/* Written 11:56 am Sep 2, 1992 by nec in cdp:ecotopia.news */
/* ---------- "ECONEWS, September 1992" ---------- */
Freedom Law Key To Indigenous Struggle
by Tim McKay
>From Brazil to Table Bluff indigenous peoples are struggling to
protect their sacred sites and the larger environment from
destruction.
The issues are diverse. For those who have migrated to cities,
economic programs may be a priority. But for those who still live
in the land of their creation myths, cultural survival is the key
goal. For example, federal records show that 15 of 17 study sites
for a possible high-level nuclear waste dumps are on Indian lands.
Protection for contemporary native life involves preservation of
language, documentation of oral histories and safeguarding sacred
sites.
Those working to preserve native religions believe that amendment
of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) is of
critical importance.
Local Proof
The weakness of AIRFA was proved in the North Coast confrontation
pitting the Forest Service against native tribes and environmental
groups over agency efforts to build a paved forest highway through
sites used by Yurok, Karuk and Tolowa peoples.
The effort to halt the so-called Gasquet-Orleans (G-O) Road on the
Six Rivers National Forest resulted in 16 years of administrative
appeal and litigation. The result was the adverse Lyng v.
Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association (NICPA) ruling
that came out of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988.
Although the G-O Road itself was ultimately banned by an act of
Congress, Lyng v. NICPA gutted AIRFA by saying that the First
Amendment doesn't bar the government from taking actions on public
lands that would destroy a religion.
To remedy this defect, an American Indian Religious Freedom
Coalition for amendments to AIRFA was formed and reached out to
national environmental groups at a meeting in Washington.
Restoring The Earth
Author Vine Deloria said, "We are on the edge of an explosion of
passion... that will demand fundamental changes... not just to
renew the Endangered Species Act, but to restore the Earth. (A
vision) twice as powerful as the values of the civil rights
movement of 30 years ago... we are talking about whether or not to
have a natural world anymore."
The AIRFA coalition has drafted legislation that would provide
protection for sacred sites on federal lands, evaluation for
possible return of sacred sites to tribes, allow traditional use
of peyote, afford religious rights for Native American prisoners,
and allow religious use of eagles.
Many of the same concerns expressed in Washington were echoed at
the World Conference of Indigenous Peoples near Rio in the week
prior to the recent Earth Summit. The delegates claimed wider
responsibility as stewards of the Earth.
At conference after conference the theme that repeats is that the
natural world that sustains native peoples is under devastating
assault from logging and flooding of the rain forests, nuclear
testing and storage of nuclear wastes, dams in Quebec and
geothermal development in Hawaii.
Local Resistance
On the North Coast, a center for indigenous culture in North
America, the remnant peoples of the region's native cultures
continue their resistance to the dominant culture.
On the southern end of Humboldt Bay, the Wiyot tribe of Table
Bluff has started work on a new 102-acre village, culmination of a
32-year effort begun when the federal goverment attempted to
terminate the tribe.
Wiyot survivors (600 or so remain) also are asking for portions of
Indian Island in Humboldt Bay to be turned over to the tribe. The
island was the site of a massacre on February 26, 1860, when
pioneer Humboldters murdered some 60 sleeping Wiyot children,
women and men. Comments can go to Eureka City Council, 531 K
Street, Eureka, CA 95501.
The Wiyots want the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to put the
Island into federal trust status, and would like a place available
for reburial of Wiyot remains.
The Karuk people of the Salmon River are urging the Forest Service
to return certain lands to their recently recognized tribe.
Central to their efforts is acquisition of Ka'tim'iin (God's
Mountain).
Klamath National Forest had agreed to transfer the mountain to the
tribe, but during recent conflict over the Salmon River allotment
of the Tripp family--who claim to go back 1,500 years on the
river--the Forest Service backed off from its earlier agreement.
Yuroks Struggle, Seek Name
In the wake of the 1988 Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act, the Yurok
tribe is working to establish a constitution and basic services
for its members. The EPA recently declared water on part of the
Yurok Indian Reservation at Requa unfit to drink.
The tribe is even searching for a new name. Robley Schwenk,
chairman of the constitution committee, says that "Yurok is a name
given us by another tribe. We call ourselves Downriver." Tribal
members can submit ideas and comments by calling 1-800-848-8765.
Farther afield, indigenous Canadian Inuit people recently voted to
form Inuktituk, a homeland larger than Alaska and California
combined, out of lands between the Northwest shores of Hudson Bay
and the Arctic Ocean.
In Minnesota, the Chippewa tribe is buying back its historic
tribal lands one piece at a time. Today only 7% of the land is in
Chippewa hands.
In Montana, the Crow tribe finds itself in the midst of the battle
over wilderness. The state's Crazy Mountains contain sites sacred
to the Crow but timber sought after by Montana's Brand S Lumber
Company. Montana residents reportedly favor protection of
wilderness by a wide margin even if it costs jobs, according to
polls by the Billings Gazette.
(From ECONEWS, Newsletter of the Northcoast Environmental Center,
September 1992. Write 879 9th St., Arcata, CA 95521, or e-mail
nec@igc.apc.org, for a free copy.)