Pauline Girvin-Montoya is a Federal Indian law attorney, tree sitter (arrested seven times defending the redwoods) and Director of the Mendocino County Inter-Tribal Repatriation Project. 

 
Sovereignty is the source of power from which all other powers derive. In the context of Indian nations, it is the power to regulate ones territory and people. Sovereign power comes from a different source for different nations. For the Hopi it derived from the Kiva societies and the religious elders. The Hopi have a religious sense of sovereign governance. Supreme Court law has defined Indian tribes to be nations within a nation, affording them a status higher than states. A nation signs a treaty. A nation enters into government to government relations with the federal government. 
     Tribal status is based on treaties, executive agreements and the federal constitution. However, in the early years the Supreme Court also held that Congress has a plenary power over Indian nations-absolute power. This way the government could abrogate the terms of numerous treaties. The Supreme Court could also duck an issue by asserting the political question doctrine. This in essence provided a way to defer to the Congress as the federal entity most appropriately suited to handle policy issues. The combination of the plenary power doctrine and the political question dodge has allowed for the implementation of many anti-Indian laws. 
     Indian sovereignty has developed against a backdrop of federal and state hostility. The original treaties were signed to stop wars and to gain millions of acres of land from the Indians. Since then, the federal government has made several efforts to assimilate Indians into the mainstream. During the "allotment" period-late 1800s to the early 1900s-reservations were carved up into private property holdings per individual family. This opened all "the surplus land" in the reservations for white settlers. Through the privatization of the tribal land base, vast numbers of acres went out of Indian ownership. Starting in the 1950s there was an attempt to terminate Indian nations in California. Federal trust responsibilities and Indian tribal status were eliminated through Congressional law and reservation based Indians were forced to relocate to urban settings. 
     The current period of Indian self-determination was initiated in the Richard Nixon era with the passage of the Indian Self Determination Act. Indian tribal sovereignty is deferred to by Federal authorities as Indian nations wean themselves from dependency on the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tribes are enacting governing laws and learning what it is to be a nation. Their heart knowledge of how to care for their own people is becoming more effective than dependence on the Bureau of Indian Affairs or agents of a distant Federal government. 
     For Indian nations, sovereignty is a dynamic struggle. Tribes must maintain programs, services and community safety against ongoing efforts by the Federal and State governments to undermine tribal jurisdiction. Through the plenary power doctrine Congress was able to create Public Law 280 which puts Indian tribes in California under state criminal law. In most other states this is not the case. Congress also reacted with backlash legislation by passing the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act a year after Indian gaming rights in California were upheld by the Supreme Court. This legislation mandates that Indian nations compact with state governors regarding their gaming operations. 
     The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act needs to be amended so that state governors cannot stymie tribal economic development. Currently the California tribes are experiencing oppressive state compacting by a governor who clearly supports an anti-minority agenda in his vigorous support of Propositions 209 and 187 and championing the roll back of affirmative action at the UC campuses. 
     Strong lobbies from state and local governments want to take away the perceived "special status" of the Indian people. This anti-Indian lobby is illustrated in the tribal fishing rights struggle. Fishing rights were hard fought for here in California, in Washington state and with the Chippewa. Citizen groups, who came out en masse with vigilante tactics, tried to destroy the treaty based rights of Indians to fish in a broader ratio than is afforded to non-Indians. Fishermen on the Mendocino Coast are still aghast and upset that the Klamath River area tribes have executive order/treaty based rights to fishing. People forget that the white invaders occupation of this land was gained by treaty. They need to honor the contracts made by their forebears. Honest and decent business people should respect the contracts on which their nation is based and on which their occupancy of this territory is premised. 
     In California, the history with the Indians is so bleak and barbaric that the true story wasn't included in school curriculums. The articulated Indian policy of California was extermination. Bounties were paid by the state legislature for Indian scalps. Indian slavery was allowed by state act. Indians were deemed trespassers on the public domain. And the eighteen treaties with the California Indian nations were never honored by the U.S. Congress because of a formidable California lobby based on Gold Rush fever. California citizens and legislators assumed that treatied lands might contain gold so they successfully lobbied the U.S. Senate not to ratify these treaties. The years of early California statehood introduced a period of brutal racism and massacre of Indians. The Advisory Council on California Indians Policies has submitted a report to Congress detailing these "inequities" which still persist today. This report is now avaliable for public review. 
     California Indian nations are currently facing a critical moment. Some tribes have allowed a handful of attorneys to broker away their sovereignty at the governor's casino compact negotiation table. The governor's proposal places severe limits on the number and type of games they could offer and places the terms of tribal economic development under county voter initiative. 
     For many years the Governor failed to negotiate with the Indian nations operating casinos in California. Not wanting to lose this prime opportunity to create more revenues for their people, the tribes decided to proceed with gaming without compacts. When recently threatened with closure by US Attorneys for operating uncompacted gaming operations, all tribes in California were asked to sign papers agreeing to limited time extensions and then ultimate closure. The Central California tribes refused to sign. They convinced a federal judge to issue a decree saying that he would not give the US Attorney a preliminary injunction to shut the casinos down. In weighing the equities, he reasoned that the hardship imposed by enjoining the tribes outweighed the government's interest. The tribes are now entitled to a full trial. 
     A federal judge in the Northern District found that by placing preconditions on compact negotiations, the governor has been negotiating in bad faith in violation of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The Court held that the US Attorney's office has a mandatory obligation to sue the state on behalf of tribes to compel the governor to negotiate without crippling preconditions. These recent decisions should keep threatened casino closure at bay for at least a couple of years. This will give tribes an opportunity to negotiate more reasonable terms after Governor Wilson leaves office. 
     In October, I marched with Priscilla Hunter, Jesse Jackson and other ethnic brothers and sisters in the "Save the Dream March" on Sacramento to publicly proclaim defiance towards the policies of Governor Wilson. Prior to the march, Indians sat on every steering committee. In the politics of coalition, Indians have never been able to elbow their way to the table. It was historic when we did so. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Push Coalition put Indian spirit runners and their drummers at the front of the line as over 15,000 people marched on the state capitol. At press events, Priscilla and Chairman Duro, another Tribal Chair from the South, were the first speakers. Jesse Jackson emphasized that the sovereignty struggle of Indian nations is a testing ground for all human rights. 
     In their revolution, our forebears acknowledged that sovereignty is worth dying for. Certainly it is worth being imprisoned for. This risk was taken by the leadership of the Central California tribes in telling the U S Attorney they would not sign papers to close their casinos prior to entering negotiations with the state governor.

 

In the New World Order the struggle for Indian sovereignty becomes the litmus test for all people's rights. When the Zapatistas took a stand on the first day NAFTA was to be implemented, a large message was sent to the world. The Indians there realized that in a dirty side deal to NAFTA, the Mexican constitution -- crafted by Zapata and the Mexican Revolution -- had been fundamentally altered. The constitution afforded a communal land base for Indian nations and impoverished campesinos called the ejido system.
    To get to the NAFTA bargaining table, the Mexican Congress amended the Constitution to allow for privatization of the Indian communal land. Hearing of the sweatshops on the border of Mexico and the United States, the Indians knew that they were next in line. Soon there would be vast agra-cooperatives financed by North American dollars and large financial enterprises to which they would become the slave class. 
     Knowing that sovereignty requires a land base and that privatization of land would lead to further impoverishment, the Maya Indians of Mexico took a stand against NAFTA. The shot against NAFTA that ricocheted out of Chiapas was similar to Tianamen Square. International attention focused on a small Indian army giving a voice to the struggles of many working people who are worried about the New World Order, which includes Fast Track, NAFTA and GATT. 
     In this new order the citizens become the pawns of a large brokered deal made by multi-national corporations. We were honored that the Maya Indians took the first stand. They were willing to shed blood for their people and territory. After the stand at Coyote Valley-which in a microcosm was a training ground in the struggle for sovereignty-Priscilla, her mother Delma, and I and a handful of others went to Chiapas to stand with the Indians against the International New World Order-the international field of corporate powers. In this plan the rich get richer. Minority people stay at the level of fast food servers and store clerks. The Indians become the slaves once again and all the power is vested in the hands of relatively few people. 
     On our trip, we learned that the rebirth of Indian nationhood would develop when the eagle meets the condor-when the north joins the south, when the Indians of the entire continent stand for their sovereignty together. A new dawn will be coming. The Indian nations are the teachers of all those who believe in democracy. Remember, the United States modeled its representative democracy on the Iroquois confederacy and their Long House assembly. 

ncestor spirits hover over this land. We are not alone. We are here in the territory of native peoples whose ancestors are right near by. The European invader has much to learn from both the political and spiritual power of the Indian nations that still survive. If they hearken back to their forebears who fought the British and resisted unjust laws, those who understand democracy at its core should stand by the Indian nations in this struggle today. 

 
Sovereignty is the spiritual well being of a people. Simultaneous with the struggle to keep their casinos open, the Pomo nations of Mendocino County have confederated to bring home ancestral remains and sacred objects. Ancestor spirits are disturbed and crying out. Very important ceremonial material is being improperly treated in dusty drawers of universities and museums. This is a mental health issue for Indian nations. By bringing sacred materials back to the Round Houses and reburying Indian remains, we mend the broken circle. Repatriation means "to bring home"-bringing home materials that were stolen at the time of conquest. This is a healing. The spirits will be at peace. The ceremonies will be properly honored. 
     Under the terms of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Round House traditional practitioners will work hand in hand with tribal leaders. The strength of tribal nations is being honored by this law. If the tribe has no Round House, we can bring back sacred materials to restore a native religion. There are no conditions for the return of sacred and ceremonial items. The Indian nation states its claim-that a sacred or ceremonial object should never have been alienated, there was no power to sell it or that it is needed for current religious practices. Under traditional laws and customs, nothing could be sold or removed from the Round Houses. There could only be conveyances of ceremonial regalia within a family or within the cultural context of the Pomo nations but not outside it. 
     The Round Houses were strong in Pomo country prior to invasion. Several still are. A rebirth of Round Houses may occur within our lifetimes. This project may help. We should never forget the spiritual source of sovereignty-to honor the ancestors and to walk in a way that honors our children to the seventh generation. There is a trust and an obligation to live life in balance, a right to commune with the Creator and with all spirits-the redwood, the ocean. 
     The fact that Indian nations still survive and have the right to develop their inherent government and inherent governing concepts is really exciting. As a lawyer and a friend in the trenches, it's amazing to watch a nation grow, define itself and serve its people. We need to honor the Pomo. Their ancestor spirits are right by us. We would be blind to the strength and power of the spirits governing this territory if we didn't honor the Indian's right to survive here. I truly believe this and I believe that the ancient majestic spirit of the redwood also govern this area. It has been slaughtered as the Indian was slaughtered. People had better wake up and hear their cries. 
     Most people's forebears came from across the seas. They have never really learned the proper respect in the jurisdiction in which they find themselves. If they listened more carefully to those who are trying to develop their nations and to protect the redwoods, they may learn how to better walk in their own lives and govern themselves. 
     I have a lot of education in the dominant culture including a political science degree and a law degree. I have learned more about democracy here at Coyote Valley than anywhere. I have learned more by helping implement tribal elections and by taking a stand for sovereignty, than I could ever learn by studying Socrates, Aristotle, de Tocqueville or other social contract theorists. I can humbly say that Coyote Valley has been my teacher. We need to keep a close ear to the Indian nation's struggle to survive and to be respectful in their territory. If the prophecy is correct, reuniting the eagle and the condor will bring renewed vibrancy to our entire continent.