Conclusions

Limited as was the Commission's study of American Indians, it disclosedsufficient evidence of unequal treatment under law to warrant action incertain areas and more searching investigation in others. It showed,for example, that some Indians are segregated in schools, and that insome instances needy Indians are denied welfare benefits in programsadministered and financed by State and local government. Repeatedcomplaints of unfair treatment by police and courts, and complaints ofinadequate law enforcement on reservations in States to which the Federal Government has relinquished jurisdiction, indicate serious problemsexist in the administration of justice. While no definitive investigationwas made in the areas of housing and employment, such information aswas received revealed that in both areas Indians run into barrierssimilar to those confronting the American Negro. Ironically, the studydisclosed also that Choctaw Indians use waiting rooms designated"Whites Only" in Mississippi bus stations, while some towns in theSouthwest still are marked by signs reading: "No Indians or Dogs Allowed." The significance of this incidental information lies in what itsuggests: There is nothing exclusive about insults to human dignity.

In substance then, the civil rights problems of Indians are for themost part the same as those confronting other minorities. Yet Indianshave some unique problems. Their cultures and history; their close,changing and at times turbulent relationship to the Federal Government;their battle to preserve reservation land2014set them apart from others.Unlike other minorities, tribal Indians are members of semisovereign nations enjoying treaty rights with the Federal Government. They arealso, however, citizens entitled to the rights and privileges of citizenship.Similarly, they are entitled to equal protection of the laws. Particularlywith respect to land, tribal Indians bear a dependent relationship to theFederal Government often described, though erroneously, as that of"ward" to guardian.

The manifestations of their unique status are varied. Indians, forexample, are in some respects beyond the reach of Federal and State law,including the Constitution itself. Tribal governments are not subjectto the limitations imposed on governmental authority by the Bill of Rights

and the I4th amendment. Indian land is, for the most part, held intrust by the Federal Government; it is tax exempt, and the Government'sconsent is required before it can be sold. Some Indians go to Federal,some to State, and some to mission schools. They may be subject tothree kinds of law and legal procedure. They have, it appears, a strongtendency to preserve their own identities and ways of life, a tendencywhich is most concretely expressed in the Indian tie to reservations.

Some States resent the fact that while on a reservation, Indians arebeyond the reach of State law; this resentment is occasionally expressedin attempts at "retaliation."...

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