According to Webster: “per·son·i·fied,” The embodiment or perfect example of; …
The United States government has been practicing socialism on America’s native American population for 190 years.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior.
It is responsible for the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of land held (in trust) by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American Tribes and Alaska Natives.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is one of two bureaus under the jurisdiction of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs: the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education, which provides education services to approximately 48,000 Native Americans.
(Sidebar).
Question: With words like “equality” and phrases like a (level playing field) being bandied about Washington by everyone on a daily basis, why are approximately 48,000 native (non-immigrant) American citizens being treated like Cattle?
According to Webster: “res·er·va·tion,” 1. The act of reserving; a keeping back or withholding.
2. Something that is kept back or withheld.
3. A tract of land set apart by the federal government for a special purpose, especially one for the use of a Native American people.
Question: Can anyone imagine any other “ethnicity” in this nation being subjected to living on a prescribed piece of land under the jurisdiction of an “overseer,” and/or, ..living on a (plantation) under the jurisdiction of a “taskmaster?”
Continuing…
The BIA’s responsibilities once included providing health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. In 1954 that function was legislatively transferred to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, now known as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where it has remained to this day as the Indian Health Service.
First called the Office of Indian Affairs, the agency was created as a division in 1824 within the War Department.
Similar agencies had existed in the U.S. government since 1775, when the Second Continental Congress created a trio of Indian-related agencies. Benjamin Franklin and Patrick Henry were appointed among the early commissioners to negotiate treaties with Native Americans to obtain their neutrality during the American Revolutionary War.
In 1789, the U.S. Congress placed Native American relations within the newly formed War Department.
By 1806 the Congress had created a Superintendent of Indian Trade, within the War Department, who was charged with maintaining the factory trading network of the fur trade.
The post was held by Thomas L. McKenney from 1816 until the abolition of the factory system in 1822.
The government licensed traders to have some control in Indian territories and gain a share of the lucrative trade. In 1832 Congress established the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
In 1869, Ely Samuel Parker was the first Native American to be appointed as commissioner of Indian affairs.
The abolition of the factory system left a vacuum within the U.S. government regarding Native American relations. The current Bureau of Indian Affairs was formed on March 11, 1824, by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, who created the agency as a division within his department, without authorization from the United States Congress.
He appointed McKenney as the first head of the office, which went by several names. McKenney preferred to call it the “Indian Office”, whereas the current name was preferred by Calhoun.
In 1849 Indian Affairs was moved to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The bureau was renamed as Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1947 (from the original Office of Indian Affairs).
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been involved in many controversial policies. One of the most controversial was the late 19th to early 20th century decision to educate native children in separate boarding schools, with an emphasis on assimilation that prohibited them from using their indigenous languages, practices, and cultures.
(Sidebar).
Question: Can anyone imagine any other race or ethnicity in America being forced to relinquish their indigenous culture?
Black history month…
Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February and the United Kingdom in October.
(Gerald Ford).
In 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial, the informal expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month was officially recognized by the U.S. government. President “Gerald Ford” spoke in regards to this, urging Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
(George H. W Bush).
On August 3, 1990 Pres. George H. W. Bush declared the month of November as national American Indian heritage month, thereafter commonly referred to as native American Heritage month.
Special Note: Both Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush were Republicans, …
(Republicans are all liars and they hate poor people).
…considered by the (left wing), and/or, (liberals) in America to be “mean and unmindful” concerning America’s common, and/or, “disenfranchise” people.
(Abraham Lincoln signing the emancipation proclamation).
Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.
Continuing…
20th century…
With the rise of American Indian activism in the 1960s and 1970s, and increasing demands for enforcement of treaty rights and sovereignty, the 1970s were a particularly turbulent period of BIA history. The rise of activist groups such as the American Indian movement (AIM) worried the U.S. government; the FBI responded both overtly and covertly (by creating COINTELPRO and other programs) to suppress possible uprisings among native peoples.
As a branch of the U.S. government with personnel on Indian reservations, BIA police were involved in political actions such as:
The occupation of BIA headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1972:
On November 3, 1972 a group of around 500 American Indians with the AIM took over the BIA building, the culmination of their trial of broken treaties walk.
They intended to bring attention to American Indian issues, including their demands for renewed negotiation of treaties, enforcement of treaty rights and improvement in living standards.
They occupied the Department of Interior headquarters from November 3 to November 9, 1972.
Feeling the government was ignoring them, the protesters vandalized the building. After a week, the protesters left, having caused $700,000 in damages. Many records were lost, destroyed or stolen, including irreplaceable treaties, deeds, and water rights records, which some Indian officials said could set the tribes back 50 to 100 years.
The wounded knee incident of 1973, where activists at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation occupied land for more than two months.
The Pine Ridge shootout (for which Leonard Peltier was convicted of killing two FBI agents).
The BIA was implicated in supporting controversial tribal presidents, notably Dick Wilson, who was charged with being authoritarian; using tribal funds for a private paramilitary force, the card he is of the Oglala nation (or “GOON squad”), which he employed against opponents; intimidation of voters in the 1974 election; misappropriation of funds, and other misdeeds.
Many native peoples continue to oppose policies of the BIA, particularly problems in enforcing treaties, and handling records and income for trust lands.
21st century…
In 2013 the Bureau was hit hard by sequestration funding cuts of $800,000 which particularly affected the already-underfunded Indian health service.
Trust assets…
Cobell vs. Salazar, a major class action case related to trust lands, was settled in December 2009. The suit was filed against the U.S. Department of Interior, of which BIA is part.
A major responsibility has been the management of the Indian trust accounts. This was a class-action lawsuit regarding the federal government’s management and accounting of more than 300,000 individual American Indian and Alaska Native trust accounts.
A settlement fund totaling $3.4 billion is to be distributed to class members. This is to compensate for claims that prior U.S. officials had mismanaged the administration of Indian trust assets.
In addition, the settlement establishes a $2 billion fund enabling federally recognized tribes to voluntarily buy-back and consolidate fractionated land interests.
Mission…
The Bureau is currently trying to evolve from a supervisory to an advisory role; however, this has been a difficult task as the BIA is remembered by many Native Americans as playing a police role in which the U.S. government historically dictated to tribes and their members what they could and could not do in accordance with treaties signed by both. (Source Wikipedia).
A final note;
Barack Obama and our current Super Liberal administration touts that “the people,” that (work for the people) in America, are “better suited” to know what (the people) require than the people who pay the salaries of “the fools” that believed (they have all the answers).
A typical dwelling provided by plantation owner – circa 1850
A typical dwelling provided by U.S. Government – 2014
South Dakota, my home since 1995, is residents to nine U.S. Government Plantations, ..’er I mean “Indian Reservations.”
Question: How many of you currently would vote to have the U.S. Government “control” more of your life?
Truth forges understanding, I’ll be back tomorrow
Crusader Rabbit…
pearlsofprofundity 