While there is no question the statements which have been made by National Basketball League (NBA) Los Angles Clipper’s owner Donald Sterling are beyond reprehensible, it seems highly ironic that the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) would make such comments when member tribes of the organization, such as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, created a wholesale, heavily funded campaign targeting the forced removal of their own tribal members based on their race (i.e. Cherokee Freedmen). Especially in light of the fact that the NCAI took zero steps to condemn or place sanctions on the tribe for the racist propaganda campaign they undertook. In fact, NCAI came out supporting the tribe’s “sovereignty” to do so.

It seems there is a continued willingness of tribes and tribal organizations to shy away from real issues directly impacting Indian Country such as internal racial discrimination (…think of not only the Five Civilized Tribes Freedmen prohibitions, but also the Office of Federal Acknowledgement’s (OFA) continued stoppage of federal recognition petitions for tribes in the South and East who are perceived or do have some Black ancestry), disenrollment (…think of the over 50 tribes in the country who have disenrolled their own tribal members over the last dozen years) , and sacred site desecration (...think of the Poarch Creek’s building of a casino on the ceremonial Hickory Grounds which contains burials). The same unwillingness to go after blatant, non-justifiable, horrific issues such as these is correspondingly set aside for pursuits which are much safer in nature, such as the NBA’s Donald Sterling, the National Football League’s (NFL) Washington mascot, etc.

USET, like NCAI, has fallen into the “safe” issue trap. While being opposed to many identifiable historic “non-federal” tribes in the East and South (many of whom USET’s own affiliated tribal members attended federal Indian boarding schools with), they have had no problem going all the way down to Colombia to assist the indigenous people there. USET’s Cultural and Heritage Committee Chair, Robert Thrower, an enrolled member of the USET affiliated Poarch Creek, stated in regards to USET’s work with the indigenous people of Colombia, “USET has set a precedent for not only Native rights but human rights in general.”

Really? So is USET saying that the negative way people treat their own neighbors is not to be judged in the public arena when one is purportedly assisting people on a global scale?