Peter d'Errico: On new and honest relations with tribal nations

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was the latest foreign leader to address a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress on March 3, 2015. The purpose of his visit was to oppose negotiations between the United States and Iran regarding Iran's nuclear processing capability. The visit was mired in partisan politics, evidenced by the fact that the invitation to speak was issued unilaterally by the Speaker of the House, bypassing diplomatic protocol. The outcome of the visit cannot yet be discerned.

King Kalākaua of Hawaii was the first foreign leader to address a Joint Session of Congress on December 18, 1874. The purpose of his visit was to negotiate a reciprocal trade treaty with the United States. The king reached an agreement with President Ulysses Grant and a treaty was signed Jan. 30, 1875, allowing Hawaiian sugar and rice to be admitted into the United States tax-free.

Between these two events was the October 1972 request by the American Indian Movement (AIM) to address a Joint Session of Congress to present the concerns of American Indian Nations. AIM's request was contained in a 20 Point Position Paper, titled "An Indian Manifesto," issued as part of the Trail of Broken Treaties march across the continent to Washington, D.C. In January 1973, the White House rejected all 20 points. AIM never got to address Congress.

Vine Deloria, Jr., in his book, Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties, said the White House rejected AIM's request "without much consideration of the value of the proposal for contemporary times and in the context of the world situation today."