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O'siyo Brothers and Sister!
Michael Scheuer, a former CIA official, has
confirmed suspicions that dozens of terror suspects have been flown to
jails in Middle Eastern countries where torture is routinely practiced,
and without reference to courts of law.
In early September,2006, detainees were transferred from secret CIA
prisons to military custody at Guantanamo Bay. In a televised speech on
September 6, President Bush announced that with those 14 transfers, no
prisoners were left in CIA custody.
If you think Guantanamo is the only US operated prison that doesn't
comply with Bureau of Prison Standards, think again. There are many
facilities throughout the world where those imprisoned by or on behalf
of the Unite States are denied due process and basic human rights.
The point of the above is to make it clear in the reader's mind that
when it suits the United States government to imprison someone, expense
and extreme measures are not an issue. If the U.S can spend millions,
probably billions of dollars transporting and imprisoning "terrorist"
suspects world-wide, you'd think it could drop a few crumbs in the
tribal justice plate. Not so.
Last week's issue of Wotanging Ikche included an article which noted the
Blackfeet Reservation in Montana has become nearly lawless under BIA
control. In this issue we read that the Navajo Nation has already
reached another crisis level with its jail facilities. Both situations
and hundreds more throughout Indian Country can be directly attributed
to Washington DC refusing to allocate funds sufficient to address the
situation. In fact, even as the US escalates the spending of money
imprisoning people even it admits may or may not be connected to
terrorist activities - it reduces spending for ALL activities related to
law enforcement or crime prevention on the reservations.
You are probably as sick as I am of hearing time-after-time that the
Virginia Tech shooting was the biggest mass murder in U.S. history, all
the while ignoring Wounded Knee and Sand Creek. Of course, this small
oversight could be rectified with the addition of a simple phrase - the
Virginia Tech shooting was the largest mass murder not carried out by
agents of the US Government in the history of this country.
Indians are the forgotten minority in our own land. Nothing brings this
more into focus than the way Natives are treated in courts, and the
poorly managed and even worse funded tribal justice systems. The simple
truth is justice is part of a growing financial divide and real justice
is reserved for those who can afford "tall building" lawyers. For Indian
Country it remains "Just-Us".
Two late breaking stories came in this morning that verify the truth of
this editorial.
The first documents the failure of justice, particularly with Native
American women, who are, according to Amnesty International, far more
vulnerable to rape and assault, and far less likely to see their
attackers brought to justice than any other group in this country.
Amnesty International underscores the problems mentioned earlier in this
editorial - lack of funding, lack of facilities, lack of training, and
lack of a coordinated effort toward protection of Native communities.
The second is a press release from the Navajo Nation Council Office of
the Speaker which details how Navajo Judiciary Committee Chairman, Kee
Allen Begay, Jr., spent Monday, April 23, "Sovereignty Day," working to
fund the Navajo Nation Supreme Court.
Both articles will appear in next week's "Native Justice" section in
their entirety.
Dohiyi Ani Oginalii
Gary Smith (*,*)
wotanging@bellsouth.net
P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org
Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w===
http://www.nanews.org
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CONTENTS LIST OF ARTICLES IN
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 017
FOR ARTICLES GOT TO
WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News
Editorial Section: . Illusion of Justice
- Maine Tribe Loses Sovereignty Dispute with State
-Micmacs and Maliseets Lose Sovereignty
- Blackfeet Water Negotiations to Resume
- Seneca Nation:New York is Trespassing on Thruway
- Abenaki still see
Roadblocks on Crafts
- Lumbees Push for Federal Status
- Senators Propose Bill Recognizing Tribe
- Six Virginia Tribes Take Their Case to Congress
- Tribal ID Cards to be More Widely Accepted in Montana
- Editorial: Racial Tensions Still Exist in South Dakota
- Jodi Rave:Struggle to fund Language Programs
- Giago: Mainstream Media Ignores the Real Issues
- Yellow Bird: School Shootings a Frightening Trend
- Jodi Rave: More Natives Turning to Journalism
- Schmidt: Virginia Tech, Indians, and Comics
- Teraji: Worst shooting in history? Ask Natives
- Mother and Daughters Raped in Guyana
- Band Occupies Manitoba Hydro Station
- Six Nations of Grand River Update
- Fontaine Addresses Union About First Nations Poverty
- First Nations Consent Should be Required for Development
- Me'tis Institute Gets Money to Revive Language
- Tsosie's Body Found at Bottom of Arizona Cliff
- Man Convicted of Hate Crime to Serve 7 Years
- Navajo Corrections Faces Another Jail Crisis
- Native Justice-- Blackfeet Council Listens to Emotional Complaints
About Justice
- Rustywire: The Goat Woman-Asdzaa Tlizi'
- Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
- Del "Abe" Jones Poem: VT Massacre
- Native Voice One Taps Pappin
- Women Take Part in 'Funny, You Don't Look Indian'
- Upcoming Events
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"A substantial amount of trust income has gone
uncollected and much of it may be now uncollectible, for reasons that
include poor bookkeeping, failure to calculate periodic rent increases,
the statute of limitations, expired leases, limitations in lease terms,
lessee bankruptcies, and lost opportunities to terminate leases in favor
of more profitable redevelopment."
-- Robert McCarthy Attorney for the Palm Springs Office of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs |