Bryan Newland: The racist foundation of Supreme Court rulings

For the past four decades, the Supreme Court has relied on the assumption that courts run by Indians cannot possibly match their state and federal counterparts in the administration of equal justice.

Of course, a quick scan of the headlines will reveal plenty of abuses in state courts: the Ferguson, Missouri court’s practice of treating defendants like a revenue stream; a Pennsylvania judge accepting cash in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to certain private prisons. The list goes on.

There is a flip side to the Supreme Court’s assumption: tribal courts are okay for Indians, but they are not good enough for non-Indians. At their core, these are racist assumptions.

I grew up on the Bay Mills Indian Reservation. So did my non-Indian wife. My non-Indian father lived on the Reservation for 35 years. He leased land from the Tribe. He lived in the community. He even worked for the tribal government for a spell. He has spent more time living on Indian lands than I have. According to Dollar General, the State of Oklahoma, and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, and prior Supreme Court’s decisions, our tribal court is good enough for me, but it isn’t good enough for my father.