That's a kind of structural racism, a trading of assets among settler groups, rather than dealing with the underlying issue of justice. It's something that the environmental movement has to be challenged on. Some of the groups that have worked on northern forest cutting issues have improved. No one is really working in partnership on our reservation, but we're working with groups like the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy on forest and agricultural issues. They have a broader view of the relationship between international, national and multicultural issues.
Indian communities have certain jurisdictional authority and are remotely located.
Although we have sovereignty which we recognize originates with the Creator, the federal government does recognize some aspects of our sovereignty. There are over a hundred different proposals to dump toxic waste in our communities, including my own reservation. There is also residual contamination from historical practices, especially major mining operations. The perfect example is the thousand abandoned uranium mines down on the Navajo Reservation. It will take a heck of an effort to get those cleaned up.