"The usurpation of the basic industry of the Blackfeet Tribe, the cattle industry, is a clear violation of a treaty goal of the 1896 Agreement/Article Five. There was no "taking" of the Blackfeet allotments by the United States, but rather a series of land thefts by local whites, and corporations, accomplished with the complicity of the Interior Department, and state and county government officials. The Blackfeet lands, whether tribal or allotted, are the private property of the Blackfeet Indians, not public lands of the United States. These lands form the economic and governmental base for the Blackfeet Tribe, and must be preserved, as are public lands held by federal, state, county governments, and private property of white citizens. The Blackfeet treaty lands form the basis for the well established "government to government" political relationship between the Blackfeet Tribe and the United States Congress. The plenary powers of Congress cannot sanction thefts of Blackfeet land."
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.3-4
No comments:
Post a Comment