http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials RSS Feed for ICT - Opinion - Editorials en-us Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:31:07 GMT http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/88552087.html Human rights initiatives, including the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, have avoided direct recognition of indigenous peoples. Human rights documents speak of individual rights and more recently, thanks to the Declaration, there are discussions of collective rights. There should be no mistake, the recent developments in international human rights are very important. The Declaration should be given credit for expanding the human rights initiative to include broader understanding of collective group human rights. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/87458027.html It’s true that $1.4 billion is a long way from $50 billion. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/86592382.html In North America, there were thousands of treaties, many of them negotiated in the early colonial period. The early treaties were made under Indian protocols and are often called treaties of peace or friendship. The agreements established trust, regularized relations, and good will between the colonists and specific Indian nations. For the Indians, treaties were sacred agreements that were designed to establish and maintain respect between nations. The Indians knew the Europeans were culturally different, but the treaties enabled both groups to carry on their own ways. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/85482907.html What should Indian policy in the 21st century look like? Around the world, indigenous peoples have generally similar views and expression of their needs. Indigenous peoples want greater cultural and political autonomy from the nation states that surround them. Most indigenous communities do not want to reject or destabilize nation states, but rather establish more consensual or democratic relations that enable tribal communities to govern, make economic decisions, practice culture and language. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/27273994.html Recently, the U.S. attorney general appointed members to the Violence Against Women in Indian Country Task Force. The primary purpose of the task force is to assist the National Institute of Justice to establish a research program focused on developing reliable information about violence against Native women including domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking and murder. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/27094339.html Perhaps the flare-up of the immigration issue started out more legitimately. Certainly there are serious problems with waves of hundreds of thousands of people entering any country illegally. But like the head of a monstrous snake coming out of a thorny bush, the issue has grown its own nasty viper. Immigration has become the new magnet of American racism. http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/27907284.html The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians has a long history of upholding its political sovereignty. It also has a long history of legal actions and encounters with state and county authorities. Police refer to the Soboba reservation as “hostile Indian country” to this day. After the most recent shooting incident of several since 2002, Soboba chairman Robert Salgado reported county police did not respect his authority, and did not cooperate with him as the reservation’s elected leader.