Time for Indians to Drop Their Pseudo"Independence"

Homeless for Over a Century, a Tribe Awaits U.S. Redemption

By JIM ROBBINS
Published: December 24, 2005

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Here at the base of a rise called Hill 57, a steady, cold wind blows on a cloudless day as James Parker Shield and Russ Boham tell of life for the landless Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

The tribe, its land taken away more than a century ago, squatted in Great Falls and elsewhere in north-central Montana through the late 1960's, living as many as 12 to a tar-paper shack without plumbing, and scavenging at the dump for scrap metal, rags and food. Parents often ran afoul of state child welfare officials. "They'd see you sleeping in a car body and take you away from your family," said Mr. Boham, who, like Mr. Shield, was among those shipped to the state orphanage when he was a child.

Today, with most of its members living in public housing around Great Falls, Mr. Shield and Mr. Boham are leading a protracted fight for government recognition of the tribe. Recognition would allow their people to gain control of federal money to buy land here for a tribal headquarters and housing, and to win back a measure of dignity.

The 112 families led by Chief Little Shell lost their North Dakota homeland to the government in 1892 when a chief of the Pembina Chippewa signed away their rights to it, without their authority and in their absence. The Little Shell had left home, in the Turtle Mountain area, to go hunting, and an Indian agent forced the other Chippewa to accept the Ten Cent Treaty - so called by Indians because it bought about 10 million acres of Chippewa land, including that of the Little Shell, for a million dollars.

Ever since, the Little Shell have known only diaspora.

Most came to Montana, where they lived near dumps and on the streets of Great Falls, Helena and other towns. In 1896, angry whites asked the government to do something about them, and the Army rounded them up at gunpoint, put them on boxcars and shipped them to Canada. "Most of them made their way back," said Mr. Shield, the vice president of the tribal council, which Mr. Boham serves as assistant.

The three other surviving Chippewa tribes from the Turtle Mountain area - the Turtle Mountain, the White Earth and the Rocky Boy - were all less scattered and received federal recognition over time; they now have reservations. But the 4,500 or so Little Shell still await official recognition from the Office of Federal Acknowledgment at the Interior Department, a quest for which they have gained the support not only of other tribes in Montana but also of the Montana governor's office, the State Legislature and Cascade County, which includes Great Falls.

The recognition process was created by the government in 1978 to make reparations to tribes that had been forced to move from place to place throughout American history. There are now 562 federally recognized tribes in the United States.

Roughly 220 others have expressed interest in recognition, but such efforts are often strongly opposed. Some of that opposition comes from tribes, already recognized, that are eager to protect their vast casino gambling income, and from states that do not want recognized tribes within their borders, because a bid for recognition is occasionally a ploy of relatively few Indians with dubious historical ties simply to open a new casino.

"We're running into the ripple effects of gaming and politics," Mr. Shield contended. "But the gaming has nothing to do with us. If you take a hard look at the gaming opportunities in Montana, there's no market and no population. We want a home."

James E. Cason, an associate deputy interior secretary who oversees Indian affairs, denied that the gambling issue had been a factor in the case of the Little Shell, who first applied for recognition in 1984, who received preliminary approval in 2000 and who have spent much of the time since then engaged in assembling the documentation needed for final approval. (The final draft of their petition was sent to the government earlier this year.)

"It doesn't have anything to do with gaming - it's a nonissue," Mr. Cason said, adding that the Little Shell had been "in control of this process the last five years and have asked for extensions."

With the final draft now in hand, "we will try to do it as expeditiously as we can," he said.

You know what, I don't care! I'm sorry that some of the people are suffering, and for that I do care, but if these people want our goverment to take care of them, they need to become part of our society. It is time to close the reservations down. They serve no purpose but ego stroking by providing cover for the lie that these people are independent. I really don't care about the fact that they were here before us, that's ancient history. In a clash of societies, one side always wins and the other loses. The American Indians lost. Western culture won. I don't give one wit about a century old feud. We already spend our tax dollars to support their people, it's time for them to become our people and be a part of the American Nation. I don't see those wealthy Indian Nations going out of their way to support their poorer brethren, so why should my tax dollars be spent that way. If they wish to become citizens of the United States of America and commit to our way of life, then they are entitled to the rights and privilleges of a citizen otherwise, tough. Life is not fair.

Full Story: Put Up or Shut Up

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