Advisory Council on California Indian Policy

Last updated

The Advisory Council on California Indian Policy (ACCIP) was created by an act of the United States Congress and signed by President George H. W. Bush on October 14, 1992. [1] It provided for the creation of a special advisory council made up of eighteen members with the purpose of studying the unique problems that California Native Americans face in receiving federal acknowledgment. Additionally, they were given the task of studying the social and economic conditions of California natives, “characterized by, among other things, alcohol and substance abuse, critical health problems, family violence and child abuse, lack of educational and employment opportunities, and significant barriers to tribal economic development.” [1] Under the provisions for the act, the Advisory Council was to make recommendations regarding California Indian policy to the Congress and the Departments of the Interior and of Health and Human Services.

Contents

Federal Acknowledgment Process

The ACCIP was especially important as an advocate for California's terminated and unacknowledged tribes in receiving federal acknowledgment. In 1978, the Secretary of the Interior established the Federal Acknowledgment Process (FAP) to consider the extension of federal recognition to previously unrecognized Indian groups. Among other things, the Federal Acknowledgment regulations required that the group petitioning for a federally recognized tribal status live in a distinct community, be identified as an Indian entity on a continuous basis, and prove its political influence over its members through its history and into the present day. The UCLA American Indian Studies Center compiled a report for the ACCIP in 1996 which argued that the historical conditions of California Indians rendered the FAP regulations inapplicable to them. [2] The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria made the same argument:

This standard may reflect the historical realities of many tribes outside of California such as the Navajo or Sioux Nations and is therefore arguably a reasonable benchmark to apply to currently unrecognized Indian tribes seeking recognition ... Such a requirement is not, however, a realistic standard for California tribes because of California’s unique and tragic history toward its Native population. As California tribes were split apart, survival, not governance, became the primary goal of the Coast Miwok, the Southern Pomo, and others ... [3]

The UCLA American Indian Studies Center explains that before the United States acquired California in aftermath of the Mexican–American War, "the mission system significantly disrupted tribal living patterns and populations in California." After California became a state, the United States concluded a total of eighteen treaties with the tribal groups of California in which a total of 8,500,000 acres (34,000 km2) of land was to be set aside for them. The treaties were never ratified, however, and many Indians were resettled onto small reservations or rancherias, while others continued to live on their ancestral homelands without federal protection. [4]

As the American Indian Studies Center Report points out, the United States had, in making treaties with the California Indian tribes, federally recognized them. They should not, therefore, have been subject to the Federal Acknowledgment Process. Furthermore, the missionary past of these Indians and the reservation system of the United States caused tribal groups to become broken up and isolated from one another. These cumulative experiences made federal acknowledgment under the FAP regulations especially difficult for California's tribal groups. The ACCIP was created for precisely this reason. However, as Francis Paul Prucha has pointed out, "President Bush signed the bill ... 'on the understanding that the Council will serve only in an advisory capacity.'" [5] The powers of the ACCIP were extended in the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy Act of 1998 "to allow the Advisory Council to advise Congress on the implementation of the proposals and recommendations of the Advisory Council," but its influence on California Indian Policy was still limited. [6] The council has, therefore, had mixed success in helping California Indian tribes achieve federal recognition.

Efforts of the ACCIP

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the tribes that was unable to achieve federal recognition, despite the assistance they received from the ACCIP and their own rigorous efforts. On September 9, 2002, the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued its Final Determination declining to acknowledge the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe on the grounds that it failed to meet three of the seven criteria laid out in the FAP regulations. One of the criterion that the BIA determined the Muwekma Ohlone failed to meet was the requirement that,

the petitioner to have maintained political authority or influence on a substantially continuous basis from historical times until the present. The Assistant Secretary determined that the petitioner did not meet the requirements of Section 83.8(d)(3) and that it did not demonstrate that it has maintained "political influence or authority" over its members since 1927, and thus does not meet the requirements of criterion 83.7(c). [7]

The arguments BIA made against recognizing the Muwekma Ohlone have been contested by the tribe, but even without the evidence that the tribe has put forth contradicting BIA’s claims, the Final Determination completely fails to acknowledge the unique historical circumstances that prevented the Indians of California like the Muwekma Ohlone from conforming to the rigid criteria of the FAP. [8]

The ACCIP has had some success in assisting California Indian Tribes achieve federal recognition. On December 27, 2000, President Clinton signed legislation restoring federal recognition to the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria on the recommendation of the ACCIP. [9] The Graton Rancheria Tribe was one of many that was terminated by Congress in 1958. The “Termination Era” lasted from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and ended during the Nixon administration, largely the result of Indian activism and widespread opposition to the policy. In 1970, Nixon condemned the policy of termination and advocated the new policy of “Self-Determination” in a special message to Congress on Indian Affairs. Many of the terminated tribes managed to be restored through various channels, but California Indians faced special difficulties. With its access to Congress, the ACCIP made the recommendation that helped the Graton Rancheria gain recognition. [10]

Importance of recognition

Federal acknowledgment of the tribes is of critical importance because it is directly related to the other problems that the ACCIP was tasked with addressing, namely the “continuing social and economic crisis” of California Indians. As the report by the UCLA American Indian Studies Center to the ACCIP explains, “In most cases, unrecognized tribes receive no funding at all from the federal government.” Lack of recognition prevents tribes from getting access to the funding needed for programs to raise poverty levels by improving education and employment opportunities. It also places obstacles in the way of improving health care. Finally, tribes without recognition are restricted in their ability to preserve their cultural heritage in such matters as the protection of sacred sites. [4] The Advisory Council on California Indian Policy Extension Act of 1998 extended the life of the council to March 31, 2000, but for many tribes the struggle for recognition continues.

Notes

  1. 1 2 “Advisory Council on California Indian Policy,” October 14, 1992, in Documents of United States Indian Policy, ed. Francis Paul Prucha (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), 336-337.
  2. ↑ "A Second Century of Dishonor: Federal Inequities and California Tribes; a report prepared by the UCLA American Indian Studies Center for the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy," March 27, 1996. Chapter XIV. http://www.aisc.ucla.edu/ca/Tribes.htm.
  3. ↑ Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. http://www.gratonrancheria.com/news092906_6.htm Archived 2008-01-13 at the Wayback Machine .
  4. 1 2 UCLA American Indian Studies Center Report.
  5. ↑ Prucha, Documents. 336.
  6. ↑ "Advisory Council on California Indian Policy Extension Act of 1998," October 27, 1998. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas Archived 2011-04-10 at the Wayback Machine . (H.R. 3069).
  7. ↑ “McCaleb Issues Final Determination to Decline Federal Acknowledgment of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe,” September 9, 2002. http://www.doi.gov/news/020909.htm Archived 2007-10-31 at the Wayback Machine .
  8. ↑ “The Muwekma Ohlone: A Brief History and the Recognition Process.” "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2006-12-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link).
  9. ↑ “Testimony of Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, At the Hearing Before the House Resources Committee on H.R. 946, the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act,” May 16, 2000. http://www.doi.gov/ocl/2000/hr946.htm Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine .
  10. ↑ See the Graton Rancheria website. For a selection from Nixon’s message to Congress see Prucha, Documents, 256.

Related Research Articles

Bureau of Indian Affairs US government agency

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and Alaska Natives, and administering and managing over 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of land held in trust by the U.S. federal government for Indian Tribes. It renders services to roughly 2 million indigenous Americans across 574 federally recognized tribes. The BIA is governed by a director and overseen by the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, who answers to the Secretary of the Interior.

State-recognized tribes in the United States Wikipedia list article

In the United States, state-recognized tribes are Native American Indian tribes, Nations, or Heritage Groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under assorted state government laws for varying purposes. They may or may not be continually-existing tribal entities, and state recognition does not dictate whether or not they are recognized as Tribal Nations by continually-existing Tribal Nations.

The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. The tribe was officially restored to federal recognition in 2000 by the U.S. government pursuant to the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act

The Brothertown Indians, located in Wisconsin, are a Native American tribe formed in the late 18th century from communities of so-called "praying Indians", descended from Christianized Pequot, Narragansett, Montauk, Tunxis, Niantic, Charlestown, Wampanoag, and Mohegan (Algonquian-speaking) tribes of southern New England and eastern Long Island, New York. In the 1780s after the American Revolutionary War, they migrated from New England into New York state, where they accepted land from the Iroquois Oneida Nation in Oneida County.

In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, tribal nation, or similar concept is any extant or historical clan, tribe, band, nation, or other group or community of Native Americans in the United States. Modern forms of these entities are often associated with land or territory of an Indian reservation. "Federally recognized Indian tribe" is a legal term of art in United States law with a specific meaning.

Mission Indians Indigenous peoples who were forcibly relocated to missions in Southern California

Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California and the Asistencias and Estancias established between 1796 and 1823 in the Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

Gregory Michael Sarris is the Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University, where he teaches classes in Native American Literature, American Literature, and Creative Writing. He is also President of the Graton Economic Development Authority. The author of six books, Sarris's best known work, Grand Avenue (film), is a collection of short stories about contemporary Native American life. Grand Avenue is a real place located in Santa Rosa's South Park district and the stories are based on his own life. Sarris served as co-executive producer of the 1996 HBO miniseries adapted from Grand Avenue. The two part mini-series was shot entirely on location in Santa Rosa, California not far from where Sarris grew up.

Chochenyo Division of the Ohlone people of Northern California

The Chochenyo are one of the divisions of the indigenous Ohlone (Costanoan) people of Northern California. The Chochenyo reside on the east side of the San Francisco Bay, primarily in what is now Alameda County, and also Contra Costa County, from the Berkeley Hills inland to the western Diablo Range.

The United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC) is a federally recognized Native America tribe consisting mostly of Miwok Indians indigenous to the Sacramento Valley region.

Indian termination was the policy of the United States from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and policies with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society. Assimilation was not new since the belief that indigenous people should abandon their traditional lives and become what the government considers "civilized" had been the basis of policy for centuries. However, what was new was the sense of urgency, that with or without consent, tribes must be terminated and begin to live "as Americans." To that end, Congress set about ending the special relationship between tribes and the federal government.

The Graton Rancheria was a 15.45-acre (62,500 m2) property in the coastal hills of northern California, about two miles (3 km) northwest of Sebastopol. The site is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of the hamlet of Graton, population 1,815 in 2000. The area is a few miles west of Santa Rosa, the largest of Sonoma County's nine cities and the County seat, population 147,595 in 2000. It was a former rancheria for Central Coast and Central valley tribes, including the Southern Pomo, a Hokan-speaking tribe, and Coast Miwok.

Native American recognition in the United States

American Indian tribal recognition in the United States most often refers to the process of a tribe being recognized by the United States federal government, or to a person being granted membership to a federally recognized tribe. There are 573 federally recognized tribal governments in the United States. Non-Acknowledged Tribes are tribes which have no federal designation as sovereign entities. This is not to be confused with recognition of Native Americans in the US which are defined by the BIA as any descendant of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas which is a US citizen. Federally Non-Recognized tribes refers to a subgroup of non-acknowledged tribes which had some sort of recognition by the British prior to the formation of the United States or by the United States but which were determined by the government to no longer exist as an Indian tribe or no longer meet the criteria for a nation to nation status.

The Big Sandy Rancheria of Mono Indians of California is a ranchería and federally recognized tribe of Western Mono Indians (Monache) located in Fresno County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census the population was 118. In 1909, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) bought 280 acres of land for the Big Sandy Band of Western Mono Indians.

Wilton Rancheria

Wilton Rancheria is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Miwok people based in northern California. They were formed from Wilton Rancheria Miwok and the Me-Wuk Indian Community of the Wilton Rancheria. It regained recognition in 2009.

The Koi Nation of the Lower Lake Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Southeastern Pomo people in Sonoma County, California. Their name for their tribe is Koi Nation of Northern California, from their traditional village, Koi, once located on an island in Clear Lake. Koi, meaning people of water, lived on islands in the Clear Lake in what is now Lake County, California, and migrated seasonally to the California coast. The "Purvis Tract" is located on the Northwest corner of the Clear Lake. For thousands of years, the Nation lived under the Purvis Tract. In that time, the nation continued to assert its unique identity and maintain control of its area.

The California Rancheria Termination Acts refer to three acts of Congress and an amendment passed in the 1950s and 1960s as part of the US Indian termination policy. The three Acts, passed in 1956, 1957, and 1958 targeted 41 Rancherias for termination. An additional seven were added via an amendment in 1964. Including three previous terminations, 46 of the 51 targeted Rancherias were successfully terminated. Through litigation and legislation, over 30 Rancherias have been restored and at least five are still working to be.

The Nevada City Rancheria was the federally recognized land and name of the Nisenan Native American people in Northern California. The Rancheria land was obtained in 1887 by Tribal Chief Charley Cully. When he died in 1911, the land allotment was converted by an executive order of President Woodrow Wilson into the Nevada City Rancheria.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.