Council needed that will uphold constitutions
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
Sovereignty. A nation within a nation entitled to the right to govern themselves, charged with upholding the U.S. Constitution and our CS&KT Constitution and by-laws. Sovereignty is also a double-edged sword, capable of protection but can be used to destroy the same things. Under our tribal constitutional laws we have a 10-member council who serve in the capacity of our tribal government to protect and preserve this sovereignty by upholding all laws and U.S. and Tribal constitutional rights.
As wards of the U.S. government, when our tribal government does not fulfill these guaranteed rights the Secretary of Interior is to force them to uphold these rights. The Salazar and Cobell litigation were settlements resulting from their failure to do so.
All federal and state dollars come with these laws attached. The two settlement disbursements were under these constitutional conditions. We have ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) that is for the protection of Indian children. We have Kerr Dam, Gray Wolf, KwaTaqNuk and the water compact. According to our CS&KT constitution, the membership are the decision makers, not the tribal council and one-third of the eligible voters in a referendum can ratify.
Under the BIA’s direction in the Cobell buyback, the tribe is paying rock bottom prices for undivided lands, and all mineral rights of land. If you read the water compact, when it’s in fact, the CS&KT tribes and the U.S. Government are relinquishing all tribal member water rights/and the use of water rights.
We already know none of the council’s members up for reelection recognize the tribal membership as part of the tribe let alone their constitutional power.
Our tribal membership lives in a third world country under a dictatorship. There is no way to improve anything unless we have a council capable of upholding our CSKT Constitution, and U.S. Constitution.
Sybil R. Butler
Dixon
