Title: American Indians Today/Tribes, population and organization in and out the reservations - Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Headings: American Indians Today/Tribes, population and organization in and out the reservations
American Indians Today/Tribes, population and organization in and out the reservations
Contents
The Native American Population
The modern tribes and their home
American Indians outside the reservations
American Indians in Reservations

Content: some are inhabited by only one tribe, others are the home of several different tribes. Many reservations are inhabited by non-Indians, too, and a lot of reservation land has White owners or tenants (actually only about 140 reservations consist of exclusively tribal-owned land). The US government used to handle any issues concerning the American Indians in the past. Yet since 1975 ( Indian Self-Determination Act) the reservations are free to form their own tribal governments, which are assembled by democratic elections or out of the elder councils. This self-government is limited only as far as the states' power, i.e. the reservations are legally treated like sovereign states and the state authorities only have scarce control over them. In many reservations laws (both criminal and civil) and law enforcement are more or less independent of the surrounding. The Navajo nation for example has replaced each law of the state of Arizona by own (except the traffic regulations) and the tribe folds its own courts and police, so that only dangerous criminals have to stand trial on a non-Indian court. The tribes also administer their own fire brigades and social programs and are allowed to manage the usage of their natural resources on their own (although the USA violate this right from time to time). This far-reaching self-sufficiency conveys a feeling of pride and security to some of the American Indians in the reservations and so they are keen on becoming completely self-sustaining some day. As a special privilege the American Indians in reservations do not have to pay taxes of any income or trade made upon their tribal land and they (officially) receive free health care.