in the northeast.

Frankly Cheryl, I'd like to invite everyone up to Massachusetts, too. What better way to witness first-hand the impact of 400 years of assimilation and cultural ambiguity. Better yet - to witness what happens when failed federal policy has permitted encroachment upon homes, schools, places of worship, small businesses, areas of historical significance, vital watersheds and environmentally fragile eco-systems, by certain middle-class casino-obsessed Massachusetts tribes, so laser-focused with greed that they can't see the forests for the slots.