|
O'siyo Brothers and Sister!
In this issue there are several
references to how new passport regulations fly in the face of tradtional
free border passage granted U.S. Indian Tribes and Canadian First
Nations. While this is all quite true, it ignores a very real threat I
spoke of in the Volume 15 (this year) Issue 3 editorial - George W. Bush
very much wants to abolish the Jay Treaty.
Apparently, this is a Bushism that is flying under a lot of personal and
tribal radar. For this reason, I am going to repeat much of what I wrote
in the previous editorial regarding this affront to Indian Peoples. I am
asking every single person who reads this to make sure it gets in the
hands of at least one other Native person and/or one Congressional
representative, with the clear message that abolition of Article III of
the Jay Treaty (Jay's Treaty) only robs border Native Peoples of the
needed free passage. It does little or nothing to enhance Homeland
Security. [A Kiowa elder once told me the longer he hears those two
words used together, the sooner we will have neither. He's right.]
---- excerpted from Wotanging Ikche Volume 15, Issue 003, editorial:
Aboriginal rights Article III of the Jay Treaty declared the right of
aboriginal peoples (people indigenous to Canada and/or the US) to trade
and travel between the United States and Canada, which was then a
territory of Great Britain. This right was restated in section 289 of
the 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act: Nothing in this title shall
be construed to affect the right of American Indians born in Canada to
pass the borders of the United States, but such right shall extend only
to persons who possess at least 50 per centum of blood of the American
Indian race.[1]
Article III is the very article President George W. Bush is determined
to nullify. Please read the following from the August 28, 2006 issue of
Indian Country Today. The entire article is available at
http://www.kumeyaay.com/news/news_detail.html?id=4058
NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS
RESPONDS TO BORDER CONCERNS
08/28/2006 - Tucson Arizona
by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today
The Bush administration recently initiated efforts that would
nullify the benefits of the Jay Treaty, which recognizes the right
of border passage to indigenous peoples at the northern border;
further, the administration planned to press for new laws to require
DNA tests to determine Indian blood, according to Louis Guassac,
executive director of the Kumeyaay Border Task Force.
"The Indian tribes said, 'No way,'" Guassac said, speaking at a
border workshop hosted by the Alianza Indigena sin Fronteras/Indigenous
Alliance Without Borders in Tucson.
Guassac said that in response to these plans of the Bush
administration and other new regulations for border-crossers, the
National Congress of American Indians has passed two resolutions.
The resolutions call on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to
enter into government-to-government consultation with Native tribes
on border issues, including consultation on a proposed national
Indigenous Identification Card for border pass and re-pass.
It is essential to the Native Nations along
both borders that these rights of passage be retained.
It seems many Native peoples are blind to the importance of yet one more
Treaty right being taken away, because this particular treaty right does
not directly impact them or their nations. They are not a border tribe
with relations on both sides of the border. Their tribe does not have
trade with Canada or Mexico, nor do they as individuals plan to travel
regularly to either country.
What these people do not understand is political momentum. Each time a
right, especially a sovereignty right (which this is) is removed, it
creates an easier path for the next sovereignty right...and the
next...and the next, until all tribal sovereignty is gone.
Dohiyi Ani Oginalii
Gary Smith (*,*)
wotanging@bellsouth.net
P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org
Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w===
http://www.nanews.org
|
CONTENTS LIST OF ARTICLES IN
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 010
FOR ARTICLES GOT TO
WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News
Editorial Section: . Abolishing The Jay Treaty
- Money Awaits American Indians
- American Indian Traditions To Help Soldiers Heal
- Tulsa, Tribes Reach Out
- Cherokee Nation Special Election Results
- Native American Center Lacks Money To Stay Open
- Lawmakers Want Committee For Indian Issues
- Tribe Gets Say On Wind Farm
- EPA Tells State Uranium Mines Are On Indian Land
- Tech Tidal Wave Heads Toward Tribe
- Conversation: Presidential Candidate Richardson
- Language Loss Can Be Reversed
- Language As Old As The Hills
- Keweenaw Community Seeks To Save Ojibwe Language
- Giago: A View From South Dakota, The 'Red' State
- Jodi Rave: Weaving A Story
- Cuthand: Passport Restrictions Fly In Face Of Tradition
- Opinion: Alaska Natives Know More About Wildlife
- Jodi Rave: Environmental Racism Expert To Speak
- Yellow Bird: arrior Woody: A True Hero
- Cook-Lynn: ecolonization Of American Indians
- Pararamilitaries Invade And Pillage
- Ecopetrol Ordered To Halt Production On Bari Land
- Support Return Of Nukak-Maku To Ancestral Lands
- AFN Lobbies For Exception To Border Rules
- Caledonia Negotiations ear Turning Point
- One Year After Six Nations Reclaimed Douglas Creek
- Toronto Butts Up Against The Iroquois Curse
- Businesses Urged To Help Create Jobs On Reserves
- Natives Underfunded, Neglected By Feds: Group
- Inquiry Into The Death Of Frank Paul
- First Campaign Barbs Tied To Peltier
- Peltier Denied Access To FBI Documents
- Native Justice -- Tracking Crimes On Indian Land
- Rustywire: You Are Not Navajo
- Lee Goins Poem: Meadow Of My Mind
|
Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the
body count continues to pile up daily. Meanwhile, the Minutemen patrol
the U.S.-Mexico border and shameless politicians find it easy to
denounce illegal immigration as the cause of all the nation's problems -
including linking it with "the war on terror."
Amidst all the clatter, the only views not being heard are the ones that
matter most. Thus here, we bring you a truly historic column,
featuring the views of those that have come before us to these lands:
American Indians:"Indigenous peoples
are brothers and sisters, regardless of which side of the line drawn in
the desert sand they are from. Our historic relations pre-date any
European conquest. Our 'free trade' was much less conflictual, and was
on more of an equal basis. Corporate 'free trade' is the driving force
behind American politics and international actions.... It continues to
be, contradictory to the interests of humanity." woliwon chi miigwech,
-- Karen S., Ypsilanti |