Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Invitation to all Indian tribes: Obama wants to meet, listen
Category: News and Politics
Invitation to all Indian tribes: Obama wants to meet, listen

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Staff and wire reports • October 13, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Obama is inviting Native American leaders to a White House conference Nov. 5.

The president said he wants to hear directly from them about how his administration can meet their needs and help make their lives better. Many Native Americans suffer higher rates of crime and poorer health than the rest of the population.

The White House said Monday each of the 564 federally recognized tribes in the U.S. will be invited to send one representative to the White House Tribal Nations Conference.

There are nine tribes in South Dakota , and tribal President Theresa Two Bulls will represent the Oglala Sioux at the conference.

“I’m looking forward to going,” she said.

Two Bulls received an e-mail about the conference Monday morning, and said she was in contact with other tribal leaders all day talking about it.

She sees the full-day meeting as a positive first step toward the president’s goal of a more open dialogue with tribes.

“That was one of his campaign promises,” Two Bulls said. “He’s fulfilling his promises bit by bit.”

South Dakota tribal representatives…. are likely to address issues including water rights and education, she said.

Also important to Native American interests:

HEALTH: A $32.1 billion Interior-….Environmen t measure that has been moving through Congress would provide an increase of $450 million for the Indian Health Service. It’s considered a chronically underfunded service. The money would be a 13 percent increase. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., has called such an increase “a move in the right direction to appropriately fund IHS.”

CRIME: Native communities face 2.5 times the national rate of violent crime. Fewer than 3,000 police officers patrol more than 56 million acres of Indian land. One particular problem in South Dakota is the Standing Rock reservation. It straddles the North Dakota border and has only 13 law enforcement officers patrolling an area the size of Connecticut .

Stimulus proposals have included $25 million for the Rosebud reservation for an adult jail, though more money would be needed for staff, and $500,000 for an Indian Police Academy in New Mexico that would help provide more law officers for Indian land.

“Increased law enforcement efforts in tribal communities in South Dakota have yielded positive results,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said recently. “But continued success will be difficult without adequate resources.”

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