U.S. Inaction Has Cost Indians Millions, Protest Leader Says
U.S. Inaction Has Cost Indians Millions, Protest Leader Says
Documents taken from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., during the November protest occupation indicate that tribes have lost millions of dollars through BIA failure to enforce reservation right-of-way agreements, a demonstration leader said here Thursday.
"It may even be in the billions," declared Russell Means, 33-year-old Sioux who is national coordinator of the Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan and a founder of the activist American Indian Movement.
Means held a press conference at the Los Angeles Indian Center as part of what he described as a national tour by 34 Caravan members to convey the facts behind Native American grievances to Indians and non-Indians alike.
Most of the documents carried out of the BIA during the six-day takeover are in the process of being returned to the federal government after a group of Indians and attorneys sifted through "over a ton of them" during a meeting in Tempe, Ariz., Means said.
He declined to be specific about what he called evidence in the files of "collusion, graft and corruption" by government officials and elected representatives, but said much of the information will be released before Congress reconvenes in January.
He did, however, claim that virtually all of 191 tribal reservations have been affected by BIA failure to enforce agreements dating back to 1934 under which power companies and the like were to pay $5 per 10 feet of easement for the benefit of Indians.
"We intend to take some state governments to court for those back taxes,quot; said Means, who added that South Dakota already is looking over its records in the matter.
Although he conceded that many Indian leaders around the country are not rallying to support the Caravan's demands for federal recognition of Indian sovereignty and enforcement of 371 disregarded treaties as well as belated Senate ratifications of more than 200 treaties negotiated in 1848, Means said:
"The purpose of Indians now is to get our minds together and see what we can do for our children."
Asked whether he felt the reported $2 million in damage to the BIA building was justified in the light of subsequent national attention to Indian problems, Means responded:
"The destruction of the Indian people is not justified."
He pointed out that he had been against tearing up the BIA, "but I was voted down."
In any event, he noted, one result has been a severe change in the bureau, which the demonstrators had demanded. "We want the BIA to be more responsive," he said.
With the documents going back to the government, what has happened to the artifacts and paintings also carted away from BIA?
"They are now in the hands of Indian people," Means said.