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March 12, 2008

Congress: End the Apartheid system against Native Americans!

"Busting bad guys gets complicated in Indian Country -- at least in Washington State. Unlike Oregon, native police aren’t allowed to arrest non-native lawbreakers.

Instead they have to call for backup from law enforcement outside the reservation. But a new bill just passed by the Washington legislature would change that. Richland correspondent Anna King has the story." - Native Police Could Get Power To Arrest Non-Natives On Tribal Lands

Anna King's piece goes on to cite just one example - that of a Tribal Police Chief who was unable to arrest a drunk driver because he wasn't an Indian. The drunk driver lived on the reservation and was married to a member of the tribe, but that didn't matter. A few years later this same guy, driving drunk, ended up killing three people in an accident he caused. But that is only one example.

Last year I wrote about the travesty of non-Indians raping Indian women and getting away with it because... tribal police can't do anything about it without the consent and cooperation of non-native law enforcement. As a father with two daughters this pisses me off! They're not Native Americans but that is the problem. It shouldn't matter! Rape is wrong. Period.

Props to Washington state lawmakers for doing the right thing are very well deserved, but that in itself underscores the travesty of justice here. Those tribal reservations are sovereign entities based on treaties with the federal government. Washington state's lawmakers shouldn't have to fix this! It's a federal problem and Congress needs to fix this festering problem.

Running a virtual Apartheid system where Native Americans are treated as second class citizens is unacceptable.

Posted by Kevin at March 12, 2008 08:19 AM