Message Runner, Vol. 1
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MP14871IndLandTab.qxd:8376SDSUTAB1-12 7/31/09 12:16 PM Page 1 November 2002 © Greg Latza/PeopleScapes.com Message from the ILTF President Restoring Indian lands: a long process Issues involving Indian land tenure began in However, less than a decade after the signing The community of participants harbored no North America centuries ago and have been of the last treaty and formation of a reservation, illusions that this goal would be reached easily growing steadily since. Take a few minutes to the U.S. government began a wholesale abroga- or quickly. They did, however, understand and begin to understand these issues and some poten- tion of treaty provisions. The passage of the make clear how important it is to begin now. tial solutions and you will become familiar with General Allotment Act in 1887 provided the They also recognized the fundamental need to the plight of Indian tribes and people. means to take millions of reservation acres that take control of the regulatory and administra- At the end of the armed conflicts between had been guaranteed to Indians. tive processes that control Indian land and pre- Indians and European settlers, the various tribes Perhaps even more destructive to Indian vent Indians from effectively using their land. across the country secured treaties with the tribes and people, the Allotment Act marked the The continuance of tribes as sovereign nations United States. For Indian people, the treaties and beginning of misguided paternalism by the fed- is at stake when the land base is diminished. executive orders meant a chance to secure peace eral government toward Indian people that con- While it may take several decades and sev- and retain the exclusive use of some amount of tinues today. The Allotment Act made this eral hundred million dollars to achieve its goal, their homelands. For the federal government, paternalistic relationship explicit through its the community is resolved to make progress. entering into the treaties often was seen as the provisions of holding land titles in trust for indi- The wrongs perpetrated on Indian people by most expedient way to open new areas to the vidual Indians and tribes. the General Allotment Act have continued ever-increasing number of homesteaders. Other federal policies and solutions to prob- unabated for the past 115 years. It is time to lems that were ostensibly for the good of Indian stop the wrongs. people, more frequently meant further prob- Today, tribal members and their govern- lems and losses for the tribes and their mem- ments are piecing together homelands acre by bers. Notable examples include the Burke Act acre through purchases, gifts or the return of of 1906, Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, land now held by the federal government. The and within the original boundaries Self-determination Act of 1976, Indian Land process is slow and expensive, but necessary of every reservation and other areas Consolidation Act of 1983, and most recently, for the long-term survival of tribes. Generations of high significance where tribes the amendments proposed in 2000 to the Land of American Indians have witnessed the loss of L Consolidation Act. their homelands. Generations of American retainaboriginalinterest are in While Indian people have long discussed Indians will witness the recovery of their home- Indian ownership and management. self-determination for the tribes and individual lands. Indian people, there is a very serious movement You can help the Indian community right the — ILTF mission statement toward that end today. Increasingly, the Indian wrongs in several ways. Take time to under- community is eager to find its own solutions stand Indian land tenure issues. Whether you and set its own course of action or risk losing are Indian or non-Indian, these issues affect what it has. It was with that sense of urgency you. For Indian people, the land is a fundamen- Most treaties or executive orders required that several hundred Indian people participated tal component of their culture. If the important that tribes cede very large land areas in in a three-year planning process involving land ceremonies and ways of life are to continue, the exchange for much smaller areas reserved for issues and maintenance, as well as reacquisi- land base must be restored. their exclusive use and the right to continue tion, of the Indian land base. For non-Indians, the situation provides their usual and accustomed practices in the Those who participated represented a wide insight into the negative outcomes that are pos- ceded area alongside the new settlers. In return, range of Indian people — young and old; sible when a government becomes unduly the settlers would have access to new land and Bureau of Indian Affairs employees; represen- involved in individuals’ lives. While most non- would not be attacked by the tribes. Indian peo- tatives from large tribes and small tribes; for- Indians take for granted the control of their land ple entered into the treaties on a government-to- mer, current and future landowners. All pro- assets, Indian people have been deprived of that government basis with the full expectation that vided insight and guidance in setting a vision right for more than a century. each party would maintain the treaties as the of the future for Indian land that they desire Also, you can support the long-term efforts supreme law of the land. and a course of action for getting to that of the Indian land tenure community by making Many people believe that with an intact vision. afinancialcontributiontotheIndianLand reservation land base, albeit relatively small, Their collective goal, which now drives the Tenure Foundation. The funds the Foundation most tribes would have been able to maintain Indian Land Tenure Foundation, is: Land with- receives go directly into activities to help their cultural base, language and governance in the original boundaries of every reservation Indian people regain control of their land practices. Certainly governance and jurisdiction and other areas of high significance where assets. The Indian Land Tenure Foundation over the land would have remained with the tribes retain aboriginal interest are in Indian appreciates your support as it works to right the sovereign nation. ownership and management. wrongs of the past. MP14871IndLandTab.qxd:8376SDSUTAB1-12 7/31/09 12:16 PM Page 2 2 General Allotment Act reviewed 115 years later Imagine receiving a gift that today could be vidual Indians and taking the remainder for non- of taxation and, after forced fee patents were worth anywhere from several thousand dollars to Indian use. issued, their land was sold at public auction to sat- millions of dollars! The Allotment Act authorized the distribution of isfy property tax debt. Although others grasped the But what would you think if the person giving 160-, 80- or 40-acre land parcels or “allotments” concept, the only way they could raise the cash to you the gift took the money from your bank for ownership by adult Indians. All remaining land pay their taxes was to sell part of their land. account to pay for the gift? What’s more, the pur- within the boundaries of the reservations — usual- In later years, the loss of land through forced-fee chase of the gift didn’t deplete all of the money in ly the most productive lands — were declared to be patents came about as young Indians joined the mil- the account, and the person determined you didn’t “in excess of Indian needs” and opened to non- itary and were subsequently declared competent. need the rest of the money and then gave it away! Indians for ownership and use. These excess lands Upon returning home from service, they would find were quickly homesteaded or their property had been sold. Other times, Indian claimed by industrial interests. The people were simply not notified that their land had immediate tribal land losses been changed from trust status to fee status. through the Allotment Act provi- A combination of the initial lands that were sions were estimated to total 60 declared in excess of Indian needs, the properties million acres. The tribes did not lost through tax foreclosure, and land sales by receive compensation for these Indians, resulted in a mixed ownership pattern on lands — lands that were guaran- reservations. This pattern of ownership is known as teed by treaty or executive order the “checkerboard effect.” As the land base be- and shortly thereafter taken away came more fractured, the cohesiveness of the under the Allotment Act. Indian community continued to disintegrate. The concept of owning the earth Another related effect of the allotment process was new to most of the Indian was the creation of the “undivided interest,” the tribes of North America. They used ownership of a fraction of a parcel of land. The the land and natural resources Allotment Act directed that the estates of all Indian according to the tribe’s needs, cus- people should be divided among heirs in accor- toms and relationships with neigh- dance with state and territorial probate laws. boring tribes. The territories or However, only the ownership is divided, not the areas that each tribe used and land parcel. Hence, the ownership interests were defended were often large and undivided. overlapped with other bands and As original allottees began to pass on, the own- tribes, particularly on the Great ership of their allotments began to be spread among Plains. Many had permanent or alargenumberofsucceedingheirs.Today,itisnot seasonal settlements that were reg- uncommon to have more than 100 owners involved ularly occupied but they also with an allotment parcel. Many parcels have well would travel to other areas to har- over 500 owners. The number of undivided owner- vest food or to conduct cultural ship interests dramatically increases with each suc- ceremonies and events.