FBM wrote:I'm all for doing the right thing wrt the the native peoples of N. America, but does anyone else see the potential for a slippery slope in this? I mean, there's a lot of the U.S. and Canadia that was taken by very shady means...
Go back in the history of any nation on earth and you'll find conquest and change of ownership. Open that Pandora's box and it'll be never ending.
We had a war with the Indians. They lost. Sucks to be them. Get over it and move on.
UN official calls for US return of native land
A UN special rapporteur has called for the US to restore tribal lands, including the Black Hills of South Dakota, site of Mount Rushmore.
James Anaya announced the recommendation at the end of a 12-day tour, during which he met tribal leaders and government officials.
"The sense of loss, alienation and indignity is pervasive throughout Indian Country," Mr Anaya said.
Horseshit. Nobody alive today had anything taken from them. If they are living in indignity, it's because they choose to be there.
He met with tribes in seven states on reservations and in urban areas.
The trip, Mr Anaya's first tour of Native American lands, was to determine how the United States is faring on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
President Barack Obama endorsed the declaration in 2010, reversing a previous US vote against it.
Reversing my ass. The President doesn't speak for everyone, much less Congress, which must ratify treaties. The UN can declare anything it wants, but US law rules here.
'Restorative'
Mr Anaya used the Black Hills, located in South Dakota near reservations that are home to the Oglala Sioux tribes, as an example of land restoration.
"I'm talking about restoring to indigenous peoples what obviously they're entitled to and they have a legitimate claim to in a way that is not divisive but restorative," he said.
The Black Hills are public land but are considered sacred by the Sioux tribes. The area, as well as other lands, were set aside for the tribes in an 1868 treaty.
Nine years later, Congress passed a law taking the land.
The Sioux violated that treaty by waging war on the United States, and so the treaty is null and void.
The Sioux refused to accept a 1980 monetary award from the US Supreme Court, calling for the return of the Black Hills.
Fat chance.
The reservations near the Black Hills are some of the most poverty-stricken areas in the US, with extremely high rates of unemployment and much lower than average life expectancy.
Then why do they voluntarily remain there? Nobody's keeping them on the reservations anymore. They are free to leave any time they like and pursue success anywhere in the US because they are US citizens. Nobody wants to invest in businesses on tribal lands because the tribes are notoriously corrupt, unstable and frequently refuse to honor contracts.
Mr Anaya cited ongoing systemic and individual racial discrimination as common themes in his discussions with community leaders.
It's Indians discriminating against Indians most of the time. Just ask the Blackfeet what the Sioux did to them before the Europeans arrived. Not the noble savages at all, just savages.
He said ideas that native populations were gone, wanted handouts or that their culture has been reduced to casinos were "flatly wrong".
No it's not.
Mr Anaya will make formal recommendations in a report to be released in September.
which he can fold three times and shove up his ass, because the UN has no jurisdiction here.
The UN fact-finder said he had met members of the Obama administration and briefed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, but was unable to meet individuals members of Congress.
He said that he typically meets individual legislators during his tours of countries but said he did not know the reason why that had not happened in the US.
Because he's an idiot and our Congress knows better than to give credence or recognition to a UN flunky who has no power or jurisdiction.
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