history of the case for those of you who may not be aware of the situation. The Bridgeport Paiute Indians have lived on the land they now occupy since long before the coming of the first white man. In 1914 this land was deeded to a non-Indian who claimed the land was unoccupied. The Indians of that time were unaware of the ways of the white man's laws, and they continued to live on the land. Then, in 1968, the heirs of the original non-Indian owner demanded that the Indians leave so that the land could be subdivided for development. The California Indian Legal Services stepped in and stopped the eviction. The Indians then decided to try to obtain Government land as a reservation rather than carry on a court fight for the land they occupied. The reasons were logical: they were very poor; many were unemployed and on welfare; and, they were told that should they win their case in court for the land they occupied, they would be subject to taxation as their land would not be a reservation and therefore they would not qualify for U.S. Government aid. They reasoned thusly, "How does a destitute Indian pay taxes, and how does he improve his living conditions with no legal help?" A bill to provide trust land passed the U.S. Senate on October 19, 1972, even though the Bureau of Indian Affairs, BIA, opposed it, claiming they needed time to study similar situations, and, the bureaucrats in the BIA did not know how long a study would take. Unfortunately, Congress adjourned before hearings were scheduled in the House of Representatives and the bill died. In January 1973, Senators Cranston and Tunney, and Congressmen Mathias and Johnson introduced new land bills. Marvin Franklin of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is recommending against enactment of these bills. I wish to quote part of his statements as to why the BIA opposed passage of these bills: The Bridgeport Indian Colony, a group of approximately 65 persons from 20 families, living near the town of Bridgeport, California, is not a federally recognized Indian entity. (For the sake of convenience, we shall refer to this group as the Bridgeport Colony. However, as far as we are aware, the group is simply a number of persons who live as neighbors and does not have any legal status.) Its members are descendants of Indian groups which originally occupied the Bridgeport Valley. As with other similar Indian groups in California, Bridgeport members depend upon welfare and wage work in the town and surrounding area to earn their livelihoods. When a similar bill was introduced last year, we recommended that consideration be deferred pending a study of instances in which Indian tribes or groups might seek to acquire land. One of the major policy considerations lying within the scope of this study is the question whether to extend Federal recognition to additional Indian tribes. Such recognition is entailed by taking land in trust for Indians, as H.R. 3458 and H.R. 3579 would do. Along with recognition goes the extension of special services provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service to Indians. Such services are generally limited to Indians on Federal reservations created by treaties, statutes, or executive orders based on statutory authority. The rationale for providing these services has a nexus with the trust status of Indian land: state and local services were historically often not available to Indians because trust land is tax exempt. Other factors leading to the provision of Federal services included the absence of local governments at the time certain reservations were formed and the historical primacy of the Federal Government in dealing with Indians. The creation of new reservations and the extension of Federal services to additional Indian groups today raises serious philosophical and fiscal problems. If a Federal reservation were created for the Bridgeport Indian group where are many similar groups in California which could logically expect to have a reservation created for them. If it were done for the California groups, similar groups in other states could expect the same treatment. Distinguishing among these groups is most difficult no matter what criterion is chosen, e.g., historical origin, identifiable group, degree of Indianness either by blood or by culture, need, or social justice. Accordingly, the Bridgeport Colony problem cannot be addressed in isolation. It raises the questions whether state and local governments should be relieved of their responsibilities for aiding Indian people and whether at this time the Federal Government should treat additional persons differently because of their ethnic origin. The ramifications of such separate treatment extend to such areas as inter-governmental relations, revenue sharing, funding of existing reservation groups, Federal land policies, and costs to the Federal Government. State and local governments have responsibilities to their Indian citizens just as they do to all their other citizens. Giving the land to the Bridgeport Colony in fee, although it would not entail Federal recognition, raises the same basic problem of favoring one needy group over a large number of others that would also benefit from 40 acres of public land for homesites. We suggest that the way to handle this problem is for these Indians to work through state and local governments with whatever Federal assistance might be available to citizens generally. Mr. Carl E. Burson, Mono, County superintendent of schools, wrote to Mr. Marvin Franklin, urging that he reconsider his stand regarding the establishment of trust lands for the Bridgeport Indian Colony. Burson stated that the education of the children within Mono County was his direct responsibility, and because of the substandard living conditions currently present for the Indian people, he could prove significantly that the educational level and the ability of the Indian children was being drastically retarded due to the conditions under which they were living. He also stated that— If you need statistical proof, data, and/or photographs of these conditions and the effects that they have had upon the children from this area, I hope that you will take time to contact me so that we can make these available to you for your reconsideration of their need. He received his reply from Mr. Robert C. Bruce, Acting Director, Office of Public Affairs, stating the same reasons I mentioned before. One of Mr. Bruce's comments was that Even with the dramatic increase in the amount of money expended in providing services to Indian people, we recognize that we are not meeting all of the needs. The funds available for such purposes are not limitless. Our problem would only be multiplied if we were to increase the number of tribes receiving services. We would find ourselves taking money from groups that have a clearly recognized need and giving it to other groups with recognized needs. Attached to this letter was a list of different tribes who are supposedly in the same positions as we are. Without the passage of these bills, what do the Bridgeport Indian Colony people have to look forward to, especially the children? Housing is perhaps the most critical problem facing the families of the Bridgeport Indian Colony. Twelve of the 20 families now occupy totally substandard housing. Eleven of the families have no sanitation facilities or running water, but must use dilapidated outhouses and share two outside water faucets which freeze during the winter where temperatures often dip to about 30 degrees below zero. Five homes have only woodburning stoves for heat. The other eight live in marginally adequate trailers or houses. There are only four families who have a member working full time. Ten other families must depend on some type of aid. I can't stress enough how important this land is in helping the Bridgeport Indian Colony to improve their present living conditions. Trust land is the key to BIA help to live as human beings. I definitely think our older members have endured enough hardships and deserve better living conditions. And, surely, the children have a right to start their education with a much better home environment than just described. I am sure this would improve their academic standings. In the other two Mono County Indian communities Colesville and Lee Vining the land situation is a little different, but the living conditions are the same. The Lee Vining Indian Community has families living on land which they also do not own. They can't get any type of assistance for home improvements because they do not own their own land. The other families are renting and the majority of these people receive some type of aid or depend on summer employment to cover normal everyday living expenses. The Antelope Valley Indian Community-Colesville-lives in shacks on unimproved land. Senate bill 1924, introduced by Senators Alan Cranston and John Tunney of California, authorizes conveyance of 36 family housing units, maintenance shop, and laundromat, together with water, sanitation facilities and utilities, which are part of the abandoned U.S. Marine Corps Cold Weather Training Facility, Camp Antelope, Mono County, Calif., to the 50 Paiute Indians known as the Antelope Valley Indian Community. The U.S. Navy Department and the Marine Corps have declared the Marine facility excess property and transferred the permit for the facility to the U.S. General Services Administration, GSA, for disposition. General Services Administration has inquired of various Federal agencies whether they desire the use of the Marine facility, and all such Federal agencies are willing to acquiesce in acquisition of the Marine facility by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs for use by the Antelope Valley Indian Community. General Services Administration is willing to offer the Marine facility to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Antelope Valley Indian Community is without adequate housing, sanitation facilities, utilities, and they take their drinking water from a polluted irrigation drainage ditch which is reduced to a mere trickle in summer. The heads of 24 families of Antelope Valley Paiute Indians have expressed their desire to acquire the excess Marine housing which has stood vacant for a period of 6 years. The Antelope Valley Indian Community, like the Bridgeport Indian Colony, is a nonfederally recognized tribe and therefore experiences great difficulty in obtaining help and assistance. Most of the people are unemployed and suffer from dire poverty and a depressed standard of living. These Paiute Indians have expressed their strong desire to improve their living conditions by acquiring the deactivated excess Marine housing, and possession of the Camp Antelope housing could provide a base from which the Antelope Valley Indian Community could press their contention that there is statutory authority under existing United States Codes to protect, conserve, and foster the health and welfare of themselves, and all American Indians in general. We hope that we can get enough support and get these bills passed so that the Indians of Mono County can have the foundation to start improving their present living conditions. Mr. Chairman, that concludes my report. Senator ABORUEZK. Thank you very much. With regard to the two principal pieces of legislation that you refer to, I see no reason why we can't in our committee begin moving those through. We are fortunate to be here hearing this testimony, hearing what is on your mind and trying to understand the importance that you place on these pieces of legislation. That is one of the purposes of these hearings. Without that I can't know what you think is important and where your priorities are. So I am sufficiently moved myself, too, that we intend when we go back, to start the legislation moving through our process. Thank you very much. Walter Lara. Mr. LARA. I am Walter Lara. I am from northern California. It looks like to me that there are about 85,540 Indians that are dependent on whether you listen to me or not. There are 5,460 Indians taking care of the witness presentations that the tribal chairmen have made. This is the figure that I have on 6 percent Indians living on land base and there are 94 percent Indians that don't live on land base. They need as much if not more of what other Indians have been getting in the past 90 or 100 years. These people are all Indians here in California. My parents on my grandmother's side were non-land-based Indians who lived on what you now call your national parks in northern California. We never have gotten one thing from the Bureau of Indian Affairs or anybody else except trouble. When we were little children we got run out of State parks and things like that because they told us we no longer belong. It was passed by the white man's laws that we couldn't hunt and fish there. Here again, I sat here for 2 hours this morning and nobody is still helping us. We are all Indians. The split has been made by the white man, the Bureau of Indian Affairs have done an awful poor job of bringing Indians together when all they do is keep us separated. This is something like our wars that we have been fighting to help the Vietnam's or Chinese. This is the same thing we have here today, a land-based Indian and a non-land-based Indian. How do we get any services, what do we do? That is why I am here today, to see if you people can start something for us. Senator ABOUREZK. You are talking about the non-land-based Indians? Mr. LARA. That's right. I am talking about the aboriginal Indian of California. A year ago I was at another hearing in Sacramento, Senator Tunney and Senator Cranston. We put to them the problem with our burial grounds. We have a problem right here in Sacramento now. The problem is the Governor's mansion is being built on a burial ground. Now, we have another problem in northern California, dams. Senator ABOUREZK. Let me ask you this. At the time they planned the building of the Governor's mansion on ceremonial ground, had you protested to the State government? Mr. LARA. We knew nothing of the planning of the building. Senator ABOUREZK. When did you find out? Mr. LARA. When a few Indians were arrested for trying to protect it about 6 months ago. Senator ABOUREZK. When did they start building the mansion? Mr. LARA. I don't know if they started yet, but I understand they are digging over there. Senator ABOUREZK. But the State government ignored your protest? Mr. LARA. Yes; we have been down here and the gentleman said when you get all the Indians together we will do what you want. We have to start some place. If we get all 19 million or thousand Indians together to find out we don't want them to dig here, we all know we don't want them to dig in our burial ground. Senator ABOUREZK. Whose name is that property in now? Mr. LARA. I have no idea. [Voice.] State of California, Department of Parks and Beaches. Senator ABOUREZK. How long have they held that and where did they get it? [Voice.] They got it from the Friends of the People of the Dederidge property. A group of people formed a nonprofit corporation to buy the property for the explicit purpose of building a Governor's mansion here. Senator ABOUREZK. They got it from who? [Voice.] A corporation known as Friends of the Governors of the State. Senator ABOUREZK. They bought it from whom? [Voice.] The Dederidge people and they were the former property owners. Senator ABOUREZK. What do you propose we do about it? Mr. LARA. I propose you make some kind of a law stating they don't mess with our burial or ceremonial grounds any more. Senator ABOUREZK. I am not entirely sure about this, but I don't know that the Federal Congress has the power to prohibit the State of California from building on that land. I think where that power lies, and I don't know this for sure. I am just conjecturing right now, but I think where the power lies is in the State legislature in California, and the Governor's office here, it would seem to me that's where the protest ought to be directed. Mr. LARA. The protest has been directed there and Congress passed a law in 1956 about embezzling Indian land. Senator ABOUREZK. I know that. Mr. LARA. You made the law, let's enforce it. Mr. LARA. It is still destroying property belonging to Indians. Senator ABOUREZK. Perhaps, according to Indian tradition and law, but not according to white man's law. It is really more of a political matter now than a legal matter. If you can get the State legislature to put a stop to it or the Governor himself-does he listen to you? Mr. LARA. No. Senator ABOUREZK. How about the State legislature, then? Mr. LARA. I don't know if they listen to us either. They said if you get us all together and tell them what they want, that is what we want. We are all together. Every Indian in this building here doesn't want them digging in our ceremonial ground. One more thing, what brings this thing out, in our area, the national parks, you can't tell me they had every white man in the State of California vote to support that national park, so why can't we be treated the same. |