Phil Bradley, music instructor for the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, teaches using music for expressing emotions and overcoming challenging situations. (Margaret Starkey)
By Brian Daffron, Indian Country Today Media Network
Many people throughout the world find peace and solace through music. For the prolific writer Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., music was the only proof needed “for the existence of God.” Victor Hugo, the original author of Les Miserables, wrote that music “expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”
Former Nashville writer and studio musician Phil Bradley, an enrolled member of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, has similar philosophical insight about the need for music in our daily lives.
“I believe music helps folks reach their inner being, their soul,” Bradley says. “[Music will] reach really deep into your soul, and teach you that you’ve got something more than just working every day or going to school and coming home, and doing it again tomorrow.”
Bradley’s journey back to his Absentee Shawnee people came with the illness of his mother.
“I came back [to Oklahoma] because they said in 2000 my mom had been expected not to live, say, for a year,” says Bradley. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll come back there and visit her.’ The Lord saw fit that she live three more years.”
By February 2010, Bradley had been contacted by the Absentee Shawnee Tribe’s Behavioral Health Department and written into their Meth and Suicide Prevention Grant. For this new program, the tribe wanted to include both music and drug education. The free music program started with just one child from an abused home. Now Bradley works with more than 85 children and elders.
“There were so many youth in our communities—Native Americans—that had troubles,” says Bradley. “They came from troubled homes—alcohol and drug abuse homes. A lot of them are just thrown aside and not given a chance for anything.”
Since then, Bradley’s position has changed to where he is now the head of the tribe’s Music and Arts Department. Bradley finds himself working up to 13-hour days at times, and teaching guitar, bass guitar and piano in the towns of Shawnee and Little Axe, both of which are within the tribe’s jurisdiction in central Oklahoma. At press time, Bradley had 58 active students ranging in age from teenagers to elders in their 80s.
“The therapists have said it’s been a big benefit to the [students],” says Bradley. “I teach them to respect who they are, and that they have a gift inside them.”
The Music and Arts department’s other endeavors include raising money for their annual summer program and helping with the Meth and Suicide Prevention Walkathon, which takes place annually in October. Bradley also has plans to collaborate on a Shawnee language DVD that will be produced by the tribe.
“I teach them attitude can move mountains,” says Bradley about his style of teaching music. “It can take you places that only people can dream about. That’s our logo. It’s on my wall.”
Sonny Skyhawk, Rosebud Sioux, an accomplished actor and activist, has been asked by the U.S. State Department to serve as a Cultural Ambassador representing Indian country around the world. His first visits will likely be to South America, the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico.
As a Cultural Ambassador, Skyhawk will be for the most part an educator, sharing all aspects of Native American culture with people in other nations upon request. Talks could be geared toward, for example, indigenous peoples or the business communities of the countries he visits. He also aims to promote tourism and economic development by inviting people to come to visit reservations and traditional Indian lands within the borders of the United States.
Skyhawk is the founder of American Indians in Film and Television, and has spent his career trying to improve the depiction of American Indians in media as well as the treatment of Native actors in Hollywood.
“It is an honor to serve and represent my people, and I am humbled by the privilege,” Skyhawk said. “It is my hope to continue fostering lasting bonds of understanding amongst all indigenous cultures in the Americas, and to nurture our ancient Lakota belief, which is ‘mitakuya oyasin’ — ‘we are all related.'”
Skyhawk has appeared in 58 films and television shows, and is also author of the “Ask N NDN” feature at ICTMN.com.
MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Kiwanis Club invites the public to a special benefit concert featuring young Marysville artists and Edmonds Community College’s premier Soundsation Jazz Choir, which will raise funds for student vocational-technical scholarships.
The Kenneth J. Ploeger Kiwanis Memorial Scholarship Concert will kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 8, in the Marysville-Pilchuck High School auditorium, located at 5611 108th St. The scholarship fund was named by the Ploeger family in memory of Ken, a longtime dedicated Kiwanis member, retired Navy electronics technician and city of Marysville employee who believed in the value of scholarships for students entering a vocational trade or career. He passed away in 2007.
The evening’s talent includes performances by Marysville’s own 10th Street Middle School Jazz Band and the M-PHS Jazz Band and Choir, who will be joined by the Mountain View High School Jazz Choir from Meridian, Idaho. The night will also feature a very special appearance by the fabulous Soundsation Jazz Choir from EdCC, according to Penny Ploeger, widow of Ken, a school teacher and Kiwanian who has carried on the tradition of hosting the memorial concert as a means for raising scholarship money for students in need.
“The scholarship fund is a way for our family to give back to the community in Ken’s honor by helping young people on their first steps toward a meaningful career,” Ploeger said. “We hope you’ll join us for a spectacular night of jazz music. Soundsation Jazz Choir is the cream of the crop.”
The premier jazz choir combines vocalists, a piano, a guitar, bass and drums, and features Soundsation graduates who have moved on to become leaders in vocal jazz education and professional performance.
The concert will benefit Marysville students through technology and skills scholarships for classes or community college credits that will prepare them for employment in the public sector, according to Ploeger, who gave special thanks to Marysville School District Music Director John Rants Jr. for assembling the local bands and choirs.
Prices are $10 or a donation, and kids 12 years and younger get in for free. Donations of canned goods or other non-perishable food items for the Marysville Community Food Bank would also be appreciated. For more information, call 360-653-3646.
MARYSVILLE — Marysville Parks and Recreation is seeking musical talent and will be booking soon for the annual “Sounds of Summer” Concert Series, which is set to take place this year over the course of five Thursdays, from mid-July to mid-August.
Interested individual musicians or bands should call 360-363-8450 for details on how to submit their information for consideration in this series.
MARYSVILLE — Nine citizens are in the running to fill the vacancy on the City Council to succeed Council member Carmen Rasmussen.
The application process ended on Feb. 1. Candidates will each be granted time to give brief statements during the Feb. 11 City Council meeting at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers, on the second floor of City Hall, located at 1049 State Ave. The public is invited to meet the candidates at a reception from 5:45-6:45 p.m. prior to the start of the Council meeting.
The Council does not expect to name a successor until the Feb. 25 meeting, which will give them the opportunity to ask further questions of the candidates. All meetings are open to the public.
The candidate selected by a vote of the seated six Council members will need to file for office in the next general municipal elections in November of 2013 to retain the seat, then would fulfill the remainder of the four-year term of the position, which ends on Dec. 31, 2015.
Here is a snapshot of the nominees:
• Robert Weiss, a hydraulics system and control engineer at Boeing with more than 20 years experience who currently serves on the Marysville Salary Commission, and participated in the Marysville Police Citizens Academy.
• Marvetta Toler, a licensed realtor with Prudential Northwest Realty whose civic service includes serving on the Planning Commission, chairing the Diversity Advisory Committee, and various Marysville School District committees over the years.
• Kamille Norton, an active community volunteer who serves on the city’s Civil Service Commission and Salary Commission, and is director and founder of Marysville Select Girls Basketball.
• Scott Allen, a Boeing employee with a hospital consulting services background who currently serves on the Marysville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, and as secretary for the Kiwanis Club.
• Gregory D. Cook, a retired Navy petty officer and work center supervisor on the USS David R. Ray in Everett, as well as a former Boeing employee and neighborhood association past president.
• Cheryl Deckard, a community member who has dedicated more than 25 years to community involvement. She has served with the Washington Festival Association and the Pride of Marysville Award Program.
• James White, a Boeing employee and former corrections officer who was a gubernatorial candidate in the 2008 and 2012 elections.
• Roger Hoen, a city Planning Commissioner who has served on the Washington State Liquor Control Board and the Washington State Reduce Underage Drinking Coalition, and ran for a City Council position in 2011.
• Iris Lilly, a training specialist who trains others on how to assist disabled individuals. She is a firm believer in community involvement and seeks to be a positive role model for her son.
CHICAGO — Shootings and other traumatic events involving children are not rare events, but there’s a startling lack of scientific evidence on the best ways to help young survivors and witnesses heal, a government-funded analysis found.
School-based counseling treatments showed the most promise, but there’s no hard proof that anxiety drugs or other medication work and far more research is needed to provide solid answers, say the authors who reviewed 25 studies. Their report was sponsored by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
According to research cited in the report, about two-thirds of U.S. children and teens younger than 18 will experience at least one traumatic event, including shootings and other violence, car crashes and weather disasters. That includes survivors and witnesses of trauma. Most will not suffer any long-term psychological problems, but about 13 percent will develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress, including anxiety, behavior difficulties and other problems related to the event.
The report’s conclusions don’t mean that no treatment works. It’s just that no one knows which treatments are best, or if certain ones work better for some children but not others.
“Our findings serve as a call to action,” the researchers wrote in their analysis, published online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.
“This is a very important topic, just in light of recent events,” said lead author Valerie Forman-Hoffman, a researcher at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
She has two young children and said the results suggest that it’s likely one of them will experience some kind of trauma before reaching adulthood. “As a parent I want to know what works best,” the researcher said.
Besides the December massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, other recent tragedies involving young survivors or witnesses include the fatal shooting last month of a 15-year-old Chicago girl gunned down in front of a group of friends; Superstorm Sandy in October; and the 2011 Joplin, Mo., tornado, whose survivors include students whose high school was destroyed.
Some may do fine with no treatment; others will need some sort of counseling to help them cope.
Studying which treatments are most effective is difficult because so many things affect how a child or teen will fare emotionally after a traumatic event, said Dr. Denise Dowd, an emergency physician and research director at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., who wrote a Pediatrics editorial.
One of the most important factors is how the child’s parents handle the aftermath, Dowd said.
“If the parent is freaking out” and has difficulty controlling emotions, kids will have a tougher time dealing with trauma. Traumatized kids need to feel like they’re in a safe and stable environment, and if their parents have trouble coping, “it’s going to be very difficult for the kid,” she said.
The researchers analyzed 25 studies of treatments that included anti-anxiety and depression drugs, school-based counseling, and various types of psychotherapy. The strongest evidence favored school-based treatments involving cognitive behavior therapy, which helps patients find ways to cope with disturbing thoughts and emotions, sometimes including talking repeatedly about their trauma.
This treatment worked better than nothing, but more research is needed comparing it with alternatives, the report says.
“We really don’t have a gold standard treatment right now,” said William Copeland, a psychologist and researcher at Duke University Medical Center who was not involved in the report. A lot of doctors and therapists may be “patching together a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and that might not add up to the most effective treatment for any given child,” he said.
Stanwood Police Chief Rick Hawkins checks in with older students at Cedarhome Elementary School during recess. Hawkins visits schools in the area to help encourage at-risk youth. Photo: Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
STANWOOD — At 9 a.m. sharp, the blinds rolled up at the Stanwood Police Department.
The remodeled bank building downtown announces its tenant in two ways: old-school lettering on the windows and a wooden welcome sign outside, shaped like a goose.
Rick Hawkins has been police chief here for about a year. He’s been working to build community partnerships and revamp Business Watch and Neighborhood Watch programs.
“There’s not a lot of crime here,” Hawkins said. “It’s a good place to live, work, play and shop.”
As Hawkins drove around the city one morning last month, he saw community policing in progress — and places where more work could be done.
On one block, the chief pointed out a bank that’s added a security guard outside. In one neighborhood, somebody’s been stealing power tools. In another, city officials have been seeking grant funding to build a sidewalk to improve safety for kids walking to school.
Stanwood, a city of 6,200 in north Snohomish County, contracts with the sheriff’s office for police services.
Deputies in blue Stanwood uniforms routinely assist city parks staff with closing and opening gates, Hawkins said. They sometimes check on street lights and report burned-out bulbs.
“We’re out here. We might as well do it while we’re out on patrol,” he said.
Still, Stanwood has seen a few large-scale police incidents in past years, including a shooting at an assisted living home last week.
In March, a 3-year-old Camano Island boy fatally shot his sister with their father’s handgun in the family’s van, which was parked near City Hall. The shooting brought a lot of attention, in part because the girl’s father is a Marysville police officer. The court case just recently wrapped up. The Marysville internal investigation is ongoing.
Then, in September, the city’s uptown shopping center was shut down for hours one morning after a deputy shot and wounded a suspected serial bank robber. The suspect survived. His court case is ongoing. At least two other serial bank robbers have targeted Stanwood in recent years.
Early in 2012, Stanwood Mayor Dianne White asked Hawkins to develop a robbery prevention program, she said. She’s a pharmacist, and she knew pharmacies and banks often are targeted for holdups.
Stanwood police met with bank employees in town in the spring, Hawkins said. The FBI joined them and shared tips.
“We were building that open communication,” he said. “Part of this is just listening.”
In the fall, someone robbed a fast-food sandwich shop in town. Police since have made an arrest.
The incident alarmed Leslie Tripp, the State Farm agent for Stanwood and Camano Island. She and Hawkins serve together on the board of Stanwood’s Chamber of Commerce.
Soon after the restaurant robbery, she ran into Hawkins at a grocery store in town. She asked the chief to find a way to educate local business owners about crime prevention.
About 25 people attended the first Business Watch meeting in November, Hawkins said. They shared safety concerns and talked about security issues.
The next Business Watch meeting is planned sometime before spring, Tripp said.
Meanwhile, Stanwood police are using social media to keep people informed. The department’s Facebook page has more than 1,380 followers, the most for any police page in the county.
The day the bank robber was shot, phone calls flooded City Hall and the police station, Hawkins said. There wasn’t a lot city staff could say.
They’ve since joined Nixle, an online program where people can sign up to receive free text and email emergency alerts. Stanwood is trying to keep the alerts limited to major incidents, Hawkins said. An alert went out soon after last week’s shooting, letting people know no children had been hurt.
Hawkins’ drive through town last month took him through Copper Station, a neighborhood on the north end of Stanwood where about 100 homes are being built.
One of the first new Neighborhood Watch meetings was held there in early January, he said. About 40 people attended.
Police talked to them about when and how to report potential crimes.
About 3 the next morning, someone who had attended the meeting called 911, Hawkins said. There was a suspicious car in her neighborhood.
The “suspicious” activity turned out to be a deputy on patrol, Hawkins said. But the caller was doing what she was supposed to — keeping a lookout.
Development at Copper Station dried up during the economic downturn a few years ago, Hawkins said. Last month, construction was bustling again, with workers putting up housing frames and digging foundations.
“This is good,” Hawkins said. “This is good stuff.”
Learn how to create a yellow cedar box drum with master artist, David Boxley, Tsimshian, April 6-7, 13-14, and 20-21 at the Evergreen State College Longhouse Carving Studio
Interested participants should be carvers with experience in making bentwood boxes or wood carving.
Info: 360.867.6413 or email: GRABHORL@evergreen.edu
By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network
President Barack Obama surprised many in Washington, D.C. on February 6 by announcing his nomination of a political unknown, Sally Jewell, to become his next Secretary of the Department of the Interior after the impending exit of Ken Salazar.
Jewell, CEO of an outdoor gear and clothing company called Recreational Equipment Inc., will be expected to oversee an agency that includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and many Indian-based areas, including trust programs, education, and economic development. She is also a former commercial banker and oil company engineer longtime advocate for conservation and outdoor recreation.
So what does Jewell, 56, know about Indian country?
Not much, according to her biography, and her office hasn’t responded to queries on whether she has personally taken an interest in Indian issues in her previous positions.
On that question, the White House has also been mum, saying that her office should be contacted, but adding that she is expected to be committed to Native Americans.
“The President has clearly demonstrated a strong commitment to Indian country over the past four years, and Mrs. Jewell is deeply committed to continuing to build on our nation-to-nation relationship with Indian country,” said spokesman Shin Inouye when asked about whether the White House has investigated her experiences involving Indian country-related issues.
“She is committed to building our nation-to-nation relationship with Indian country,” echoed Obama in his nomination speech of Jewell.
One small Indian-related fact has emerged to date about Jewell’s past: While she served on the Board of Regents of the University of Washington, the group approved the construction of the university’s new $5.8 million longhouse.
Despite the seemingly thin Indian-focused resume, Indian supporters of Jewell from Washington state said her career offers some insight into the type of leader she will be if confirmed by the Senate. “Sally’s strong roots in the Seattle Area, her leadership at REI, WaMu, and the University of Washington, have given her a clear perspective on the power and culture of the many Indian nations in the area,” said Chris Stearns, a Navajo attorney with the Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker law firm in Seattle, and a former Clinton Administration official. “She has been a hands-on leader of REI who built a culture of inclusivity and respect among its employees and shareholders. DOI is a much different beast than REI, no doubt, but her leadership style and history bode well for Indian country.”
“I receive the word of President Obama’s appointment of Ms. Jewell with confidence and great anticipation that she will do an exceptional job for not only tribal nations but all people and for the wondrous natural heritage of our great country,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, in a statement. Sharp said that she has “great faith and trust that [Jewell] will understand the incredible significance of her new position to the tribal nations, and that she will always work with us to help safeguard and restore the environment, and support the rights, the heritage and the way of life of Native people.”
Some Indian organizations, while not intimately familiar with Jewell, praised her selection.
“Sally Jewell’s diverse experience in energy, conservation, and stewardship efforts, presents an exciting opportunity for the country and tribal nations to make great strides and continue the transformation of the Department of the Interior under this President,” according to a statement from the National Congress of American Indians.
“Indian tribes have much to offer regarding the deeper mysteries and wonder of this continent,” said Brian Patterson, president of the United South and Eastern Tribes organization, in a statement. “Ms. Jewell’s experience and background indicate that in a variety of ways she has this sense of wonder and sincerely seeks to understand these mysteries.”
Indian country-focused Congress members are also paying attention to Jewell’s knowledge of Indian issues, and senators plan to ask her about it during the confirmation process.
“Senator Cantwell is confident that Sally Jewell would continue the Obama Administration’s progress in strengthening the government-to-government relationship with Indian country,” said Jared Leopold, a spokesman for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. “Senator Cantwell looks forward to discussing issues important to tribes during Sally Jewell’s confirmation process.”
“Congressman Young hopes that if confirmed, Ms. Jewell shows a willingness to work with Congress on issues such as increased tribal self-governance and responsible resource development,” added Michael Anderson, a spokesman for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, and chair of the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs.
Born in Britain, Jewell has two grown children with her husband, Warren, and she is a graduate of the University of Washington.
A meeting of the legal minds: Leonhard, left, with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (Courtesy M. Brent Leonhard)
By Gale Courey Toensing, Indian Country Today Media Network
The statistics are horrifying: 34 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes and 39 percent will be subjected to domestic violence; on some reservations, Native women are murdered at more than 10 times the national average; over 85 percent of Natives who are victims of rape or sexual assault describe their offenders as non-Indian. Under the current law, tribal courts have no jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators of felony violence against Native women, and U.S. attorneys decline 67 percent of the cases referred to them.
And yet in the waning days of the 112th Congress, Republican leaders in the House thwarted the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), killing off an 18-year-old piece of legislation that included provisions that would help decrease the epidemic of violence against Native women on Indian land. The Republicans specifically opposed provisions of a Senate version of the bill passed last April that would recognize concurrent tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit violent crimes against women on Indian lands, but a House bill passed in May dropped the provision and the two bills could not be reconciled during the lame-duck session of the 112th Congress. Some Republicans claim that expanding tribal jurisdiction is unconstitutional.
But M. Brent Leonhard, a deputy attorney general for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, says nine early treaties, some of them signed by the Founding Fathers, acknowledge the inherent sovereign right of tribes to exercise jurisdiction over non-Indians in Indian country and set a precedent for extending tribal jurisdiction in the VAWA. Leonhard explored these treaties and three famous related U.S. Supreme Court Indian law cases in the article “Closing a Gap in Indian Country Justice,” published in the Harvard Law School Journal on Racial and Ethnic Justice in October 2012.
The cases are Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, Duro v. Reina and United States v. Lara, and together they provide a clear illustration of the complexity of Indian law. In Oliphant the Supreme Court ruled that tribal courts do not have inherent jurisdiction to try and punish non-Indians and may not assume such jurisdiction unless specifically authorized to do so by Congress. In Duro the justices decided that tribal governments could not prosecute Indians who were members of other tribes for crimes committed on their reservations. That didn’t go over well with the tribes and in response, Congress provided a “Duro fix” by amending a section of the Indian Civil Rights Act that specifically authorized tribes to prosecute non-member Indians as an exercise of their inherent sovereign power. The Duro fix was challenged in the Lara case, in which a majority of the justices essentially upheld it. But, says Leonhard, “it is precarious to rely solely on the Court’s holding in Lara” to support the legality of what would essentially be an “Oliphant fix”—acknowledging the tribal power to prosecute non-Indians as an exercise of their inherent sovereign power as opposed to an exercise of congressionally delegated federal power. That’s why the treaties are important.
Leonhard says he wrote “Closing a Gap in Indian Country Justice” because he had been involved in drafting the VAWA reauthorization legislation and in particular the language regarding tribal jurisdiction over non- Indians for domestic violence offences. “And certainly one of the issues that I knew would come up, which everyone knew would come up, is whether or not there’s a constitutional bar in light of Oliphant and Lara,” Leonhard says. “So I did a fair bit of research and analysis on that. I went through all the ratified treaties I could find, looking at how they dealt with criminal jurisdiction issues, and those nine treaties, the very early treaties, make it very clear that the Founding Fathers allowed tribes to exercise jurisdiction over non-Indians at least when those non-Indians were residing in Indian country.”
The treaties, Leonhard says, can be used to bolster the efforts already under way to pass VAWA in the 113th Congress. “I hope it provides more ammunition to their arguments,” he says. “If all the opponents are left with is, ‘There’s no constitutional basis to do this,’ then they don’t really have an argument.”
One of the treaties Leonhard examined is the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. In early January 1785, the Confederation Congress sent three commissioners to Fort McIntosh in Ohio country to negotiate a treaty with the Delaware, Wyandot, Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The Indian representatives were young leaders with no authority to negotiate a treaty, and according to one report, the Americans plied the young Indian warriors with alcohol and after weeks of negotiations, 13 Indians signed the Treaty of Fort McIntosh on January 21, 1785.
The treaty was a very good deal for the Americans. The Indians agreed to live under the U.S. government’s “protection” and promised not to form alliances with any “other sovereign whatsoever.” They gave up vast stretches of their land in southern and eastern Ohio, acknowledged that it now belonged to the United States and promised not to settle on any part of it. The U.S. dictated that the Indians would be confined to the western corner of modern day Ohio. The Indians accepted that the U.S. would keep army posts at strategic points and they agreed to hand over to the United States any Indian who robbed or murdered “any citizen of the United States” (Indians weren’t U.S. citizens until 1924).
But there was one provision in the treaty that respected the Indians’ inherent sovereignty: Article 5 affirmed their right to punish U.S. citizens and other non-Indians who tried to settle on Indian land. “If any citizen of the United States, or other person not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands allotted to the Wiandot and Delaware nations in this treaty…such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians may punish him as they please.”
Leonhard says that provision affirms inherent tribal sovereignty, “because it talks in terms of removing federal protections over non-Indians, and if that’s removed what remains is the tribal jurisdiction. It doesn’t talk in terms of granting federal power to tribes to prosecute non-Indians or delegated authority. So I think the authority that ends up in those cases is inherent authority.”
In “Closing a Gap,” Leonhard cites two long-standing principles that apply when interpreting Indian treaties. The first is that Indian treaties, “by their nature, reserved rights that tribal nations already had—they were a grant from Indians to the United States, not a grant of rights to Indians from the United States.” The second is that treaties are to be interpreted liberally in favor of the tribes and if there is any question about the appropriate interpretation “it must be read in a way that does not prejudice tribes.”
Leonhard’s paper also cites the first treaty entered into by the United States—the 1778 treaty with the Delaware Indians—which is even more explicit on the nation-to-nation relationship between the newly formed United States and the ancient Delaware Indian nation. “For the better security of the peace and friendship now entered into by the contracting parties, against all infractions of the same by the citizens of either party…neither party shall proceed to the infliction of punishment on the citizens of the other, otherwise than by securing the offender or offenders by imprisonment…till a fair and impartial trial can be had by judges or juries of both parties, as near as can be to the laws, customs and usages of the contracting parties and natural justice: The mode of such trials to be hereafter fixed by the wise men of the United States in Congress assembled, with the assistance of such deputies of the Delaware nation, as may be appointed to act in concert with them in adjusting this matter to their mutual liking. And it is further agreed between the parties aforesaid, that neither shall entertain or give countenance to the enemies of the other, or protect in their respective states, criminal fugitives, servants or slaves but the same to apprehend, and secure and deliver to the State or States, to which such enemies, criminals, servant or slaves respectively belong.”
This first treaty with an Indian nation shows that the U.S. “viewed tribes not just as having inherent power to punish citizens of the United States for crimes committed against the tribe”—a power that the tribe agreed in the treaty to share concurrently with the U.S. government—“but that the powers exercised by Indian nations were essentially the same as the powers exercised by the United States—they were equals as nations,” Leonhard says.
Six of the nine treaties that recognized the ability of tribes to punish non-Indians on Indian land were ratified between 1785 and 1789 by the Confederation Congress, a legislative body that included of 33 of the men who signed the Constitution. So, if the Founding Fathers acknowledged the inherent sovereignty of tribes to exercise jurisdiction over non-Indians on Indian land in treaties that have been around for more than 200 years, why do some legislators today question the constitutionality of expanded tribal jurisdiction?
“I’m not sure that the representatives in Congress are really aware of [these treaties],” Leonhard says. “I’m not sure it would change their opinion ultimately, but I think it’s a serious hurdle that they have to address if they’re going to claim that there’s a constitutional bar.”
John Dossett, general counsel of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), applauds Leonhard’s work. “I think the treaties are very strong and some of these arguments are very viable,” he says. The NCAI, a member of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women, has been a strong advocate for the VAWA, compiling talking points and fact sheets on a VAWA to counter the misinformation about expanded tribal jurisdiction website. Dossett agrees that constitutional federal Indian law is not something members of Congress are likely to know about “so we really have to educate folks, and that has been happening. I think we’re not far away from getting [VAWA] done. There’s a lot of support on both sides of the aisle, and that’s good news.”
Six years have passed since the 2007 publication of Amnesty International’s report: “Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect indigenous women from sexual violence in the U.S.A.”: “Indigenous Peoples in the U.S.A. face deeply entrenched marginalization—the result of a long history of systemic and pervasive abuse and persecution,” the report says. “Sexual violence against indigenous women today is informed and conditioned by this legacy of widespread and egregious human rights abuses. It has been compounded by the federal government’s steady erosion of tribal government authority and its chronic under-resourcing of those law enforcement agencies and service providers [that] should protect indigenous women from sexual violence. It is against this backdrop that American Indian and Alaska Native women continue to experience high levels of sexual violence, a systemic failure to punish those responsible and official indifference to their rights to dignity, security and justice.”
Native women are vulnerable to violent attacks by non-Indians who know they are untouchable by the “maze of injustice” that allows them to victimize women with impunity. Passage of the VAWA expanded tribal jurisdiction would allow tribes to hold these offenders accountable, Leonhard says. The essential question, he says, is whether or not Congress can pass a VAWA that expands inherent tribal authority. It did in Lara and I think conservative Republicans are saying now, well, we’ve got a different Supreme Court, and it’s not at all clear a majority would agree with that outcome, which may be true,” Leonhard says. “But, regardless, you’ve got these early treaties by the Founding Fathers. A conservative approach to interpreting the Constitution—like [Justice Antonin] Scalia’s originalism—is you look at what the original intent of the Founding Fathers was with regard to those provisions in the Constitution, and when you do that and you see they already ratified nine treaties that expanded the inherent powers of tribes to include the authority over non-Indians, it’s just a given that there’s no constitutional bar to passing the VAWA.”
***
Treaties
Brent Leonhard has found numerous treaties between the United States and tribal nations that explicitly recognize the power of tribes to exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian citizens of the United States. These treaties refute the claim that there is a “constitutional bar” against restoring tribal jurisdiction over criminal acts of violence against women committed in Indian country. All of the treaties can be found in Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Compiled and Edited by Charles J. Kappler,here.
Treaty with the Delaware Indians, Sept. 17, 1778. In the first peace treaty signed with the Indian nations, the United States shows the U.S. “viewed tribes not just as having the inherent power to punish citizens of the United States for crimes committed against the tribe, but that the powers exercised by Indian nations were essentially the same as the powers exercised by the United States—they were equals as nations.”
Treaty with the Six Nations, Oct. 22, 1784. This treaty recognizes that the nations exercised at least some form of de facto jurisdiction over non-Indians as an aspect of their inherent sovereign powers and contains no language suggesting that the six nations gave up any inherent sovereign power to exercise jurisdiction of any type over U.S. citizens in the future.
Treaty with the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa nations, January 21, 1785. This treaty explicitly agrees that any non-Indian who tries to settle on Indian land will “forfeit the protection of the United States” and may be punished by the Indians and that any Indians who commit crimes against the U.S. will be turned over to be punished by U.S. laws, implying that in the absence of such agreements, tribal nations could refuse to do so.
Treaty with the Cherokee, Nov. 28, 1785. This treaty is similar to the Wyandot treaty with some changes: The U.S. agreed that any of its citizens attempting to settle on Cherokee lands– including those already settled there who did not leave within six months of the signing of the treaty–would be subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the tribal nation. The Cherokee agreed to deliver to the U.S. Indians or non Indians who committed certain crimes against provided the punishment was the same as it would have been if committed by a U.S. and the U.S. agreed that any punishment of an Indian would be witnessed by the Cherokees if they so desired.
Treaty with the Choctaw, Jan. 3, 1786, Treaty with the Chickasaw, Jan. 10, 1786, Treaty with the Shawnee, Jan. 31, 1786, Treaty with the Wyandot, Jan. 8, 1789, Treaty with the Creeks, Aug. 7, 1790, and Treaty with the Cherokee, July 2, 1791, are all similar to the 1785 Wyandot Treaty.
Treaty with the Wyandots, Delewares, Shawanoes, Ottawas, Chipewas, Putawatimes, Miamis, Eel-river, Weea’s, Kickapoos, Piankashaws, and Kaskaskias, Aug. 3, 1795. This treaty expands the earlier Wyandot Treat to include language reflecting the 1790 Indian Trade and Nonintercourse Act requiring congressional approval for the transfer of Indian land. “If any citizen of the United States, or any other white person or persons, shall presume to settle upon the lands now relinquished by the United States, such citizen or other person shall be out of the protection of the United States; and the Indian tribe, on whose land the settlement shall be made, may drive off the settler, or punish him in such manner as they shall think fit; and because such settlements made without the consent of the United States, will be injurious to them as well as to the Indians, the United States shall be at liberty to break them up, and remove and punish the settlers as they shall think proper, and so effect that protection of the Indian lands herein before stipulated.”
