Robert C. Juneau Glacier Reporter Letter to the Editor

To the Editor: 
I was reading Chapter IV Federal Indian Identification Policy A Usurpation of Indigenous Sovereignty in North America by M. Annette Jaimes in a book called The State of Native America edited by M. Annette Jaimes and on page 123-124 it says,"Contrary to virtually universal practice, the United States has opted to preempt unilaterally the rights of many North American indigenous nations to engage in this most fundamental level of internal decision making. Instead, in pursuit of the interests of their own state rather than those of the nations that are thereby affected, federal policymakers have increasingly imposed "Indian identification standards" of their own design. Typically centering upon a notion of "blood quantum"-not especially different in its conception from the eugenics code once adopted by nazi Germany in its effort to achieve "racial purity," or currently utilized by South Africa to segregate Blacks and "coloreds" this aspect of U.S. Policy has increasingly wrought havoc with the American Indian sense of nationhood (and often the individual sense of self) over the past century. The more than 370 formally ratified treaties entered into by the United States with various Indian nations represent the basic real estate documents by which the federal government now claims legal title to most of its land base. In exchange for the lands ceded by Indians, the United States committed itself to the permanent provision of a range of services to Indian populations (i.e., the citizens of the Indian nations with which the treaty agreements were reached), which would assist them in adjusting their economies and ways of life to their newly constricted territories." On page 4 of my father Bob Juneau's book The Sacred Buffalo Vision published on Amazon.com it says,"The Blackfeet Indians have one of the strongest treaties in the United States, having signed what the Congress of the United States defines as a "negotiated treaty" a "bought and paid for reservation"meaning that we paid for our reservation with land cessions to the United States. The Blackfeet Indians are a "distinct political class" set apart from and above the State of Montana. The Blackfeet Indians have a direct federal-tribal delivery system to receive treaty obligation funds appropriated by the Congress. Indian monies generated from individual Indian trust property are administered by the executive branch, through the Interior Department and Bureau of Indian Affairs." This means that for every Blackfeet Descendant that gets Enrolled the Blackfeet Tribe will get more Federal funding for each new member. They will also retain the tribal land base when the Descendants inherit the land from their parents. The way to accomplish this is for the Enrolled Blackfeet Members to sign the B.E.A.R Petition and allow the issue to come to a Secretarial Vote. You can find more information on the B.E.A.R Petition or obtain a copy of it on Facebook on the Blackfeet Descendants Group or B.E.A.R (Blackfeet Enrollment Amendment Reform) or by contacting Deena McDonald at (406)450-3645.