Covering Indian Country Blog

Personal Stories

Complexity and Chaos

Trying to understand the relationship between the United States government and American Indian tribes is simply mind numbing. I’ve never covered international affairs, but I’m left pondering how tribal/federal relations compare in complexity to the U-S relationship with other sovereign nations.

I wonder, do other sovereign nations who receive aid from the United States jump through as many hoops as the nations within our own borders?

The founding fathers considered tribes sovereign nations, yet today they need to successfully complete a detailed approval process in order to be recognized by the federal government.

The examples of complexity and chaos seem endless. Perhaps the most prominent is the trust issue. Just when the historical or contemporary process of trust responsibility begins to make sense, there’s another caveat or disclaimer which sets off cognitive dissonance. It seems the same with issue after issue. It appears decades of congressional tinkering and agency rulemaking have built a system that is amazing in it’s sheer complexity. 

So far this week our dialogue about these issues has answered a few questions, but it’s raised many more.

I’ve reported on Indian Country for more than 15 years. Still, I often just don’t get it.

Can I succinctly and accurately explain to listeners issues that I’m
not sure I’ll ever master?

I’m not sure. I’ll keep trying.

Or maybe there’s an opening on the international desk somewhere.

--Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio

Posted on 03.09.05 at 1:47 AM by Victor Merina