Blue Corn Comics -- Stereotype of the Month Entry

Stereotype of the Month Entry
(9/7/05)

Battered Communities
Does This Describe Hawaii's Elected Officials?

By Elaine Willman, 9/7/2005 10:53:49 AM

A couple of years ago, I submitted a guest commentary to the Yakima Herald Republic newspaper, in Yakima, Washington, suggesting that feelings of citizens and communities situated within or near Indian reservations were strikingly similar to the feelings of a battered spouse. The newspaper published the article on January 5, 2003, and the reaction to the article was so remarkable, that I expanded upon the illustration, for a recent national newsletter. The subject seemed to strike a chord somewhere deep within many citizens in my region as well as across America. Here's what I am speaking of:

A battered spouse deeply wishes that she could love and respect her spouse, and is likely to keep frequent beatings and humiliations to herself. She'll choose silence and secrecy for so long as she can. She may often think that if she just says the right words, or acts in a different manner, the beatings will stop. Next time will be different. Things will get better. For battered spouses, things don't get better. They get worse.

I think there's an analogy here for three municipalities located within exterior reservations of the Yakama Nation, as well as other communities on other reservations across the country. These communities are currently experiencing a serious battering from a neighboring government. A government that is not of a municipality, county or state, is forcing itself upon these communities. A tribal government is pushing out for jurisdictional, regulatory and economic control of local communities through gaming, air quality, pesticides, water and water quality, area dams, utility taxation, and unwarranted obstruction of new non-tribal projects. That's quite a growing list of tools by which to threaten, intimidate, control or drive off anyone who is not an enrolled tribal member.

I believe that most Americans fundamentally desire to love and respect each other, including tribal government systems, just as the battered spouse desires to love a spouse. But it's like trying to love a porcupine; one must do so very carefully, and the love is seldom—if ever— reciprocal. Notwithstanding enormous national financial and political clout, no one truly understands why tribes are so aggressive these days, but the general response of adjacent community members in the past, isn't working. Being nice at all times, hoping for better understandings, crossing fingers that dialogue and productive partnerships might one day occur -- none of these socially preferred postures has helped at all. Pretending that everything is really o.k., that the tribe doesn't really mean to control or strangle non-Indian communities, is thinking like the battered wife. If we all just stay nice, maybe tribal leaders will be nice next time.

Most area businesses and citizens in my local communities have behaved exactly as an embarrassed and frightened battered wife. Don't say anything. Don't tell anyone. Don't make it worse. Be quiet, be good and maybe it will get better soon. Is it getting better? Nope. Seldom does. Is it getting worse? Yes, conditions like this are more likely to worsen than improve, until someone says enough is enough. It stops now. It changes now.

So what can citizens in battered and bullied communities do, to encourage fair play and better behavior from a tribal government? They can call upon resources, much like a battered wife, who has taken her last beating, must also do. She will call upon law enforcement, legal guidance and other resources that put an end to the destructive behavior.

Likewise, citizens in the predominantly non-Indian communities must raise a great collective voice. We must demand the assistance of our State legal guidance and whatever other resources that will cause a tribal government to concern itself with its own productive development, and stop harassing its neighbors that have always supported the tribe, have never interfered with the tribe, and have only wished tribal government and tribal members all the best for a full, quality life.

For example, here in Central Washington, no municipal, county, state or federal entity has imposed itself upon the Yakama tribe, or interfered with its future potentials. In fact area governments have gone the "extra mile" at every request of Yakama Tribes. No conduct has occurred that warrants the menacing, interfering actions and behaviors tribal leaders are increasing in intensity and frequency against their neighbors. Generations of mixed-cultures have been wonderful neighbors for over a century. There is no excuse for this millennium mayhem causing such jurisdictional and economic distress.

If a battering spouse is unable to stop himself, he can be stopped. It just takes courage, speaking up, and a solid determination to do so. It is time for three non-Indian communities located within the exterior boundaries of the Yakama Reservation to take protective measures. If our homes, jobs, communities and quality of life mean anything at all to us, we can do no less.

Since publication of this theory, I have received contacts from across the country, identifying with the feelings described. Citizens truly do wish the best for their tribal neighbors and for all communities on and near Indian reservations. Citizens have been anxious and apprehensive to speak up and assert their rights on reservations, whether tribal members or not.

We have, as citizens, submerged an innate courage, that is now surfacing across America. I believe it is at least partially to CERA's credit that mainstream media is now paying closer attention to the proliferation of Indian casinos, and corrupt political practices occurring on numerous reservations.

The way out of oppression is first to call it by name, and then to stop submitting in silence. This is the pathway to recovery for battered spouses, battered citizens, communities and battered and bullied States.

Elaine Willman, MPA, is Chair of Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA) a national organization of community education groups and citizens in 25 states who reside within or near federally recognized Indian reservations. Ms. Willman is a former City of Ojai assistant administrator, teaches in the Masters in Public and Business Administration programs for a university, and is pursuing a doctoral in federal Indian policy.

HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com

Rob's reply
>> A government that is not of a municipality, county or state, is forcing itself upon these communities. <<

Wow, that sure sounds like an alien entity. But the fact is, tribal governments are as much a part of the American fabric as city, county, or state governments. Most of them have been around longer than these governments, even longer than the federal government.

What Willman means to say is that these governments have been forcing themselves upon tribes such as the Yakama for centuries. But now the Yakama Nation is pushing back, asserting its sovereign right to control its own destiny. Apparently Willman doesn't like receiving a tiny fraction of the treatment Indians have had to live with forever.

>> A tribal government is pushing out for jurisdictional, regulatory and economic control of local communities through gaming, air quality, pesticides, water and water quality, area dams, utility taxation, and unwarranted obstruction of new non-tribal projects. <<

Too bad Willman doesn't provide any specifics. You can bet most of her claims are unjustified.

The Yakama want to control air and water quality, pesticides, utilities, non-tribal projects, etc. on their land or within their borders. Although this may lead to some legal gray areas, there's nothing wrong with it in principle.

>> That's quite a growing list of tools by which to threaten, intimidate, control or drive off anyone who is not an enrolled tribal member. <<

I guess "threaten, intimidate, control or drive off" means "govern."

>> Notwithstanding enormous national financial and political clout, no one truly understands why tribes are so aggressive these days <<

Notwithstanding their alleged financial and political clout, tribal interests routinely lose in the Supreme Court and get voted down in Congress and state legislatures. So much for their "enormous" clout. Perhaps they have to be aggressive because they keep losing, not winning, on the merits of their claims.

>> but the general response of adjacent community members in the past, isn't working. <<

Yeah, non-Indians have been so sweet to Indians in the past...not. What a joke that is.

>> Being nice at all times, hoping for better understandings, crossing fingers that dialogue and productive partnerships might one day occur -- none of these socially preferred postures has helped at all. <<

Oddly, that's how the Indians have treated their neighbors.

>> Pretending that everything is really o.k., that the tribe doesn't really mean to control or strangle non-Indian communities, is thinking like the battered wife. <<

This is ridiculous on the face of it. Tribes have to depend on the surrounding communities for roads, police and fire services, health and welfare services, etc. If a tribe "strangled" the surrounding community, it would be committing suicide.

>> Most area businesses and citizens in my local communities have behaved exactly as an embarrassed and frightened battered wife. Don't say anything. Don't tell anyone. Don't make it worse. Be quiet, be good and maybe it will get better soon. <<

That's funny. In reality, most communities squeal like stuck pigs at the first sign of a casino project. I doubt any community has quietly acquiesced to such a project in the last five or ten years.

That is, communities complain until the casino is actually in place. Then they start benefiting from it and stop protesting it so loudly. From what I've read, the response to a casino is usually positive and never worse than mixed.

>> So what can citizens in battered and bullied communities do, to encourage fair play and better behavior from a tribal government? They can call upon resources, much like a battered wife, who has taken her last beating, must also do. <<

As if "citizens" aren't already screaming to high heaven for state and federal officials to act.

No impositions on the Yakama?
>> For example, here in Central Washington, no municipal, county, state or federal entity has imposed itself upon the Yakama tribe, or interfered with its future potentials. <<

And that's the way it should be. Theoretically, no municipal, county, state, or federal entity has the right to impose itself upon the Yakama tribe. That's because of something called the Constitution and almost 200 years of courts interpreting it.

>> In fact area governments have gone the "extra mile" at every request of Yakama Tribes. <<

Somehow I doubt the Yakama would agree with that.

>> Generations of mixed-cultures have been wonderful neighbors for over a century. <<

Or that.

>> Citizens truly do wish the best for their tribal neighbors and for all communities on and near Indian reservations. <<

Sure they do. That's why they keep stereotyping gaming tribes as too greedy, powerful, and corrupt.

>> The way out of oppression is first to call it by name, and then to stop submitting in silence. <<

Coincidentally, the way out of racism and stereotyping is to call it by name, too.

* More opinions *

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