Nuclear Waste Facility On Tribal Land Indians example essay topic

Tribal Affiliations The injustices that happened long ago are still not fixed and need to be, because they are visible everyday through the hardships these people face. Introduction Ever since Europeans discovered America Native Americans began losing their land progressively for the next couple of hundred years following the settlement of the first Europeans. What was once a country that was dominated by the inhabitancy of Native Americans, the United States is no longer the home it once was. Native Americans during the past centuries have lost an enormous amount of land and their rights to their property and not only till recently have repercussions been taken.

Native Americans are now fighting for their land that they lost long ago in addition to water rights that many tribes need. In this paper well look at the some of the major acts that have affected Indians and also the problems that some tribes face and how some tribes are dealing with their land rights. The General Allotment Act American Indians had considerably lost much of their land during the 17th and 18th centuries but not till the 19th century were their any real big acts of congress that made the taking of Indian land legal. Indians before the 19th century had been living on reservations but not till the mid to later 1800's was the government at the height of its power to allocate Indian land to white settlers and place more Indians on reservations. One of the most influential acts of Congress that rid Indians of their land is The General Allotment Act also known as the Dawes Act. The Dawes Act did not affect Pueblo Indian tribes as it did other tribes.

(Andersen 1992: 112-115) The Dawes Act was signed into law on February 8, 1887 and contained five basic provisions. (1) India reservations would be divided and each tribal member would receive a grant of land consisting of 160 acres for each family head, a grant of 80 acres for each single person over eighteen, and 40 acres for each juvenile; (2) Indians would receive fee simple title to their individual holdings, but the land were to be held in trust by the government for twenty-five years during which time they could not be alienated; (3) The Indians would be given four years to make their selections, after which time the government would make their selection for them; (4) United Stated citizenship would be conferred upon any Indian who maintained his allotment and adopted the advantages of civilized life; and (5) un-allotted tracts of land would be declared a surplus and sold by the government. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 86) Significance of the Dawes Act Of the five provisions that are in the Dawes Act the first and the last provisions are the most important. The first provision divides the land up between the Indians, which may seem like a good idea but what occurs is that by limiting how much land each individual can receive the Indians are left with less land than they originally had. Since there is excess land now that Indians lost their land the last provision calls for the selling of surplus land. The amount of surplus land that the Indians lost was about 62,000,000 acres from the original 136,000,000 they once had.

(Lyden and Legters 1992: 88) This surplus land was then sold to homesteaders, but the fact is that the homesteaders were given better land than the Indians who were left with land that was not good for living or farming. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 89) Due to the Dawes Act the Indians lost much of their land and the land that they did possess was not very good. Present Day Claims of Land During the past 30 years Indians have began claiming their land by the masses. There are many tribes that have taken legal steps in order to acquire the land that they lost long ago. For instance in congress there are many bills being sponsored so that Indians may receive some of their land back which they lost to numerous acts of congress and broken treaties. Some present day bills that in congress are bills such as Senator Barbara Boxers California Indian Land Transfer Act, which would transfer additional lands to Californian reservations or Termination Acts During the Eisenhower administration policies were enacted to terminate certain tribes.

Terminating was a way for the federal government to assimilate the Native Americans into the white persons world. Not only was the purpose of termination to assimilate Indians but also by terminating certain tribes the government would not have to allocate money to help fund Native American reservations. During Termination tribal authority was stripped from the control of schools, public buildings and their authority. Problems Faced by Tribes that were Terminated The problems that tribes faced as a result of the Termination acts that some tribes were faced with was that many tribes that were once receiving funding from the government for schools and hospitals were not receiving funding anymore. Tribes were not able to fund themselves and again Federal assistance was needed. In addition many tribes that made money from having corporations that were run by the government were put into the hands of the Indians who had no experience in running a corporation.

Eventually the corporation that was once able to support the tribe couldnt anymore because of the management. Most of the times the corporations would have to be sold off to the whites. There were also times when tribes were forced to liquidate their assets. When many Indians liquidated their assets they had cash in their hands but they did not know how to manage their money so many Indians soon found themselves with no money or assets at all. The federal governments main purpose for termination was to assimilate the Indians and also try to help the Indians take care of themselves so that government would not have to allocate as much money to them. However termination did not lessen the allocation of money to the Indians because the Indians could not survive on their own once they were terminated so they needed Federal funding once again.

Eventually the government stopped terminating tribes and in fact those tribes that were once terminated are now recognized once again. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 90-91) Effects Upon the Menominee and Klamath Tribes In 1953 the Menominees of Wisconsin were among the most prosperous tribes in the United States with over 90 million dollars in financial assets, however the Menominees did not remain prosperous for very long. Under the Menominee Termination Act of 1954, the tribe was handed over complete responsibility for managing the tribal paper mill, and for providing its members with social services that were once provided by the government. Menominee Enterprises, Inc. was established to run the mill and each tribal member had a share in the corporation. The corporation did not last long due to the high cost of providing tribal services, poor management decisions and the loss of the tribes tax exemption.

Soon the company had to sell of its assets to pay off its debt and finally the enterprise collapsed, and banks, farms and lumber companies, absorbed the Indians remaining resources. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 90) Another group that was greatly affected by termination was the Klamath of Oregon that had similar experiences to that of the Menominee following termination of federal supervision. In August 13, 1954 the Klamath were terminated from their relation to the federal government. The termination dissolved the Klamath reservation and each Klamath received about $43,000. The Klamath did receive money but there was no lasting benefit to the majority of them because most of the Klamath spent their money of living a fancy lifestyle. Within four years after receiving the money 40% of the Klamath had no money left over.

Due to the inability of the Klamath to manage their money they had little left over. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 91) Many tribes were terminated by the federal government but eventually the government realized that termination was no a good policy. The government has now gotten rid of termination and started recognizing those that were previously terminated. Alaska Natives Settlement Claims Act In 1971 Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

The act mandated that modern profit-making corporations be established to receive cash and land award totaling $962.5 million and approximately 44 million acres of land. The 12 corporations that were founded became the tribes of Alaska. The corporations are government established and Natives and a few white professionals run the corporations. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 85-96) Some of the problems that the natives have had are poor management, institutional indifference and the lack of familiarity with white business practices. Since 1991 Natives were able to sell their stocks in the corporations and many have. A strong possibility is corporate takeover of the Indian corporations.

The Indians have the money and the resources but the fact is that they do not know how to manage them very well. Eventually if the corporations are not run the right way other companies will eventually buy out the Indians. The Alaskan Natives may soon feel the way other tribes do if they are not careful with what they have. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 85-96) Nuclear Waste Storage Over the past couple of years an increasing amount of Indian tribes have thought about the prospect of storage of Nuclear Waste on reservations. Due to the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 tribal sovereignty allows for the storage of nuclear waste on reservations. Many Native American tribes are not wealthy or have the necessities that they desire.

With many Indian that are without skills the only way for tribes to accumulate money is to use what resources they do have. In this case the resource is land. By building a nuclear waste facility on tribal land Indians will be able to acquire a great deal of money. One such tribe that has made the decision to build a nuclear waste storage facility is the Mescalero Apache Tribe. (Leonard) Mescalero Apache Tribe The Mescalero Apache Tribe lives in Southeastern New Mexico and they own a popular resort, a ski resort, casinos and they have 7,000 head of cattle. Despite all of this the majority of the tribe lives under the poverty line, a third of them are unemployed, they lack a school system and they suffer from housing shortages.

There are many complaints and worries about the decision of the Mescalero to put nuclear waste storage facility on their lands but nothing can be done about it. The decision to build the facility lies solely in the hands of the tribe. (Leonard) The Debate at Yucca Mountain Nevada During the mid 1980's the Department of Energy was searching for a site to build a nuclear waste storage facility. The DOE decided that Yucca Mountain in Nevada would be an appropriate site for building the storage facility. However many Indian tribes claimed the Yucca mountain sacred land and did not want anyone building there because it would desecrate their holy land.

Yucca Mountain though is not part of a reservation or property of any Indian tribe. A debate spurned between the government and the Native American tribes over the issue of building this facility. What emerged from this debate was a new way of dealing with land that is sacred to Indians but not officially their property. Eventually the DOE accepted that the facility would no be built at Yucca mountain based on the fact that it was a cultural site. Due to this debate Tribes are now able to stop any desecration of land if the Tribes are able to provide evidence that the land has great cultural significance. (Lyden and Legters 1992: 243-249) Controversy over Water Rights One of the largest controversies that Native Americans have besides problems over land rights is the controversy over water rights.

Water rights are very important because they determine how much water a particular tribe may receive for their land. The amount of water they receive helps determine how much of their land can be irrigated and if they are going to get enough water to farm. In the southwest water rights are a big problem because many areas have dams and the water rights give the tribes the right to divert water to their land. In addition there is much competition over water in the southwest and if a tribe gets their water rights then it means that water will be appropriated to them instead of to whites. If a tribe does obtain water rights many times they are not able to use these rights because the tribes fail to have the right machinery and tools. Currently there are many bills going through congress on the subject of water rights.

Till there is satisfaction in the Indian community Indians will continue their fight for rights. (Anderson 168-169) Conclusion Over the past couple of centuries many injustices have been committed to the Native Americans. Native Americans put their trust in us long ago but the government broke that trust by taking what the Native Americans had. They are finally fighting back for their rights and what they owned but the fight is progressing slowly.

No matter how much the Indians want their land back they will never get everything back because you cant go back into the past and undo the wrong thats been committed. Its our job to do what we can to mend the wounds that still bleed. 1. Brophy, William A. and A berle, Sophie D. 1966 The Indian University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 2.

Cook, Curtis and Lindau, Juan D 2000 Aboriginal Rights and Self Government, McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal, Canada 3. Lyden, Fremont J. and Legters, Lyman H. 1992 Native Americans and Public Policy University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 4. Emma R. Gross 1989 Contemporary Federal Policy Toward American Indians Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut. 5.

Anderson, Terry L. 1992 Property Rights and Indian Economies Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. Lanham, Maryland 6. Mitchell, Donald and Rubens on, David 1996 Native American Affairs Publisher Not Stated.