Reservation borders should be closed, non-Indians taxed
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Editor,
Here’s some information that a lot of people here on our reservation don’t know: there are approximately 29,000 people that reside in Lake County. Only 23 percent are American Indian. There are approximately 7,800 CSKT enrolled tribal members. Out of 7,800 enrolled members, approximately 4,500 reside on the reservation, (16 percent of Lake County’s population).
Now keep those numbers in mind every week that you read the Leader or Journal’s District Court section. Racism is alive and well and at every corner and every nook and cranny of this reservation. When you’re a Native American and you break the law in Lake County, you not only get sentenced for your crime, you get sentenced for your skin color as well. This is a fact; just look at the Native population statewide. Natives are 5 percent of the state population and close to 23 percent of the prison population.
You know, our leaders back in the day welcomed state and county jurisdiction to help police the area; there were only two tribal officers for a long time, and it was hard for them to cover the large area. But the last time I looked, our tribal law enforcement seemed to be large enough to police our reservation, and with the large amount of non-Indians who reside here, we could tax them and have more then enough funds to cover any and all of our expenses. I feel people who live on a reservation should have to abide by tribal laws and tribal tax. If you were to move to Canada or Mexico, wouldn’t you live by their laws and pay their required taxes?
I also feel that we should have our own border patrol and our own toll booths at every entry to our reservation. For one, this would drastically affect the meth being trafficked in from outsiders (which is destroying our people and communities at a record pace) and would help pay for our programs that never make it through the year. If we want to be recognized as a sovereign nation, we need to start acting like one.
Oh, and before I close, I would like to just throw out there that I really find it offending that the Charlo school mascot is a Viking, since the name Charlo is a great Salish chief.
Jonathan Denton
Charlo
