Richard Peterson, the president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Photo from Facebook
Richard Peterson, the president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes, sets the record straight on the land-into-trust rule in Alaska:
I recently published an op-ed decrying the uninformed fear-mongering being smeared around Alaska by opponents of tribal trust land. Then I saw the blog titled “Decision: Will Walker flinch or do the right thing?” posted by Suzanne Downing, the communications director for our State’s Republican Party. To put it politely – her blog is truth-challenged. First, what’s at stake is not “millions of acres.” A tribe may ask to have land placed in trust only if the tribe owns the land outright. It is sheer lunacy to think ANCSA corporations will sell off their land holdings to tribes. Tribes in Alaska have nowhere near enough money to buy thousands of acres, much less “millions.” Second, land in trust would not “create a new era of international relations.” This is crazy talk. It is well-settled federal Indian law that tribes are domestic dependent sovereigns. We tribes chafe at that limitation, but it is a hard, legal fact. Third, Indians in Indian country do not avoid many taxes, including school bonds. The wrecking ball she describes is a fiction that has never devastated the millions of acres of tribal trust land in the Lower 48 states.Get the Story:
Richard Peterson: GOP Blogger Is Truth-Challenged on Alaska Natives and Trust Land (Indian Country Today 8/12) Another Opinion:
Charles Gray: Indian country decision crucially important for state (The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 8/12) Relevant Documents:
Dear Tribal Leader Letter from Kevin Washburn (April 30, 2014) District Court Decisions:
Akiachak Native Community v. Jewell (September 30, 2013)
Akiachak Native Community v. Salazar (March 31, 2013) Federal Register Notice:
Land Acquisitions in the State of Alaska (December 23, 2014)
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