50 years ago, election ushered in new era for US tribes
May 10, 2021
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In this Dec 4, 2016, file photo, Dan Nanamkin, of the Colville Nez Perce Native American tribe in Nespelem, Wash., right, drums with a procession through the Oceti Sakowin camp after it was announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won’t grant easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, N.D. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
By Mark Trahant
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fifty years ago this week the federal government’s experiment with termination was crushed at the ballot box on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state.
Fifty years ago this week the federal government’s experiment with termination was crushed at the ballot box on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state.
50 years ago, election ushered in new era for US tribes
MARK TRAHANT, Indian Country Today
May 8, 2021
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1of8Linda Desautel, center in white, looks skyward and cheers with friends and Colville Confederated Tribe members as they rally in support of her husband Rick Desautel, whose case in the Canadian Supreme court arguing for the Sinixt peoples right to hunt traditional lands in Canada was first heard, on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, near Kettle Falls, Wash. It s been 50 years since the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation voted against termination, effectively ending the federal government s experiment in abrogating treaties, eliminating funding and freeing the Indians from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. More than 100 tribes were terminated by the United States but not one after the 12 bands that make up the reservation in Washington state crushed the idea at the ballot box. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review via AP)Tyler Tjomsland
The election that ended termination
More than a hundred tribes were terminated by the United States â and not one after the Colville people voted against the idea
Author:
May 7, 2021
Chairman Rodney Cawston, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, stands in front of the Lucy Covington Government Center. Fifty years ago this week an election at Colville, led by Covington, ended the federal policy of termination. (Photo courtesy of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation)
More than a hundred tribes were terminated by the United States â and not one after the Colville people voted against the idea
Mark Trahant
Fifty years ago this week the federal government’s experiment with termination was crushed at the ballot box on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state.
“I never allow a lack of knowledge on a particular subject matter to hold me back from doing something,” said James Parker Shield, Little Shell Chippewa, when talking about the National Native American Hall of Fame. “About ten years ago I thought: there is a Hall of Fame for just about everything else, why not Indians?” asked Parker Shield. “Then, I didn’t know much about museums and such, but I saw the need.” Since then, with the help and support of many tribal leaders stretching from Florida to Alaska and resolutions of support provided by the National Indian Education Association, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (tribal colleges) and others, that dream was realized in 2018 when the National Native Hall of Fame (NNAHF), a 501(c)3 organization inducted its first honorees.