Red Lake hits new low on human
rights
The
issuance of the removal
order by Red Lake tribal chairman Bobby Whitefeather and the actual
removal of
Clara NiiSka, the widow of Wub-e-ke-niew, at a probate hearing last
Tuesday has
to be a new low for the Red Lake Tribal Court. It couldn't have come at
a worse
time for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Sandra Gardebring and her
efforts to
require the Minnesota state court system to both recognize and enforce
tribal
court rulings. Can you imagine a more politicized and unjust judicial
system in
which all you need do to prevail is to get the tribal chairman to issue
a
removal order and have your opponent removed from the reservation?
Let's hope
that the more rational members of the state court/tribal court
committee will
see this for what it really is and insist that tribal courts must be
separated
from the control of the tribal councils before there will be any
further
dialogue about their recognition. Whitefeather must really be getting
desperate
for votes to take such drastic action as to deny a person her day in
court. It
shows really poor judgment on his part and brings more ridicule upon
the Red
Lake judicial system. Actions such as this are the reasons that his
administration has been such a disaster for the Red Lake reservation.
If ever
the reservation is to have any meaningful economic development, the
court must
be independent so that investments can be protected from the arbitrary
and
capricious actions of tribal politicians. With the blatant abuse of
rights such
as Whitefeather's removal order of Clara NiiSka, it isn't hard to
understand
the current effort to end tribal sovereign immunity and the need to
bring the
Bill of Rights to Indian country. Whitefeather's action should further
this
effort in both regards. In any event, this latest egregious abuse of
authority
should warrant the prompt attention of the U.S. Civil Rights
Commission. wjl
