BY TERRY BECKWITH
for Buffalo’s Fire

I grew up during the Termination Era of the 1950s. The 1950s style termination was wide open. Congress told the tribes they were going to terminate the federal tribal relationship. Congressional hearings were held on the reservation. House Concurrent Resolution No. 108 passed Aug. 1, 1953 declaring an end to the federal supervision over tribes. After the Klamath Tribe was terminated the “Northwest Termination Team” travelled to the Colville Reservation. They met up with Lucy Covington and the fight was on. Colville successfully fought direct termination. All of Indian Country was impacted by termination.

2012 Termination
Termination today is quietly taking place behind the scenes. Termination today is directed at the individual landowner and not so much the tribe. While the 1950s termination was mostly Eisenhower Administration policy, current termination policies are being implemented by the Obama Administration. This is a major disappointment to those of us that placed our hopes on fairness in this administration.

These short, cold, rainy and sometimes snowy days of winter always make me think about our treaties. It was during this time of year more than 150 years ago that the U. S. government negotiated most of its treaties with tribes here in western Washington.

The federal government wanted our homeland. They viewed us as sovereign nations with independent authority to govern our people, lands and resources. We were treated the same as any free nation in the world because that’s what we were then and still are today.

Through the treaties we reserved the things that were most important to us as a people. Among them was the right to fish, hunt and gather shellfish and other traditional foods to feed ourselves and preserve our
cultures.