ICT is a daily digital news platform that covers the Indigenous world,including American Indians,Alaska Natives and First Nations.
Cobell v. Salazar is a class-action lawsuit brought by Elouise Cobell (Blackfeet) and other Native American representatives in 1996 against two departments of the United States government:the Department of Interior and the Department of the Treasury for mismanagement of Indian trust funds. It was settled in 2009. The plaintiffs claim that the U.S. government has incorrectly accounted for the income from Indian trust assets,which are legally owned by the Department of the Interior,but held in trust for individual Native Americans. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The original complaint asserted no claims for mismanagement of the trust assets,since such claims could only properly be asserted in the United States Court of Federal Claims.
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist U.S. federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilation of their people. These were in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereign entities. The organization continues to be an association of federally recognized and state-recognized Indian tribes.
Kevin K. Washburn is an American law professor,former dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law,and current Dean of the University of Iowa College of Law. He served in the administration of President Barack Obama as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior from 2012 to 2016. Washburn has also been a federal prosecutor,a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice,and the General Counsel of the National Indian Gaming Commission. Washburn is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma,a federally-recognized Native American tribe.
Native American self-determination refers to the social movements,legislation and beliefs by which the Native American tribes in the United States exercise self-governance and decision-making on issues that affect their own people.
Joe DeLaCruz was a Native American leader in Washington,U.S.,president for 22 years of the Quinault Tribe. He was reputed for his "thorough,in-depth knowledge of probably every Indian tribe in North America." According to Suzan Harjo,"His programs became models for Native Americans everywhere."
Pan-Indianism is a philosophical and political approach promoting unity,and to some extent cultural homogenization,among different Indigenous groups in the Americas regardless of tribal distinctions and cultural differences.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to United States federal Indian law and policy:
The Quinault Indian Nation,formerly known as the Quinault Tribe of the Quinault Reservation,is a federally recognized tribe of Quinault,Queets,Quileute,Hoh,Chehalis,Chinook,and Cowlitz peoples. They are a Southwestern Coast Salish people of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their tribe is located in Washington state on the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula. These peoples are also represented in other tribes in Washington and Oregon.
The National Council of American Indians(NCAI) was established in February 1926. The beginnings of inquiry about this council began with Zitkála-Šá(also known as Gertrude Bonnin) and Theodora Cunningham on March 1,1926. This organization's purpose was to advocate for Native American rights and representation before the United States government. The National Council of American Indians focused on the Legislative Branch and their Congressional bills. The council's initial concerns included the H.R. 7826;a bill that would give Congress the power to jail any Indian for six months without trial or any court review. In addition to this,this bill would enforce a $100.00 fine every time a rule was broken within the time served in prison,as outlined by the regulations. Zitkála-Šá,along with her husband Raymond Bonnin,founded the National Council of American Indians. They both were Yankton Sioux Indigenous people. Zitkála-Šáand Raymond Bonnin's contributions to the National Council of American Indians started with its establishment as well as its leadership.
The United States public policy agenda on issues affecting Native Americans under the Obama administration includes the signing of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010,which allowed tribal courts to extend and expand sentences handed down to them in criminal cases,strengthening tribal autonomy. Obama also supported and enforced the Executive Order 13175,which requires the federal government to consult with tribal governments when deliberating over policies and programs that would affect tribal communities. Under the Obama Administration was also the launching of Michelle Obama's program Let's Move In Indian Country,which aims to improve opportunities for physical activity,to increase access to healthy food in tribal communities,and to create collaborations between private and public sectors to build programs that will end childhood obesity in Native communities. Obama also supported tribal communities through certain provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,which allocated $510 million for rehabilitation of Native American housing,and the settlement of the Keepseagle case,a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture for discriminating against tribal communities by not allowing them equal access to the USDA Farm Loan Program. Most recently,Obama signed Executive Order 13592,which seeks to improve educational opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Natives. Obama has been praised by many tribal leaders,including those who claim he has done more for Native Americans than all of his predecessors combined.
Heather Dawn Thompson is a Lakota attorney from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Thompson serves as the Director of the Office of Tribal Relations for the United States Department of Agriculture in the Joe Biden administration.
Brian Cladoosby is a Native American leader and activist. He served as chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community from 1997 to 2020 and was elected to his first of two terms as president of the National Congress of American Indians in October 2013. He previously served as president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.
Helen Peterson was a Cheyenne-Lakota activist and lobbyist. She was the first director of the Denver Commission on Human Relations. She was the second Native American woman to become director of the National Congress of American Indians at a time when the government wanted to discharge their treaty obligations to the tribes by eliminating their tribal governments through the Indian termination policy and forcing the tribe members to assimilate into the mainstream culture. She authored a resolution on Native American education,which was ratified at the second Inter-American Indian Conference,held in Cuzco,Peru. In 1986,Peterson was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame and the following year,her papers were donated to the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives and they are now held at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Napoleon Bonaparte Johnson was born on January 17,1891,in Maysville,Oklahoma. He was the oldest child of John Wade and Sarah Johnson,who had three other children,as well. John Johnson was half Cherokee,and his wife was white,making Napoleon and his siblings one-quarter Cherokee. The father was a professional stock trader and an elder in a local Presbyterian church. John raised his son like any other native Cherokee boy and saw to it that he started his education in a local Presbyterian mission school. He moved to Claremore in 1905,which he called his home most of his life. His formal education ended with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree at Cumberland University.
Harold C. Frazier is an American politician and tribal leader who is the former Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe,serving in that position since 2014. A member of the Democratic Party,Frazier serves concurrently as the Chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association,a position he was elected to in 2018.
The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative was created in June 2021 by Deb Haaland,the United States Secretary of the Interior,to investigate defunct residential boarding schools established under the Civilization Fund Act and that housed Native American children. It is an effort to document known schools and burial grounds,including those with unmarked graves. There will be an attempt to identify and repatriate children's remains to their families or nations.
The local history of Native Americans in Washington,D.C., dates back at least 4,000 years.
The Embassy of Tribal Nations is an embassy located in Washington,D.C. that provides a center of operations to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). It was established on November 3,2009 and allowed the NCAI and other tribal groups an opportunity to meet in a designated location. The existence of the Embassy in the United States capital allows international relations between tribes and the U.S. government to be conducted close to each other.
Joe A. Garcia,also known as Sokuwa Owing Taa',was a Native American leader from the US state of New Mexico. A former governor of the Ohkay Owingeh pueblo,he served as president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) for two terms,from 2005 to 2009. He also served as chairman of the All Indian Pueblo Council. From 2009 onward,he was head councilman of the Ohkay Owingeh,formerly known as the San Juan Pueblo. An electrical engineer by profession,Garcia worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 25 years,retiring in 2003. He was also a singer-guitarist for the country music band Jed,and performed in the first Native Roots &Rhythms Festival in New Mexico in 1995.
