HR 1575, Federal Recognition for the Burt Lake Band
The House Natural Resource Committee, formerly chaired by Dick Pombo (R-CA-11), now by Nick Rahall (D-WV-03), approved four Indian bills at a markup on Thursday. The bill that caught my eye was HR 1575 To reaffirm and clarify the Federal relationship of the Burt Lake Band as a distinct federally recognized Indian Tribe, and for other purposes.
(b) Membership Criteria-(1) To qualify for membership in the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, a person must be able to demonstrate through evidence acceptable to the Tribe that the person meets at least 1 of the following requirements:(A) The person descends from one or more tribal members who were domiciled at Colonial Point, Burt Township, Cheboygan County, Michigan before or at the time that the Tribe's village was burned in October 1900, as said tribal members are identified in the United States v. McGinn litigation and related documents, the 1950 Albert Shananaquet list of Colonial Point Residents, or both.(B) The person descends from one or more tribal members who are listed on the 1900 and/or the 1910 Burt Lake Township Federal Census, Indian Enumeration Schedule.
(C) The person has an Indian ancestor who was, prior to 1910, living in tribal relations with the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians as the Burt Lake Band is defined in this Act.
(D) The person descends from Rose Midwagon Moses.
No one spoke against the bill in mark-up. Not any of the proponents of the BQ as fundamental to citizenship in a Federally Recognized Indian Nation. Not Chad Smith. Not any who sail with him. Also absent from the race-is-civil-status side of the benches were the followers of Wild Bill Rehnquist, either the Oliphant/Hicks/Lara/Duro faction or the Rice faction.
No weasel words attempting to limit Indian Gaming either, no sovereignty subordinate to a state.
Comments
I'm not catching your drift in this post. Can your spell it out for me?
Posted by: Adam | April 23, 2008 03:22 PM
"you," not "your," obviously.
Posted by: Adam | April 23, 2008 03:26 PM
Adam,
Sorry for the delay. Unlike the first and second Maine Settlement Acts, and the Alaskan Settlement Act, and others, there's nothing in 1575 that subordinates all or some of the the Federal-Tribal relationship to some State-Tribal relationship created in 1575 or elsewhere.
Also, unlike the positions of record of Ross Swimmer, Wilma Mankiller, and Chad Smith and their respective allies in the CNO TC, and Rehnquist's Oliphant, some magical personal property or characteristic doesn't establish civil status, rather the product of collective acts which we call "government", in particular, the membership records, the enumeration records, and the birth-and-death records, establish civil status.
If the hypothetical "Burt Lake Freedmen" or the "Burt Lake Chinese Railway Workers" or the "Burt Lake Silesian Miners" were on those rolls, they are hereby enfranchised in the Burt Lake Band. Race is far, far away, fortunately for the Burt Lake Band, who can look at a future unencumbered by "Race".
The bigger point is that things don't have to be as fucked up as the CNO mess (and others), it isn't impossible to view the Indian-Tribal interface, from the non-Indian legal drafters with all the votes side of the table, and come up with a definition that looks about as safe and sane as the Swiss-US definition of civil membership and enfranchisement.
Hope that helps, if not, ping me again.
Posted by: ebw | April 25, 2008 01:08 PM