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.