Louis Hill
“bedevils” the Blackfeet Indians
The
newly formed Blackfeet Tribal Business Council was organized in 1935 under the
1934 Indian Reorganization Act; the Blackfeet Constitution and Corporate
Charter. The Interior Department and Montana
border-whites were frustrated by traditional Blackfeet leadership in opposing
tribal land cessions and exposing corrupt Indian Service practices and by the Blackfeet
Chief’s ability to bring the peculations of Indian affairs to the attention of
Congress, sparking investigations of misconduct and criminal racketeering on
the reservation and outrage in the newspapers of the nation.
On September 25, 1944 Chairman John Sharp wrote
the Hon. James F. O’Conner, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Indian
Affairs; on the subject of better administration and development of Blackfeet
Indian Resources and Economic Welfare. Blackfeet Chairman John Sharp reported
on several points of contention relating to the “dictatorial powers of the
Indian Bureau which does not work for the Indians but for outside interests.
Members of the tribe who cater to these dictatorial powers receive special
privileges and they in turn, protect the officials in their nefarious
activities. Any members of the tribe who, recognizing these corrupt practices
and nefarious activities, attempts to expose such conditions to the tribe and
tries to correct them are persecuted by these Indian Bureau officials, denied
many privileges granted in the Wheeler-Howard Act, such as loans, leases,
issuance of cattle; rehabilitation benefits and employment.”
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.154-155
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.154-155
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