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December 17, 2004
GUEST OPINION Western Shoshone Nation the latest tribe to face injusticeBy HUGH STEVENS Dear President Bush, members of Congress, the people of the United States: Today, the Western Shoshone Nation is in a struggle for survival against the powerful forces within the U.S. Congress that are attempting to steal our ancestral homeland. While Western Shoshone warriors are fighting in Iraq to defend and protect the United States, certain members of Congress are attempting to illegally confiscate our homeland, which the U.S. Government promised to preserve and protect for the Western Shoshone Nation by the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty. If the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Bill (H.R. 884/S.618) is passed and approved by the president, our Western Shoshone warriors will not have a homeland to return to when they complete their tour of duty in Iraq. Today, the Western Shoshone People are not being attacked by U.S. Army soldiers who are firing their rifles and swinging their sabers in murderous attacks upon our people, as they did in the 1800s. Instead, today, the Western Shoshone people are being attacked by a Congressional juggernaut that has been fueled by false and misleading information that is intent upon stealing our sacred lands from under our feet. While the direct, frontal attacks of the 1800s were deadly and killed many Shoshones, today's Congressional attacks upon the Western Shoshone are far more devastating and destructive, since, if they are successful, they will destroy the entire Shoshone nation. People say, "How could this be happening in the United States of American in the 21st Century?" But it is happening, and the legislative conquest of the Western Shoshone will succeed unless stopped by Congress, the American people, and the President of the United States. What Congress is being told - Members of Congress have been told that the Western Shoshone people want the distribution of funds that were made available to the Western Shoshone Nation in 1979 by the Indian Claims Commission for damages inflicted upon the Western Shoshone people in 1872. The funding, which represents 15 cents per acre plus interest, is currently being held in the U.S. Treasury. The truth - Seven tribal governments of the Western Shoshone Nation strongly oppose the distribution of the Indian Claims Commission funding, which if accepted, will extinguish their title and ownership of 24 million acres of Western Shoshone lands that were guaranteed to the Western Shoshone by the U.S. Government by the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty. These lands have never been ceded or sold by the Western Shoshone and remain the homeland of the Western Shoshone Nation. Illegal actions by the federal government - In 1951, Western Shoshone filed a claim for damages with the Indian Claims Commission for actions being taken by the federal government to illegally confiscate Western Shoshone lands. Twenty-seven years later, in 1978, the Indian Claims Commission got around to responding to the Western Shoshone claim. Finally, in 1979, the Indian Claims Commission attempted to make a final judgment on the Western Shoshone claim. By law, in order for the Indian Claims Commission to make a final judgment on a tribal claim, two actions were required. First, the amount of monetary judgment for damages had to be determined by the Indian Claims Commission, and secondly, a final report had to be filed with Congress that defined the basis for the judgment. In the case of the Western Shoshone claim, the amount of monetary judgment was established by the Indian Claims Commission, but the required final report was never filed with Congress. Without both steps being taken, any settlement amount would be invalid, and any payment by the federal government for the taking of Indian lands would be illegal. During the time period from 1946 to 1979 that the Indian Claims Commission was authorized by Congress to address Indian claims, 320 claims were addressed, but 20 claims were not completed, since no final reports were filed with Congress on the 20 claims. The Western Shoshone claim was one of the claims that was never completed by the Indian Claims Commission before Congress abolished the Indian Claims Commission in 1979. The Indian Claims Commission's "final judgment" on the Western Shoshone claim remains incomplete as of this day, and can never be completed, since the Indian Claims Commission is no longer in operation. Secretary of Interior accepts Indian Claims Commission funding as the "Trustee" of the Western Shoshone - Despite the fact that the legal responsibility of the Indian Claims Commission was never fulfilled, the Secretary of the Interior, acting as the trustee of the Western Shoshone Nation, accepted the payment of 15 cents per acre, plus interest, as a "fair settlement" for the confiscation of 24 million acres of Western Shoshone lands by the federal government, a settlement that included compensation for the richest gold fields in the United States from which $25 billion in gold has been removed from Western Shoshone lands without any compensation being paid to the Western Shoshone Indians, as required by the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty. The Indian Claims Commission declared that the Western Shoshone lands were "lost" by the Western Shoshone on July 1, 1872 as a result of "gradual encroachment" on the Western Shoshone lands, a completely fabricated and untrue statement. We appeal to the President of the United States to issue an executive order to the U.S. Department of Interior to direct the Secretary of Interior to enter into good faith negotiations, on a nation-to-nation basis, with the Western Shoshone Nation in an attempt to reach a fair and just resolution of the land dispute related to the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty between the Western Shoshone Nation and the U.S. Government. And we appeal to the U.S. Senate, please do not approve H.R.884/S.618 without at least giving the Western Shoshone Nation a hearing on the bill so that our voices may be heard. Stevens is chairman of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone. |
