National Congress of American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was formed in 1944 in response to United States Indian policy , which at the time was aimed at assimilation and termination . He represents the contractual rights of the Indians in the USA and the Alaska Natives , i.e. the indigenous people of Alaska . In addition, he promotes a better understanding of indigenous cultures in public and deals with the effects of the decisions of the government on the Indian nations (nations). Also in the field of youth and elderly policy - the latter, called elders , play an important role in Indian cultures - education and health, environmental protection , the protection of Indian sites and resources of cultural and historical importance, the economy and housing construction active.
organization
The NCAI consists of a general assembly, an Executive Council and seven committees. The executive board is President Jefferson Keel of the Chickasaw Nation , first vice-president is Juana Majel-Dixon of the Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians . The secretary is Theresa Two Bulls of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the treasurer is W. Ron Allen of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington . There are also twelve regional vice-presidents and twelve other presidents from other regions.
The elections are carried out nationwide, with the number of votes for each tribe depending slightly on the number of members. The smallest tribes with fewer than 500 members receive 100 votes, with up to 1,500 members the tribe receives 10 more votes, with up to 2,500 members a further 10. The number increases to 180 votes if the tribe has more than 7,500 members .
history
The returnees of the Second World War, as well as the general experience of war, brought the older ideas of a national representation of all Indian tribes forward. It was founded in 1944. Until well into the 1960s, the organization refrained from demonstrations and worked more as a lobby organization and as a legal representative in court. In 1949 she sued for discrimination against Indians at work, interfered in the question of the liquidation of the reservation in Alaska in 1950 or successfully defended herself on July 8, 1954 against the state's access to reservation Indians at the level of civil and criminal justice. On June 19, 1952, 50 representatives from 12 groups gathered in Utah to decide on self-help plans. For the first time in the time of John F. Kennedy , the organization began bypassing the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which was responsible for Indian affairs , and went directly to the President.
In the course of the 1960s, numerous groups resisted the NCAI's strategy, which was understood as a sell-out policy and which, in their view, no longer adequately represented the growing number of urban Indians. This gave rise to groups such as the American Indian Movement (AIM, 1968) and the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), some of which, in turn, were militant. They recruited their comrades-in-arms in the cities rather than in the reservations; It is no coincidence that the AIM was created in Minneapolis .
From 1964 to 1967, Vine Deloria junior was director of the NCAI. Within three years, the number of member tribes grew from 19 to 156. The number of member tribes fluctuated considerably, especially since in 1974 over 5,000 representatives from 98 tribes founded the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), the first representative of all Indians on the American continent.
literature
- Thomas W. Cowger: The National Congress of American Indians. The Founding Years . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 1999, ISBN 978-0-8032-1502-3 .
Remarks
- ^ Charles F. Wilkinson: Blood Struggle. The Rise of Modern Indian Nations . WW Norton, New York 2005, p. 107, ISBN 978-0-393-32850-9 .