From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: American Indian Religious Freedom Act
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 02:09:10 GMT

/** gen.nativenet: 331.0 **/
** Topic: ECONEWS: Freedom Law Key To Struggl **
** Written 12:09 pm  Sep  2, 1992 by nec in cdp:gen.nativenet **
From: Northcoast Environmental Center <nec>
Subject: ECONEWS: Freedom Law Key To Struggle

/* Written 11:56 am  Sep  2, 1992 by nec in cdp:ecotopia.news */
/* ---------- "ECONEWS, September 1992" ---------- */

Freedom Law Key To Indigenous Struggle

by Tim McKay

From Brazil to Table Bluff indigenous peoples are struggling to 
protect their sacred sites and the larger environment from 
destruction.

The issues are diverse.  For those who have migrated to cities, 
economic programs may be a priority.  But for those who still live 
in the land of their creation myths, cultural survival is the key 
goal.  For example, federal records show that 15 of 17 study sites 
for a possible high-level nuclear waste dumps are on Indian lands.

Protection for contemporary native life involves preservation of 
language, documentation of oral histories and safeguarding sacred 
sites.

Those working to preserve native religions believe that amendment 
of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) is of 
critical importance.  

Local Proof

The weakness of AIRFA was proved in the North Coast confrontation 
pitting the Forest Service against native tribes and environmental 
groups over agency efforts to build a paved forest highway through 
sites used by Yurok, Karuk and Tolowa peoples.

The effort to halt the so-called Gasquet-Orleans (G-O) Road on the 
Six Rivers National Forest resulted in 16 years of administrative 
appeal and litigation.  The result was the adverse Lyng v. 
Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association (NICPA) ruling 
that came out of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988.

Although the G-O Road itself was ultimately banned by an act of 
Congress, Lyng v. NICPA gutted AIRFA by saying that the First 
Amendment doesn't bar the government from taking actions on public 
lands that would destroy a religion.

To remedy this defect, an American Indian Religious Freedom 
Coalition for amendments to AIRFA was formed and reached out to 
national environmental groups at a meeting in Washington.

Restoring The Earth

Author Vine Deloria said, "We are on the edge of an explosion of 
passion... that will demand fundamental changes... not just to 
renew the Endangered Species Act, but to restore the Earth.  (A 
vision) twice as powerful as the values of the civil rights 
movement of 30 years ago... we are talking about whether or not to 
have a natural world anymore."

The AIRFA coalition has drafted legislation that would provide 
protection for sacred sites on federal lands, evaluation for 
possible return of sacred sites to tribes, allow traditional use 
of peyote, afford religious rights for Native American prisoners, 
and allow religious use of eagles.

Many of the same concerns expressed in Washington were echoed at 
the World Conference of Indigenous Peoples near Rio in the week 
prior to the recent Earth Summit. The delegates claimed wider 
responsibility as stewards of the Earth.

At conference after conference the theme that repeats is that the 
natural world that sustains native peoples is under devastating 
assault from logging and flooding of the rain forests, nuclear 
testing and storage of nuclear wastes, dams in Quebec and 
geothermal development in Hawaii.

Local Resistance

On the North Coast, a center for indigenous culture in North 
America, the remnant peoples of the region's native cultures 
continue their resistance to the dominant culture.

On the southern end of Humboldt Bay, the Wiyot tribe of Table 
Bluff has started work on a new 102-acre village, culmination of a 
32-year effort begun when the federal goverment attempted to 
terminate the tribe.

Wiyot survivors (600 or so remain) also are asking for portions of 
Indian Island in Humboldt Bay to be turned over to the tribe.  The 
island was the site of a massacre on February 26, 1860, when 
pioneer Humboldters murdered some 60 sleeping Wiyot children, 
women and men.  Comments can go to Eureka City Council, 531 K 
Street, Eureka, CA 95501.

The Wiyots want the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to put the 
Island into federal trust status, and would like a place available 
for reburial of Wiyot remains.

The Karuk people of the Salmon River are urging the Forest Service 
to return certain lands to their recently recognized tribe. 
Central to their efforts is acquisition of Ka'tim'iin  (God's 
Mountain). 

Klamath National Forest had agreed to transfer the mountain to the 
tribe, but during recent conflict over the Salmon River allotment 
of the Tripp family--who claim to go back 1,500 years on the 
river--the Forest Service backed off from its earlier agreement.

Yuroks Struggle, Seek Name

In the wake of the 1988 Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act, the Yurok 
tribe is working to establish a constitution and basic services 
for its members.  The EPA recently declared water on part of the 
Yurok Indian Reservation at Requa unfit to drink.

The tribe is even searching for a new name.  Robley Schwenk, 
chairman of the constitution committee, says that "Yurok is a name 
given us by another tribe.  We call ourselves Downriver."  Tribal 
members can submit ideas and comments by calling 1-800-848-8765.

Farther afield, indigenous Canadian Inuit people recently voted to 
form Inuktituk, a homeland larger than Alaska and California 
combined, out of lands between the Northwest shores of Hudson Bay 
and the Arctic Ocean.

In Minnesota, the Chippewa tribe is buying back its historic 
tribal lands one piece at a time.  Today only 7% of the land is in 
Chippewa hands.

In Montana, the Crow tribe finds itself in the midst of the battle 
over wilderness.  The state's Crazy Mountains contain sites sacred 
to the Crow but timber sought after by Montana's Brand S Lumber 
Company.  Montana residents reportedly favor protection of 
wilderness by a wide margin even if it costs jobs, according to 
polls by the Billings Gazette.

(From ECONEWS, Newsletter of the Northcoast Environmental Center, 
September 1992. Write 879 9th St., Arcata, CA 95521, or e-mail 
nec@igc.apc.org, for a free copy.)
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