IN THEBEGINNING
Indigenous peoples inhabitedNorthAmerica long
beforeEuropeangovernments sent explorers to
claim lands and its resources. Noone knows, of
course, howmany people inhabitedNorthAmerica
prior to1500. Scholars estimate therewerebetween
1.5million and 20million Indigenous people living in
NorthAmerica inpre-contact time. Representatives
of Europeangovernments interactedwith tribes
indiplomacy, commerce, culture andwar –
acknowledging indigenous systems of social,
cultural, economic andpolitical governance.
As theUnited States formed a union, the founders
continued to acknowledge the sovereignty of tribal
nations, alongside states, foreign nations and the
federal government in theU.S. Constitution.
ARTICLE 1, SECTION8, U.S. CONSTITUTION
TheCongress shall have thepower to…regulate
commercewith foreign nations, and among the
states, andwith the Indian tribes.
Nativepeoples and their governments have rights
and apolitical relationshipwith theU.S. government
that are not derived from raceor ethnicity. They are
basedon treaties and actions by theU.S. Supreme
Court, thePresident or theCongress. Tribal
members are citizens of three sovereigns: their tribe,
theUnited States and the state inwhich they reside.
WHAT IS TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY?
Sovereignty is a legal word for anordinary
concept – the right of apeople to self-govern
withingeographic borders. Tribal sovereignty
recognizes Indiannations as having thepolitical
status of nations, however it also recognizes that
Indian nations aregeographically locatedwithin
the territorial boundaries of theUnitedStates. As
sovereigns, tribal nations are recognized as having
agovernment-to-government relationshipwith
the twoother sovereigngoverningbodies in the
U.S. – the federal and stategovernments. Tribal
law, federal law and state laws define eachof their
responsibilities, powers, limitations andobligations.
Theessenceof tribal sovereignty is that it allows
tribal nations autonomy togovern, protect and
enhance the health, safety andwelfareof tribal
citizenswithin tribal territory.
WASHINGTON: 29 TRIBALNATIONS
There are 29 federally-recognizedNativeAmerican
tribes locatedon reservations throughout
Washington state. Each tribal nation is different.
Some reservations are just a few acres in size, while
others spanmore than amillion acres; somehave
a few hundred citizens, others have thousands of
citizens; some have significant financial resources
to financegovernment services, others have very
limited funds. Becausewater provided ameans of
transportation and natural resources,most of the
reservations are locatedwhere Indians historically
lived – along rivers, Puget Soundor theWashington
coast.Only four tribes are located in eastern
Washington, and eachof them also relies on rivers.
Each tribe has abody of electedofficials that
oversees its government. They provide services
including health care, education, housing, public
safety, courts, transportation, natural resources,
environment, culture and economic development.
Tribal governments collaboratewith theState
ofWashington andwith local jurisdictions on a
multitudeof issues from taxation to transportation
improvements to natural resourcemanagement.
Not all tribes have federal recognition.
Federal recognition simplymeans there is an
acknowledgement by theU.S. government of the
political status of aparticular tribe as agovernment.
Many tribeswere recognized as legal entities
through treaties, executiveorders or presidential
proclamations. Inmore recent times, tribes have
sought toestablish recognition through a very long,
complex andextremely stringent process. The
Duwamish andChinook tribes are twoexamples
inWashingtonof tribes trying to attain federal
recognition.
FACINGCHALLENGES
Throughout history, the relationshipbetween tribal
nations and theU.S. government has undergone a
number of shifts. Early policies have left a legacy
of challenges (fragmented andmarginalized land
rights, isolationofmany Indian reservations, loss
of culture and language, inability to raise revenue
via taxation, anddevelopment limitations on
government land) that continue to affect Native
American communities today. Particularly, these
policies hindered economic development on
reservations, limiting income sources largely to
extractionof local resources and federal grants.
Before the early 1990s,most tribal governments
struggled topay for evenbasic services.
Whilemuchprogress is beingmade, the challenges
facingNativeAmerican communities continue tobe
significant.On reservations, 39percent of Native
people are inpoverty – the highest poverty rate in
the country, according to a report by theNational
Congress of American Indians (Tribal Nations and
theUnited States). Theunemployment rate is about
19percent for Nativepeopleon reservations. Indian
health, education and income statistics are the
lowest among all racial groups nationwide.
Today’s tribal leaders are focusedon continuing to
overcomeobstacles toprogress – to improve the
lives of their citizens, toprotect the environment and
sustainnatural resources, tobuildup communities
that benefit everyone, and topreserve culture.
The above informationwas primarily sourced from the
National Congress of American Indians
(
andU.S.Department of
InteriorBureau of IndianAffairs (
.
PresidentObamawelcomes BrianCladoosby, chairman
of the SwinomishTribe, andpresident of theNational
Congress of American Indians representing all 567
federally-recognized tribes in theU.S. The Swinomish
Reservation is located inSkagitCounty.
WASHINGTON’S NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS
2
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2016 |
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