On July 24 the Rhode Island police raided a small smoke shop owned by the Narragansett tribe for selling tax-free cigarettes. After eight people were injured and eight tribesmen were arrested, the Narragansetts and Rhode Island are in court fighting over whether the state has the right to send police officers to enforce state law on Native land, or if state law has any rights at all on Native American tribal land.
Many states are facing similar struggles to collect taxes on tobacco and gasoline sold by Native American tribes and many tribes are similarly fighting to protect their sovereignty.
In Wisconsin, tribes already pay partial taxes on tobacco sold in smoke shops on Indian land. Tribes collect nearly $17.8 million a year in cigarette tax revenue for the state. Jason Helgerson, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue said to the Wisconsin State Journal that the state keeps 30 percent of the money, about $5.3 million, and sends the remaining 70 percent, about $12.5 million, back to the tribes as a refund for tribal members who paid the tax but did not legally have to.
Protesting this infringement on their rights, the Narragansetts have turned their smoke shop into the headquarters for Narragansett Sovereignty Protection, selling T-shirts that proclaim 'Sovereignty,' or \Homeland Security. Fighting terrorism since 1492."" Because there has been such inadequate education in American schools, however, many Americans may not understand the implications of this resistance movement.
The Native American communities of North and South America have struggled against oppression, human rights violations, cultural extinction and extermination since our national hero Christopher Columbus stepped onto their shores in 1492.
The problem Rhode Island faces is although the Supreme Court ruled states can collect taxes on tribal cigarette sales to non-Indians and to members of other tribes, the tribes are sovereign entities. Therefore, states cannot sue them if they fail to pay taxes-it would be like suing another country.
Now more than ever the national and state deficits are motivating states to try to collect those tobacco and gasoline taxes from tribal sales, which would bring in millions of dollars, despite the fact Native American tribes bear no responsibility to this state that has been occupying and oppressing them for hundreds of years.
In her article ""Dare to Compare: Americanizing the Holocaust,"" Lilian Friedberg cites that before contact with Europeans the indigenous population in North America was somewhere between eight and nine million people, putting their extinction at approximately 98 to 99 percent.
American schools do not teach young students about the bloodied hands of their forefathers, and those who do teach of the atrocities committed against the original American peoples suggest the establishment of this modern, democratic nation-state pardons any crimes against humanity.
However, until the general public accepts the nearly completed genocide committed against the native people of this land, and until that genocide becomes a part of our national conscience, infringements on tribal sovereignty will continue.
The genocide against native tribes was not just something in ancient history. After murder and intentional infestation to kill them off with disease were deemed immoral tactics of exterminating a people, native culture became the target. As recently as the 1970s, young Native American children were taken from their homes and placed in boarding schools where they were taught the firm hand of Christ and their proper place in a white country as manual laborers and maids. They were not allowed to practice their traditional beliefs and they were beaten for speaking their mother tongue.
Neither the Narragansett tribe nor any other indigenous group is under any obligation to this state. The only ones under obligation are the American people to recognize the realities of our founding.
It is not a matter of guilt and penance, but it is important that this genocide be taught to our youth honestly. Just as slavery and emancipation are a part of our heritage, this genocide should be a fundamental part of our national identity as well.
The Narragansett tribe's court battle against Rhode Island exemplifies our unwillingness to recognize that they were here before us. The native tribes of this country are not subject to our laws because they are not represented by our state.
Whether it be through academic scholarship, cultural celebration or national memorial, it is the duty of the American people to promote Native American culture and the revival of their languages, practices and traditions. As Native American Heritage Month rolls through November it is important to educate yourselves about these endangered societies.
