Native American Background Information
Socio-Economic Information
The U.S. Has a Special “Trust” Obligation
Historical Cultural Values
Socio-Economic Information
According to the 2000 Census, there were 4.1 million American Indians, including Alaska Natives. Native Americans remain the poorest minority group in the nation. The poverty rate among Indian people is 25.9%, compared to the national rate of 11.3%. Associated with this poverty are poor health conditions, lack of affordable and decent housing, substandard education, a critical lack of jobs, and a host of other barriers that keep most Native American communities isolated and economically distressed. The Indian unemployment rate was 46% in mid-2004. While a handful of tribes have achieved a measure of success, the vast majority are in serious need of jobs, economic growth strategies, and policy solutions that can counteract the results of decades of oppression.
According to the Census, only about one-third of all Native Americans lived on reservations. The rest lived in urban and other off-reservation areas; and, it seems that this number continues to rise. Like their reservation counterparts, Indians living in urban areas suffer from disproportionately high rates of poverty and unemployment, low levels of formal education, and increased risk of disease and infant mortality.
There are 559 federally recognized tribes and 311 Indian reservations across 36 states. Six tribal groups account for 42% of all American Indians: Cherokee, Navajo, Latin American Indian, Choctaw, Sioux, and Chippewa. The five states with the largest American Indian populations are California, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. The five cities reporting the largest American Indian population are New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. American Indians were the majority of the population in 14 counties in the West and 12 counties in the Midwest. In the West, the counties were in Alaska, Arizona, Montana, and Utah. In the Midwest, the counties were in South Dakota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Nebraska.
The U.S. Has a Special “Trust” Obligation
Congress has broad power over Indians, including the authority to decide who is, or is not, recognized as an American Indian under federal law.
The United States government has special trust obligations to:
- protect tribal lands and resources;
- protect tribal rights to self-government; and
- provide basic social, medical, and educational services for tribal members.
This trust relationship is acknowledged by the U.S. Constitution and is based upon negotiated treaties that recognize the sovereignty of American Indian Nations to govern themselves as distinct political communities. Congress has special authority over American Indian decision-making under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which gives it the power to regulate commerce among the states, with Indian Tribes, and with foreign nations.
This trust doctrine has been extended by Acts of Congress to American Indian individuals both on and off reservations in the form of basic services. In tribal areas, American Indian communities are politically organized according to federally established reservation boundaries, while in off-reservation and urban areas Indians are organized primarily around federally-enacted service programs. Therefore, tribal governments and American Indian community-based service organizations have been the local entities most active in developing leaders and conducting public policy advocacy campaigns. Both reservation and off-reservation issues, whether local or national, are defined by this special relationship that American Indian tribes have with the federal government.
This trust responsibility runs from the federal government to the tribe. But the tribe as an entity does not exist without its people; thus, it can be said that the ultimate beneficiary of the trust responsibility is the individual member of a tribe. Despite the growing numbers of off-reservation Indians, and their well-documented needs, federal Indian law has been interpreted in such a way as to exclude off-reservation Indians from much-needed resources and services.
Historical Cultural Values
American Indian communities existed as distinct political and cultural entities prior to the U.S. Constitution. Indian culture is central to understanding how American Indian communities are organized. There is not one Indian culture, but a diversity of cultures among American Indian communities. Cultural variations among tribes are related to differences in geography, language, and history of contact with non-Indians.
American Indian communities today are often divided between their traditional spirituality and Christianity. They are also divided between “modern” values based upon linear, rational thinking, and traditional values based upon circular, sacredly grounded thinking. This circular world view is based upon a fundamental principal that all things are one with each other. Traditional culture acts holistically through rituals and ceremonies which contain the stories and values for understanding the relationships of all things to each other.
Organizing with Indian communities is not only about building an organization with power, but also about helping people rediscover their culture. It is the responsibility of the organizer to understand the historical culture of the people to be organized. Organizing strategies and tactics in American Indian communities are not effective unless they are consistent with these historical cultural values.
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