Self-Determination (1968 - Present)

• Termination Policies regarded as a failure.
• b. Assimilation goals began to wane.
• c. President Lyndon B. Johnson stated, "We must affirm the rights of the first Americans to remain Indians while exercising their rights as Americans. We must affirm their right to freedom of choice and self-determination." (Pevar 8)
• d. President Richard M. Nixon denounced termination and in 1970 stated, "This, then, must be the goal of any new national policy toward the Indian people: to strengthen the Indian sense of autonomy without threatening his sense of community." (Pevar 8)
• Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968
• Prohibited any states from acquiring any authority over Indian reservations without tribal consent.
• Imposed upon tribes most of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights (some tribes feel this is a limitation of rights they already had).
• The Indian Financing Act of 1974 provided revolving loans for Indians to develop their resources.
• 1974 United States v. Washington State, known as the Boldt Decision (after Judge George Boldt).
• Attempt to end the Northwest "Fish Wars" of the 1970's between Indian tribes and non-tribal sports and commercial fishers.
• Filed by the United States on behalf of the Puyallup, Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Skokomish, Makah, Quileute, and Hoh tribes, later joined by the Lummi, Quinault, Upper Skagit River, Sauk-Suiattle, Sqaxin Island, Stillaguamish, and Yakama Nation.
• Sportsmen organizations and state entities felt that they should have the power to regulate tribal fishing. The tribes maintained that the state had no regulatory power over them.
• Court ruled that treaty tribes had been "systematically denied their rights to fish off the reservation, that the tribes were entitled to the opportunity to catch half the harvestable salmon and steelhead returning to traditional off-reservation fishing grounds, that ceremonial and subsistence catches were not to count as part of the off-reservation share, and that by meeting specific conditions the tribes could regulate fishing by their members." ("Indians of Washington State" 90)
• Decision was ridiculed by non-Indian people and appealed.
• Decision unanimously upheld by the 9th District Court of Appeals.
• Hostility and resentment only intensified (see publications like, Indian Treaties: American Nightmare by C. Herb Williams and Walt Neubrech (Outdoor Empire Publishing, Inc, 1976)
• Three additional cases heard in 1978.
• In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld almost all of the Boldt Decision.
• Indians received very little in exchange for their lands.
• Indians had contractually reserved in the treaties what must be regarded as a property right-the taking of fish at their usual and accustomed fishing grounds and stations.
• These grounds might be far from reservations.
• The ceremonial and subsistence catches would count as part of their 50 per cent allocation.
• The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 authorized tribes to assume responsibility for the administration of federal Indian programs.
• The American Indian Policy Review Commission was established in 1975 to review federal Indian policy and find "alternative methods to strengthen tribal government." Its 1977 report called for
• a rejection of assimilationist policies
• a reaffirmation of the status of tribes as permanent, self-governing institutions
• increased financial aid to the tribes." (Canby, Jr. 31)
• The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 ended the practice of removal of Indian children to state welfare agencies
• Nearly 1/3 of all Indian children were removed from their homes and families and placed in foster care, with adoptive families, or in institutions.
• Most placements were with non-Indian agencies or families.
• Nearly all were taken away from their homes because they were Indian and poor.
• Entire tribes were being depleted of their youth.
• In one state, the adoption rate of Indian children was eight times that of non-Indian children. (Pevar 296)
• The Indian Tribal Government Tax Status Act of 1982 gave the same federal tax advantages to tribes as states enjoyed
• In 1983 President Ronald Regan reaffirmed current policy and added an additional goal of ending federal dependency.
• In 1988 Congress declared their commitment to "the development of strong and stable tribal governments." (Canby, Jr. 31)
• In 1994 President William J. Clinton ordered federal agencies to operate "within a government-to-government relationship with federally recognized tribal governments." (Canby, Jr. 31 - 32)
• Tribes as a result have asserted their treaty and statutory rights, often opposed by certain non-Indian groups. Often these groups seek to abolish tribal rights altogether.
• A recent (ca. 1985) Senate commission stated that, "The long-term objective of Federal-Indian policy [should] be the development of tribal governments into fully operational governments exercising the same powers and shouldering the same responsibilities as other local governments. This objective should be pursued in a flexible manner which will respect and accommodate the unique cultural and social attributes of the individual Indian tribes." (Pevar 9)

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Works Cited:
Pevar, Stephen L. The Rights of Indians and Tribes: The Basic ACLU Guide to Indian and Tribal Rights, 2nd Edition. American Civil Liberties Union, United States, 1992. Canby, Jr., William C. American Indian Law in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition. West Publishing, Co: St. Paul, MN, 1988.
"Indians of Washington State." Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA, 2000.

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