DISTRESSED TRIBAL COMMUNITIES (PROMISE) ZONED TO A BETTER FUTURE

By: Kele Bigknife | Intern | bigknife@umich.edu

Theodore J. Griswold | Partner | ted.griswold@procopio.com

The Promise Zone Initiative was launched under the Obama administration in January 2014 to designate and aid a number of high-poverty urban, rural, and tribal communities to create jobs, increase economic security, expand educational opportunities, increase access to quality, affordable housing and improve public safety.  A community seeking designation was tasked with detailing how the Promise Zone designation would help accelerate and strengthen the community’s efforts for revitalization.  Selection as a Promise Zone partners the community with federal government liaisons to help the community gain a competitive advantage in applying for federal grants and loans, and to streamline the federal bureaucracy.  The goals of the program include boosting economic activity and job growth, leveraging private investment, expanding educational opportunities, and the secondary benefit of reducing violent crime.

The third and final round of selections for Promise Zone Communities was announced earlier this summer, and two tribes are among the nine additions.  The Spokane Tribe of Washington and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota join the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota (second-round admits), and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (first-round admits) as “Promise Zone” communities.

The Promise Zone’s tag-line reads “a child’s zip code should never determine her destiny.”  The effects of being raised in an impoverished community historically correlates to the child’s odds of graduating high school, her health outcomes, and her lifetime economic opportunities.  Many tribal areas have seen the devastating effects of poverty, and have suffer from a lack of housing, jobs, health services, and educational opportunities.  However, with the help of the Promise Zone program, hope has returned to some of these communities.

Moreover, the program works.  The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is one of the oldest tribal communities in the US, and has seen some areas of its reservation at a poverty rate of nearly 52%. After receiving the Promise Zone designation, the tribe has received close to $100 million in federal investments that have funded new affordable housing, a health clinic, child development programs, a community center, and rural development projects that have provided some citizens with access to potable water for the first time.  Additionally, the Choctaw Nation has secured $21 million in New Markets Tax Credits to build an environmentally sustainable steel manufacturing facility, which will support approximately 300 new jobs in the region.

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe once faced poverty rates higher than 49% of their population, and has seen similar economic advances as the Choctaw Nation since being designated a Promise Zone.  The reservation has expanded access to high-speed internet, built water and sewage infrastructure within the community, and supported an after school meal program through the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program.

With these Promise Zone tribal success stories, the future appears brighter for The Spokane Tribe of Washington and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.  Some of the proposed plans for these tribes include creating jobs through investments in renewable energy, constructing affordable houses, establishing technology centers and regional food hubs, and reducing crime by updating law and order codes and community policing strategies.

If you are a tribal official or member of a distressed tribal community who missed out on this round of the initiative, there are still many ways to benefit from the program.  The US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website maintains a comprehensive list of federal grant opportunities for distressed communities.  Communities who did not receive Promise Zone designations are welcome to apply for any of these grants and work toward their own, more promising future.

Kele Bigknife is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and is in his third year at the University of Michigan Law School. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the Michigan Business and Entrepreneurial Law Review. Kele is a recipient of the 2016 Procopio Native American Internship.

Ted is head of the Native American Law practice group and primary editor for the Blogging Circle. Connect with Ted at ted.griswold@procopio.com and 619.515.3277.

PLSI: Empowering Indian Country, Building the Legal Profession and Native Bar

By: Eric Abeita | Intern
Theodore J. Griswold | Partner | ted.griswold@procopio.com

Transitioning into law school can be a difficult process.  The methods of research, analysis, and writing that are distinct to the legal profession are different than those learned in undergraduate or other graduate course work.  The ability to think like a lawyer is a trained and developed skill, and doesn’t come naturally to many people.  This is why the Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI) has become invaluable in preparing Native Americans for the rigors of law school.  The PLSI is a two month law school preparatory program run by the American Indian Law Center for American Indians and Alaska Natives.  Classes are held every June and July at the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Law.  Students that have been accepted to any law school and those interested in applying or waiting to get in may attend the program.  It is an intensive program which mimics the first year of law school.  Participants take courses like Federal Indian Law, Torts, Property, and Legal Writing.  The credits you receive do not transfer to law school, but the experiences and knowledge you obtain far outweigh any school credits.

The PLSI was started by former UNM School of Law Dean, Fred Hart.  His idea was to start a preparatory law curriculum for Native Americans that was based on sound legal education principles, rather than a space for a philosophical, political, or cultural training ground.  The PLSI has now existed for more than four decades and has been extremely successful.  Every year about 30 students go through the program, and virtually all graduate law school.  It has been touted as the most successful pipeline program for Native Americans in the country.  Former UNM School of Law Dean and now Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, Kevin Washburn, is a graduate of the PLSI.  I attended the PLSI two summers ago, and it was an invaluable experience that prepared me for the demands of law school.  The PLSI also plugs its graduates into a network of former participants who are now attorneys, judges, administrators and other professionals.

More programs like the PLSI should exist for various professions for Native Americans.  The PLSI has no doubt boosted the number of Native Americans successfully attaining law degrees, and similar programs would certainly increase the number of Native Americans with medical, business and other advanced degrees.  If you are a Native American interested in attending law school, I would highly recommend taking advantage of the PLSI.  It will give you a strong fundamental base of law school skills that will allow you to succeed in law school and your profession.  It will give you a confidence on your first day of law school that your peers will not have.  As more Native Americans become credentialed with college and advanced degrees, our ability to run self-sustaining Native communities increases significantly.  To learn more about the PLSI, click here.

Eric Abeita is a member of the Isleta Pueblo and is entering his third year at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Eric is a recipient of the 2014 Procopio Native American Internship.

Ted is head of the Native American Law practice group and primary editor for the Blogging Circle. Connect with Ted at ted.griswold@procopio.com and 619.515.3277.

Medicine Bluffs: Sacred Spaces, Healing Ceremony

By: Stephanie Conduff | Law Clerk | stephanie.conduff@procopio.com
Theodore J. Griswold | Partner | ted.griswold@procopio.com

I was recently invited to the sacred Summer Solstice Prayer Ceremony with the Comanche Nation. It took place on Medicine Bluffs on their traditional lands – a place surrounded by sage, a serene vista and on a bluff that allowed me to see for miles in the four directions. Elders shared with me that Medicine Bluffs is considered a place of puhu. In their Native language puhu means ‘medicine’ or ‘power.’ We had three generations of Native women there for a healing ceremony. It was incredibly peaceful. Until the sounds of artillery fire began…

You see – Medicine Bluffs is on federal land at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. And, despite this sacred time and ceremony for the Comanche people, the Army continued to detonate ordnances nearby. Sacred sites are not places of the past—they are of the present and the future, and must to be treated with the respect that recognizes this is true for churches, mosques and holy places worldwide.

This experience empowered me to intimately understand the necessity of protecting sacred sites. Since 2008 this land has been involved in a protracted legal battle with the federal government.  The U.S. Army attempted to construct a warehouse on Medicine Bluffs. The cultural and religious significance of Medicine Bluffs to area tribes, especially the Comanche Nation and their citizens, has been well known by the Army for approximately 130 years, Comanche Chairman Wallace Coffey said in media statements. Had the Army been successful in its expansion plan and constructed the warehouse it would have unduly burdened the exercise of religious ceremonies of its citizens.  The site was spared from physical damage, though it appears that the Army hasn’t quite come to grips with its sanctity during ceremonies.

Still, I was blessed to experience the puhu that day. And I am thankful to those who ensured its sacredness – and other critical spaces – for this generation and beyond.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2008/09/22/fort-sill-project-threatens-sacred-site-80524

http://www.kswo.com/story/8763155/comanche-nation-battling-fort-sill-over-rights-to-medicine-bluff

http://www.narf.org/nill/bulletins/dct/documents/comanchenationok.pdf

Ted is head of the Native American Law practice group and primary editor for the Blogging Circle. Connect with Ted at ted.griswold@procopio.com and 619.515.3277.

Give Us Our Stuff Back

By: Eric Abeita | Intern
Theodore J. Griswold | Partner | ted.griswold@procopio.com

Last month, the Paris auction house, EVE, attempted to sell 29 Hopi headdresses known as Katsinam.  This same auction house has sold various Native American religious items in four auctions within the past 18 months.  This auction, however, was challenged legally by the United States Embassy in Paris.  The US Embassy filed two actions to stop the sale of the sacred items, but both were defeated.  The Board of Sales, which is a French Government Agency with the power to regulate auctions and other commercial dealings, ruled that neither the Hopi Tribe nor any other Native American group had the legal standing to challenge the sale on French soil.

The US Embassy pulled out all the stops to halt the sale.  Embassy officials invited newly appointed federal judge Diane Humetawa to speak with government officials, art dealers, and others about why the sale of Native American spiritual objects is insulting and sacrilegious.  Judge Humetawa’s presentation was especially powerful as she is a member of the Hopi Tribe, and the first Native American woman to be appointed to the federal court.  Despite these efforts, the auction commenced.  However, this auction sold only nine of the 29 headdresses that were up for auction.  Philip Breeden, the Minister Counselor for Information and Cultural Affairs at the US Embassy, said he thinks the low number of sales is a result of the message of inappropriateness sinking in with some people.

I believe it is extremely unfortunate that the sale of Native American religious items and artifacts still continues globally.  It is illegal to take these objects from Federal or Tribal land and sell them in the United States.  However, thieves navigate US law by smuggling the items to countries like France, which have shown they have no interest in respecting or preserving Native American culture and religion.  Even if French Law is on the side of the auction house, the obvious right thing to do is to return the items to the respective tribes.  It is also hypocritical of the French to allow the sale of these items when they are signatories to the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which protects Native peoples’ art and religious items.

Further, it is also unfortunate that American Bar Association did not mention one word about the history of looting and illegally selling Native American artifacts and antiquities in its July cover story of the ABA Journal, “Looted Beauty.” The article discusses the looting of antiquities that has taken place for decades from countries like Cambodia, Greece, and India, and what those countries are doing to return their stolen heritage back to their homeland.  It is terribly ironic that an organization like the ABA, which is dedicated to advancing the rule of law in the United States, does not even mention the centuries of robbing both cultural and religious items from the original American communities.

Hopefully, Mr. Breeden’s statement that the message is sinking in is actually happening. It is only when more people take the position that the sale of these items is immoral and they must be returned to their proper owners, that the dirty business of pot hunting and artifact dealing will come to an end.  There can be legitimate excavation of some of these sites through professional archaeology, but the days of the loan artifact hunter “discovering” Native American cultural objects must stop.

Eric Abeita is a member of the Isleta Pueblo and is entering his third year at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Eric is a recipient of the 2014 Procopio Native American Internship.

Related Links:

http://news.artnet.com/in-brief/us-efforts-fail-to-halt-french-auction-of-hopi-artifacts-51108

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/arts/design/sale-of-hopi-religious-items-continues-despite-us-embassys-efforts.html?_r=0

Ted is head of the Native American Law practice group and primary editor for the Blogging Circle. Connect with Ted at ted.griswold@procopio.com and 619.515.3277.

Attorney General’s Indian Country Fellowship

By: Stephanie Conduff | Law Clerk | stephanie.conduff@procopio.com
Theodore J. Griswold | Partner | ted.griswold@procopio.com

The Department of Justice has created an opportunity in Indian Country worthy of serious praise. Prosecutors have the best shot at helping people. They are positioned to assist our people into more empowering places – restorative justice programs – including federal court programs for veterans.  For example, the U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Virginia, began its Veterans Treatment Court in spring 2011 when only one other existed at the federal level, in Utah.

We need to get Native people into this prestigious fellowship to protect our citizens!

Applications are being accepted for an Indian Country Fellowship that “is designed to create a new pipeline of legal talent with expertise and deep experience in federal Indian law, tribal law, and Indian Country issues that can be deployed in creative ways to build tribal capacity, combat violent crime, and bolster public safety in Indian Country jurisdictions.”

The Indian Country Fellowship is open to all eligible Honors Program applicants, including current law students graduating in the coming academic year.  The 2014-2015 Honors Program application opens on July 31st and closes on September 2nd.

Imagine … this time next year you could be in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Minnesota, Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska or Arizona! And what is even more amazing than that… you could be working in sovereign nations including the: Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Navajo Nation, Santee Sioux Tribe, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Chickasaw Nation or Cherokee Nation.

With VAWA implementation upon us – this is an incredible time to experience both tribal and federal justice systems.

Links:

http://www.justice.gov/legal-careers/attorney-generals-indian-country-fellowship

http://www.roanoke.com/news/article_9e155062-849e-11e3-9296-001a4bcf6878.html

Ted is head of the Native American Law practice group and primary editor for the Blogging Circle. Connect with Ted at ted.griswold@procopio.com and 619.515.3277.