Support for the Development of a Model K-12 Curriculum on Tribal Sovereignty, Contemporary and Historical Indian Life. and on the Unique American Indian-U.S. Relationship.

WHEREAS, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was established in 1969 for the purpose of advocating, planning, and promoting the unique and special education needs of American Indian and Alaska Native people; and

WHEREAS, NIEA, as the largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native educators, administrators, parents, and students in the United States, provides a forum to discuss and act upon issues affecting the education of Native people; and

WHEREAS, through its unique political relationship with Indian nations and tribes, the federal government has established education program resources to meet the educational needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives residing both on and off their reserved or non-reserved homelands; and

WHEREAS, the historical and contemporary legal and political rights of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, and the legal and political relationships of tribes with non-tribal governments, are critical to understanding tribes and Indian people; and

WHEREAS, while Indian people cannot change the past, they can change the future by teaching all children and students of the United States of America, about the rightful, legal and historic place that American Indians and Alaska Natives hold in American history, society, and political system; and

WHEREAS, Indian tribes are sovereigns, governing themselves for thousands of years prior to the founding of the United States, and that this inherent sovereignty is recognized by the United States Constitution, the courts, and in federal policy; and that despite violations to the treaties, rights, and laws that apply them to Indian people continue to personify a unique body of law and relationships that are inherent in the American ideal of rule of law, responsibility, and commitment to human rights and equality; and

WHEREAS, it is critical to the future of American Indians and Alaska Natives that their powers and exercise of selfgovernment over themselves and their tribal lands as recognized by the Constitution, be taught in the American educational system; that education was viewed by the country’s founding fathers as central to a healthy democracy; that they understood that an educated electorate was the best hope for achieving the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights; and yet today children move from kindergarten through college without being taught about the unique status of American Indian and Alaska Natives in contemporary America; and

WHEREAS, in the American system, American Indians and Alaska Natives cease to exist beyond the historic IndianU.S. land wars, and the assumed final resolution of Indians issues through the creation of the reservation system. Few Americans recognize that there are 558 self-governing sovereign nations, governed in the same manner as the 50 sovereign states through a government-to-government relationship with the federal government, who trace their legal and institutional foundations through a framework of the Constitution, treaties, courts, and Congress; and

WHEREAS, ignorance of Native peoples, and the contemporary issues of politics, economics, social and religious challenges they face, is a travesty of the meaning of education as it is meant to prepare the citizen to live together respecting common laws, rights and values. This void of information perpetuates a racist attitude and renders American Indians and Alaska Natives as non-existent anachronisms of a dead past; and

WHEREAS, the reality is that American Indians and Alaska Natives continue to struggle to endure and to secure a place on their ancestral lands. Worse yet is the fact that decisions and conflicts between Indians and Americans continue based on old stereotypes and myths of the past, unexposed and uncritically examined in the light of the soon to be 21st Century America; and

WHEREAS, these tribal rights and political relationships confirmed by federal law are not being taught, or not being taught well, in most K-12 federal, tribal, and public schools; and

WHEREAS, a model K-12 curriculum on the legal and political rights and relationships of tribes would help to get these matters incorporated into curricula and educational processes.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVEDTHATTHE NATIONALINDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION supports the development of a model K-12 curriculum that accurately depicts the historical and contemporary legal and political rights of tribes, and the legal and political relationships of tribes with non-tribal sovereigns;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT THE NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION calls on educators, educational organizations and institutions of the 50 states, and of the U.S. government to modernize teaching curricula to include the legal and governmental rights, and modem and contemporary status and circumstances of American Indians and Alaska Natives;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT THE NATIONAL INDIAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION pledges to work with tribes and other national Indian organizations in the development of such curricula.

SUBMITTED BY: Melody L. McCoy (Cherokee), Boulder, CO, and Alvin Schuster (Yakama), Toppenish, WA .

CERTIFICATION

I do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly considered and passed by the NIEA membership assembled at its annual convention in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at which a quorum was present during the meeting held October 17-20, 1999.