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Example research essay topic: United States Of America Bureau Of Indian - 2,860 words

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The Mistreatment of Native Americans United States of America claims to be one of the most democratic countries in the world. Every high school student knows that democracy means government of people, a society where every groups interests are represented and where the supreme power belongs to citizens of this particular country. On the surface, Americas system seems to be working well everybody has a chance to get education, make a good living, and keep his /her historical and cultural identity. Going deeper, however, might not seem so optimistic. Wide public is not even aware of discrimination against Native Americans that takes place for many years now and is not likely to stop if nothing is done.

This paper argues that, even though the American government claims to promote equality and democracy in the whole world, the State still badly mistreats its own citizens and people whom Americans owe their whole historical development and well-being the Native Indians. Over the course of a century, thousands of Native Indian families struggled financially because of their dependence on an unreliable government to manage their holdings properly. Sometimes, the government was unable to procure payments, but even when it had, the funds still were not disbursed to the families that owned the land. It can be surely said that nothing will happen to the government officials that were the architects of this corruption because they are allowed to hide behind the veil of public service. Not surprisingly, this issue has not gotten the attention it deserves because of the parties involved: the US Government was and is still doing something quite dishonorable to a very small minority with little media influence, and the Native American tribes. Historical roots of the virtually free usage of resources from Indian reservations go a long way back into the history.

In the 18 th century, the US government agreed to protect lands of various Indian tribes by passing laws that prohibited non-Indians from settling on those lands (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005). The laws were not followed and neither the government nor the courts enforced them - numerous settlers took over the land of the Indians. In 1830 the official governmental policy became removal of Indians from their lands and resettling them farther west. In 1831, Chief Justice Marshall ruled that the lands on which Native Americans reside continued to belong to the United States, and that the tribes should be considered "domestic dependent nations...

Their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian. " (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005) Later on, the Federal Government became a trustee of the tribes, and was managing, leasing and collecting money for the land-usage. From 1887 until 1934 the Allotment Act, forced to break all Indian land into small pieces owned by individual Indians. Indians still could not manage their land however they wanted to. The government continued to be their trustee and had an exclusive right to sell any natural resources that were found on, under or above that land. That gave a start to numerous contracts with large corporations and small companies that extract oil, remove minerals, diverse water, cut timber and exercise similar uses on those lands. Some of those contracts have been signed with favored corporations, even if they were against native-Indian interests.

The royalties collected under those contracts were supposed to be distributed among the land-owners (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005). Audits have shown problems with usage of Indian lands that have been on for over a century. For example, an audit of 1915 has shown that the management of Indian accounts was fraught with "fraud, corruption, and institutional incompetence" (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005). It was becoming more and more obvious that the money for resource-usage is not going to the owners of that land. In 1950 s it became known that the government has under-compensated Native Americans for the right to their natural resources.

The royalties they received were more than 20 times less than the royalties received by non-Native Americans who live in the same area (Wagner). In 1992, the House Committee on Government Operations investigated the situation and produced a report named Misplaced Trust: The Bureau of Indian Affairs' Mismanagement of the Indian Trust Fund. (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005). Since the U. S. Congress passed the 1990 Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act, major changes related to the handling, storage, and return of human relics and cultural funerary items have occurred. At the same time, Indian issues have faded from the headlines and the speeches of policy makers there, while in Canada native affairs appear to be getting more attention as central to the major issues that nation faces.

In 1998, US District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that in case with Indian trusts, the Federal Government should adhere to the same procedures as any other trustee that is responsible for someone elses money adheres. It means that Indians are entitled to receive full accounting reports for profits received from their land. Moreover, they are entitled to whatever money was withheld, as well as interest starting from whenever it became due. (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005) This important ruling was later upheld by the U. S.

Circuit Court of Appeals. At the moment, as it turns out, the government owes Native Americans several billion dollars at least $ 10 billion for use of their lands, however, it still refuses to pay them. Interestingly enough, it would spend $ 800 million dollars in tax payer money to defend itself in a lawsuit against 300, 000 Plaintiffs, failing to take the simpler solution to check accounts and pay what is owed while a woman like Wild Gun is forced to survive on a paltry $ 400 a month from social security (Dunkel and Hogan par. 2, 3, & 11). Beyond these faceless numbers are the individuals who depend upon these checks to make ends meet.

The Dunkel & Hogan article mentioned that in the case of one individual, their royalty check amounted to $ 0. 87, which would not even buy a pack of gum. Fortunately, some justice was granted in September 2002, when a contempt citation was issued to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton (New York Times Editorial par. 2). As the twenty-first century is underway, Native Americans still find themselves on the short end of the stick. While tribes were granted land by the government, the paternalism prevailing at the time suggested that they would not be able to manage their own land, so the feds decided that it was best to hold the hold in trust for the tribes. As history would have it, the government used the land for businesses and other profitable enterprises (Kenworthy par. 18).

While this was somewhat of a golden age for oil and gas companies, ranching outfits, etc. , the tribes allege that the funds that are due to them are missing. In a follow-up article in 2005, Patricia Powers learned that the government was ordered to begin interest payments to the plaintiffs. Unsurprisingly, she also uncovered that the Bush and Clinton administrations attempted to sweep the lawsuit under the rug because no politician wants to have such a disgraceful legacy brought to his attention during his time in power (Powers p. 27, par. 5). Looking at the implications of the historical record for the present is risky at best. Supposedly each of the states now sees itself as a mix of racial and ethnic groups, but neither appears comfortable with that circumstance. Politically, demands for reducing government services and thus the tax burden of the citizens are popular everywhere.

If such policies are carried out, then Indians will fail to see their circumstances change dramatically. In addition, for many tribal people their culture remains important enough that they reject or ignore much of what the rest of society expects. At this point, it appears likely that the existing antigovernment mood in each nation and the Indians' understandable efforts to retain their distinct identity outside the mainstream cultures will delay or even block major changes in their status, economic position, or general well-being. The population statistics tends to reinforce this view.

In the US tribal groups, excluding the Metis, number only about 0. 8 percent. With their numbers that small, these people are going to have a difficult time bringing about much change without the solid backing of the political, economic, and cultural leaders. That is not happening in either state at the moment (Dandrea 176). For the tribal people in either state in the US the future looks better than the past, perhaps only because the past is already on record while what is to come remains little more than conjecture. Because of differing past actions and ideas in each state and the differing issues that will capture the attention and support within the territories, it seems likely that tribal groups will continue to experience similar but not identical or fair treatment. There is a federal organization responsible for native-Indians affairs - the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

This organization is known for being very bureaucratic (Powers 2) and lacking professionalism to change the negative situation for thousands of Native Americans. In fact, leaders of individual tribes and bands as well as those who represent multi-tribal organizations often call for the abolishment of this and other types of organizations hoping to replace them with something new that might be more likely to implement change and innovation into the entire system. Strong evidence has been found to prove that certain government officials intentionally buried information as to what happened to the Indian reservation money. For example, Judge Lamberth determined that while the case was pending, the Department of Interior destroyed at least 162 boxes of records, allowed additional boxes of records to be ruined by mold in a building in New Mexico, and then covered up those facts in statements submitted to the court. (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005) In the words of Judge Lamberth, The actions of Interior and Secretary Norton in this instance again demonstrate why the court continues to believe that Interior sets the gold standard for mismanagement of a government agency. In another ruling, Judge Lamberth found the government engaged in .".. fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form. " The appeals court has described Interiors management of the accounts as "hopelessly inept. " (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005) At present, one finds striking similarities in the positions of the native peoples throughout America.

In all states multi-tribal groups work closely with the government and the media to keep native peoples' concerns in the news. Many people in each of the areas now recognize the value of Indian cultural distinctiveness. Large numbers of native people moved into the cities in practically every state during the past several decades. Well over one-half of the recognized Native Americans now live out of their reservations.

The towns and cities typically attract reserve dwellers by offering jobs, possibly improved education, and better health care. Yet most tribal people find themselves among the poorest in either state (Dandrea 175). Theoretically the local governments in each state now accept having a multiethnic and multiracial population. In each, Native Americans have a specific part of the federal government directly responsible for them, something they share with no other ethnic or racial group. Nevertheless, strong antipathy toward reservation and reserve dwellers can be observed in many communities. While American officials have faced the issue of non-recognized tribes and established a process for some groups to gain tribal status, the tribes themselves have moved to assert control over many aspects of their lives.

In education they have sought to determine curricular content at their children's schools. Bilingual classes, materials with Indian cultural ideas, and more Indian teachers and classroom aides all mark the present situation. Reservation dwellers in the United States now have access to thirty-one tribally supported colleges. To pay for this and finance other needed facilities and programs, many tribes have launched reservation-based gaming enterprises (Powers 3).

Some of these are spectacularly successful, and many bring substantial revenue into the tribal treasuries. Cobell V. Norton Indian trust case, is the largest class action suit ever filed against the federal government. Having lived on a Blackfoot reservation for her entire life, a Native American woman named Elouise Cobell heard friends and neighbors lament for the royalty checks that never came. She, her parents, and seven brothers and sisters lived in a one bedroom house with no electricity, running water, or telephones (Kenworthy par. 1 and Powers p. 27, par. 3). Were it not for the careless paternalism of the government, she and her family would never have had to endure such privations.

That aside, she had gone to court seeking answers: how much the tribes were owed, and what happened to the money in the first place? Now that the government must start making payments, part of the problem has been resolved, yet there are still many more questions that desperately need to be answered. It is proved that congressional actions brought much faster resolutions to many cases, (e. g.

compensations to the families of 911 terrorist victims). US Congress has been aware of the problem of Indian trusts mismanagement for many years now numerous audits, reports, complaints have been received and viewed. In the Cobell case, there is a risk that many of the potential beneficiaries will die before the court process is complete. Still, many Indian advocates fear that the solution reached in Congress will not be fair to the Individual Indian Money account holders who have waited so long for justice.

The potential for that seems especially great, because the aggrieved parties have little or no political clout. And the history of congressional action regarding Indian tribes is filled with incidents of unfair treatment ( (FCNL article, 3 / 28 / 2005). The Cobell v. Norton case is very important because it demonstrates how tremendously wrong the Government has done. This case will hopefully set precedent resolutions for the future law-suits, which will undoubtedly come, and give some real reform perspectives (Eorio, Censored # 20).

Canada, a country that is very similar to the USA in terms of history, lifestyle, mentality, has a different situation with Native Tribes. In fact, people north of the border often looked smugly at their better record of dealing with tribal people when contrasted with that of the United States. Such different attitudes help explain some of the variations that exist. In Canada, the Inuit people have negotiated virtual self-government with the promised 1999 establishment of Nunavut in the eastern Arctic. In Western Canada, the continued refusal of British Columbia authorities to recognize anything more than minimal native land title claims for over a century is the only distinct.

In the United States, despite their bitter complaints, the states had little impact on such matters because the federal constitution assigned responsibility for Indian affairs to the central government. That was supposed to occur in the north too, but Ottawa did not follow through on its responsibilities. There, mixed-race people, Metis, have a recognized and separate status, something that does not exist in the United States. This paper has demonstrated several cases of unfair treatment of Native Indians by the Federal Government. Even though the issue is not represented enough in media, recent lawsuits have proved the problem exists and its importance is escalating as never before. Canadian experience has proven that the situation with native tribes can be resolved, but it certainly requires some federal government, congress and state governments will to do so.

Even though certain legislation has been passed and several lawsuits won, it is still unclear whether thousands of tribal people living in the US will ever be fairly compensated for the decades of rip-off, unlawful treatment and simply disregard by the most democratic country in the world the United States of America. Bibliography: Contempt at Interior. (lawsuit over misuse of funds from Native American Trust Fund) (Editorial). " The New York Times. (Sept 19, 2002) Dandrea, Michael. The concerns of native American youth, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development (July 1994): 22. 3 173 - 181. EBSCOhost Research Databases.

Academic Search Premier. University of Houston Downtown. 17 Oct. 2006 < web > Dunkel, Tom, and Bill Hogan. "A broken trust: the government cannot account for billions of dollars it owes to Native Americans. (Out front Reports). (Brief Article). " Mother Jones. (March-April 2002) Friends Committee on National Legislation, Issues: Native American Trust Fund Scandal, Trust Responsibility Unmet: The Story of the Cobell v. Norton Case, 3 / 28 / 2005 web Kenworthy, Tom. "Native Americans could win $ 10 B in century-old dispute: David vs. Goliath battle over Indian trust fund may profit 500, 000 people. " USA Today. (February 14, 2002) Powers, Patricia. "Mismanaged Indian trust is a scandal: The federal government stalls paying its debt to Native Americans. (Article) " National Catholic Reporter. (September 30, 2005) Eorio, Kiel. American Indians Sue for Resources; Compensation Provided to Others, Censored 2006, # 20


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Research essay sample on United States Of America Bureau Of Indian

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