"The 1992 unification of the Western European countries into the European Union has apparently worked wonders, and there is peace and cooperation, at least in all physical appearances. For example, currencies in all participating countries have been unified, and like a fist, all are strengthened.

In each participating country, the national flag flies alongside the European Union flag, which is a simple blue flag, emblazoned with a circle of stars, symbolizing nations of the Union. A visa is not required for travel among those nations, nor are there Customs to deal with if you are entering an EU country from another participating nation.

This caused me to think, “Why can’t Indian nations do something similar, even on a regional basis?” Tribes are already organized regionally, from the All Indian Pueblo Council, to the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, to the United South and Eastern Tribes, and the Alaska Federation of Natives. Even the Sioux up in the Northern Plains, although their unity has been described elsewhere as the “Untied Sioux Tribes,” rather than the United Sioux Tribes, could be better unified with economic as well as political incentives.

This came to mind again when I read in Lakota Country Times a letter from Greg Ducheneaux of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Ducheneaux’s idea called for intertribal and inter-reservational cooperation in land use, range and agricultural technology, and in purchasing power. This would be an ideal start to many other intertribal cooperative economic and commercial ventures.

If the sovereign nations of Europe, those same countries that had been throwing rocks at each other since the Stone Age, and more recently attacking each other with the most horrid weapons designed to eliminate each other, can unify without comprising their individual sovereignty, it seems that those nations identified as Sioux can do it."

Get the Story:
Charles Trimble: From ‘Untied’ to United? (Indian Country Today 9/25)

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