Cole’s bill would authorize the Interior Department to take land into trust for tribes regardless of when they were officially recognized by the feds, although Cole’s bill exempts Alaskan territory (which would seem to create a different set of two classes, but whatever). A competing bill, introduced by Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), would apply to all tribes and territories, without exception.
Speaking in opposition to the plan was Cheryl Schmit of Stand Up For California, a group that acts to check the expansion of Golden State gambling. Schmit warned lawmakers that they needed to consider “communities of non-Indian citizens who will directly and financially suffer the impacts of federally created gaming.” While 95% of the 2,000-odd pending tribal requests to have land taken into trust are intended for non-gaming purposes, Schmit maintains that tribes frequently change their stated plans once the land is placed in trust.
In other words, Schmit is arguing that tribes don’t always live up to their promises when dealing with white folks. Given the small library of treaties that Indian tribes have signed in good faith but which North American governments have subsequently chosen to ignore when it suited their interests, we humbly suggest Cheryl consider the possibility that payback is indeed a bitch.
King intends to file a complaint with the border agency and the Canadian human rights commission. As she told QMI Agency, the border guard had done more than confiscate her travel document. “They try to take the Indian out of you. Confiscating my identity like that is pretty well an act of trying to suppress our identity.”