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NATIVE AMERICANS FEAR EFFECTS OF TRIBE'S PLAN TO BECOME TOWN
by Brigid Schulte, Knight-Ridder
Washington - Through centuries of war, broken treaties and court battles,
American Indians have held on to their tribal sovereignty, which many modern
Indian leaders see as the key to their social and economic independence.
But now, in a move that Indian leaders across America view with fear,
the Catawba Indian nation, a small tribe in South Carolina, is about to
surrender that right.
This fall, Congress is expected to approve a land claim settlement
that would, for the first time, turn an Indian nation into a town and make it
answer to state, rather than federal, law.
Unlike other Indian nations, the Catawba will pay state taxes and be
required to obey state laws, regulations, zoning ordinances and building
codes.
Their nation will become the Town of Catawba just across the border
from the southwestern suburbs of Charlotte, N.C.
Many of the Catawba and their advisers see the deal as the only way
to salvage some rights from an almost impossible legal tangle. But leaders
of other tribes worry about the harm it may cause.
"This is setting a very dangerous precedent. It's going to come back
and haunt us," said Eddie Tullis, chairman of the Poarch Creek tribe in Ala-
bama. "I realize we have to be conscious of political realities, but it's
really a shame that in this country, sovereignty is sacrificed for political
expediency."
Lawyers for the Colorado-based Native American Rights Fund, which
represented the Catawba, concede that the settlement could set a precedent
and give states more power over federal Indian tribes. But they say it was
the best they could get.
"It's obvious that in future settlements, (state control) is going
to be on the table," said Cathy Wilson, a Native American Rights Fund attorney
in Washington. "There may be a time when the next generation feels we sold
them out ... but the people who are quick to trash the settlement have no
ability to give the tribe anything better. It's just the politics of it."
Mark Phillips, a lobbyist for Oregon tribes, said: "
[oops!] "Sovereignty is what makes you a government; it gives you the power to
govern your people and your land. Without that, Indian tribes are just clubs."
Catawba tribal leaders say publicly that they're so small - 1,500
members - that it would be more of a burden than a benefit to set up their
own court system or enforce their own environmental regulations as most
other tribes do.
Privately, however, they and others say they were boxed in by history
and politics and had little choice in agreeing to limit their traditional
powers.
"We were concerned all along with the way the deal was structured,
but we were told all along that this was the best deal we could get," said
Atlanta lawyer Wanda Warren, a Catawba tribe member who is serving as
transition director.
The root of the Catawba's dilemma wsa an agreement by tribal leaders
in the 1960s to be "terminated," which means the federal government no longer
formally recognized the nation as a tribe.
In the years that followed, the courts and the South Carolina congres-
sional delegation turned back repeated Catawba appeals to reinstate tribal
status, a move that would have strengthened the tribe's bargaining hand with
the state.
Recently, the tribe's only leverage was the threat of filing 62,000
lawsuits against the people who now own its ancestral 144,000 acres - land
the state took in 1840 with an invalid treaty.
While that threat clouded many property titles, state officials saw
this as little more than a nuisance. They clearly had the upper hand in talks
on the Catawba's future status.
In the end, the catawba traded their sovereignty for some limited
economic rights.
For Indians elsewhere, tribal sovereignty has yielded a far richer
harvest of economic power.
The Warm Springs tribe in Oregon has used sovereignty to establish its
own power plant and upscale resort. Cherokee Nation Industries in Oklahoma
owns a company that makes wire and cable harnesses for trucks, vans, tanks
and airplanes.
And Indian gaming and high-stakes bingo operations across the country -
like the casino recently opened by the Oneida Indian Nation at Verona, N.Y.,
near Syracuse, - are expected to rake in an estimated $3 billion this year.
Under terms of their settlement, the Catawba are expected to receive
$50 million from the federal, state and local governments and private sources.
But they will not be able to give tax breaks to businesses.
The tribe will be permitted to buy up to 4,000 acres to expand its 630-
acre reservation. But the acquisition and any zoning would be subject to
approval by state and local governments.
While most tribes have their own court systems and police forces and
often have first crack at hunting and fishing, the Catawba will not. They will
be allowed to create courts for misdemeanors, but any tribal court decision can
be appealed to the state.
The settlement would allow the Catawba to run two high-stakes bingo
operations, but only if the Catawba give the state 10 percent of the gross.
Most tribes pay states nothing on their gambling take.
But to critics, the most onerous provision of the settlement is that theCatawba
would be the first tribe to be taxed directly by the state.
Sam Deloria, director of the American Indian Law Policy Institute in
New Mexico, said, "The history of this country is that, whenever the offer is
made to Indians - 'You can become a town just like us; we're interested in
equality' - it has always been a lie. That's why, after 200 years, we still
need special Indian status."
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submitted by Pat Crowe, SUNY at Buffalo