Is this American Democracy…or Racism and Tyranny?

by Darrel Smith

One of the most fundamental concepts in America is equality. Especially, equality in voting rights and citizenship responsibilities. In fact, a judge has just proclaimed that, "Indeed, no right is more precious in a free country than that of having a choice in the election of those who make the laws under which we live." Unfortunately, these rights are routinely distorted and violated in reservation areas. I live in a county that is completely within an Indian reservation and also within a special state legislative district that was purposely drawn to include sixty percent Indian representation. These realities create a series of citizenship problems for me and hundreds-of-thousands of other non-Indians who live on reservations because of changing federal policies.

With the encouragement and support of the federal government, tribal governments are seeking to establish jurisdiction over reservation areas instead of just over their own members and land. This means that hundreds-of-thousands of non-Indians are being threatened with, and subjected to, tribal taxation, zoning regulations, business licenses, hiring and contract preferences, environmental and endangered species regulations, clean air and water regulations while they are completely and permanently excluded from voting and participation in tribal government because of their non-Indian race.

Tribal members on reservations by contrast can rightly participate in local, city and county governments. They can vote and participate in making, enforcing and judging local laws. However, modern interpretations of their status as tribal members on reservations generally protect them from having to pay the taxes, obey the laws, or be subject to the courts of these governments. Thus, they can vote for taxes, laws and programs that they don’t have to either fund or obey. This capability of tribal members to vote for taxes and programs that they don’t have to support is very threatening to non-Indians who must fund and obey these local jurisdictions.

My unique state legislative district was purposely drawn to include sixty percent Indian representation for the explicit purpose of increasing Indian representation in the state legislature. This means that this district was purposely drawn to reduce or exclude the representation of the non-Indians who live in the district. There is an important difference between these two groups of people in this district—the non-Indians must pay state taxes and obey state regulations while the tribal members are generally not required to do either. Thus an Indian legislator will vote for taxes and laws that he will not be subject to when he returns home. In contrast, non-Indians, who have been purposely excluded, are required to both fund and obey these same state laws.

In recent years tribal governments have become increasingly involved in partisan politics on all levels. The federal government spends about nine billion dollars supporting tribal governments and their programs. It also provides special rules that encourage casino gambling which perhaps doubles tribal revenue. No one knows how much of this money is spent for partisan political purposes but it is significant and growing.

Tribal governments can be credited with defeating Senator Pressler five years ago in South Dakota and Senator Slade Gorton last year in Washington State. The defeat of Slade Gorton in the last election caused the Republican Party to lose control of the Senate. In the states of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska ten counties voted for Al Gore in the last presidential election. Eight of these ten counties are associated with Indian tribes.

Tribes are claiming that they don’t have to report their political activities because they are "sovereign" (independent and supreme). Either tribal governments are governments within our system or they are truly sovereign and outside our system. In either case, as governments, they should be barred from partisan political activity.

How can anyone claim that this is a fair and just political system? Would these political differences, based on race, be tolerated if they occurred in South Africa, Bosnia or Kosovo?