Waiting For Recognition

A number of tribes remain on the waiting list for federal recognition. Some want to legally secure their sovereign rights and access to trust land status, while others hope to gain federal emergency assistance or the power to take on civil lawsuits against corporate polluters. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce hears from some tribes on the cusp of federal recognition about what it could mean for them with Professor Kerri Malloy (Yurok/Karuk), assistant professor at San Jose University; Rachel Cushman (Chinook Indian Nation), secretary and treasurer for the Chinook Indian Nation; and Patty Ferguson-Bohnee (Pointe-au-Chien), director of the Indian legal program and clinical professor of Law at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.