Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975—Richard Nixon and Alvin Josephy

For all his faults, and the sputtering end to his tenure as President, Joe Biden, with the help of his strong Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, has been a big and positive presence in Indian Country. In the last flurry of pardons and commutations, Biden sent Leonard Peltier home to serve out his days in home confinement, after over 50 years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit. Peltier was convicted in the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1965. He admitted to being a member of AIM, the American Indian Movement, and to being present at the confrontation, but has always denied he did the shooting. Tribal and world leaders have long called for Peltier’s release; Biden did it.

The question now is how much of the work that Biden and Haaland have done in Indian Country will stand up—and how much of past legislation involving Tribal issues will survive.Read Rich’s Post →

Who is Elouise Cobell?

My friend Betsy Marston of “Writers on the Range” just wrote a wonderful tribute to Elouise Cobell.

Elouise Cobell was, I am ashamed to say, a new name to me. Maybe I had heard it—I was vaguely aware of the lawsuit that consumed her working life. But I had not remembered it. And now Betsy tells us that Montana will celebrate “Elouise Cobell Day” on November 5.Read Rich’s Post →

More Good News—and old news about President Nixon!

Chuck Sams, Jaime Pinkham, and Deb Haaland Federal Government appointments were my good news last week. It turns out I stopped short in my research into what is going on in the Biden Administration, and made an error regarding government agencies at the same time. Thanks first to my friend Geoff, who advises that:

“The Army Corps of Engineers is within the Department of Defense, not Interior. Mike Connor, who will be the Asst. Secretary of the Army for Civil Works after confirmation… is Native too, Taos Pueblo. Jaime [Pinkham] Acting in his position, will be one rung below him, so both Native. Bob Anderson, also Native, is the Solicitor to Secretary of Interior, a critically important position, was Senate confirmed.”

And friend Elnora caught another of my misses—Brian Newland. Read Rich’s Post →