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In The Hoop
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2002

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

Where's The Reservation?
It appears the United States is finally taking action to correct the dismal removal policy that forced dozens of tribes to move out West in the name of progress.

But someone in the State Department must have gotten confused. Instead of helping restore land to the Eastern tribes who lost it, the federal government is "resettling" a Vietnamese tribe in North Carolina.

Not to downplay the persecution the Montagnards have apparently suffered in their home country, but does anyone actually think this is a good idea? Now, if the government threw in a reservation for this Christian tribe, we might be able to get behind it!

Consultation Conversations
Bolstered by the release of heavily redacted e-mails, memos and other documents, the press keeps beating up on the Bush administration for the pro-industry tilt in the president's national energy policy.

Not that you can blame them. But what's more scary is what might happen if the Department of Interior is forced to release documents related to the train wreck better known as the Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management (BITAM).

The Navajo Nation filed a freedom of information act request to get such documents but last time we checked the department was stalling. After hand-delivering the letter to Secretary Gale Norton, the tribe was told to resubmit its request via snail mail.

The tribe was also told there were just too many documents to return. At the same time, the department said it had no idea what the tribe was talking about.

Sounds like it's time for a lawsuit.

Now That's Publicity
After some complaints, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has decided to pull a rather interesting visitors' brochure.

Why? Because it was sponsored by Phillips Petroleum, reports Al Kamen of The Washington Post. It turns out the company used the brochure to pitch opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, ruffling some feathers in the process.

"You won't see that ever again," a Smithsonian spokesperson told Kamen. ""We decided that we didn't want to present issues in this manner to our visitors. We are not going to do this again."

Kamen also passes along a tidbit a Rocky Mountain News columnist reported about Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), who "repeatedly referred to the Afghan town of Mazar-e-Sharif as 'Omar Sharif.'"

In Your Hoop
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