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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

A True American Zero
"I really fail to understand why we don't need this kind of study," Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) said yesterday as the House debated the Commission on Native American Policy.

The consensus on the matter, of course, was no. Indians are being studied to death -- literally -- lawmakers pointed out before eventually stripping H.R.5093, the Department of Interior's budget bill, of the commission.

But Johnson, and fellow Congressmen Rob Simmons (R) and Chris Shays (R), should study their own history and they just might see why they ran into opposition. As evidenced by The New London Day, some in the Nutmeg State have skewed values.

Connecticut-born U.S. Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, the paper declares, is a "forgotten hero." Just what was this man known for?

Killing Indians. To death. Literally.

Some of his many accomplishments in this area include a massacre of Pomo ancestors in California. As an Army captain, Lyons in 1850 led a group of White volunteers to Clear Lake where his crew proceeded to slaughter more than 130 who had the misfortune of being in their way.

Caught Somewhere in Time
In The Hoop knows we weren't the only ones who noticed that the only lawmakers who supported the Commission on Native American Policy, a 14-member panel that gave heavy consideration to state and local governments, represented states with no federally-recognized tribes or states where Indian gaming has been a financial success.

What we didn't realize was that chief anti-gambler Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) knows what he's talking about. "I worked for five years in the Department of the Interior under Secretary [Rogers C.B.] Morton," he boasted yesterday.

And when was Morton in power, you might ask? 1971-1975. You remember, that was when White men decided what was good for Native people and what was bad and went ahead and did the bad anyway.

Judging by his insistence that his proposal really "helps" Indian Country, Wolf forgot to turn in his letter of resignation before he left DOI.

In Your Hoop
What's your favorite policy that "helped" Indian Country? Email In the Hoop and let us know.

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