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Northern Arapaho Tribe criticizes anti-Indian group meeting

Monday, June 9, 2014

The Northern Arapaho Tribe criticized local officials for allowing an anti-Indian group to host a meeting in a public building.

The Citizens Equal Rights Alliance will meet at the Fremont County fairgrounds in Riverton this weekend to discuss opposition to federal Indian policies. The tribe says the group is trying to incite racial divisions.

“We are concerned about the recently publicized meetings of CERA in Riverton,” Chairman Darrell O’Neal wrote in a letter to local officials. “Apparently the County and City have agreed to provide these public locations for use by CERA. ‘Citizen Sovereignty’ and other references in the CERA flyers are thinly disguised efforts to incite distrust and racial division in our communities.”

The tribe believes Riverton remains a part of the Wind River Reservation but local officials disagree. The issue has generated controversy because the Environmental Protection Agency has included the city in reservation in approving the tribe's treatment as state application under the Clean Air Act.

The boundary is being litigated in federal court. Meanwhile, the state's Congressional delegation is planning to introduce a bill that says the reservation was "diminished" by federal law in 1905.

The bill appeared to be on the fast track this spring but it has yet be introduced in the 113th Congress.

Get the Story:
Northern Arapaho Tribe upset with upcoming event in Riverton with alleged anti-Indian group (County 10 6/6)
Wind River Indian Reservation dispute attracts group tribe calls "anti-Indian" (AP 6/7)