Court dealings with Native Trust Fund also necessitate prayer of repentence
by Jim Uttley
Special to Assist News
Assist News Service
WASHINGTON, DC (ANS) — Senator Sam Brownback’s office issued a request for prayer for the re-introduction of the Native American Apology Resolution on Tuesday, April 19.
According to Jean Steffenson, director of the International Reconciliation–Indigenous Peoples, sent out a press release asking for prayer that North Dakota’s Senator Dorgan and/or Hawaii’s Senator Inouye, would decide to become original co-sponsors of this Apology Resolution.
The Native American Apology Resolution will be reintroduced in the United States Senate this Tuesday. Steffenson wrote: “If you and your colleagues could be paving the way for this introduction in prayer, that would be much appreciated. Please pray that Senator Dorgan (North Dakota) and/or Senator Inouye (Hawaii) would choose to sign on as original cosponsors this year.”
The National Congress of American Indians President, Tex Hall, will be in Washington,DC, and this is seen as a good sign to help in pushing through this resolution.
Senator John McCain of Arizona is Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee along with Senator Dorgan, the lead Democrat on the committee this year.
“We are hoping Senator Dorgan will be the lead Democrats on the apology,” said Steffenson. “It’s helpful to have a lead Republican and lead Democrat given the political environment of the Senate. Pray that Dorgan’s constituents will contact him. Please continue to pray for Senator Sam Brownback (of Kansas) as he spearheads getting this Resolution of Apology through the Senate.
“I am certain you know the importance of Congress and the President issuing a statement of apology to the Native Americans for the injustices committed against them. It is a requirement of the Lord for the healing of this land.
Another issue for prayer and one that’s been on the hearts of intercessors on behalf of North America’s indigenous peoples is the Congressional dealings with the trust fund set up in 1887 to collect and distribute royalties from oil, mineral, timber, and grazing leased on land given to the individual Indian.
Prayer for Justice
“Pray for justice and righteous actions in our courts,” Steffenson asks. The Bureau of Indian affairs, BIA, mismanaged the trust fund for more than a century. In 1994, Congress ordered the Interior Department to provide an accurate accounting of all trust fund accounts.
The following are excerpts from an article in the Denver Post newspaper, April 3, 2005 regarding this mismanagement.
In 1996 Eloise Cobell (Blackfeet) filed suit to force the government to make a historical accounting of the monies it has managed for the Indian trust fund so that individual Indians could receive the money they are owed. Still no trial date has been set. Some Native Americans have lost hope.
Pray for honest accountability
The past ten years, the Interior Department spent $2.9 billion to reform the trust fund system and is requesting another $304 million for 2006. “I think members of Congress are concerned about performing an accounting that will cost billions of dollars, enriching accountants, lawyers and consultants while producing little benefit for actual Indian account holders,” says Dan DuBray, spokesman for the Interior Department. There are literally hundreds of years of sad history between the Indians and this government, horror stories of the Trail of Tears and Wounded Knee. But this case isn’t about that. Its about accounting.
Injustice keeps the old cycle going and prevents breakthrough. Injustice in the courts, laws contrary with the will of God, began with relationships with the Native Americans. Senator John McCain, R-AZ again serving as chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, took a tough stance in his address to the National Congress of American Indians. McCain said, “The trust fund case is a terrible injustice and it needs to be fixed. If we don’t fix it then its going to impact everything we do.”
Pray for this cycle to be broken this year. “The endless cycle of court hearings, appeals and failed mediations over the lawsuit have included revelations that have shocked the nations. Trust fund documents, for example, were being shredded as lawyers claimed to be searching for them. Three Cabinet secretaries in two presidential administrations — Democrat and Republican — have been cited for contempt. “The government has not only set the gold standard for mismanagement, it is on the verge of setting the gold standard for arrogance in litigation strategy and tactics,” wrote U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth.
This case could dramatically improve the lives of American Indians, especially in the West from Colorado and Wyoming to Arizona and New Mexico. If successful, billions of dollars could be divided among the 500,000 plaintiffs and spent as needed.
Pray for justice and healing for the sake of our children. Eloise Cobell said, “The part that really grabs my heart is when an Indian elder dies without justice. I keep thinking maybe I’m doing something for their grandchildren.”
History – The Dawes Act – General Allotment Act
In 1887 Congressman Henry Dawes of Massachusetts sponsored the General Allotment Act better known as the Dawes Severalty Act. It was designed to encourage the breakup of tribes and promote the assimilation of Indians into American Society.
While Senator Dawes may have been well meaning in his intentions, few historians judged the results successful. The Dawes Act provided for each head of an Indian family to be given 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land. The remaining tribal lands were to be declared “surplus” and opened up for whites. Tribal ownership and tribes themselves were simply to disappear. Before the Dawes Act, some 150 million acres remained in Indian hands. Within twenty years, two-thirds of their land was gone. The reservation system was nearly destroyed. Land allotted to individual Indians was soon controlled by non-Indians. The native people lost much of their land and received very inadequate payment for it, and quickly spent what they received. They were not used to managing money.
In addition to extending voting rights to Native Americans, in 1924 Congress created the Meriam Commission to assess the impact of the Dawes Act. Completed in 1928, the Meriam Report described how government policy oppressed Native Americans and destroyed their culture and society.
Leonard Carlson, an economist, wrote in 1981, “The Dawes Act has been seen as a profound failure.” Historian John Collier stated that this allotment was the principal tool of the old policy of destruction of tribal life and the cause of poverty bordering on starvation in many areas, a 30% illiteracy rate, and a death rate twice that of the white population. The poverty and exploitation resulting from the paternalistic Dawes Act spurred passage of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. This legislation promoted Native American autonomy by prohibiting allotment of tribal lands, returning some surplus land, and urging tribes to engage in active self-government. Rather than imposing the legislation on Native Americans, individual tribes were allowed to accept or reject the Reorganization Act. From 1934 to 1953, the U.S. government invested in the development of infrastructure, health care, and education in Indian country. With the aid of federal courts and government, over two million acres of land were returned to some tribes.
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