“The Termination Policy” The Greatest Danger Lurks in Insidious Encroachment by Men of Zeal, Well-Meaning but without Understanding.”
"The Termination Policy"
The greatest danger lurks in insidious encroachment by men of zeal,
well-meaning but without understanding." - Louis D. Brandeis
In the aftermath of World War II, several “contemporaneous” (of the same period) voices called for a reform of Indian policy, most of these voices noted the incongruity of Indian reservations in the modern world. The main influencing factor of this cogitation was the ideology of the main players during this time period. One other mitigating factor that influenced the formulation of termination policy was the spread of Communism and the ascendancy of Maoist forces in mainland China. This crisis called for national unity, which caused defenders of personal and civil liberties, plus advocates of cultural diversity including defenders of Indian rights such as John Collier and Felix Cohen to be looked upon as traitors or heretics who were out of step as the cold war was introduced into the American consciousness.
Beginning in early 1947, a group of like-minded contemporaries would draft the legislation and see it thorough Congress. The true practitioners of termination were Arthur Watkins, E.Y. Berry, Dillon S. Myers, H. Rex Lee and a handful of others. Watkins was the most ardent terminationist, who became known as “the Father of Termination.” The other main players in this tragedy was Ernest L Wilkinson, one of the best Indian claims attorneys in the country and John S. Boyden, legal counsel for the Northern Utes of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in Utah and the Hopi Indians of Northern Arizona and an understudy of Wilkinson. What most of these terminationists had in common was their religious ideology; they were all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Mormons.” Mormon ideology toward American Indians is based on three books, the book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants.
In 1953 the House of Representatives passed Resolution 108, proposing an end to federal services for thirteen tribes deemed ready to handle their own affairs. The same year, Public Law 280 transferred jurisdiction over tribal lands to state and local governments in five states.
Starting in 1954 with the passage of the Ute Partition Act (UPA), in less then nine years Congress terminated federal services to more than sixty groups, despite intense opposition by Indians. The effects of the laws on those terminated Indians were disastrous, forcing many members of the tribes onto public assistance rolls. President John F. Kennedy halted further termination in 1961, and Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon replaced termination with a policy of encouraging Indian self-determination with continuing government assistance and services. After years of struggle all but one groupe of Indians succeeded in having their tribal status restored begining in 1973.
The average American Citizen does not know that there exists a group of Native American's who are facing Political and Economic Genocide of their American Indian Heritage! These Native American Indian people have been striving for years to get a redress in congress to no avail. (Another Tea Pot Dome)
These Indian people have been living in Political and Economic Exile on the land of their birth for fifty two plus years, which has forced most of their children to be scattered to the four corners of this great nation!
Who are these Indian People? These Indian People, who were born and raised on the Uinta Valley Reserve located on the southern slope of the Uinta Mountains in the Eastern part of the State of Utah and whose forefathers lived there before the Ute's of Colorado were forced to relocate on the Uinta's land in Utah by the United States Government. Land that the White Man looked upon as nothing more then Waste Land!
Only later in the first half of the twentieth century did the white man discover that the land that belonged to the Uinta's contained vast reserves of mineral wealth such as Oil, Natural Gas, Timber and Water.
In 1902 pressure was applied by the State of Utah and white business men to open up the Uintah and Ouray Indian reservation to homesteaders and to give allotments of 160 acres to individual Indians with a family which was known as the Dawes Act passed by Congress in 1887. For every allotment given to an Indian an equal amount of land on the reservation was declared public domain and given to the B.L.M. that way white interest could file claims on the land which belonged to the Uinta's. In 1929 a commission was formed to investigate the Dawes Act. Their report caused Congress to repeal this Act.
In 1934, Congress passed a bill called "Indian Reorganization Act" which did nothing more then turn American Indian Tribes into Corporations. The Act, in 1937, forced the Uinta Band and the two Bands Utes from Colorado to consolidate into the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. Twenty years later a Senator from Utah by the name of Arthur V. Watkins (R) came up with a plan that would lead to the destruction of a way of life for individual Indians of the Ute Indian Tribe and their descendants.
That plan which was passed by Congress is the "Ute Partition Act of 1954" this law was forced upon 490 Uinta's of which 290 were minor children, even though a majority of the Ute Tribe was not in favor of such a thing. These 490 individuals were told that they were no longer Indians and had no rights as Indians on the land of there birth.
With the passage of this Act, these 490 Uinta's were branded as Mixed Blood Indians and are now outcasts on land that was once theirs... Senator Watkins and other government officials was warned that the direction they were taking was nothing more then a repeat of the Dawes Act of 1887! The Ute Partition Act was the first step in the Governments experiment to solve the Indian problem and was going to happen no matter what, even if those it effected had any objection's to this policy.¹
This Act terminated Federal supervision of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation and was to be implemented in two parts. The first part split the Ute Indians of Utah into two group's by classifying them as either full blood or mixed blood, with the mixed bloods targeted for immediate termination With the passage of the Ute Partition Act in April of 1954 by the United States Congress.
In 1956 a final roll was posted with the names of all the member of the Ute Indian Tribe listed as full blood or mixed blood. All those who were listed on this roll as mixed bloods which became final 90 days after publication in the Federal Register, with final termination of their Indian idenities slated to ending by 1961.
The full bloods were to have been terminated within ten years after the passage of the UPA in 1954, this was the second part, which never happened.
With the urging of Attorney John S. Boyden, an artful manipulator who was the Attorney for both group's and was the main architect in implementing Senator Watkins termination plan, the Bureau of Indian Affairs amended the Ute Partition Act, allowing the termination of the full blood's listed on the final roll of 1954 and whose Children were born after publication of the final roll to be put on hold.
In 1970, termination was no longer looked upon by the government as a viable solution to the Indian problem. In 1973, Congress ended the policy. (President Nixon's special message of July 8, 1970)
The official end of Indian Termination was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988.
(*Termination's Legacy: The Discarded Indians of Utah & The Dispossessed: Cultural Genocide of the Mixed Blood Utes)
Termination upon 13 western Indian Tribes was repealed in the early 1970's expect for the Mixed Blood Uinta Ute's of Utah. THIS MISPLACED BAND OF UINTA'S HAS PAID DEARLY BECAUSE OF THIS FORCE TERMINATION! Because of this policy of termination these Native Indian People have and are facing DISCRIMINATION in every form, including their rights as descendant's of American Indians to health service and Indian Religious Freedom. Today there are a number of mixed blood's facing legal action which has been taken against them for practicing their belief in the Native American Religion which includes the use of Eagle Feather's as a part of their worship.
The Department of the Interior and BIA officials says these Indians have to garner support from Utah Senators and Congressmen to sponsor a bill to repeal Public Law 84-671, known as the Ute Partition Act of 1954. To date no Utah Senator or Congressman has been willing to help these Indian People stop this Genocidal Policy. Could it be its because these Treaty Indian People are heirs to vast mineral wealth and if the Ute Partition Act were to be repeal, some non-Indians and corporations stand to lose millions of dollars?"
In a letter dated October 24, 1984, which was sent to the Department of the Interior from the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, the then chairman Mark Andrews stated:
"Although the report explains generally what has transpired since the group's termination in 1954, the report raises questions involving the legality of the termination itself as well as the sale of corporate stock prior to the expiration of the 10-year period after termination. The Committee has received many letters requesting our involvement in clarifying, if not rectifying the terminated Ute's situation."
This and other requests have been ignored over and over by the BIA for over fifty years because the original intent of the Ute Partition Act was allowed to go Awry. Backed by the mendacity of individuals working behind the scenics who can only be caricaturized as fraus pia, having a supersilious, arrogant, ingratiating unctuous attitude towards these terminated Indians!
These Indian People tell how they have faced intimidation and threats from sources unknown when attempts are made to bring their struggle before public scrutiny. It seems everyone except the terminated Mixed Blood Uinta's of Utah has reaped the rewards from this so called Indian Emancipation Act.
When Bill Clinton was President of this United States, he made a statement that all Indian Treaty's will be honored by the United States. When? Many Mixed Blood Uinta's have been reduced to state welfare roll as well as their offspring. Whom the system claims are not recognized Indians: CFR Code of Federal Regulations c alls them Mixed Blood members of the Ute Tribe. But the Ute Tribe says they are terminated and no longer Indians. Under the color of Law using divide and conquer, the "Ute Partition Act" has and is being used as a form of Genocide to take the wealth in land and resources that once belonged to these Uinta Indians of Utah. which are now controlled by a cabal of non-Indian grifters, who preen themselves superciliously!
For fifty five years, these Indian people have been living in political exile upon their dispossessed Treaty land while the plenary Congressional Authorities have been ignoring this injustice and their, "Cri De Coeur"! The Federal Court system has case upon case involving this issue, which has been a long slow process spanning over four decades. While the Federal Government uses multitudes of Attorney's to find ways to stop these Indian People from presenting evidence that would prove their claim and right the wrongs created by this systematic Genocide Policy.
Lie's, broken promises, and lost of real and personal property has left most of these Indians destitute, living in abject poverty and in the dark as to what the future holds for them. Not knowing the truth from a lie. All the while the Government refuses to end this Tragedy!