TITLE: Calling on the U.S. Government and Department of Defense Cease from Designating Enemy Held Territory as Indian Country and to Cease Designation Enemy Combatants with Native American Leaders Names
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, the Native American peoples have inhabited this great land from time immemorial, taking its bounty of food from the waters and lands; and
WHEREAS, it is a fact that leaders of other countries have studied the reservation system in America, to model concentration camps, where those governments committed genocide; and
WHEREAS, in memory of the resistance of the Native American peoples, to the theft of their mineral resources and lands, the United States military began calling disputed and enemy held territory, “Indian Country,” from World War II through the Vietnam Conflict, and the Afghanistan and Iraqi invasions and occupations; and
WHEREAS, the United States military’s continued usage of naming disputed and enemy held territory as, “Indian Country” and the continuing usage of famous Native American leaders names to designate the enemy combatants; and
WHEREAS, the policy of naming disputed and enemy held territory as, “Indian Country,” and referring to enemy combatants with Native American leaders names, is no different than the racist name and caricature identifying the “Washington Redskins,” in order to demean and disparage Native Americans.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the delegates and leaders direct the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) to contact the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Federal Government to advocate the Department of Defense to cease referring to enemy held territory as “Indian Country,” and enemy combatants with Native American leaders names; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.