Research Reports
Reflections on Traditional American Indian Ways, 1998
Threats to Tribal Sovereignty, 1998
Traditional American Indian Leadership: A Comparison with U.S. Governance, 1997
Threats to Tribal Sovereignty are Nothing New
"Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground."(The Peacemaker in Wisdomkeepers, Wall and Harvey, 1990.)
Our ancestors were thinking of us. They were thinking of our mothers and fathers. They were thinking of our daughters and sons, and of our grandchildren. This was a time when our ancestors were confronted with a new relationship to the land. It was a time when other non-indigenous people came to this place and confronted our ancestors with embracing new ways of relating to this land. Our ancestors, however, were told by their elders that through living on this land, they shared the land. Following contact with Europeans, they were asked to exchange this land and to retain certain rights to use the land and to live as they had always lived. They respectfully acknowledged the newcomers' traditions of negotiation and agreed to treaty-making. They were thinking of us.
"For the Lakota people, the seventh generation is a way of thinking. We give thanks to our ancestors so we could be here today. We must think about issues today, but we must also think about the issues as they will be seven generations from now. What you do today, the decisions you make, will affect them."(Chairman Greg Bourland, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, 1996)
With each generation, there are new challenges about how we survive as American Indian people. The long history of assimilation, termination, and genocide policies is not over for Indian people. While the current threats to Indian tribal sovereignty outlined in this report have long-standing historical roots, U.S. Indian policy is now more elusive in the implementation of anti-Indian sentiment or assimilation efforts. The latest threat to Indian people is a national trend by states, the U.S. Congress, and the courts to undermine the legal foundations of tribal sovereignty.
The
Well-Being of American Indian Children in Minnesota: Economic Conditions,
1994
top | Projects
| Research | Publications
| Links | About Us
| Contact Us | Home
© Copyright 2002, American Indian Policy Center. All Rights
Reserved.
1463 Hewitt Avenue • St. Paul, MN 55104 • tel: 651-644-1728
aipc@cpinternet.com
Last updated:
Tuesday November 1, 2005