Virginia Indian tribes seek U.S. recognition
mike
http://www.washingtontimes.com
Virginia Indian tribes seek U.S. recognition
Wayne Adkins knows who he is, even if the federal government doesn't.
The soft-spoken assistant chief of Virginia's Chickahominy Indian
Tribe can recount the history of his people — how the past 400 years
have been filled with displacement and discrimination, how some say
the state once tried to eradicate records of their existence and how
all of this happened despite their efforts to help America's first
settlers survive.
In May of 1607, Capt. John Smith landed at Jamestown. Six months
later, he came to the Chickahominy hoping to trade corn.
"It was probably fortunate for him, because we were known for being
great growers of corn anyway," Mr. Adkins said.
That history is a driving force behind the decade-long efforts of the
Chickahominy and five other tribes to gain federal recognition through
congressional legislation. The status would grant them access to
millions of dollars in funding and grants that could increase
educational opportunities and provide greater health benefits for
tribal members.
But in a time of billion-dollar federal bailouts, many Virginia
Indians say money isn't what their quest is about.
"It means that the struggles that we've gone through and the
difficulties we've had over 400 years, it means something," said Chief
Ken Adams of the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, based in King William County.
"We have never shied away from our responsibility to this country, and
this country needs to live up to its responsibility to us — and put it
on paper."
'A matter of pride'
The effort of the Chickahominy, Chickahominy Eastern Division,
Nansemond, Rappahannock and Upper Mattaponi tribes, along with the
Monacan Indian Nation, has been led by Rep. James P. Moran and
championed by other state leaders, including Sen. Jim Webb and Gov.
Tim Kaine.
Mr. Moran, a Democrat, initially introduced legislation granting the
tribes federal recognition in 1999 but was unsuccessful then and in
subsequent sessions of Congress.
Last year, a version of the legislation passed the House — the first
time it had cleared a congressional chamber — but died after a
September hearing before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,
though chairman Sen. Byron Dorgan said then that he hoped the
committee would "take action" early in 2009.
Progress on the bill this year has been steady so far, if not swift.
Mr. Moran again introduced the legislation March 9, and the bill was
heard by the House Committee on Natural Resources nine days later.
The committee unanimously voted to pass the bill April 22, clearing
the way for it to be sent to the House floor.
"Frankly, it's a matter of pride. And pride is the greatest motivator
really," Mr. Moran told The Washington Times. "You want to be
recognized. It's a legacy they want to leave for their children and
grandchildren."
Mr. Webb introduced the Senate's version of Mr. Moran's bill in 2008.
A spokeswoman for Virginia's senior senator said members of Mr. Webb's
office in February accompanied Mr. Dorgan's committee staff on visits
to the tribal grounds of those seeking recognition.
"Our office continues to work with the committee to lay the groundwork
in preparation for introduction of the federal recognition legislation
in the Senate," Webb spokeswoman Jessica Smith said.
The recent legislative progress has bred optimism among members of the
affected tribes, although they remain cautious — perhaps because of
the pace of a government battling other priorities, or perhaps because
their history has taught them the pitfalls of trusting too much.
Mr. Adkins said his tribe — allies of the great chief Powhatan, whose
daughter, Pocahontas, married Virginia tobacco pioneer John Rolfe —
signed its last treaty with the local colonists in 1677.
Through the years, colonial expansion and trading led to lost
homeland, until the Chickahominy began to migrate to their current
location, based in Providence Forge halfway between Richmond and
Williamsburg.
More recently, in the halls of Congress, the possibility that the
tribes were seeking federal recognition to make a foray into the
gambling industry led to concerns from lawmakers like Rep. Frank Wolf
and former Sen. John Warner, Virginia Republicans.
The bill now prohibits the tribes from entering the gaming industry,
Mr. Moran said. Mr. Wolf said he cautiously supports the measure but
is worried about what may happen regarding gambling if the bill
reaches a conference committee.
"I will vote for it, although I am worried that there'll be a bait and
switch," Mr. Wolf told The Times. Mr. Adkins said that worry always
has been irrelevant for groups that consider themselves deeply
religious. Across from the Chickahominy Tribal Center in Providence
Forge is a red-brick Baptist church that at one time housed an Indian
school and now has more than 200 members.
"I know we're in a better position than we've ever been in, but
there's always something out there that could trip us up," Mr. Adkins
said of the pending legislation.
The preferred method
There isn't a single route to earning federal recognition: Of the 562
federally recognized tribes in the United States, a vast majority have
gained the status through past treaties with the American government,
the passage of a statute or the issuance of an executive order.
However, in 1978, the Department of the Interior set up what some see
as the preferred process for tribes to gain recognized status, in
order "to acknowledge that a government-to-government relationship
exists between the United States and tribes which have existed since
first contact with non-Indians," according to a 1997 document of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is in charge of the process.
"There had to be some kind of accountability if there was a system set
up where members of an Indian tribe were to benefit," said Lee
Fleming, head of the Office of Federal Acknowledgment within the
bureau and a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. "It's a
process that requires documentation so that an informed decision can
be made regarding these groups."
The bureau's process requires tribes to meet a list of seven stringent
criteria that mandates they validate their existence throughout
American history with extensive documentation like birth records,
marriage licenses, membership lists and censuses. Other areas of proof
can include records tied to individual tribal members, like a family
Bible.
The tribes submit such evidence to the acknowledgment office, which
works to validate the claims and make a final determination through a
process that involves technical review and is subject to appeal.
On average, it takes roughly eight years for tribes to fully develop
their petition for federal acknowledgment and nearly five years for
the office to make a decision, according to data analysis by the
Government Accountability Office.
The data-gathering process can cost $830,000 annually, according to
2006 data published in the Federal Register. Since its inception, the
Department of the Interior has granted acknowledgment to 16 tribes and
denied it to 28 others.
Some of the tribes included in the Moran bill have at least started
the executive branch process. But members say they have been
discouraged by the time frame for completion and the costs involved in
producing the required research.
"That is a time-consuming process. And some people will say that's
none of their business," Chief Adams said. "If every person in the
U.S. were forced to submit their genealogies to the federal
government, there would be an uprising. But it's OK to force the
Indians to do it."
The Virginia tribes also refer to what Mr. Moran and others refer to
as a "paper genocide." In 1924, the state passed the Racial Integrity
Act, which officials have said forced Indians to identify themselves
as "colored" and led to the destruction and alteration of genealogical
records.
The effort was led by Walter Plecker, the first registrar of
Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics, and has been cited by the
tribes' advocates as a main obstacle to their pursuit of recognition
through the executive process.
"That's why they have a particularly difficult task of meeting the BIA
requirements," Mr. Moran said.
But Mr. Fleming points to more than 20 tribal records sent to his
office — including birth certificates signed by Plecker himself — that
show "Indian" designated on the document.
"These records were not destroyed, and this is just a scratch of the
surface," Mr. Fleming said. "It just is an example of how the
objective factual information has greater weight than subjective
statements that aren't backed by documents."
Mr. Adkins said the records were only a small sampling of the roughly
4,000 members in the six tribes. Still, Mr. Fleming stressed the
importance of a process that provides evidence for claims that could
be a gateway to millions of dollars in funding.
For example, Malcolm Webber, a man known also as Grand Chief
Thunderbird IV, was sentenced last year after enlisting illegal
immigrants to join his tribe and defrauding them of hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
Webber had previously tried to gain federal recognition for a tribe
through the bureau's process, but was denied.
Mr. Fleming also pointed to a forged 1845 census of New York Indians,
and the creation of a fictitious diary and altered death certificate.
With federal recognition providing some groups with a gateway into the
gambling industry, Mr. Fleming said the need for vigilance is
paramount.
"This is an important cause," he said. "But it is something that needs
to be based on the documentation and not on emotion, not on guilt."
A means to an end
The effect of achieving federal recognition likely would not be seen
right away among the Virginia tribes, and it could create the added
burden of finding qualified people to help write grants and facilitate
the funding application process.
But it would provide a foundation for what tribal members see as
longer-term success.
At a March conference of the Virginia Council on Indians held at the
Chickahominy Tribal Center in Providence Forge, Sharon Bryant — a
member of the Monacan Indian Nation's tribal council — discussed how
she helped form an economic development committee to invest in tribal
businesses.
One of the ventures simply involves stocking a convenience store, but
portions of the proceeds go back to the tribe in small increments.
Access to additional grants could create other opportunities for
tribes to benefit themselves, Ms. Bryant said.
"I'm hoping that there would be access to grants and programs … to
encourage people to live their dreams," she said.
Tribal members also could become eligible for homeowner's assistance,
said Dana Martin Johnson, a law professor at the University of
Richmond, former Virginia assistant attorney general and a member of
the Sappony Tribe of North Carolina.
"It gives them so many more opportunities — even things like the
trickle-down effect," she said.
Other options the tribes could explore with the aid of federal
recognition include health clinics, community centers and the relative
luxury of having paid employees work for their respective
governments.
They are things that can be taken for granted by the average American
citizen, even though many tribal members live precisely the same way.
"It's hard to explain to people sometimes who say, 'How are you
different? You drive a car, live in a house, go to work,'" Mr. Adkins
said. "It's more an internal thing I guess, and the sense of community
we have with each other, our common heritage. That's something people
can't necessarily see."
The recognition effort comes back to that sense of pride — a reverence
for ties rooted in a unique heritage that gradually have become part
of an even larger history.
In the small brick schoolhouse in King William that now serves as the
tribal center for the Upper Mattaponi, Chief Adams points to a board
listing the many tribal members who have served in the U.S. military.
More than 20 members of the Eastern Chickahominy alone have served in
the military since World War I, Chief Gene Adkins said.
It is for those past and future members that federal recognition has
become an intrinsic end for the tribes: To be recognized is a goal in
and of itself.
"It's something that I really would like to see happen as a sign of
respect," said Lee Lovelace, a member of the Upper Mattaponi and a
Virginia Tech student. "From that there will be opportunities … but I
think that the No. 1 thing is to recognize that we're here and a
living, breathing race."
Monica
Good! More Indians.
Sizzle Flambé
> On Jun 6, 9:15 am, mike <yard22...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Virginia Indian tribes seek U.S. recognition
Work fast, Betsy Ashby! They're still "Faux" for a while yet!
And they're in your home state! How quickly can you get there?