Eagle Feathers Case Three Years Later

Another year has come and our law suit against the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife continues. Our lawyers are working and planning a new route to try and get the Department of Interior to hurry up the case. Many have sent me the latest news from Nevada concerning the cases of two men, one who was adopted by the Paiute Indians and another who was given a fan by a Navaho holy man and who desired to worship in a Native American Church. They won and got their feathers back. But we are still waiting and praying for our next chance in court. Prayerfully, it will come soon.

So as we mark our third anniversary of the taking of our eagle feathers on March 11, 2006, we continue to fight. As in the previous letters a lot of people find it hard to believe the things we have learned as we pursue this law suit. People find it hard to believe, and from time to time have even doubted my words. The only thing I can say is, I wish all could have been in the courtroom in the three appearances we have had so far. But what it comes down to is, it's the Department of Interior who has the power to decide who is and who is not Indian; and it is the Department of Interior who decides who can and who cannot use sacred objects. I know that for most people, this sounds like a clear violation of our human and religious rights and they are. But like it or not, that is the law as it now stands.

Recently our tribe opened a cultural center/museum. Someone must have not liked us because they reported this event to the Department of Interior who very kindly wrote us a letter reminding us that we could not represent any of our artwork as Indian made unless we belong to a tribe recognized by the federal government. To call our artwork Indian, Native American or any tribal name is in violation of the law. Meredith Stanton, Director of the Arts and Craft Board wrote the following:

"...It is very important that you and the other members of your group review the enclosed Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, Public Law 101-644, as amended.

Under the Act, it is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell, any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, and Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian Tribe. According to the Act's implementing regulations, unqualified use of the term "Indian", "Native American", or the names of particular Indian Tribes in connection with the sale or display for sale of an Indian art or craft product will be interpreted to mean that the maker is a member of a federally or officially State-recognized Indian Tribe, or a member of the Tribe named, or is certified by an Indian Tribe as a non-member artisan; @25 G.F.R. 309.3. Therefore, for such work to be sold as Indian, Native American or as the product of a particular Indian Tribe, it must be produced by an enrolled member of a federally or officially State-recognized Tribe, or by an individual who has been formally certified as a non-member Indian artisan by the federally or official State-recognized Tribe of their descent.

....Therefore, members of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas Inc., as well as any other group that may be representing themselves as a Texas State-recognized Tribe, are advised not to sell their art or craft work as Indian, Native American, or as the product of a particular Indian Tribe."

Even though this has nothing to do with our eagle feather case it does have a lot to do with the fact that just like the government has the right to tell us who can and who cannot use sacred objects like eagle feathers, and just like the government has the right to say who is and who is not Indian, so the government also has the right to dictate who can and who cannot produce artwork as Indian made. This letter, if anything, shows that it is a fact that we, Indian people, are the only people group in the United States that has to prove who we are to the United States government before we can claim to be who we are - American Indians. You can read the letter as written by the Department of Interior at http://sontree.org/IAACB.htm where I had the actual letter scanned so that you can read the original letter. This is just one more evidence that about four fifths of the American Indian population cannot even call themselves Native American or Indian without violating the laws of the land.

Keep us in your prayers as we continue to pursue our lawsuit against the Department of Interior, not so much to get our feathers back but to change the laws so that this discrimination can stop and we can be who God the Creator intended us to be. Pray for our pow wow this weekend as one more time we will violate three laws that make our pow wow an illegal function: as we will have advertisements in the newspapers, as we will have the exchange of money and as we, not belonging to a federally recognized tribe, will sponsor our pow wow and call it an Indian Dance. Thank you for your prayers and support.

God bless,

Robert