Should Indian nations be included as Indian Nations?
My correspondent who attended the Jenks City Council meeting also said that this item was on the agenda: "Request to approve Resolution No. 427 approving and adopting the second amended agreement creating the Indian Nations Council of Governments, providing for membership for the Cherokee, Creek and Osage Indian Nations."
When the agenda item came up, Councilor Vic Vreeland said that the tribes are spending so much money in the area they should have a seat at the table. Despite the name, the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG) is actually a regional council of city and county governments, created in response to the federal requirement for regional planning as a condition for federal transportation funding.
While I wouldn't reject the idea out of hand, the tribes, which are organized and governed directly under the federal law, are a different class of entity than cities and counties, which are creatures of the Oklahoma constitution and statutes. If anything, INCOG could be a focal point for cities and counties to lobby Congress about problems arising from tribal sovereignty laws.
It may surprise you to learn, as it surprised me, that most of the powers and rights that tribal governments have are not built into the treaties they signed with the United States, but are matters of federal law, laws that can be changed. Tribal commercial activities can have a significant effect on land use regulation (they're exempted from zoning), transportation planning, crime (the impact of casinos, cross-deputization issues), and sales tax revenues, an impact that will only grow as the tribes grow wealthier and take more land into trust. INCOG could be a forum for cities and counties to coordinate their response to these challenges.
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The Cross-Deputization of tribal law enforcement, giving them arrest powers off of Tribal Land, has got to be one of the dumbest, and potentially scariest power transfers that the idiots at City Hall ever came up with.
Not satisfied with giving our Tulsa PD a literal Free Ride waste of millions of tax dollars per year to commute within 25 miles of Tulsa on our taxpayer paid for vehicles and taxpayer provided gasoline, the local City Goobermint First-Cousins of "Dumb and Dumberer", have signed an agreement with the perpetually feuding petty factions of Indian Tribes to allow them to come into Tulsa to arrest Tulsans within the City of Tulsa.
That puts all Tulsans at extreme risk from the totally UNACCOUNTABLE Tribal Police, who while they are simply in-bred beneficiaries of a totally Race-based patronage system, are nonetheless also armed to teeth including MP5 fully-automatic assault rifles.
Doesn't matter. In ten more years or so, we'll all be speaking "Injun" anyway.
The Gov has sold the state to them.
Tribal rights by Treaty is another convenient fiction the Feds are happy to let the populace believe in order to cover up the give away the politicians perpetrated; a black hole with no accountability.
A lot like the Federal Reserve, another little understood Congressional creature.
Well, in 10 years the N-D-NZ may own Oklahoma again. They already own our state politicians, lock-stock-and-over-a-barrel.
But, we'll be speaking SPANISH, not Native American.
!Si
"In-Bred?" "Injun?"
Sounds like Bob and Anon need to get their white hoods and sheets cleaned.
I stand 100% by my concluding comments that the Tribal Police are:
"UNACCOUNTABLE,in-bred beneficiaries of a totally Race-based patronage system".
The Tribal Police are NOT a merit-based police force like TPD. TPD have reasonably high hiring standards, and are an EEO/AA non-discriminatory employer.
And at TPD, you do NOT have to be a member of the Tribe to get the job, hence not an "in-bred" selection.
No White Sheet and Hood hanging in my closet.
We have family members of Indian descent. None of them would ever apply for any benefits, or expect any special treatment. They think it's a dumb idea and an insult to their ancestors. We all consider ourselves Americans, plain and simple.
History is just that - His story. You can't rebuild it. You can't revive it. You can't relive it. You can only tell the story.
All's fair in love and war.