The Movement for Change: New Ideas Promote New Laws
Several years of stagnation followed the Meriam Report and the Indian Reorganization Act. However, beginning in the 1960's the powerful voices of the American Indian Movement helped make a profound impact, and more legal victories for American Indians occurred.
The American Indian Movement (AIM)
"From its beginning AIM identified three main forces destructive to the Indian people: Christianity, white oriented education and the federal government. To secure Indian self-determination and the right to be and think Indian, the destructive tendencies of these forces must be eliminated from Indian life, along with the yoke of the BIA" (The American Indian Movement). |
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"Many [AIM participants] have returned to the old religions of their tribes, away from the confused notions of a society which has made them slaves of their own unguided lives. AIM is first a spiritual movement, a religious rebirth, and then a rebirth of Indian dignity. AIM succeeds because it has beliefs to act on. AIM is attempting to connect the realities of the past with the promises of tomorrow."
- Kills Straight, an Oglala Sioux
- Kills Straight, an Oglala Sioux
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Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (1975)
"The Congress hereby recognizes the obligation of the United States to respond to the strong expression of the Indian people for self-determination by assuring maximum Indian participation in the direction of educational as well as other Federal services to Indian communities so as to render such services more responsive to the needs and desires of those communities" (Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act). "The 1975 legislation contained two provisions. Title I, the Indian Self-Determination Act, established procedures by which tribes could negotiate contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to administer their own education and social service programs. It also provided direct grants to help tribes develop plans to assume responsibility for federal programs. Title II, the Indian Education Assistance Act, attempted to increase parental input in Indian education by guaranteeing Indian parents' involvement on school boards" (Cobb).
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"Title II, the Indian Education Assistance Act . . . give[s] the Indian community a stronger role in approving or disapproving the use of funds for children in public schools. . . . The enactment of this legislation marks a milestone for Indian people. It will enable this Administration to work more closely and effectively with the tribes for the betterment of all the Indian people." |
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Indian Child Welfare Act (1978)
"Culturally, the chances of Indian survival are significantly reduced if our children, the only real means for the transmission of the tribal heritage, are to be raised in non-Indian homes and denied exposure to the ways of their People. Furthermore, these practices seriously undercut the tribes' ability to continue as self-governing communities. Probably in no area is it more important that tribal sovereignty be respected than in an area as socially and culturally determinative as family relationships."
- Mr. Calvin Isaac, Tribal Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian
- Mr. Calvin Isaac, Tribal Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian
"Prior to 1978, a disproportionate number (25 to 35 percent) of all American Indian children were taken from their homes by state social service agencies. Many of the children placed in non-Indian homes experienced loss of their cultural heritage and Indian identity. The act regulates child custody cases involving American Indian children and shifts decision-making control from state agencies to tribal courts . . . the child is placed under the jurisdiction of the tribe and into the care of his or her extended family or of guardians who are American Indian. . . . However, American Indian children continue to be separated from their families at a higher rate than non-Indian children" (Chaatsmith).
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"It raises the standard of proof that's necessary. It gives an opportunity for extended family to become the first option for surrogate care . . . And it provided a mechanism to transfer the decision point to tribal judges, who were more likely to understand the families in context, and therefore more likely to help them heal and be able to take care of their children."
-Tribal Judge William A. Thorne Jr. |