Vol. 3, No. 9
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March 1, 2006
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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COPYWRITING
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Feature Story:
U.S. Government Fails Western Shoshone -- Nation Takes Treaty Dispute To U.N.
Claims Of Human Rights Violations Might Not Be Heard According To Tribal Elders
by Johnny Gunn
Westward they came, by the thousands, an invasion the likes of which no indigent resident of North America had ever seen, had ever contemplated, and the mob of invaders took what they wanted, often took what they had no use for, but it was there for the taking. When it was all over with, the few indigents left had virtually nothing; no land to hunt on, no rivers to fish in, and in too many cases little if any personal pride. Today, many Native Americans believe the government doesn't really care.
In 1863 this was still Nevada Territory and much of the state was populated by Western Shoshone, Paiute, and Washo Indians. Virginia City was just about the only community of any size. There was Dayton, still called Chinatown, there was Genoa still called Mormon Station, and there was Carson City fighting to be capital if Nevada actually became something more that a silver strike on a mountain top.
These were the years of treaties, the Great White Father will protect with treaties, and the Western Shoshone signed one called the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley guaranteeing the Shoshone Nation most of the land in central, northern, and southern Nevada, and into southern California. This was done before there was a railroad across the state, before there were massive gold strikes in Tonopah and Goldfield, before there was gold even being known in Elko and Lander Counties. It was just sagebrush, so the government gave it to their little red brothers.
Go to http://www.wsdp.org the homepage of the Western Shoshone Defense Project and in the right hand column there is a map of the territory covered by the 1863 treaty, and you can click on a copy of the original treaty. If you have ever questioned the validity of the Shoshone claims, this should answer them as fully as possible.
It was in 1872 that things went down the drain for the Western Shoshone. They had signed the Treaty of 1863, but in 1872 a thing called "encroachment by non-Native Americans" was used to nullify that treaty. The Western Shoshone were not even aware of the 1872 changes until towns and roads and ranches and more people started showing up. They did not sign the treaty of 1872.
Worse, they were not compensated in any way for the area they lost to encroachment. In fact, it wasn't until after WW II that any court in the United States suggested compensation. From Yucca Mountain in the South to the Idaho border in the north, the U.S. Court of Claims awarded the Western Shoshone less than $27 million. In 1972 they attempted to pay based on 1872 land worth. The Western Shoshone Nation refused and the fight has been raging ever since.
Votes were held that have been challenged by many within the Shoshone Nation that a majority of the members of the tribes had accepted the reparations. The money has been gathering interest since 1972 and some say it has grown to $145 million. Tribal leaders are not willing to accept what they consider a bribe to be quiet. It was another court ruling in 1979 that decided the treaty of 1863 gave the federal government trusteeship over tribal lands, and it is this ruling that is often held up as validating the thievery that is called the treaty of 1872, or the "encroachment" treaty.
According to Amnesty International, "More than 100-years of government policy in subsidizing and promoting the mining industry has led to a modern mining boom unlike any in world history. Western Shoshone lands now account for the majority of gold produced within the United States." Two sisters in central Nevada led the fight for years, Carrie and Mary Dann. Mary was killed on May 1, 2005 in an ATV accident while she was patrolling one of the fence-lines on their Crescent Valley, Nevada ranch. Carrie is continuing the fight.
Ironically it was Nevada Day, 2002 when Carrie Dann said, "I was indigenous and in one single evening they made me indigent. If you think the Indian wars are over, then think again." The Dann sisters have had their land threatened by the federal government, they have had cattle and horses seized by the federal government, and they have been fined for grazing their livestock on what the Treaty of 1863 says is their land. "It's disgraceful how the United States makes international statements about human rights and then commits this kind of assault in our own backyard," Carrie Dann told Amnesty International. She went on to say, "It destroys their credibility and moral authority."
Western Shoshone leaders including Raymond Yowell, Chief of the Western Shoshone National Council are in Geneva as you read this pleading their case before the Untied Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It was in 1993 the Dann Sisters along with the Western Shoshone National Council filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that their human rights have been and are being violated by the United States. The government denied that it has violated the Dann Sisters' rights. The federal government says the claims are not human rights issues but rather involve litigation of land. The government continues to claim the Western Shoshone lost their rights to the land in 1872 as a result of encroachment by non-Native Americans.
That U.N. committee has said it can not consider the Western Shoshone appeal at this time because the U.S. government has withheld information from them. The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is made up of 18 people from around the world who are believed to be experts in the field. In August 2005 the committee said the tribe's argument based on the "encroachment" theory amounted to a form of racism against an indigenous people. The U.S. Government is not planning to be at the meetings.
In a report from Amnesty International, a complete background on the current controversy spells out why many Western Shoshone, other Native American groups, and many non-Native Americans believe the government has failed in its responsibilities. The following can be found at www.amnestyusa.org.
Background
Following WWII Congress passed the Indian Claims Commission Act (ICC), which permitted American Indians to sue the United States for the wrongful taking of their lands. The act established the ICC as a quasi-judicial body charged with investigating each claim brought before it. On October 16, 1962 the ICC issued a 30-page "Findings of Fact," in the Western Shoshone case. Out of the 30-pages, only some 39 sentences specifically pertained to the Western Shoshones. The "Findings" stated in part "that Indian title to the Western Shoshone land was extinguished by the gradual encroachment of settlers and others and by the acquisition, disposition, or taking of said lands by the Untied States for its own use and benefit or that of its citizens." However, a close reading of the 39 sentences of the ICC paper having to do with the Western Shoshones reveals no historically documented basis for the ICC's conclusion. Because the ICC did not base its "Findings" on historical documentation, the ICC further stated that, "the Commission may not now definitely set the date of acquisition of these lands by the United States."
Is money the answer?
Congressional action has created a fund estimated to be about $140 million designed to pay reparations to Western Shoshone still living, but most have refused to accept the payment. Unless a majority of the Nation accepts, it won't be paid. The concept of taking money is opposed by traditional Western Shoshone as well as a majority of the Western Shoshone Indian Reorganization Act governments that were left out of the discussion about whether to distribute the money. This is the basis of the argument that there was not a consensus, there was not a majority vote. Too many Shoshone were not allowed to vote on the reparations measure.
When money is discussed, it must also be pointed out that in 1863 the major precious metal mines in Nevada were silver mines in Virginia City. By 1872 gold and silver had been discovered in many other parts of what was by then, the State of Nevada. The concept of indigenous peoples having control of massive amounts of precious metals was not to be. That is what created the "encroachment" treaty that wasn't signed by any member of the Shoshone nation.
The basis of all the arguments goes back to 1872 and the encroachment by non-Native Americans treaty. The Western Shoshone did not cede their lands to the United States and are still fighting for the recognition of their rights to their ancestral homeland. Regardless of the findings several years ago by Amnesty International, regardless of what the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination finds, the United States Government is not obligated in any way to accept those findings. As Carrie Dann said on Nevada Day, 2002, "If you think the Indian wars are over, then think again."
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