Undoing historical wrongs to our Native American citizens

Imagine a scenario today in which the federal government, with no due process, forcibly removes children of a specific race from their homes and places them into a boarding school more than a thousand miles away from their family and friends. Or imagine the outcry if the federal government were to subject a certain race of citizens into forced labor as a condition of receiving benefits he or she has a treaty obligation to receive. Such patronizing superiority would not be tolerated in today’s society, and there would be a public outcry against such blatant discrimination. Yet these are examples of federal laws which are still on the books today with regard to our Native American citizens. It is time to officially remove these historical wrongs from the books.

In April 2016, I introduced the Repealing Existing Substandard Provisions Encouraging Conciliation with Tribes Act, or the RESPECT Act, and it recently passed unanimously out of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The RESPECT Act would reverse a list of outdated, offensive laws against Native American citizens in the United States. In addition to laws that would allow for the forced removal of Native American Children who can be forced into boarding schools and subjecting Indians into forced labor, a law currently exists today where the president is authorized to declare all treaties with such tribes “abrogated if in his opinion any Indian tribe is in actual hostility to the United States.” Another statute calls for the “withholding of moneys or goods on account of intoxicating liquors,” meaning Native Americans can be denied annuities, money or goods if they are found under the influence of alcohol.

http://www.bhpioneer.com/undoing-historical-wrongs-to-our-native-american-citizens/article_3622e138-81ab-11e6-88eb-9fa0db019632.html