Note by Hunterbear: The more functional sovereignty any Native tribal nation can maintain and can regain and preserve -- and continue to expand -- the better. But this present Taos, New Mexico matter, discussed in the attached short article, is simply a broadening legal recognition of long-standing, traditional jurisdiction. Some Anglos may see the sky falling, but I doubt very much that most people of whatever ethnicity are flying into hysterics. Indians certainly are not -- and I imagine most long standing non-Indian residents of Taos aren't, either.
Taos has always had its fascinating moments. This is precisely why Mabel [Ganson] Dodge left New York and her salon with its colorful and challenging entities and came to Taos as the United States was becoming enmeshed in World War I. She emerged, in soon due course, as Mabel Dodge Luhan via her marriage to the excellent Native [Taos Pueblo] artist, Tony Luhan. And she was followed by a flood of artists and writers, some much better than others. And, as I've noted in previous posts, she brought her old pre-War friend, John Collier, out to New Mexico as a long-term guest. He arrived, knowing virtually nothing about Native tribal nations and cultures and the compelling problems they faced [and continue to face] -- but he left Taos and the Luhans with his new, and very sturdily enduring life-long commitment to Native people. That splendid commitment by John Collier was, with whatever few mistakes, reflected in his excellent work with his American Indian Defense Association -- which he founded following his visit at Taos. Through this, Collier, also a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt who he interested mightily in Indian concerns, pushed for repeal of the massively land-stealing Dawes Act [General Allotment Act] and related measures and policies; fought for the preservation and support of all Native tribes and cultures as living, vital entities; and pushed vigorously for Native American religious and political and economic rights. All of these efforts and others were signal components of his essentially successful Indian New Deal which characterized his long tenure [1933-1945] as FDR's Indian Commissioner. Although the Collier policies were savagely attacked from the latter 1940s through the 1950s, by many of the Western politicians and their Eastern counterparts and their land hungry oil and mining and lumbering and ranching constituents -- often using the Cold War atmosphere as their cover to generate such anti-Native policies as "urban relocation" and "termination" -- much of Collier's fine work ultimately endured and prevailed. [As do our Native people!] John Collier's labors all served as a foundation for -- at whatever glacial pace and occasional set-backs -- newer Native American policy victories [e.g., Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 and the National Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 and some other significant measures.] I was fortunate as a child and young person to occasionally visit Santa Fe and Taos -- where my parents had many good friends. En route from Flagstaff on long narrow highways, we would always stop at Laguna Pueblo [west of Albuquerque] and then at San Felipe Pueblo [north of Albuquerque] -- where our friends have been numerous over several generations. Closer to home, the wintering cow-town of Sedona -- in and below Oak Creek Canyon and just south of Flagstaff in a warmer clime -- drew a number of fine artists and writers in the post-World War II era: e.g., Max Ernst, ground-breaking surrealist from Germany; Cecil Murdock, a fine Kickapoo Indian painter; Nassan Abiskaroun, very productive Egyptian sculptor; excellent writer Robert Kittredge; and others. My folks spent a fair amount of time at Sedona -- as did, in due course, Ned and Jessica Danson from the Museum of Northern Arizona [ the people also known as the parents of present actor, Ted Danson.] My Native father's ties with Indian Mexico were dramatically forged at an early age. Jean Charlot, a very close, life-long family friend whose life span [1898-1979] was almost precisely that of my father --exceeding his by only one year -- and whose trails with Dad's had intersected and paralleled at many points before he [Charlot] settled at the University of Hawaii, was, with his, wife Zohmah and children, a very frequent summer visitor of ours at Flagstaff and a sojourner, with my parents at Sedona -- as well as in the Hopi and Navajo country. They all spent much time in Mexico. Jean Charlot was, first and foremost, a Mexican Indian artist. His father, Henri, had been a French businessman and free spirit who was also an early Bolshevik sympathizer -- and who'd been, by various vagaries of migration, born and reared in Russia. Jean Charlot's mother, Anna, was an artist and the daughter of Louis Goupil, a native of Mexico City who was French and Mexican Indian. Charlot was a long-time assistant of Diego Rivera [patron of Trotsky] -- and a colleague and friend, among others, of radical artists David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco. In addition to all of these very constructive influences, I should add, I myself sometimes ran an extensive and successful trap-line northwest of Sedona in Dry Creek Basin, at the mouth and up into Boynton Canyon and Secret Mountain -- before I embarked forever on the high seas of Saving the World. Regrettably, Sedona has never been privileged -- as has Taos -- to be immediately adjacent to a Native tribal nation reservation. Perhaps, lacking those very positive influences, that's why Sedona gradually became inundated with right-wing types and then New Age Nonsense. Long before that, virtually all of Sedona's solid folk moved away. My parents sold their Sedona land. The Charlots continued to visit my folks at Flagstaff -- and they all went to Mexico -- but they didn't go down to Sedona. After my father died, my two brothers and I -- with Mother's consent -- sold the sizeable acreage we held well below Sedona, on Lower Oak Creek, at Cornville. That setting, too, had become loaded with non-creative out-of-staters and our old Yavapai Indian friends and small Chicano rancher amigos had sold their places to Big League Ball Players. We sold our land to a Phoenix doctor who was grateful to escape. Nice to see Taos still kicking up its heels. There's much to be said for the creatively flaring pitchy-pine and the enduring oak-wood fires of Tradition. Hunter [Hunterbear] Hunter Gray [ Hunterbear ] www.hunterbear.org ( social justice ) Protected by NaŽshdoŽiŽbaŽiŽ New Mexico Town Is on Indian Land, and in Limbo By MICHAEL JANOFSKY http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/12/national/12INDI.html?tntemail0 TAOS, N.M., April 11 - Early last year, the local police arrested Del E. Romero, a member of the Taos Pueblo, on charge of aggravated battery after a man was severely beaten in a parking lot here. On probation at the time, Mr. Romero was sent to jail. But he was lucky the incident happened where it did. A state judge dismissed the charge last month because of customs and laws, originating with the king of Spain in the 1500's, that have preserved certain lands throughout the southwestern United States as "Indian country," no matter where they are or who owns the buildings on them. Until the judge, Peggy J. Nelson, ruled, few people in Taos knew that half the town, including the parking lot where the incident occurred, is on Indian land, part of a grant to indigenous people by Spain that was upheld by Mexico after it won independence in 1821, and by the United States after New Mexico became a territory in 1853 and a state in 1912. Indian lands, even if not connected to a reservation, are sovereign, like foreign countries, and only tribal and federal authorities have the right to arrest and prosecute American Indians accused of committing crimes on them. Courts in other states, including North Dakota, South Dakota and Florida, have upheld the standard in similar cases. Now Mr. Romero, 32, is free, and many Taos residents are wondering what impact Judge Nelson's ruling will have on this famous art community of 6,000. Already, limited resources prevent federal and tribal authorities from pursuing every criminal case on Indian land, and now fears are mounting that state and local authorities may be less aggressive, knowing that a defense lawyer can raise the issue of venue and have the case thrown out. Reflecting on Judge Nelson's ruling, Chief Neil W. Curran of the Taos Police Department, said, "Once it becomes common knowledge, and you're a Native American inclined to become involved with something like shoplifting, you'll know to do it in Indian country." The implications of the ruling were not lost on Judge Nelson. In a letter explaining how history and cases elsewhere influenced her decision, she told Mr. Romero's public defender, Alan Maestas, and the local district attorney's office that Congress needed to clarify issues of jurisdiction over all Indian lands. For now, the matter is in the courts. The state has appealed the ruling to the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and each side expects the loser to petition the state Supreme Court to hear the case. Eventually, it may go to the United States Supreme Court, which some legal experts say has eroded tribal authority. Speaking last week in Albuquerque at the Federal Bar Association's annual conference on Indian law, Senior Judge William C. Canby Jr. of the federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco said this is "a terrible time for tribes to find themselves in court, especially the Supreme Court." Representative Tom Udall, a Democrat whose district includes Taos, said Congress had not examined the issues. But until it does, Mr. Udall said, he urges local, state and federal law enforcement officials to define their responsibilities for the sake of "comfort in the community." Chief Curran said that after Judge Nelson ruled, Mayor Frederick A. Peralta and Town Attorney Tomas Benavidez told him to respond to crimes as if nothing had changed. But the larger concern, Chief Curran said, is how the police will handle a case, and already there are uncertainties. Despite telling the force's 17 officers that their work will proceed as usual, Chief Curran said an officer responding to an assault last Sunday night called him at home to ask if he should investigate what happened. "So it has already caused problems," Chief Curran said. "The officer had to call me for direction." Beyond that, residents who live or work in the north side of town, which includes the historic square, galleries and hotels, said they wonder what may happen with the crimes like shoplifting or drunken driving that tribal authorities and agents from the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Indian Affairs judge not worth pursuing. Felonies are prosecuted by the federal government. Norm Cairns, an assistant United States attorney for New Mexico, said his office had also prosecuted some misdemeanors. But in the case of other offenses, Mr. Cairns said, "logistics, manpower and resources have to be taken into consideration." Senior officials with the Taos Pueblo declined to comment, pending final review of Judge Nelson's ruling. A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Nedra Darling, did not respond to requests for information. To Chief Curran and the local district attorney, Donald Gallegos, any problems in the short term can be addressed by deputizing police and sheriff's department officers as federal agents, something Mr. Udall said could be done without Congressional involvement. Meanwhile, Chief Curran said, "We have encouraged the United States attorney to prosecute the Romero case." All that brings little solace to people like Mike Neglia, whose father owns the Taos General Store, which faces the parking lot where Mr. Romero is accused of beating a man. "It's very concerning," he said of uncertainties about law enforcement response. "We have just two middle-aged ladies working here. It would be easy for a couple of guys to take what they want and leave. We could call the cops. But then what?" _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
