It pays to have a large voting block, and a friendly media. With thirteen
percent of the population, black Americans have a loudspeaker, while 300,000
Native Americans never get a peep.
We are talking about the dirty secret of the Bureaus of Indian Affairs, a division of the Interior Department, in its handling of a "Trust" fund established more than a hundred years ago, in 1887. The "Trust" was to manage money received from natural resources pillaged from land belonging to the Indians by treaty.
The latest saga in this mess was reported by msnbc.com, the Associated Press, and Reuters this week. The sorry management and outright theft by our government stands right up there with the "Trail of Tears" and "Wounded Knee" for our shameful record in dealing with our Native brethren.
A Federal judge has been trying since 1996 to get the government to "come clean", but to no avail. The Interior, Treasury, and Justice Departments, under both Clinton and Bush, have stonewalled.
On Tuesday, U. S. District Judge Royce Lamberth released a scathing opinion on the Interior Department’s actions. He wrote, in part, "The agency has indisputably proven to this court, Congress, and the individual Indian beneficiaries that it is either unwilling or unable to administer competently the (Indian) trust."
He continued, "Worse yet, the department has now undeniably shown that it can no longer be trusted to state accurately the status of it trust reform efforts. In short, there is no longer any doubt that the secretary of Interior has been and continues to be an unfit trustee-delegate for the United States"
As reported in the msnbc.com article, the judge shut down most of the Interior Department’s internet connections in December. The reason: The agency could not ensure that hackers wouldn’t break in and steal money.
Just how much money there is, no one knows, since the government has had a hundred and fifteen years to screw it up. In their 1996 suit, the Indians claim that it is between ten and forty billion dollars.
The Justice Department is appealing Judge Lamberth’s rulings. Your government at work.
The next time you hear the screams for "reparations" from that predominantly Democrat ten-million minority voting block, tell them to get in line. There is a tiny 300,000 group of forgotten Americans out there with a much better case. And our government REFUSES to listen.
(This opinion includes information from www.msnbc.com,
The Associated Press, and Reuters.)
Ó2002 Dave Nelson