CONTENTS Page Ammeter, Albert "Buddie," Snohomish Tribal Council. Baker, Richard, team leader, American Indian and Alaskan Native Pro- Blackwell, Charles, American Indian Tribal Government and Policy Lester, David A., Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans, 36 Thomas, Eric, member, Narragansett Tribe. Tullis, Eddie, chairman, Poarch Band of Creeks.. STATEMENT RECEIVED FOR THE RECORD (III) FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT PROCESS MONDAY, JUNE 2, 1980 U.S. SENATE, SELECT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C. in room The select committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., 5110, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator John Melcher (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senator Melcher. Staff present: Max I. Richtman, staff director; Jo Jo Hunt, counsel; Susan Long, professional staff; and Lynn Toledo, secretary. Senator MELCHER. The committee will come to order. The purpose of this hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs is to hear testimony from nonfederally recognized Indian tribal representatives, government agencies, and other interested parties regarding the administrative process for the Federal acknowledgment of Indian groups and the operation of the Federal acknowledgment project within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. With the promulgation of rules and regulations establishing the administrative process for Federal acknowledgment found in part 54 of title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Congress delayed any passage of legislation establishing such a process in order to allow the administrative process an opportunity to work. However, this committee has been advised of only one petition that has been fully processed for the Federal acknowledgment of a single tribe since the final rule became effective in October 1978. In addition, only a fraction of the nonfederally recognized Indian groups have submitted petitions in this 21-month period. These facts indicate that Congress needs to take a careful look at the process and ascertain the reasons it is not working in a more timely fashion. The purpose of this hearing is to do just that. In addition to information regarding the project and the administrative process established for acknowledgment of Indian groups, the committee is also interested in receiving testimony and information regarding technical assistance and financial resources available to such Indian groups, which might be used in the onerous task of development of petitions and supporting documents. The first group of witnesses we will hear this morning are La Donna Harris, president of Americans for Indian Opportunity of Albuquerque; Eugene Crawford, executive director of the National Indian Lutheran Board of Chicago; and Charles Blackwell of the American Indian Tribal Government and Policy Consultants, Inc., of Albuquerque. (1) If these witnesses will please come to the table, we will be glad to hear from you. STATEMENT OF LADONNA HARRIS, PRESIDENT, AMERICANS FOR INDIAN OPPORTUNITY, ACCOMPANIED BY EUGENE CRAWFORD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INDIAN LUTHERAN BOARD; AND CHARLES BLACKWELL, AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT AND POLICY CONSULTANTS, INC. Ms. HARRIS. Good morning. Thank you for inviting us to participate in these hearings and thank you for having them. We think this is very important work and we also feel it is very important to give it this kind of recognition. You have introduced the two gentlemen who are with me. The reason we are giving our testimony in a group is because the three organizations have been working together, cooperating, and giving technical assistance to the Indian communities for their Federal recognition. Americans for Indian Opportunity became involved through the leadership of the National Indian Lutheran Board in offering technical assistance. We found that the technical assistance we were giving in interpreting the regulations was helpful, but by leading the community in one direction and then deserting them-we felt that we were deserting them after the fact. That is, after the Federal regulations were interpreted and we felt good that we had gone and visited all these people, we got home and felt a sense of guilt that after the trips, we left many communities out there trying to achieve and retrieve all the information for Federal recognition. We felt we had left them out on a limb. Therefore, when we recognized that we had more of a responsibility than we had performed, we decided to meet with ANA, the Administration for Native Americans, Community Services Administration, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We called a joint meeting with these organizations, including NARF, the Native American Rights Fund, to see what their reactions were, what they were doing in the area, and what might be done in the future. We think that this hearing will lead to a solution. We have asked Mr. Blackwell to give our oral presentation at this time, so I would like to turn the microphone over to Charles Blackwell. Senator MELCHER. Without objection, your entire printed testimony will be included in the hearing record at the end of your panel's testimony. Mr. BLACKWELL. As Mrs. Harris told you, we have chosen to testify jointly because our organizations have worked so closely together to assist nonfederally recognized Indian people as they attempt to enter into the Federal trust relationship. In doing this, we have traveled from one coast of this country to the other and we have been privileged to meet California Indian people whose grandparents became silent hill shadows to escape being murdered during the genocide period of the late 19th century. For them to have been recognized would have been for them to die. We have met distant members of our very own families in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia who, intentionally or unintentionally, had the pleasure of missing the Trail of Tears only to be presumed nonexistent except they do exist. Some of them are in this room today. We have met Indian people in New England who were presumed to have melted too long before our Federal Government was even formed for them to have been regarded as Indians after the War Department later began to make those legal distinctions. But, they are still here! They say so, and so do the courts! With the appearance of the Federal recognition regulations, these thousands of our Indian brothers and sisters have a viable opportunity to become beneficiaries of the Federal trust relationship and have their lands and natural resources protected, their children educated in Federal classrooms, their babies born in Federal hospitals, and to be able to enjoy Indian preference in employment. They have the opportunity to become fully recognized members of the American Indian community in this country without the presence of the unspoken stigma of second class Indians. Ironically, the very things which have kept many of them isolated, separated, and not federally recognized also makes it very difficult for them to perform the necessary tasks to achieve Federal recognition. Generally, as tribal groups, they are poor and naive about how to deal with State institutions and Federal agencies in order to utilize the opportunity presented in 25 CFR 54. It was the awareness of these impediments and our commitment to the improvement of the quality of life for Indian people generally which stimulated each of us through our organizations to become involved in the effort to assist these people as they endeavor to enter into the Federal trust relationship. We have disseminated information about the regulations and the required contents of petitions. We have recruited professional expertise and have attempted to secure funding to defray expenses which naturally arise when monumental efforts such as these are made. We are submitting, as written testimony, a summary of the joint activities our organizations have undertaken in the last year and we will not outline those in detail unless you so desire. We would like to comment today, however, on the fact that on October 1, 1978, when the present regulations became final, the Federal Government entered into a quasi-trust relationship with all nonfederally recognized Indian people until a final determination is made regarding their status. This quasi-trust relationship mandates that the Federal Government administer and implement the regulations in an expeditious and objective manner in keeping with the uniqueness of the situation. Such a manner certainly suggests that the Federal recognition process should be free from the potential for political pressure from tribes and individuals who are federally recognized and feel that, for economic reasons, no more tribal groups should be under Federal supervision. We agree that this creates a hardship for those Indian people who are already federally recognized and receiving services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Because of that potential and other administrative obstacles inherent in any Federal agency program, we recommend that the au |