The Final Step for Recognition of State's Tribes

When Virginia Rep. Jim Moran, D-8th, introduced legislation to give Virginia’s Indian tribes recognition by the federal government in 1999, he knew it would be an uphill fight. But he had no idea that nine years later, the measure would still be up for debate.

Through perseverance, however, he is getting closer. Moran’s bill to give six tribes federal recognition reached further than it ever has last month when the Senate Indian Affairs Committee heard testimony on the measure. He and other supporters of the legislation, including Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., knew time was running out in the current Congress, but they were able to take some comfort in the fact that success is near for the bill they have been lobbying for since 1999.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, said Virginia tribes could see favorable action within six months on the bill. As reported by Media General News Service from Washington, Dorgan called the treatment of Virginia’s American Indian tribes “criminal by today’s standards.”

Federal recognition is important because it would make the people of the tribes eligible for federal grants in such areas as education, health care, housing and other areas that could improve their livelihoods. More than 560 other tribes around the nation have been recognized by the federal government, but the Virginia tribes have run into road blocks at every turn.

Following the recent Senate committee hearing, Chief Stephen Adkins of the Chickahominy Tribe said, “I leave here with hope. I’m very optimistic the right thing is going to happen.”

He and the other tribes, including the Monacan Nation based in Amherst County, have every reason to be hopeful. The recognition, as Gov. Timothy M. Kaine told the Senate committee, is a matter of “fundamental justice.”

The House passed the bill in May 2007. The principal problem in the House had been the specter of casino gambling that has been raised by foes of the proposal. They argued the state would be powerless to prevent the tribes from setting up casinos on their tribal lands.

Leaders of the Virginia tribes, who represent more than 3,000 people, said they were not interested in establishing casino gambling on their properties. The measure that finally passed bars them from pursuing gambling.

Dorgan offered hope for final passage of the bill next year, saying it should come in the first quarter of the year. He added that Webb had been “irritatingly aggressive” in urging the committee to hold a hearing on the bill.

Sometimes, that’s what it takes to get action in the often long and drawn out legislative process.

The six tribes seeking federal recognition were recognized in 1983 by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The other four tribes are the Eastern Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock and Nansemond.

Federal recognition is long overdue. Virginia’s tribes should not have to wait much longer than next spring for the legislation they so richly deserve.