The difference for me, here, is that modern Native Americans are the descendants of people whose land was stolen and whose families were murdered just a couple of generations ago. This is not ancient history and people are still very much alive whose lives were devastated by the American government and citizenry. It is my personal opinion that the United States is still doing business illegally on Native American land and that, yes, when it comes to who lives where, Indians are above the law, because the law does not refer to them. It refers to non-Indian residents. Clearly, you disagree with this, as would many people, but this is my personal belief, and the opinion from which I penned the above article.

I think laws governing Indigenous Peoples should be made by Indigenous governments – not by the town councils living under the American government. I see these as two very different entities and that Indians have first dibs.

Thank you for sharing your views. We appreciate the time you took to comment.
Mim

By your own logic, anyone who’s ancestors have ever been wronged by someone else at some point in history is justified in ignoring the current rule of law.

I have Choctaw blood flowing through my veins, so I have the right to ignore the laws of Louisiana & Mississippi where my ancestors’ land was taken? Not long before that, my ancestors living on the Canary Islands were forcibly rounded up & sent to colonize Spain’s holdings in North America. So under your logic, I have the right to ignore the laws of both Spain & the Canary Islands, right? My forefathers’ Confederate government was ruthlessly put down by Union soldiers, so I can ignore Yankee laws too?

Sounds like a recipe for anarchy to me & a misguided extension of a corrosive line of thinking that justifies one group trampling on the rights of another for the sake of advancement.

That’s what the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians wants, right…to ignore current day laws because their ancestors were wronged?
Otherwise there is no need to seek reservation status for land they legally own and can legally develop.

The good citizens of Windsor have nothing against any neighbors who comply with the same laws as everyone else in our community & the good people of the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians have plenty of options to develop this or other lands within the rule of law.

“People are capable of compassion and right behavior…we can work to change ignorance and hatred into intelligence and respect.”

Where is LBPI’s sense of compassion & right behavior when for the sake of their 275 tribal members, they propose taking rights away from the 20,000 citizens of Windsor & the 300 citizens who have lived for a generation directly adjacent to the land proposed for a reservation? Where is the intelligence & respect in these actions??

Your compassion for those who’s ancestors have been wronged is admirable, but your proposed solution is either based on flawed logic where two wrongs make a right or it holds LBPI interests above all others including current citizens and other groups whose ancestors have been wronged.

Can’t you and the LBPI be a bit more forward thinking than that & propose a solution that does not continue the cycle of trading one group’s rights for another?