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Activist protests government treatment of Native-Americans
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Long-time activist of Native-American issues, LaNada Boyer spoke
about mistreatment of Native-Americans by U.S. government, Monday,
as part of Native-American awareness month.
As one of the coordinators of the daring takeover and occupation
of Alcatraz Island by Native-American activists in the late 1960s,
Boyer brings an interesting perspective to issues of concern to
Native Americans.
With Native-American Awareness Month comes a look back on the
role Native-Americans have played in U.S. history, and where they
are today.
“They figured they beat us and we’re dead and
that’s it,” Boyer said.
Boyer said the U.S. government won’t deal with the issues
troubling Native-Americans. Boyer and her father worked for 30
years to establish awareness of native people’s issues.
“They don’t want to deal with us,” Boyer
said.
Last Thursday, as part of the celebration Boyer showed the film
“Alcatraz is not an Island” at the BSU Special Events
Center. The film deals with the 18-month occupation of Alcatraz, a
little known piece of U.S. history.
In 1969 a group of Native-Americans treaded the cold political
waters of San Francisco Bay to take on the ultimate sign of
punitive institutions: Alcatraz. After 1963 the prison was out of
commission and declared surplus federal property.
A government treaty with Native-Americans states surplus federal
land can resort to Native-American ownership. The occupation of
Alcatraz was an attempt to enforce that treaty. The occupation
forced the government to sit up and take notice of the injustice
and frustration of Native-Americans.
In the eyes of the world the U.S. is wounded by it’s own
hypocrisy, Boyer said. Other countries know more about the genocide
of Native-Americans than the general U.S. population. “They
talk about the genocide and holocaust of the Jews by the Germans
but they don’t look at themselves,” Boyer said.
“We need to start the healing process as native
people,” Boyer said. Continuing, Boyer said the entire
American public needs to recognize past atrocities before the
healing process can begin. “It’s going to continuously
be bleeding until that happens.”
When asked what democracy is like for native people Boyer simply
replied, “No such thing.” Boyer said constitutional
protections and enforcement of laws are the bloodlines of a
democracy. Cauterize those veins and the democracy America prides
itself on dies, she said.
Not too well known is the Bureau of Indian Affairs lawsuit of
Cobell vs. Norton, a class action lawsuit against Interior Sectary
Gale Norton. Since the 1800s the government has acted as trustee
for Indian lands by collecting and supposedly dispersing revenue
produced by the land from mining, gas and timber sales. The lawsuit
is asking the government to enact reforms and account for the
revenue since 1887, which could potentially cost billions.
In September U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in favor
of Cobell, ordering the federal government to account for the
money. That ruling was effectively nullified in an appropriations
bill signed by President Bush in early November of this year, just
as Native-American Month commenced.
“Congress has been working at … changing the laws.
The treaties and agreements that were made the Indian people are
continually being broken,” Boyer said.
On a side note, as Iraq’s oil fields come on line that
revenue is slated to dump into the Iraqi Assistance Fund; a U.S.
government controlled trust fund for the Iraqi people.
Monica Price
News Writer
The Arbiter