Waiting for the CCA call
for Charlestown to circle the wagons again?
By Will Collette
Indian Country Today reports that retiring Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) intends to
make one last push to enact a “Carcieri Fix” amendment to the Indian
Reorganization Act when Congress convenes for a final “lame duck” session. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), according to the United Southern and Eastern Tribes, has “put this legislation on his list of
uncompleted items for this Congress that should be addressed in the lame duck
[session].”
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| Pre-colonial Indian lands in southern New England |
Congress’s top priority
during this lame-duck session is to find a tax and spending compromise that
prevents the country from going over the “fiscal cliff” on December 31st
when taxes will automatically rise for most taxpayers and drastic cuts to all
parts of the federal government will be imposed. The Congressional Budget
Office predicts that if Congress fails to arrive at a deal and the automatic
program cuts and tax hikes kick in, the country will be plunged back into
recession.
How, exactly, Congress
will also find either the time or political will to take up the Carcieri Fix
during a special session of Congress where few of the members actually want to
be there seems pretty problematic.
Senator Akaka has been
the most steadfast proponent of the “Carcieri Fix,” which would address the US
Supreme Court’s misgivings with the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The Supreme
Court issued its Carcieri
v. Salazar decision in 2009 in
response to a lawsuit originally filed by Charlestown aimed at blocking the
Narragansett Indian Tribe from placing the site of a proposed 31 acre low-income
senior citizen housing project under federal trust with the US Interior
Department.
Charlestown leaders,
especially those in the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, believe any such action
opens the door for the Narragansetts to build a resort casino in Charlestown[1].
But the Supreme Court
decision not only gave Charlestown what it wanted, but did so at the expense of
over 500 Indian tribes spread across the US. The decision, written by über-conservative
Justice Antonin Scalia, held that Congress was unclear about whether the Indian
Reorganization Act applied to all tribes or only those recognized prior to the
Act‘s passage.
So the decision held
that not only the Narragansetts but all
other tribes recognized after the Act’s passage were not covered under the
rights and protections granted under the Act. While this Supreme Court decision
addressed Charlestown’s fears about what the Tribe might do with its own land,
it did so by disempowering hundreds of thousands of Native Americans who have
done nothing to earn Charlestown’s fear or anger.
The Obama Administration
supports a “Carcieri Fix” – a new piece of legislation that reinterprets the
1934 statute – that essentially says that Congress does intend for all federally recognized tribes to enjoy equal
protection under the law. As the United Tribes put it, “From a moral standpoint, all tribes
should be treated the same. They should be accorded like respect for their sovereignty
and they should have an equal right to add to their tribal land base.”
Many members of Congress
support the “fix,” even across party lines, because despite the sharp political
divides in this country, most people accept the principle of equal protection
under the law. Except in Charlestown.
It’s possible the Senate
might vote to enact a “Carcieri Fix” as a free-standing bill as a retirement
gift to Senator Akaka, but that is, in my opinion, highly unlikely, given the
intense pressure Congress faces to deal with the “fiscal cliff.” Even if the
Senate gives Senator Akaka this bill as a going-away gift, it’s hard to imagine
that the “Carcieri Fix” will also pass the Republican-controlled House of
Representatives.
If Congress does pass
the Carcieri Fix, President Obama has already said he will sign it.
In previous articles, I
have written that the Carcieri Fix does not mean by any wild stretch of the
imagination that the Narragansetts will be breaking ground on a casino in
Charlestown. Unlike the 1990s, when Charlestown’s Democratic-controlled Town
Council rejected the first proposed casino, the economics for casino
construction have made a Charlestown casino highly improbable no matter what
happens to the Carcieri v. Salazar decision.
I have been heavily
criticized by the CCA for taking that position. The CCA thinks that any nod
toward the rights of Native Americans makes me a proponent of a Charlestown
casino, which I am not. Supporting the civil rights of all Native American tribes is not the same as wanting to see a casino or any gaming establishment get built in Charlestown.
I think that now that
the election is over, the CCA ought to rethink its anti-Narragansett rhetoric
and consider the long-term consequences of insisting that Charlestown remain in
a constant state of Indian war. Sure, it’s great campaign rhetoric and no doubt
a good selling point to their campaign contributors. But it’s just plain wrong.
The Tribe are our
neighbors, and we should be looking for ways to work together, rather than
continue to treat the Tribe as an enemy.
[1]
The Foxwoods casino complex owned by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe uses much of
the tribe’s 1250 acres. Mohegan Sun casino uses 240 acres.
