The Plundering of Nations, Elder Nathan Phillips, the MAGA Boys, and MMIW

Photo credit: Mike McCleary, Bismarck Tribune. Photo of Nathan Phillips (Omaha Nation) and Raymond Kingfisher (Northern Cheyenne Nation) in the procession leaving the Očeti Šakowiŋ Camp.

The conflict between elder Nathan Phillips and the #MAGA kids is more than racism. The kids who were harassing the Omaha Nation elder may have been racist, but it’s still about the plundering of nations. Women and children disappear from reservation territory daily. The current laws make #MMIW cases likely fall under federal jurisdiction, but with additional complications and holes.

If a non-native individual crosses over into reservation territories (or is a permanent resident) and commits a crime, these indigenous nations have no jurisdiction over the case. Non-native people essentially have immunity on reservation lands to crimes committed against native individuals, no matter the race of anyone involved. Because of the current laws, these nations have no recourse in and of themselves but to wait on the FBI and state police.

Even if the BIA police caught the perpetrator, if the perpetrator was non-native, a complicated matrix of conditions would have to checked off to figure out who has jurisdiction. Before Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) it would appear tribal law enforcement was in a habit of enforcing law equally regardless of nationality. Afterward, non-Indians were no longer under the jurisdiction of tribal courts.

That changed in 2013 with the title IX of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) Initially, there were only three tribes which were empowered to pursue non-natives who commit crimes on their lands: Pascua Yaqui of Arizona, Tulalip of Washington, and the Umatilla of Oregon. Though the VAWA 2013 allowed this, it needs to be extended and revised in order to ensure the safety of some our most vulnerable citizens. One of its provisions has since been utilized by several tribes. During the December 2018 to 2019 government shutdown, VAWA was not reauthorized leaving women and the tribes more vulnerable. Additionally, Savanna’s Act was held back because of the government shutdown.

There are over 520 tribes in the United States, all of them are considered American Citizens. To see them missing protections available to most other US citizens just because they live in their traditional homelands is heartbreaking, especially given what they have historically been through. Imagine being a US citizen, going to another country committing a crime and then claiming you are not under the jurisdiction of their courts. It would not have any legal basis, yet the a legal basis for it exists here in the US with regards to the indigenous nations.

While the policy in place appears racist, it has nothing to do with race and everything to do with citizenship in a Native American Nation. In fact it would appear that living on the reservation and being a tribal member leaves you helpless to stop, arrest, or take to tribal court a non-native person who is wronging you. This is of course is by design. How else would the US try and coerce nations whom you have not defeated, but signed treaties with to disband? Well, probably by doing what the US government did. Leaving you helpless in your lands, but providing you assistance to leave as part of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956.

If somehow the nations were completely disbanded? Then it would be appear to about racism and the myth that Native Nations were defeated at the hands of European peoples. All the while Indigenous people would continue to struggle for recognition of their sovereignty.

It’s not about racism, it’s about power. It’s about how non-indigenous people want to hold power over those they’ve deemed conquered. But how do you deem a nation conquered when you’ve never actually conquered them?

Notes + Links

1. Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe
2. Public Law 280
3. Oliphant Decision Led to Jurisdictional Issues on Indian Reservations
4. On Indian Land, Criminals Can Get Away With Almost Anything
5. At Last, Violence Against Women Act Lets Tribes Prosecute Non-Native Domestic Abusers
6. Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization 2013 — Tribal Provisions
7. Introduction to the Violence Against Women Act — Tribal Provisions
8. NCAI Releases Five-Year Report on Tribal Governments Exercising VAWA 2013 Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction Over Non-Indians
9. Law was meant to let American Indians prosecute violence; is it working?
10. Current Implementing Tribes
11. Muscogee (Creek) Nation convicts first non-Native offender through Violence Against Women Act implementations
12. Violence Against Women Act Expires Because Of Government Shutdown
13. Savanna’s Act
14. What the Hell Is Going on With Savanna’s Act?
15. Indian Relocation Act of 1956