MPR’s Bob Potter reports on Clyde Bellecourt speech on Indian reform policy.
Bellecourt wants a treaty-making commission to re-examine existing treaties with the U.S. and make new ones if necessary. He also wants Congress to create a commission to re-examine the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934; to give government back to the Indian people and allow them to govern themselves. He says the Bureau of Indian Affairs should be restructured and moved from the Interior Department’s Land Management division. With the 1970’s energy crisis, he’s concerned about land and mineral rights. Bellecourt ends by stating he wants legislation to provide a “leave us alone” type policy.
SPEAKER: We're looking to establish a treaty-making commission. The purpose of that commission would be to reexamine the 371 existing treaties with the United States and to make new treaties, if necessary. Number two, we're asking that Congress establish a commission to investigate and re-examine the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and make the corrective changes that are needed to give the traditional form of government back to the Indian people and more control over their life, their life and their lifestyle.
And number three, we're asking, of course, that the Bureau of Indian Affairs be restructured and taken out from under-- right now, the Bureau of Indian Affairs falls within the Interior Department under Land Management. So they only think of Indian people as a natural resource and not as a human being.
And with the present energy crisis, we can see what little land we have left and what little mineral rights we have left being ripped off in the next 10 years if this country is going to become self-sufficient. So what we're really looking for, I guess, is legislation that will end up being a leave-us-alone-type policy. Let us govern our own lives for a while. We haven't even been given the opportunity, really, to make a mistake.