The Native Americans of the US - Essay Example

The American government has policies that separate the American Indians from their lands while they are making policies to recognize their sovereign rights to their territories (Brookeman, 1990).
Let us tackle how certain government policies which have been promulgated by different presidents of the United States have influenced the overlapping of Native American policies and how their president affected the rights of the natives to recognize their rights to live in the present society.

President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965, after years of fighting for Civil Rights signed into law the Voting Rights Act (VRA) which was considered by many as the most significant civil rights law ever enacted. This law gives minority groups equal voting protection and power and it removes other laws that prohibit African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans to vote. This defines broad political equality and their political participation to determine their choice of political leaders.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon declared a national policy and self-determination for Indian tribes. This policy was promulgated into Executive Order 13336 which states its adherence to a government-to-government support and relationship for tribal sovereignty and self-reliance. This resulted in the ratification of Executive Order 13175 in 2000 which relates to the Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments (USDJ, 2007).

Jimmy Carter, the 39th US President signed into law S.J. Resolution 102 which is the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. This law has empowered the political rights of the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiian people to protect and preserve their inherent rights to exercise their traditional religions under the US Constitution. This law emphasized the fundamental right of every American citizen to have the freedom to worship what he or she pleases.

In January 1983, President Ronal Reagan issued the Federal Indian Policy Statement (FIPS) which reaffirmed the special relationships that must exist between American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal governments and Federal Government. This relationship entails the provision of decent, safe, clean, and affordable housing to the Federal members of the recognized Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages living on reservations (Development, 2001).
But the good news did not end there. In the same year that Reagan affirmed the FIPS, the judicial branch at the same time causes negative consequences against policies protecting tribal rights. President Reagan stated that Indian Self-Determination Act despite its significance must be left alone by the Federal government to preserve the tribes’ self-reliance and self-government. He had seen according to him that some of the tasks that tribal society must do for their community are being carried on by Federal employees.
This is against the long-fought principle of the past presidents from Kennedy to Nixon, to Carter and Bush who are all distinguished “initiators” of the Sovereignty Protection Initiative which command more interest and support for the tribal policy. Those who have seen Reagan’s administration have accused the Supreme Court of breaking principles of established policies set by the previous Congress and judicial opinions. This court’s decision eventually threatened tribal governance and economic progress in every Indian state (Today, 2002). Read More