The time to return land to Native Americans is long overdue

[mystery-ak]

The time to return land to Native Americans is long overdue
By Michael Albertus, opinion contributor — 03/09/21 04:01 PM EST

President Joe Biden’s pick for Interior secretary, Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) will be responsible for upholding the country’s treaties with Native Americans. Haaland should use her unique position to rectify one of the most damaging early Indian policies of the United States, which sought to break down tribes and assimilate natives: the systematic dispossession of native land.

Along with the enslavement of Black Americans, this forced land dispossession is one of the country’s most significant transgressions. Many of the biggest challenges facing native communities today, from rampant poverty to lower social and economic mobility to health issues cast in high relief by the pandemic, can be traced to the attempted extermination and then assimilation of Native Americans through American land policy.

Land dispossession is at the root of contemporary property rights and landholding across the Americas. European colonizers and migrants displaced indigenous populations across the hemisphere and created exclusionary private property rights systems for themselves that ignored prior land occupants.


My research shows that many governments across the hemisphere exacerbated the problems that resulted from this initial displacement in the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries. They resettled native groups on reserves or returned selected private lands in an authoritarian fashion and structured property rights in restrictive and paternalistic ways such as withholding land titles, forcing diverse indigenous groups together into homogeneous communes and dictating how they could use their land. These policies divided communities and kept them weak and subservient to governments, facilitating enduring exploitation and manipulation.

more
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/542310-the-time-to-return-land-to-native-americans-is-long-overdue

[Fishrrman]

NO.

We fought for it.
We settled it.
We built it up.
It's ours.

If only the whites would fight for their land and their culture as the Indians once did.
The Indians realized what they were up against.
The stupid whites do not.

[jafo2010]

Off the top of my head, the only land purchased from the Indians was Manhatten.  So, does that mean we need to give back all the land to the native population?  The notion is pure horsesh*t!!!

The Indians right or wrong, were resoundly defeated in the battle between them and the endless throng of whites settling the land.  Its over.  Why do IDIOTS need to regurgitate stuff from 100+ years ago?  Makes no sense!

[The_Reader_David]

NO.

We fought for it.
We settled it.
We built it up.
It's ours.

For the most part you are right, but part of how we settled it after we fought for it was to conclude treaties with the Indians.  Abrogating those treaties and denying them their treaty rights, which has happened too often, is dishonorable and something anyone who calls himself a conservative should support redressing.

[Sled Dog]

The stone-age primitives lost the war with modern civilization.

This is called "history".    Should the Indians give back the land they stole from the Clovis peoples?  Should the Chinese give back Nepal?

Where do the people in the US go when the Indians evict them?   Should I be deported to Ireland or Germany?  Or do they cut me in to and I can go to both places?

The courts have ruled that people who have 1% indian blood (which is weird because no one can have less than 2.17% if they have any) are full indians.   But I've heard most tribes require a minimum of 12.5% (1/8) and they have denied tribal benefits to people who are 1/16 (6.25%). 

How does the court intend to implement this land reparation gimmick this time around?

[Sled Dog]

For the most part you are right, but part of how we settled it after we fought for it was to conclude treaties with the Indians.  Abrogating those treaties and denying them their treaty rights, which has happened too often, is dishonorable and something anyone who calls himself a conservative should support redressing.

Nah.

They get welfare, they get casinos. 

They want the benefits of living in America?  Then they can get their butts off the reservations, off welfare, get themselves JOBS and work for their success, just like real Americans have to do.

[LegalAmerican]

The stone-age primitives lost the war with modern civilization.

This is called "history".    Should the Indians give back the land they stole from the Clovis peoples?  Should the Chinese give back Nepal?

Where do the people in the US go when the Indians evict them?   Should I be deported to Ireland or Germany?  Or do they cut me in to and I can go to both places?

The courts have ruled that people who have 1% indian blood (which is weird because no one can have less than 2.17% if they have any) are full indians.   But I've heard most tribes require a minimum of 12.5% (1/8) and they have denied tribal benefits to people who are 1/16 (6.25%). 

How does the court intend to implement this land reparation gimmick this time around?

Indians have their own land called reservations.  THEIR OWN CASINOS.  VERY WEALTHY. The have their own business's on these lands.  That is why you can buy fire works and cigarettes for cheap, in their business.  Their own laws, and if you commit a crime it is their laws,  you are under.  Then we already give compensation, monthly, to Indians.  I wondered how a woman managed to live in my complex, without a job.  Two little dogs and drank a lot. 

[LegalAmerican]

I was there.  No one, white can have any C.EO. position.  All Indian or black.

Foxwood casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPQqqU9rWgA

[mountaineer]

I, too, am a native American- born in Pennsylvania. Gimme my land!

[LegalAmerican]

Nah.

They get welfare, they get casinos. 

They want the benefits of living in America?  Then they can get their butts off the reservations, off welfare, get themselves JOBS and work for their success, just like real Americans have to do.

Wrote mine, before I saw this.   

[mountaineer]

Now if that don't beat all. Here we take the time and trouble to slaughter every last Injun in the West, and for whut?

[sneakypete]

Off the top of my head, the only land purchased from the Indians was Manhatten.  So, does that mean we need to give back all the land to the native population?   

@jafo2010


 Yes!

Speaking as a 1/4 Tuscarora,I DEMAND that I be given ownership of Manhattan.

Buckle your seat belts boys and girls,causen deys gonna be some changes!

The Indians right or wrong, were resoundly defeated in the battle between them and the endless throng of whites settling the land.  Its over.  Why do IDIOTS need to regurgitate stuff from 100+ years ago?  Makes no sense!

Makes as much sense as anything else the Dims proprose. Which,granted,ain't saying much.

Can't wait to get my hands on all those law firms and banks.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

[sneakypete]

The courts have ruled that people who have 1% indian blood (which is weird because no one can have less than 2.17% if they have any) are full indians. 


How does the court intend to implement this land reparation gimmick this time around?

 Really? I thought it was much higher than that.

Should I demand ownership of Los Angeles,including Hollywood,too?

Woo,HOO! Can't wait to start interviewing actresses as to their suitability to get move roles! What's the sense or having power if you can't abuse it? Don't believe me,ask any congresscritter or US Senator.

Not to mention pretend President. Ok,ok. Nothing to be gained from asking an empty shell,but you get the idea.

[sneakypete]

NO.

We fought for it.
We settled it.
We built it up.

@Fishrrman

What's this "We"stuff,white man?

[andy58-in-nh]

I say: let's give Manhattan back to our Native American brethren.

They can hardly do worse than those who are now running it.

And perhaps, they might negotiate a deal with Donald Trump to turn his 5th Avenue tower into a casino.   

[PeteS in CA]

Shill on, The SHill!

[Wingnut]

Now if that don't beat all. Here we take the time and trouble to slaughter every last Injun in the West, and for whut?

 

I say: let's give Manhattan back to our Native American brethren.

They can hardly do worse than those who are now running it.

And perhaps, they might negotiate a deal with Donald Trump to turn his 5th Avenue tower into a casino.   

It ain't even  worth a measly $24 worth of beads and trinkets anymore.  Hell let the Redskins have the place.  Start a Football team or sumetin.

[goatprairie]

What happened to American Indians is what happened to countless groups of more primitive peoples in world history. They got conquered by a superior culture.
That happened to my ancestors in eastern Europe who got conquered by the Romans several thousand years ago and were introduced to modern roads, sanitation, written laws, etc. re: Monty Python, "what have the Romans ever done for us?" They also made many Slavs slaves from which the word slave is derived from.
Should I demand reparations from the Romans i.e. modern-day Italians for making many of my ancestors slaves?
Do Aminds want to go back to the days of hunting buffalo or raiding other Indian tribes? I doubt it.
Time for them to admit they were beaten and join the rest of the world.

[mikezpen]

Indians conquered other Indians and took land and possessions.Indians Are human, no better than us.

[Sled Dog]

Really? I thought it was much higher than that.

No.  There was an adoption case ten years ago or so, in which a girl was adopted by evil white people and the Navajo tribe sued claiming that the law says that aborigines must be raised by the tribe.   Their basis was the child's 1% DNA impurity and thus was the little girl snatched from a loving home that was going to raise her to be an American with a job and a life in civilization and thrown into a squalid life on the reservation, all so one indian guardian could get a government check.

[sneakypete]

No.  There was an adoption case ten years ago or so, in which a girl was adopted by evil white people and the Navajo tribe sued claiming that the law says that aborigines must be raised by the tribe.   Their basis was the child's 1% DNA impurity and thus was the little girl snatched from a loving home that was going to raise her to be an American with a job and a life in civilization and thrown into a squalid life on the reservation, all so one indian guardian could get a government check.

@Sled Dog !

Yup,and there is the Bullseye in bold.

Or more likely,ANOTHER check.

[GtHawk]

The stone-age primitives lost the war with modern civilization.

This is called "history".    Should the Indians give back the land they stole from the Clovis peoples?  Should the Chinese give back Nepal?

Where do the people in the US go when the Indians evict them?   Should I be deported to Ireland or Germany?  Or do they cut me in to and I can go to both places?

The courts have ruled that people who have 1% indian blood (which is weird because no one can have less than 2.17% if they have any) are full indians.   But I've heard most tribes require a minimum of 12.5% (1/8) and they have denied tribal benefits to people who are 1/16 (6.25%). 

How does the court intend to implement this land reparation gimmick this time around?

The courts can rule as they want on who is an indian but the only courts that matter and have standing as to who is a member of a tribe are tribal courts and I believe their standards are a might higher. So someone might be able to tap into federal benefits but that doesn't mean jack when it comes to tribal money.

[jmyrlefuller]

The tribes that actually had their land stolen, often by the extant tribes of today, no longer exist. Either they died of plague (like the Patuxet) or were conquered (like the Wenro).