THINK HAWAIIANS WILL BE BETTER OFF UNDER US FEDERAL RECOGNITION?
By R. Joseph Sexton
"To those who may not be familiar with federal policy over Indian lands, Tribal Governments and American Indian individuals can do very little with their lands without the approval of the BIA’s suffocating bureaucracy.
Ironically, these are the same lands that were often promised to Tribes and their people by the federal government for their “exclusive use and benefit” in perpetuity.
For anyone who has a basic knowledge of this area of law, the regulatory revisions may seem to be an effort to streamline the mind-numbing bureaucratic processes Tribes and individual Indians must navigate to make even the most basic decisions regarding their lands."
R. Joseph Sexton is Of Counsel at Galanda Broadman, PLLC. Practicing out of Yakima, Washington, he represents tribal governments and members in matters of cultural property and environmental resource protection.
