The American Indian Student Association held its annual
Sovereignty Forum in an effort to deal with the issue of American
Indian tribal sovereignty and federal recognition in the
southwestern United States.
The forum, organized with the help of Chicano/a student group
MEChA, took place at Dodd Hall late Wednesday. It addressed the
issue of land jurisdiction and the establishment of a
nation-to-nation relationship between tribes and the U.S.
government.
Guest speaker David Garcia, legislative councilman of the
federally recognized Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona,
discussed the current issue of life along the United States-Mexico
border.
The Tohono O’odham land is divided by the borderline
between the two countries, and tribal members find it very
difficult to travel back and forth. Garcia said this has been a
problem especially during the past few years as border restrictions
are increased due to an attempt to crack down on drug trafficking
and smuggling.
Garcia said these restrictions are hindering those members
living in Mexico from receiving their entitled health care benefits
within the Tohono O’odham Nation.
The restrictions also create problems for people on both sides
of the border who have no proof of their births and as a result are
not able to get back to their own countries once they leave to
visit friends or family members.
In response to the situation, U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor,
D”“Ariz., introduced a bill which will endow all enrolled
tribal members, including those residing across the border in
Mexico, with U.S. citizenship.
“The Tohono O’odham has been living on the land long
before there was a border,” Garcia said.
If the initiative were to fail this time, “We will just
try again,” he said.
Two other speakers from the Barbareno Chumash tribe and the
Chumash Tomol Society gave presentations on the history of American
Indians as their lands and sovereignty were expropriated by
Europeans and Americans. They placed particular emphasis on the
necessary fight to obtain full sovereignty.
Eric Sanchez, vice president of AISA and coordinator of the
event, said he hopes that the forum will help increase the
awareness of the general student population at UCLA to American
Indian sovereignty issues.
Patricia Lamas-Gonzalez, a fourth-year sociology student, said
the forum gave her many new insights into the American
Indians’ perspective on the issue of sovereignty and the long
process of becoming federally recognized as a nation.
“I feel that the U.S. government has not given such amount
of respect to the American Indian cultures as they should,”
she said.
Other students went a step further, saying American Indians
should be granted independence.
“Indigenous people should be respected as autonomous
nation,” said Andy Ramirez, a third-year Chicano/a Studies
student.
“The federal government should also recognize people
across the (U.S.-Mexico) border which is now separating families
and preventing people from receiving their entitled health and
other services,” he added.
Jose M.P. Leon, a fourth-year history student, said the U.S.
government has failed in recognizing the true sovereignty of
American Indian tribes. He also felt that the issue of submitting
proofs of their continuing presence on the land to the U.S.
government in order for a tribe to be federally recognized is
unreasonable.
“(American Indians) were suffering the consequences of
Western colonialism, being ripped apart from their families and
forced out of their homes,” he said, “and somehow they
were supposed to be able to provide proper documentation of their
existence on the land?”