Volume 33 Number 2
January 1994

UNLIKE the previous Indian schools, in most public schools, Native children are vastly outnumbered by non-Native students. Under the ironic legal "protection from segregation," Native students are distributed throughout the school district. The Native students are isolated from one another. This isolation obstructs their opportunities to learn and develop socially and culturally with other Native students. This legal isolation of Native students is just as effective in prohibiting their practice of Native culture and use of Native language as the physical punishments used in the old boarding schools.

In the new battlefield of the public school, the odds are overwhelmingly against lonely and isolated Native students fighting for the survival of their Native cultures, languages, and tribal identities. In too many cases, academically talented Native students feel that they have to escape from these public schools to protect themselves from attacks on their culture. But without the skills and knowledge obtained through quality education, they are likely to face a life of poverty and dependency.

Until recently, we have been offered just two miserable choices--dependency or extinction/assimilation. Neither provided solutions to the problems in our tribes. To many tribal people, there is little or no difference between extinction and assirnilation. The tribe is gone in either case. To other individual Native people, the choice is simply personal survival and escape from poverty. Families are at stake. Assimilation is the bitter cost of physical and economic survival.

Dependency, not Extinction

--the Only Choice for Tribes

Dependency on the federal government has been an inescapable fact of tribal life. The choice has been either dependency or extinction. The paradox is that our continued existence as tribal people in a dependent state, perpetuates the conflict between our tribal societies and the mainstream American society. For tribes, dependency is not good, but it is better than extinction. For non-Natives, dependency is also bad, but to them it means that their assimilation efforts failed. It is cause for more innovative efforts to force tribal people to assimilate.

Having lived for generations under whimsical bureaucratic control of the executive branch of the federal government, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in particular, many Native people fear new tribally controlled alternatives to federal dependency. In too many cases, their fears are justified. After a century or more of paternalism and conflict, many tribes are very weak and lack the current capacity and resources to function independently of the federal government.

But, the real fear is the propensity of the federal government, at the slightest provocation, to attempt to abrogate the federal treaty obligations and trust responsibilities. The treaty obligations and trust responsibilities sustain the government-to-government relationship of the tribes and the United States. This danger is clearly documented throughout history. Too many new schemes of self-governance have quickly matured into federal ploys for termination of federal responsibilities. The policies of self-determination, self-government and tribal contracting of federal services are sound concepts, but have yet to be implemented fully. For many tribes, the recent new federalism proposal was just a new path to termination and state control.

Congress has enacted a wide variety of legislation to address the problems through national policy and supplemental education programs; but, the real cause of the problems, American education, remains substantially unchanged.

The efforts of many Native and non-Native people to reform the American education system to be more relevant and appropriate for Native students has resulted in quasi Native education–an education that sincerely attempts to make American education more culturally relevant and supportive of Native students and Native communities. These projects are best represented by the Indian Education Act, "Title V," programs of the Department of Education and the Johnson-O'Malley Act (JOM) programs of the BIA. They are add-on, pull-out, or after-school projects operated at the local school. They are supported by small federal grants amounting to about $1 per day per student to meet the "culturally related academic needs" of Native children through a short-term (one- to three-year) project plan approved by federal officials. More recently, some tribes have contracted the administration of the JOM programs from the BIA to improve the administration and monitoring of theses grants to public schools. The Department of Education grants rarely have any tribal involvement at all. A small but growing number of the Office of Indian Education "Title V" federal employees are now Native people who have practical and professional experience with Native students; the director is an experienced Native.

The quasi Native education projects generally teach about Native cultural topics with a heavy emphasis on the material culture of beadwork and featherwork and the tangible aspects of Native culture such as the diversity of historic Native housing. They also teach legends, history, and Native words–all well intended efforts to improve the self-esteem of Native students in the schools and make them feel more "at home" in school. These projects provide tutoring and remedial academic services, counseling, and home-school contacts that help Native students and their families cope with the mainstream education process. These projects are temporary by design. In most cases, they are not part of the "regular" education program provided to the Native students (the pseudo Native education) that continues to be the main thrust of the education provided to Native students. When the project period ends, the quasi Native education also ends.

The existence of the special "culturally relevant" services provided by the quasi Native education projects is far better than no relevance at all. But, these projects are just "band-aids" that are dispensed by federal agencies that are far more concerned with allocations of the shrinking federal budget to the big problems of the mainstream American education system. Quasi Native education projects are not the solution; they are woefully insufficient to meet the needs of Native students.

Chief Big Foot and his band of Lakota believed in the Ghost Dance–a wave of hope that was sweeping the plains in 1890 proclaiming that the Creator would prevent the total destruction of Native people, alleviate their suffering and return the people to the pre-war days of happiness.

There is a new Ghost Dance underway in this country today; its momentum is growing rapidly. Many people, Native and non-Native alike, are spreading the message. Like the Ghost Dance of 100 years ago, there is hope and anticipation of a revival of tribal life and the return of harmony among all relations of creation. There is unity of purpose.

Our tribes are at a very critical point in our history again. We can stand by and wait for our children and grandchildren to be assimilated into mainstream American society as proud ethnic descendants of extinct tribal people. They will be just like so many other people in the American society who are proud ethnic descendants of immigrants from other countries. Or, we can protect our tribes, as our ancestors did, and ensure a future for our children and grandchildren as tribal people. It all depends on what we do now in our schools.

The new Ghost Dance calls Native and non-Native people to join together and take action. It calls us to be responsible for the future of the people of our tribes. It calls us to protect, revive and restore our cultures, our Native languages, our religions and our values. It calls us to heal our people, our families, our tribes and our societies. It calls for harmony and respect among all relations of creation. It promises a future of mutual co-existence of tribal societies with other American societies. It offers our people constructive choices in education.

For those Native people who have trouble understanding and hearing the message of the new Ghost Dance, take time, in a quiet place, dig deep into your hearts and minds; go past the years of indoctrination, past all the rationale for assimilation, go to the very center of the circle, seek your tribal identity. Keep looking; it is still there. When you find it, ask yourself, Why was it so hard to find; why is it so buried, repressed and hidden? Bring that tribal identity back to the surface, to the present, to co-exist in harmony with all other realities of your life.

For the thousands of Native people who are dedicated to working for the survival and prosperity of their tribes, we must work diligently with forgiveness and trust in the firm belief that all creation is related and valued. We must bind our tribes together and bind our tribal societies with non-Native societies with a treaty of mutual and honest respect for one another to co-exist in harmony. To flourish in the present, tribal identity and tribal culture has no need to dominate life and oppress and belittle other realities of life or other societies. Indeed, domination, oppression and bigotry are exactly what we are overcoming in the new Ghost Dance as we seek to establish harmony and co-existence of tribes with other societies in the modern world. Our people must learn that ignorance, dropping out, alcoholism and substance abuse, poverty, unemployment, disease, hate and preoccupation with the injustices of the past are symptoms of oppression; they are not prerequisites for tribal identity. Shedding attributes of oppression does not diminish your tribal identity–it frees you to grow and make contributions to your tribe.

For many non-Natives working in schools, a major change in their behaviors, attitudes and values is required. The siege against our tribes must end. American education must teach all present and future generations of American citizens the following important topics about Native people:

Public schools need to teach the reasons for the hundreds of treaties and agreements between the various tribes and the United States, the thousands of acts of Congress, and the countless court cases that constitute the present complex body of federal Indian law. All of our people need to learn that the tribes and Native nations of this land have Constitutionally-based government-to-government relationships with the federal government and that no other group of people in the United States has this special relationship. Non-Native people must learn to respect the fact that, as members of tribes, American Indians and Alaska Natives are different from all other citizens of the United States; they have dual citizenship: tribal and United States citizenship.

Understanding the special case of Native people in this country is a difficult task only because non-Native societies have never really tried. Non-Native societies must understand that the reservations, the tribes, the treaty obligations, and the federal trust responsibilities are as perpetual as the land itself, the vast areas of lands that were ceded to the United States by our tribes in exchange for our right to continue to exist as sovereign tribes on tribal lands with the support and protection of the United States. The treaties are the supreme law of the land. The trust responsibilities of the United States includes Native education. But trust responsibilities and treaty obligations are not license for federal paternalistic administration of tribal affairs. They do not legitimize the tactics of using education to force Native people to make a choice between assimilation and a life of humiliating and often deadly dependency.

Co-existence of tribes means that tribes in the United States exercise self-determination and self-government over healthy and prosperous Native communities. It means that Native cultures and languages flourish and evolve naturally within these communities. It means that the Native people are enabled through education to develop to their maximum potential, to strive for excellence, and to contribute to their own societies and economies and to those of the Nation and the world. Co-existence means that our tribes and our people participate freely with the non-Native societies to the benefit of all. For co-existence to become a reality, we must have effective systems of Native education for our people.

We recognize that alternative forms of education must be defined, described, developed and implemented for Native people. Many people are working to develop and implement true Native education in a variety of settings across the country. Native education is far more than just a reform of the present mainstream American education that now serves Native students. Native education is different. Native education emphasizes both high quality academics and the Native cultures of Native students. The old premise of American education for Native students is that Natives must choose either education or tribal culture–but not both. American education uses only mainstream American culture to teach students in American schools. Native education is different from American education because it uses Native culture to teach Native students. The purpose of Native education is to transmit Native culture and knowledge and develop the skills and talents needed to function successfully in modern tribal society and in the multiple societies of the United States and the world. True Native education replaces pseudo Native education and quasi Native education.

In addition to describing Native education, we must address the task of reforming existing American education to accept the premise that both quality education and Native culture are important and that Native children need to be educated using their culture, even if the public school cannot (or will not) provide true Native education. The intent of this reform effort is to convert pseudo Native education into an institutionalized version of quasi Native education. This reform would be a valuable improvement in the education of all students, Native and non-Native alike. It is addressed in the hope that American society may now be more receptive to multicultural education than at any prior time in history. As the nation wrestles with reform of the old industrial model of American education, perhaps this effort will provide the information needed to ensure a place for Natives in the reformed mainstream American education system.

The meaning of true Native education is reflected in the contributions of many people working in all aspects of Native education in reservation, rural, and urban schools. While it is difficult to label any one school exemplary in all aspects, there are many exemplary practices that have been reported and studied. A great deal of cooperative work is required to reestablish true Native education in the United States. The Task Force has made sincere efforts to listen to the people and to learn from the successes and the failures of the many dedicated people working toward true Native education. Their willingness to participate in this effort with the Task Force has been overwhelming.

The Indian Nations At Risk Task Force established a set of guiding principles to serve as a framework for the development of true Native education. The principles are equally valid for reforming the old industrial model American education system into a modern multicultural system. The anticipated results of following these principles are improved outcomes of schooling in terms of:

Development of effective Native education requires revisions in the goals of Native education. The Native education goals must include the specific aspirations of tribes and Native communities for their populations in addition to the aspirations of other societies in the United States. The goals must reflect the ambition and full participation of Native people and tribes.

The essential elements are interrelated and interdependent. The specific definition and specification of each element is locally determined and varies from one Native community to another given the diverse realities of Native communities in the United States. The following figure illustrates the relationships among these essential elements.

The illustration uses the medicine wheel to emphasize that the organization of true Native education requires an alternative conceptualization of relationships among the elements of education. The pyramid structure that is used to describe hierarchical bureaucratic organizations is replaced by the circle. The new structure represents the diverse alternative organizational structures of tribal societies. Native education cannot be described using the standard structures of organization common in the present industrial model of American education. The essential elements are similar but arranged and organized differently.

TABLE 1

Guiding Principles

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The schools serving Native students cannot remain mediocre. They must become model schools. They can demonstrate how to integrate high academic standards with a multicultural education to other schools throughout America.

1. The United States has a responsibility to assist Native governments and communities in preserving and protecting the unique cultures of Natives, cultures found in no other part of the world.

2. The educational strategies and reforms that will be needed to achieve Native education goals must guide improvement in all schools that serve American Indian and Alaska Native students.

3. Schools must provide for enriching curricula and assistance that allow for and encourage a student's personal best in academic, physical, social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual development.

4. Parents, Elders, and community leaders in partnership with school boards, administrators, and teachers must become involved in the educational process. They should set high expectations for students and create a local climate that supports schooling. They must participate in monitoring student progress in school, influencing the curriculum, and evaluating performance of students and programs.

5. Real change will require a genuine commitment not only on the part of school systems, but also by federal, state, and Native governments, Native corporations, educational organizations, community organizations, business, and labor working together to improve the life chances of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

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The federal trust responsibilities and the treaty obligations are in no way diminished by true Native education. These federal responsibilities are permanent. But, the existence of trust responsibilities do not give license to federal agencies to practice paternalism and interfere with the internal affairs of tribes. The responsibilities do not give the federal government authority to manage the affairs of Native education. State services and responsibilities are included. As citizens of states, Natives may have certain rights and entitlements related to education within the various states. The relationship between the tribe and other governments is that of one government to another. True Native education is a tribal affair.

Table 2

Native Education Goals

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The Indian Nations At Risk Task Force established ten Native education goals applicable to all federal, tribal, private and public schools which educate Native children.

By the Year 2000, Native students will be educated in schools that use their Native culture to teach and will learn about their Native languages and cultures. Native and non-Native students and teachers will acknowledge, appreciate and respect the cultures and languages of Native peoples, the dynamism of their cultures, and their past and potential contribution to American society.

By the year 2000, all Native children will start school with a solid foundation in their Native culture and language and will be ready to learn. The elementary schools they attend will be prepared to provide an education appropriate for their individual level of development.

By the year 2000, Native children will have mastery of reading and language arts skills appropriate for their individual level of development.

By the year 2000, the high school graduation rate for Native students will increase to at least 90%. The quality of education they obtained in high school will prepare Native students with the skills and knowledge needed to enter adult life as a contributing member of the Native and non-Native societies.

By the year 2000, Native students will demonstrate competency in challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, technology, history, social studies and geography. Every school responsible for educating Native students will ensure that Native students learn higher-order thinking skills and are able to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for ethical, moral and responsible citizenship and leadership and for further learning and productive employment in the modern tribal, national and world economies.

By the year 2000, Native students will have mastery of challenging curricula in mathematics and science appropriate for their individual level of development. The number of Native students earning degrees in the mathematics, science, business, engineering and medical fields will be in proportion to the rest of the Nation.

By the year 2000, every Native adult will be literate and will possess the necessary academic, vocational and technical skills and knowledge to contribute to tribal, national, and global societies and exercise the rights and responsibilities of tribal and national citizenship.

By the year 2000, every school responsible for educating Native students will be free of alcohol and drugs and will provide safe facilities and an environment conducive to learning.

By the year 2000, every school responsible for educating Native students will be operating in responsive partnership with Native parents, Elders, tribes, and Native community leaders. The tribes and Native communities will participate in the governance, evaluation and certification of the operation and performance of schools educating Native students.

By the year 2000, every school responsible for educating Native students will recruit and retain well qualified Native teachers, administrators, and ancillary personnel in proportion to the Native student population in the schools. Universities, colleges, and schools will educate, train, and certify Native and non-Native school personnel to be sensitive and respectful of the Native language and cultures of the Native students and prepare them to educate Native children using culturally relevant and academically enriched curricula.

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Table 3

Essential Elements of True Native Education

True Native education requires that all of the following essential elements are contributing fully and cooperatively to the collective effort to ensure that each individual reaches their highest personal potential. Each of these elements must support the group effort to achieve excellence in high quality Native education.

The tribal community–all of the commitment, involvement, participation, and sanction of Native people, tribes, and the various economic, religious and social institutions of the community that make Native education an inseparable and diffused part of tribal society.

Local school governance structures–the policy and decision-making bodies that listen to the community and articulate the will of the community in plans and programs. These bodies are responsible to the community and the tribe for the performance and outcomes of schooling under their control.

Education philosophy and educational plans, programs, and budgets–all of the intangible aspects of education that provide the guidance and framework for the teaching/learning process.

Funding and resources-all of the fiscal aspects of education, the federal trust responsibility and treaty obligations to support Native education, federal and state entitlements for education, and the obligations and contributions of the community and the tribe. These resources include contributions of time, skills, knowledge, opportunities, and materials to support education.

The people–all of the students, teachers, school administrators, staff, and parents involved in the teaching/learning process.

Quality curricula, materials, facilities, and equipment–all of the tangible aspects of education utilized in Native education.

Information, research, evaluation, and communication–all of the ways, means, and processes for all stakeholders to be informed and participate in research and evaluation activities.

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The people of the community must demonstrate their commitment through behaviors that support the development of Native education. Without the determination of the people of the community to develop and establish an education system for their children that meets the unique cultural needs of their community, there can be no such system.

The development and implementation of Native education must be sanctioned by the tribal government, the official political body of tribal people. Authority is vested in the tribal government by the people of the tribe. Education is a critical aspect of tribal life and must be under the jurisdiction of the tribal government. The tribal governments exercise their authority in a wide variety of ways. At present, there is considerable effort to establish tribal education codes that sanction and regulate education in schools serving tribal members. The nature of involvement of tribal government in education varies from none at all to direct full management of schools.

The participation of community institutions is necessary. These institutions include the tribal enterprises and the social, religious and service organizations. Schooling must become a real part of the community. Students need to be involved in adult community events, activities and life as a significant part of their education. Interaction of students and community members is essential. Education cannot be delegated to a small group of employees of the school. It most certainly cannot be delegated to people from outside the community who leave the community at the close of the school day. Education is an on-going process that involves all members of the community throughout their lives. Their functions and roles change as they mature, but their responsibility to participate in education remains a duty to society. Education is inseparable from other aspects of community life. The responsibility for participating and supporting education is diffused throughout the community.

As the community evolves, the educational needs of its members change. When community members are active participants in education, the education system can evolve concurrently with the community. The situation presently existing in American education, an industrial age education system serving an information age society, can be avoided.

The education system needs to reflect the diversity within the community by involvement of all stakeholder groups in the educational system. The majority group has no inherent right to exclude or disenfranchise the minority groups in the community by virtue of larger numbers, greater wealth, or more power. The entire community and all of its diversity needs to be reflected in the education system.

Local school governance is essential. The local policy and decision-making bodies are needed to listen to the community and articulate the will of the community in plans and programs for the education system. These bodies are responsible to the community and the tribal government for the performance of the education system and the outcomes of schooling under their control. The nature of the governance bodies of Native education varies widely from committees of the tribal council in small consolidated tribes and communities to autonomous school boards in local communities of widely dispersed tribal people and urban areas. Some tribal communities have established multiple governing bodies for various aspects of education, generally coordinated by the tribal council. Others have a centralized governing body. Any structure can be a well functioning governance body which maintain the highest ethical standards and fulfills its obligations to strive for excellence.

The governing bodies must serve the people of the community. They are not power brokers; they are not opportunities to allocate scarce employment to friends and family members. The community is responsible for the quality of governance provided by the people they select to serve on the governing bodies.

The governing bodies are not advisory committees to federal agencies. Within the authority delegated to them by the tribe, they must perform their functions independently of federal and state agencies.

Native education needs to function with a clearly articulated philosophy that is consistent with the culture and values of the community. The philosophy must be understood and supported by the community and tribe. The educational plans and programs developed by the education system must reflect this philosophy.

The plans and programs must extend beyond the school buildings and into all aspects of the community. Native education is not bound by the rigid time schedules, the short work days, compartmentalized activities, and production line instruction of the unionized American education system. In its programs, Native education must excite and challenge the students, teachers, and the community in the same manner as football and basketball games excite people in the American education system. Education needs to be fun. It needs to be real. It involves risk-taking, successes, and earning respect and honor in the community. It involves service to the community and to the nation. It requires hard work and physical and mental sacrifices to excel. It results in intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. It rejects threats, punishment and failure as acceptable means to motivate people to learn to excel.

There is a place for all students and opportunity for all to succeed. Native education does not fail Native students; it serves them to their maximum potential. It does not leave them behind nor hold them back. Native education strives to help individual students reach their maximum level of achievement; it is not concerned with minimum standards emphasized by the federal and state systems. Grade levels are for the convenience of teachers and administrators to process large numbers of students efficiently. Native education addresses each individual.

The education programs serve all ages of the population in many programs. They include:

At the discretion of the tribe and the Native community, any or all of the education services desired by the tribe may be obtained from local public schools, state operated programs, libraries, or federally-funded programs. The appropriate governing body vested with the authority shall determine the appropriateness of the educational service and ensure the quality of services provided to members of the tribe.

Budgets are developed to support programs. The governing bodies, tribes and communities determine ways and means of allocating resources to the programs deemed important. They are accountable to the tribe and the community they serve. Budget adjustments are made as necessary and available resources permit.

The determination of future financial requirements to conduct the education programs of the tribe should originate with the tribe and the Native community. The tribes should submit their budget requirements to the federal government to be included in federal budgets for forward funding of Native education programs. The budget process cannot be delegated to federal officials who have an inherent conflict of interest. Federal officials are always obligated to recommend and support the administration's position. For the last decade, that obligation has resulted in severe budget cuts for Native education. Federal officials cannot advocate for the tribes against the administration for whom they work.

Tribes should not have to compete against one another for dwindling funding for Native education through the competitive grant process. Funding must be adequate, stable and predictable for Native education programs to be successful. The present rapid decline in the federal budgets for Native education must be reversed. The decisions on the current federal budget request for Native education are made by federal officials who are accountable to the administration for their decisions. Their interest are in direct conflict with the best interest of the tribes. They are rewarded for reducing the federal budget without regard to the impact of the actions on the welfare of Native people they are suppose to protect through the federal trust responsibilities and treaty obligations. This conflict of interest must end and be replaced with a process of equitable negotiation of a federal Native education budget with the direct involvement of tribes to support Native education as defined by the tribes themselves.

As citizens of states, Native people are entitled to the same educational opportunities as other citizens of the state and, when qualified, to any special programs that various states may develop for particular groups of citizens without restriction due to being a Native citizen of the state.

Additional resources for Native education include contributions that only tribes and community members can make. These include the time, talents, skills, and knowledge of Elders and community members. Access to culturally-related materials and knowledge and its appropriate use in the education of Native students requires the contribution and cooperation of appropriate community members. Their participation will be based on their confidence in the Native education system.

Students, teachers, school administrators, staff, and parents are the people most affected by the education system. Native education is student centered; it is not teacher centered. Learning is supported and nurtured and facilitated by teachers. Learning is a high activity process performed by students in a wide variety of ways and learning styles. Students need to develop a variety of learning styles. Students need to feel natural in school. They need to feel that other people in school care about them and that they are able to care about others. Students have to like and respect their teachers. Almost all little children in American schools really like school and are excited to go to school in the first and second grades. Then, in about the third grade, young students begin to realize that they are being trained and socialized by teachers to conform to the behaviors expected of a well "controlled pupil." Their enthusiasm for school begins to diminish quickly. Native education must avoid this process.

The school personnel need to establish positive relationships with students of all ages. There needs to be bonding. The people in the school–students, teachers, administrators and parents–need to feel a positive emotional attachment to the group and to each other in the same sense as there is an emotional attachment in extended families and important social organizations. People work and live by moving in and out of various groups. Students need the same natural experiences in their work in school. They need to interact with people of various ages and skills and learn how to relate and function as contributing members of society by participating in a healthy school society that is diffused throughout the community. There should be no division between school climate and culture and family and community climate and culture.

In most tribal societies, leadership is a service obligation performed by those who are willing and able to provide the service. Leaders are recognized by the community as those who have earned the confidence, support and trust of the community. Leadership consists of obligations and duties to be performed on behalf of those served. Leaders are followed because they are trusted and demonstrate wisdom, skill and generosity.

The concept of leadership in most Native societies is completely different from the meaning of the term in American society. In American society, leadership is a position purchased by wealth, political influence and educational status from which one exercises authority, control, and decision-making power over others generally resulting in the personal gain of more wealth and status for the leader.

Leadership and administration in Native education must be exercised in a culturally appropriate manner as defined by the community. In most cases, that means as a functional specialization of service within the work group of the school. All people in the school need opportunities to develop and exercise leadership skills: students, teachers, staff and parents.

Parents and community members must feel that the school is an extension of the learning that occurs in the home and vice versa. Opportunities for parents and Elders to participate in educational activities with students are critically important. The presence of parents and Elders in classrooms, lunchrooms, gyms, and playgrounds should be as normal as the presence of students and teachers in those locations. And, likewise, the presence of students and teachers during the school day in tribal offices, business offices, fields, lakes, stores, hospitals, shops, and elsewhere should be as normal as the presence of anyone else in those locations. Schooling cannot be confined to buildings that resemble factories and prisons which insulate those inside from the rest of the community. The talents and skills of a variety of people in the community need to be available and used in the educational process both inside and outside of the school buildings.

Teachers and administrators must be well prepared, trained and educated for their roles in Native education. They must be competent in their fields and subject matter and able to teach within the Native culture. Competence in mathematics, sciences, arts, require extensive effort and university coursework in those disciplines, not just teacher education courses. Current teacher training programs are inadequate to prepare teachers and administrators for Native education. Competent individuals desiring to become Native education teachers and administrators must be developed in effective Native education systems under the mentorship of highly credible and effective teachers and administrators similar to residency requirements of medical doctors.

High quality academic education delivered within the context of Native culture requires the production of high quality curriculum materials. Native education need not be (and should not be) as dependent on printed materials and workbooks as the American education system. However, the development and production of special culturally-related materials is necessary and must be supported by the system. These materials cannot be purchased on the market.

Modern technology provides many alternatives to printed materials. The equipment and systems necessary for distance education and interactive teaching/learning is essential for successful Native education. Utilization of existing and new technology and the development of new ways of supporting the teaching/learning process are highly appropriate to Native education. The tribally controlled community colleges are excellent resources for culturally appropriate materials in those areas where they exist. They have the potential of providing curriculum materials to other Native education systems.

The Native education systems need to be equipped with modern computers and laboratory equipment to support enriched science and mathematics instruction. Native students need to study and master advanced chemistry, physics, biology, microbiology, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, computer science, and electronics as well as other enriched fields in the other disciplines.

Most Native communities are in desperate need of new school facilities The existing facilities are old and in very poor repair and unsafe. Federal budgets for facilities maintenance of Native schools have been inadequate and poorly managed. The backlog of new school construction in Native communities is massive. Many Native parents fear for the safety of their children attending school in old federal school buildings and being transported by poorly maintained buses. These hazardous conditions have forced many parents to transfer their children to public schools. Native education must have modern safe facilities and transportation.

Native education uses Native languages throughout the educational process. In many areas, the Native language is all but gone. Those languages should be available as language subjects in the same manner as other languages are taught. The schools and the community need to make concerted efforts to protect and maintain Native languages.

Other Native languages are used extensively in the communities and can be used as the language of instruction in virtually any subject in Native education. Native people need to develop skills in their native languages just as native English speakers need to study and develop English language skills throughout their education. Development of language requires extensive opportunity to use the language in a variety of situations and for a variety of purposes. Native education provides those opportunities. The community must support these efforts actively by extending the opportunities for use of the language in every means possible.

Highly developed English language skills are critically important for all Native students. The development of high quality oral and written English language skills are necessary for successful Native education. Library resources, sound and video equipment, and culturally related printed materials for English language development are needed in Native education.

Native education depends on effective ways, means, and processes for all stakeholders involved in Native education to participate to the fullest extent in monitoring and evaluating the outcomes of Native education. Naturalistic inquiry and fourth generation evaluation methods appear to be most appropriate for Native education. There are many stakeholders in Native communities who view Native education from diverse vantage points. These include tribal officials, Elders, spiritual leaders, business people, parents, and students of all ages. It is essential that Native education provide the means to collect, maintain, and share databases of information that meet the informational needs of all concerned stakeholder groups. Native education must enable the concerns, issues, and claims of all these groups to be considered and addressed. The information, research, and evaluation systems need to determine and describe outcomes and performance of the Native education system and enable each stakeholder group to make judgements, assign values and make conclusions based on the information. These processes include a forum in which stakeholder groups explain, communicate and exchange information, perceptions, opinions, and conclusions with other stakeholders in the community. They negotiate and articulate agreements and disagreements; and together, maintain mutual respect and recognition of the rights and values of the diverse stakeholder groups that exist in the community.

Some of the guiding principles and goals of Native education are already in place to varying degrees in some of the schools serving Native students. At present, it would be too presumptuous to identify any one school as a model of true Native education. The very best schools are quick to recognize their deficiencies and focus on their efforts to implement reform in their systems.

Many of the tribally controlled community colleges are among the strongest examples of present efforts to develop and implement true Native education. These institutions have yet to receive the full financial support authorized by Congress and have great need for improved facilities, equipment, maintenance and operations. In spite of the severe financial problems, the tribal colleges are succeeding. These institutions are widely recognized for their contributions toward solutions to many of the economic, educational and social problems confronting their tribal communities. At the national level, membership of the tribal colleges in the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) provides a framework for the collective support and services needed for these institutions to work effectively with the Congress, various federal agencies, states and private foundations.

The supplement volume to this Final Report, a book of 22 chapters entitled Indian Nations At Risk: Solutions for the 1990s [later known as Listening to the People], provides numerous examples and details of successful Native education practices in many schools in reservation, rural and urban settings. The hard work of hundreds of Native and non-Native educators created the new Ghost Dance. The supplement volume helps to spread the message of reform.

Pseudo Native education that strives to assimilate Native people into the mainstream American society through education must end. Rather than changing the Native student to fit into the public school, it is now time to change the school to meet the educational and social needs of the Native student. Native education in public schools must be institutionalized as a program of successful practices rather than constantly redefined in supplemental federal project descriptions that attempt to correct the failures of the mainstream education system. Funding and resources must be adequate and stable rather than meager and contingent upon winning competitive federal grants.

The development and implementation of institutionalized forms of quasi Native education in the public schools will provide new choices for Native parents. The essential elements of true Native education are equally valid for mainstream American education. However, it is sufficient in public education to have integration of Native culture with other cultures in the educational process of the mainstream system. Significant changes are required to accomplish this transformation of public school Native education.

To begin reform in public schools, the tribal governments must exercise their jurisdiction over the education of their members in public schools. Tribes need to establish and enforce tribal education codes and ordinances that clearly define Native education for all schools (tribal, federal, public and private) in their region. In some areas, consortiums of tribes may need to develop joint regional tribal codes. Tribal involvement in public education must be asserted through local standards and criteria that create an appropriate context for the public education of tribal citizens within all types of schools.

Tribal education codes are necessary to establish the legal framework to incorporate all the essential elements and resources into a systemic regional approach to Native education that compels all schools to be responsive to the academic and the cultural needs of Native students. The codes must be developed locally, make sense in the region and maintain and respect local diversity in Native cultures and languages.

Formal and informal evaluations and accreditation reviews by the tribe and other agencies must focus on specific Native education needs and the relationship of all resources, policies and practices to meeting Native students' needs and enabling achievement. Strong and comprehensive tribal Native education codes are the primary vehicles for initiating change and causing reform in the public schools. Their development and enforcement is essential.

The tribal education codes should provide for viable choices in education for Native parents. They need to allow for creativity and innovation in educational programs for Native students. Most Native communities need to have both Native tribal schools and responsive public schools. These schools should not be isolated and uncoordinated from each other. Schools need to cooperate and support each other for the benefit of all.

With full involvement and participation of the Native community and the tribe, public school districts must be required to develop and implement district-wide, comprehensive, long-range Native education plans. The plans must identify how all resources and funding available to the district will be organized and used to accomplish the goals and objectives of the plan. The comprehensive plans need to be endorsed by the Native community and the tribes and be consistent with the Native education codes of the tribes.

Under the sanction of the tribal government and in compliance with tribal education codes and the comprehensive plans, Native education can be regionalized and institutionalized. Public school Native education should complement the education in tribal schools in the region. The plans ensure that Native education develops positive relationships with parents and the Native community. They integrate Native culture in the content and teaching methods used in the public school. There must be Native roles models in the public schools: Native teachers, administrators and support staff. Native students need to experience a supportive school climate conducive to learning. The culturally respectful and appropriate behaviors and attitudes of all people in the system are far more important than any objects placed on the wall. Native students need to sense high expectations for performance from everyone including themselves. They need to be challenged by difficult and enriched academic work and have access to all available opportunities to reach their highest potential.

In the reformed public schools, Native students have the opportunity to learn together and develop socially, culturally, and academically. The isolation of Native students must end.

Native schools, tribes and public school districts need to negotiate and establish agreements that utilize the diversity of courses available in both public and tribal schools with the intent of increasing the total array of educational opportunities available to all students. The development of cooperative arrangements will enable Native and non-Native students to attend classes and participate in band, foreign and Native language classes, sports, advanced mathematics and science courses, and electives in both tribal and public schools within the region. Each school must receive equitable funding for services and activities provided.

Native resource centers in tribal schools should serve as centers of Native cultural expertise and cooperate under agreements with regional public schools to facilitate improved learning opportunities for all students in the public schools. Likewise, public schools should cooperate with tribal schools to enhance certain enriched academic experiences for students in the tribal schools. The schools need to cooperate in the development of culturally relevant curriculum for use in both tribal and public schools.

There is no valid reason for the funding of public school Native education to be restricted to federal grants, categorical programs and other temporary sources. All the normal funding and resources available to public schools need to be applied to support institutionalized Native education consistent with the tribally endorsed comprehensive plan for the public school district. All federal categorical programs (not just Native education efforts) need to be amended to recognize the unique academic and culturally related education needs of Natives.

All funding for public school Native education in the region must be under tribal jurisdiction. Both tribal schools and public schools must be accountable to tribal governments for compliance with tribal education codes. Satisfactory performance according to tribally endorsed comprehensive Native education plans must be mandatory for continued federal support for Native students in public schools. All federal agencies must be required to comply with the long-standing national policies and laws of tribal self-determination and self-governance in all education programs. The common federal practice of by-passing tribes and Native communities and dealing only with the public school district administrators and perfunctory parent advisory committees must end.

All federal Impact Aid provided to public schools in lieu of state tax revenue for students residing on reservations and in Indian country must require a tribally endorsed comprehensive plan for the school district and satisfactory performance and accountability by the public school to the tribes served. Funding should follow Native students who transfer mid-year from one school to another with flexible reallocation of Impact Aid funds to tribal schools and other types of schools receiving the transferring students.

At present there is no accountability of public schools to the tribes for their use of Impact Aid funds. The federal Impact Aid office reports that they "have received no complaints," but tribal testimony before the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force has revealed that this simply means that tribes have not been able to penetrate the maze of bureaucratic procedures and requirements for their complaints to be in proper form to be considered by the federal office. The intent of the Impact Aid law to provide full and active participation of tribes, parents, and Native communities is not being implemented.

There must be equitable funding for all tribally operated schools and public schools serving Native students. Funding is required to support high quality academic education in a culturally appropriate context as defined by the tribal education codes and operationalized in endorsed comprehensive plans of public school districts. In some cases, this level of funding will be at least the same amount and type of resources as the other state supported public schools providing the highest quality education. In other cases, the amount of funding required to meet the high quality standards of the Native education codes and plans may be more than the funding for other public schools that have only minimum level programs and low standards. The permanent federal trust responsibilities and treaty obligations require that federal funding levels for all Native education be maintained. Funding of Native education should not be subject to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings federal budget reductions. Federal and state funding of Native education must be stable, predictable through locally developed forward funding budgets and available at the beginning of the school year.

Minnesota's State Tribal School Equalization Act is an example of state foundation support for tribal schools. The state revenue is available to tribal schools without affecting the nature and character of tribal control of these schools. State responsibility for the education of Native state citizens is not eliminated because a tribal government asserts its jurisdiction to operate a school. The recognition of the state financial obligations for all citizens in the state regardless of state or tribal jurisdiction over education is an excellent example of co-existence of Native and non-Native societies in the United States. This practice needs to be replicated in other states.

The relationship between the various states and the tribes is that of one government to another. Tribes may enter into agreements with states and state education agencies. At their discretion, tribes may use their federal resources for Native education to purchase enriched or special educational services from states to supplement the services available to their members by virtue of being citizens of the state. Tribes also have the choice to purchase such services from private or tribal sources. In most cases, tribes desire to provide a viable choice of high quality tribal and high quality public school education to their members. The tribes need the flexibility to allocate funds to both systems in a manner that best meets their local needs.

The question that remains to be answered is how do we implement true Native education and reforms in public schools? How do we establish a process that will result in real reform in the education of Native students? We are painfully aware that countless studies and reports of previous years are filled with sound recommendations, many repeated here once again. And yet, we still face the same basic problems. Our task is not complete until we propose a solution to the critical problem of implementation that has challenged us for so many years.

Individual local Native communities and tribes acting alone cannot cause the necessary systemic changes to occur at the national and state level. Implementation of reforms is dependent upon a strong collective effort that provides (1) adequate administrative direction, assistance in preparing budgets and strong political support and advocacy; (2) technical and legal assistance, teacher, administrator, and board member training; and (3) cooperative program development, curriculum development, distance education and special program support services to ensure success for the individual locally determined efforts of Native communities and tribes.

Table 4

Bill of Rights for American Indian and Alaska Native Students

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American Indian and Alaska Native students have:

Table 5

Recommendations

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The following additional recommendations for reforming Native education are addressed to all of those concerned about the education of Native students and the vitality of our tribes: Congress, federal and state level administrators, tribes, public schools, Native communities and parents.

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In the past, due to the importance of the federal trust responsibilities of the federal government, tribes have relied almost exclusively on the federal executive branch acting in a fiduciary relationship to the tribes to implement the well intentioned legislation enacted by Congress. They have expected the federal government to implement the sound recommendations of numerous studies. However, the inherent conflicts of interest between the goals and objectives of the federal administration and the best interests of tribes and Native communities always result in actions by federal officials that support the administration's political position regardless of whether that position is supported by the tribes. The undeniable fact is: no federal agency has ever been able to administer Native education programs in an acceptable manner. The fiduciary relationship of the federal government to the tribes is a myth.

We are wasting enormous amounts of our limited resources on federal administration in the misguided hope of receiving the commitment, support and advocacy required to implement changes and reform in Native education. For years and years Native education has been administered by the federal government through the BIA and now also by the Department of Education. In 1990, the Council for Excellence in Government ranked the BIA as the least respected federal agency in the government. The Indian Health Service was third from the bottom; the Department of Education was fourth from the bottom. In 1991, the results of a joint investigation by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Interior revealed that the BIA could not account for $95 million dollars, almost 10% of the total BIA budget of 1990.

The existence of Native individuals in key positions in these bureaucracies improves communication between the agencies and the tribes, but they certainly have not been able to shift the vested interest of the federal agencies to positions favored by the tribes. In too many cases, our tribal governments have become extensions–branch offices–of the BIA. Some of our tribal leaders complain that their "hands are tied."

Many tribes have undertaken very serious and successful efforts at self-sufficiency and self-government. Many tribes want a simple lump allocation of funds from the government that will be administered and managed locally by the tribe. Administration of tribal affairs and the federal trust responsibilities are separate functions and concepts: the tribes administer and manage their own affairs and the federal government fulfills its responsibility through adequate funding. Recent efforts to implement a transfer of administration and management to the tribes have failed because they have not adequately separated out and retained in a clearly protected manner the vital federal trust responsibility. The previous efforts appeared to be attempts to transfer both administration and trust responsibility out of the federal government. The federal trust responsibility cannot be transferred to the states. It cannot be shifted to the tribes. It cannot be ignored. It is a permanent obligation and responsibility of the federal government that requires continued adequate organizational structure, authority and federal personnel in place to fulfill all the trust responsibilities and treaty obligations of the United States.

While we fear the threat of termination of the trust responsibilities and complain of continued federal mismanagement, our children and tribes continue to endure the worst living conditions in the country; we wait on the federal government to do something about it. How long does it take for us to realize that the federal government simply can't do the job?

Our people want action now! This is the time for our tribes and our people to accept the responsibility for our own future. Our tribes have to provide the national level leadership and the structure that is missing.

The same essential elements for Native education that we described at the local level also apply at the national level. The structure and process are the same. Instead of one, two, or three tribes in a reservation area or an urban community, represented in the outer circle, we are many tribes in the nation. We simply expand the circle to include all our tribal people. In the same manner that the essential elements are necessary at the local level, they are necessary at the national level too.

A national tribal alliance is formed and exists under tribal authority. The national tribal alliance has power when the tribes delegate authority to a joint tribal governing body sanctioned and authorized under the joint powers of the participating sovereign tribes. This joint tribal governing body or council vested with delegated tribal power creates the necessary structure for the alliance to operate and to implement change at the national level. We must not replace the federal bureaucracy with a Native bureaucracy! We need a structure that is appropriate for an alliance of tribes.

Leadership in the national tribal alliance is consistent with the tribal and Native conceptualization of this function. Leaders serve the national tribal alliance and the collective Native people of the nation. Individuals are leaders only as long as the people have trust and confidence in them. Leadership is fluid and dynamic. It can be consolidated or dispersed as needed to reflect the concerns and issues before the national tribal alliance. Leadership has no power over the national tribal alliance. A single top executive officer, required in hierarchical organizations and bureaucracies, is both unnecessary and inappropriate for the collective alliance of individual sovereign tribes all participating at the same level. From time to time, the member tribes may follow the leadership of one or more individuals to the extent that it serves the needs of the tribes.

For change to occur, the national tribal alliance must assume jurisdiction over Native education for the participating tribes and contract the administration of Native education from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Education. The national tribal alliance, controlled by the tribes, provides the collective support for Native education in accordance with the wishes of the participating tribes. This national organization can provide the collective support and services that our tribes need to reestablish true Native education systems for our people and lead the way for the reform of mainstream American education.

We need a strong alliance of the sovereign tribes and Native nations–tribal governments–not just another association or organization of Native individuals or a mixture of individuals and tribal representatives. We need an alliance with authority vested by the tribes to meet the collective need for support, services, training, counsel, and strong representation. When deemed appropriate by the tribes, the alliance needs to represent the united body in budget, policy and legislative matters before Congress. The tribes need a viable option to address federal and state agencies and the American public and private sectors as a powerful collective tribal body.

Disagreement and debate is natural and healthy for mutual growth and solidarity among nations and people. Examples are clearly seen in other alliances that exist in the world: the United Nations, the European Common Market, and recent growth of democracy in the collective government of the republics of the Soviet Union. The Native nations have created great alliances in the Six Nations, the Creek Confederacy (now the Muskogee Nation), and the All Indian Pueblo Council to name a few. Native democratic government was the model for the present government of the United States.

The differences among the members of Congress and the major political parties of American society voiced in Congressional debate are indispensable aspects of American democracy. The tribes need an appropriate tribally controlled forum in which discussions, debate and decisions can be made on matters of national and inter-tribal importance. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was organized for this very purpose; but, in its present form, NCAI cannot function as a joint tribal government. Therefore, it lacks the power to follow through on its resolutions. The national tribal alliance must have the power to implement its policies and decisions under the joint governmental authority vested in it by the participating tribes.

Federal officials and administrators have loudly maintained a false stereotype that Native people and tribes can't agree on anything and can never join together, sufficiently to manage a national tribal organization. We have dutifully believed these federal officials, our trust agents. And, federal paternalism continues. Under the present federal grant and budget systems, our tribes must compete against each other for increasingly scarce federal funding. Our tribes are pitted against one another and then reminded that they can't agree to work together. In these circumstances, many of our tribal people have accepted this stereotype, and we echo it in lament to ourselves.

We have accomplished much through our current national organizations such as the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). Leadership in these organizations is consistent with the tribal concept of the term. These organizations provide important national forums for discussion of current issues, pass resolutions and lobby Congress and the administration. They vary from the purely professional association of NIEA to the tribal and individual affiliations of NCAI and institutional affiliations of AIHEC. They are organized in the normal pattern of non-profit organizations under state law. In their present form, none of the present national organizations are capable of filling the need for a national alliance of tribes. But, any or all of them could be the foundation upon which the tribes could build a national tribal alliance.

Of course, the details of an alliance need to be considered very carefully by the tribes. It is an extremely serious matter. Education is an essential aspect of all tribal societies and can be the worthy initial cause that brings our tribes together to address the matter of a national alliance. But, just as education in an inseparable part of tribal society, the alliance must be able to consider all aspects of tribal life and welfare. The issue is of such a magnitude for our tribes that it is a fitting subject for a new treaty. Our tribes need to consider a new treaty between the United States and all of the tribes, a treaty that sets forth the requirements for peaceful, productive and harmonious relationships between Native and non-Native societies in the United States.

We no longer make treaties, at least not since 1871. In 1871, many of our tribes were engaged in active war with the United States over land, natural resources and the right of tribal independence and self-government. It was 5 years before "Custer's Last Stand" and 19 years before the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Why don't we make treaties? Under the Constitution, treaties are ratified by the Senate. The House of Representatives rebelled against their exclusion from the ratification process for important treaties with the tribes by refusing to pass appropriations bills. The Act of March 3, 187 1, that ended treaty-making, is important today because its intent was to legalize assimilation of tribal people and allow the annexation of their lands. The Act specifies that:

Indeed the issues involved between the tribes and the United States were similar to the present ones between Kuwait and Iraq; but, there was no United Nations to protect the tribes in 187 1. According to Senator Eugene Casserly of California:

This disgraceful Act remains in effect and is the only reason we don't negotiate treaties today. Congress needs to end this dreadful era in our history.

At this eventful time in world history, when we so strongly support the principles of democracy and the rights of self-government in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, the Persian Gulf, should we not apply those same principles to the Native tribes and nations in the United States? As other nations of the world are doing, we must correct our mistakes of the past and enable our tribes to participate in the new world order.

Table 6

Treaty of 1992

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The following are some preliminary proposed topics for the Treaty of 1992. These preliminary topics are mere suggestions to the tribes and the United States as examples of issues that may be considered in the treaty. The development and the negotiation of the Treaty of 1992 requires full participation of the tribes in a national forum–a forerunner of the alliance. It requires careful deliberation and consideration by Native legal experts to protect the interest of the tribes.

The following articles are agreed to by the member tribes and Native nations signing this treaty and the United States of America.

The United States affirms the status of tribes as aboriginal nations of this land with inherent rights of self-government and self-determination and with special government-to-government relationships with the United States grounded in the Constitution of the United States.

The member tribes affirm allegiance to the United States and to the Constitution of the United States.

The United States affirms and protects all existing treaties, agreements and claims of the tribes. The United States affirms that nothing in this treaty shall adversely affect or diminish in any way whatsoever any rights, claims, benefits, or provisions of any tribe, whether the tribe is a member tribe in this treaty or not.

The United States affirms and protects its trust responsibilities and obligations on behalf of the tribes. The United States affirms that nothing in this treaty shall adversely affect or diminish in any way whatsoever the trust responsibilities and obligations of the United States in regard to any tribe, whether the tribe is a member tribe in this treaty or not. The United States affirms its permanent obligation to provide all of the necessary funding and resources for education, health, social services, and for tribal operations to the extent justly required by the tribes and as determined by negotiation between the United States and the tribes themselves. These trust responsibilities and obligations to the tribes result from the continued and uncontested use and enjoyment by the United States and its citizens of vast quantities of Native lands and natural resources previously ceded or taken by force from the tribes.

The member tribes in the treaty shall create and establish under their joint authority a National Tribal Alliance Council. Each member tribe in this treaty agrees to delegate specific and limited authority and powers to the National Tribal Alliance Council. The National Tribal Alliance Council shall act on behalf of the member tribes in establishing national tribal policies and enacting national tribal laws within the authority delegated by the member tribes. The National Tribal Alliance Council shall represent the member tribes as a unified group in relations with the United States and with other nations.

The National Tribal Alliance Council shall be comprised of representatives of the member tribes as follows:

The numerical size of the population unit shall be the total enrolled membership on July I st of each year of all member tribes divided by the result of 400 minus the number of member tribes.

The United States and the member tribes agree that the National Tribal Alliance Council, at its option through enactment of authorizing tribal law, may administer any or all functions and duties related to services to the member tribes and their membership performed by the various departments of the executive branch of the United States Government including any or all of the functions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The National Tribal Alliance Council will establish and administer an equitable forward funded budgeting process based on comprehensive strategic plans of the member tribes approved annually by the member tribes in the National Tribal Alliance Council. The National Tribal Alliance Council will maintain and provide all necessary central administrative support and technical support services approved by the member tribes but will strive to keep administrative overhead at a minimum.

Recognizing the great diversity in capacity and needs of the member tribes, each member tribe may determine at their discretion and for each major program the level and extent of administrative and technical service, support and assistance required from the National Tribal Alliance Council based on their own determination of their capacity to administer programs locally. The National Tribal Alliance Council will establish and support budget mechanisms that allows all administrative and programmatic funds from the federal government, in total unrestricted sums, to flow directly to tribes electing to administer and manage their programs locally. The support services provided by the National Tribal Alliance Council will be monitored and evaluated by the member tribes of the National Tribal Alliance to ensure maximum effectiveness and efficiency of operation.

The National Tribal Alliance Council will establish and dissolve committees and offices as necessary to carry out the functions assigned by the member tribes.

The United States and the participating tribes proclaim an agreement to co-exist in harmony with mutual respect and protection for all the diverse cultures, languages and peoples that constitute the population of the United States.

A new treaty will bring tribal existence out of the distant, confusing, and now fading past and into the present day reality of Native and non-Native people of the United States. The federal trust responsibilities, treaty obligations and duties of the federal government to ensure future co-existence of our tribes with other societies in the United States must be made clear and explicit to all Americans. A new treaty can establish agreement on a change in the nature of relationships between the societies involved. It can define the new relationships and the plan for implementing and sustaining it. It can provide the level of commitment necessary to bring about change. To be effective, the new treaty will need to:

We call on all members of our societies to join in this effort. A new era in the history of our societies can begin with the Treaty of 1992.