Report: Federal Agencies to Blame for Poor Treatment of American Indians
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 9/16/2003
A report released by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission blasts several federal agencies for not aggressively fighting a back log of poor services for American Indians.The report, “A Quiet Crisis: Federal Funding and Unmet Needs in Indian Country,” first determines that federal funding allocated to American Indian programs are insufficient and then goes on to criticize the agencies for not resolving judicial overlap, segmentation of services, and unclear visions. The report examines six agencies that are responsible for ensuring adequate services to indigenous people: the Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Education, Agriculture, and the Interior.
According to the Commission’s report, the “very basic and urgent needs” for American Indians are not being met, specifically in the areas of health care, housing, law enforcement, education, rural development, and food distribution. The obvious impact of this, according to the Commission, is that American Indians have higher rates of disease, dropping out of high school, hunger, and crime, compared to any other minority group.
"Quiet Crisis" highlights glaring discrepancies in education, citing that schools managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs received $3,000 per pupil in the same year that the national average for public schools was $7,524 per pupil. Inconsistent reporting and monitoring of programs is also blamed on a lack of funds, such as in Hawaii, where 20,000 families have been waiting for housing, some for more than twenty years.
Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians, Jacqueline Johnson, views these discrepancies as blatant civil rights violation.
“Without adequate funding for vital programs, empowerment of tribal institutions, and a genuine commitment on the part of the federal government to the policy of self-determination, tribal governments are ill-equipped to provide for their citizens, and their citizens, in turn, are denied equal access to the resources most other citizens enjoy,” Johnson said in a statement.
Also released recently by the Commission is “Not in My Backyard: Executive Order 12,898 and Title VI as Tools for Achieving Environmental Justice,” which singles out the Interior Department’s civil rights violations against American Indians.
The report cites “lack [of] commitment to ensuring that low-income communities and communities of color are treated fairly during the environmental decision-making process” and states that adverse health and environmental effects for American Indians are due to Indian reservations being used as sites for land fills, weapons testing, and nuclear storage.
In order to solve these problems, the Commission also included in the report a list of recommendations to create protective measures when ensuring quality federal programs for American Indians. The Commission also stated that it wishes to see funding improvements in next year’s federal budget in order to combat the discrepancies.
