"Your article omitted any reference to the huge responsibilities and massive failures of Indian programs run by the Interior Department.

Indian programs and management of Indian lands and trusts are supposed to be a major part of Interior’s work. Interior is the principal agency in government dealing with Indians.

Your omission may have clearly identified the major cause of the Indians’ problem in this country: We remain invisible. Few people see us and fewer still care about our plight.

Literally hundreds upon hundreds of congressional reports, court opinions and government studies have described the horrific treatment of Indians and their property. The century-old pervasive mismanagement by Interior of Indian trusts has been shown repeatedly in the 12-year-old class action suit filed in the D.C. Federal District Court in 1996. Yet when it comes to describing the role of the Interior Department, even a journal as knowledgeable as The Denver Post fails to put Indians on its radar."

Get the Story:
Elouise Cobell: Obama’s choice of Salazar for Interior [second letter] (The Denver Post 12/19)

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