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Trump is breaking the federal government's promises to Native Americans (Tom Perez, LAT op-ed)
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-perez-native-american-indians-trump-20170807-story.htmlTrump’s advisors have repeatedly pushed for the privatization of Indian lands and resources. Before Trump even took office, the chair of his Native American Coalition, Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), proposed that tribal land be put into private ownership and claimed the idea would receive widespread support from Indian tribes. Instead, the idea was widely condemned.
In May, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke raised eyebrows at the National Tribal Energy Summit when he called for an “off-ramp” for taking native lands out of trust. “If tribes would have a choice of leaving Indian trust lands and becoming a corporation, tribes would take it,” he said.
Zinke’s comments bore a striking resemblance to the rationale used to justify Termination, an Eisenhower-era policy in which Indians were paid to dismantle their sovereign governments and relinquish their lands. Proponents of the policy argued that if Native Americans adopted the habits of “civilized life,” they would need less land, which, conveniently, also would mean the expansion of the United States. Congress imposed the policy, House Concurrent Resolution 108, without consulting Indian Country.
The policy proved so catastrophic that President Nixon ended it in 1970 with a strong repudiation, telling Congress, “Forced termination is wrong.” He went on to sign scores of legislative measures that restored the sovereignty of tribal nations. Every president since Nixon has embraced a policy of “self-determination without termination” — the idea that Native Americans are best equipped to govern themselves.
Trump is breaking with this position. He has even gone so far as to question the constitutionality of programs designed to assist tribes. In a signing statement that accompanied an appropriations bill he approved in May, Trump suggested that Native American housing block grants represent an unconstitutional privilege. This perverse reading of the relationship between the U.S. government and Indian Country flies in the face of the Constitution, including its Indian Commerce Clause, and two centuries of court rulings.
Trump’s budget also betrays his contempt for Indian Country. If budgets are moral documents, his is morally bankrupt: It calls for more than $300 million in cuts to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Affairs budget. Trump wants to cut $64 million from education, $21 million from law enforcement and public safety, $23 million from human services and $50 million from housing programs. These programs represent more than money; they’re investments with which the federal government honors its treaties with tribal nations.
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In May, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke raised eyebrows at the National Tribal Energy Summit when he called for an “off-ramp” for taking native lands out of trust. “If tribes would have a choice of leaving Indian trust lands and becoming a corporation, tribes would take it,” he said.
Zinke’s comments bore a striking resemblance to the rationale used to justify Termination, an Eisenhower-era policy in which Indians were paid to dismantle their sovereign governments and relinquish their lands. Proponents of the policy argued that if Native Americans adopted the habits of “civilized life,” they would need less land, which, conveniently, also would mean the expansion of the United States. Congress imposed the policy, House Concurrent Resolution 108, without consulting Indian Country.
The policy proved so catastrophic that President Nixon ended it in 1970 with a strong repudiation, telling Congress, “Forced termination is wrong.” He went on to sign scores of legislative measures that restored the sovereignty of tribal nations. Every president since Nixon has embraced a policy of “self-determination without termination” — the idea that Native Americans are best equipped to govern themselves.
Trump is breaking with this position. He has even gone so far as to question the constitutionality of programs designed to assist tribes. In a signing statement that accompanied an appropriations bill he approved in May, Trump suggested that Native American housing block grants represent an unconstitutional privilege. This perverse reading of the relationship between the U.S. government and Indian Country flies in the face of the Constitution, including its Indian Commerce Clause, and two centuries of court rulings.
Trump’s budget also betrays his contempt for Indian Country. If budgets are moral documents, his is morally bankrupt: It calls for more than $300 million in cuts to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Affairs budget. Trump wants to cut $64 million from education, $21 million from law enforcement and public safety, $23 million from human services and $50 million from housing programs. These programs represent more than money; they’re investments with which the federal government honors its treaties with tribal nations.
-snip-
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