Live data from Hacker News

U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

reuters.com

31–40 of 1001 posts

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#31

Can someone explain why America has reservations? From what I know, Native Indians had this land almost 2+ centuries ago. Why have a special, looks like an autonomous, region and special treatment to people that are a few generations down from when this happened? How far back into the history should we go?

These rights existing because the US government signed treaties with independent foreign nations. Those treaties are valid law until the Congress withdraws from them.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#32

This is a terrible article, it just cites the facts of the decision, teases the implication (OMG half of OK!) and explains nothing. Here's a review article about the same case from a while back which does a better job: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/11/28/half-land-... The tl;dr is that, yes, indeed, half of Oklahoma is part of land reserved for the Creek in a 1833 treaty. And almost two centuries of sub…

Do you realize the word you used is pejorative? Please be kind and show some respect.

EDIT - a note about the sarcasm - it is NOT OK to use pejorative or racist terms sarcastically.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#33

Can someone explain why America has reservations? From what I know, Native Indians had this land almost 2+ centuries ago. Why have a special, looks like an autonomous, region and special treatment to people that are a few generations down from when this happened? How far back into the history should we go?

Because we systematically killed the majority of their race, culture, land, and way of life. So we’ve given them 1% of that back as penance.

You can go as far back as you want and it’s still native Americans / native North Americans.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#34
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting. Is this the first time a major city has fallen within a reservation?

And, either way, what are the implications to non-tribe citizens and non-tribe governments?

And how do you even define a tribe citizen? Is there like an ID card? Is it a DNA test? Does Elizabeth Warren qualify?

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#35
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are going to truly treat this 1833 treaty as legally valid, does that mean that one party is entitled to compensation for 187 years of damages? Or is it more likely that we will somehow hand-wave it away and just find a way to retroactively undo the treaty?

> If we are going to truly treat this 1833 treaty as legally valid If? SCOTUS literally just said it's valid. Today. As far as what's going to happen, presumably the state legislature, congress, and the Tribal government(s) are going to come to some kind of deal. I'm no expert. I'm just reacting to the vaguely racist paranoia in the headline that has people freaking out that they'll suddenly be Ruled by Indians.

I said _treat_ it as valid. There are many valid laws we don't treat as valid (such as international ones).

It was a genuine question though; I was wondering if someone more knowledgeable than I knew how it would be handled :)

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#36

Can someone explain why America has reservations? From what I know, Native Indians had this land almost 2+ centuries ago. Why have a special, looks like an autonomous, region and special treatment to people that are a few generations down from when this happened? How far back into the history should we go?

Because in many cases we signed legally binding treaties with what were sovereign people at the time (and ostensibly are today but in practice not actually). We have either used loopholes or outright reneged on the treaties to further take their land away. I don't know if the time passed is relevant, when we pass treaties and sign agreements in general they have to mean something if we intend to be a nation of laws.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#37

Can someone explain why America has reservations? From what I know, Native Indians had this land almost 2+ centuries ago. Why have a special, looks like an autonomous, region and special treatment to people that are a few generations down from when this happened? How far back into the history should we go?

Can someone explain why America has reservations?

As I understand it, it's not "special" status and more a result of the laws that were put into place when the land was "obtained" from Native Americans. Renegading on those treaties would be no different than the government repossessing your generations-owned land because "you shouldn't get special treatment because your great grandfather bought this land for $3".

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#38
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if it's not part of OK, how does that impact OK from a representation in Congress, electoral college, e-Rate/federal funding perspective. All of those people are no longer part of the state?

States and reservations are orthogonal concepts. This has nothing to do with "taking land away from" a state, it's about which legal authority has jurisdiction within the borders. People on reservations still vote in their relevant state elections.

Am I correct in thinking that this is about authority, not (land) title over half of Oklahoma?

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#39

This is a terrible article, it just cites the facts of the decision, teases the implication (OMG half of OK!) and explains nothing. Here's a review article about the same case from a while back which does a better job: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/11/28/half-land-... The tl;dr is that, yes, indeed, half of Oklahoma is part of land reserved for the Creek in a 1833 treaty. And almost two centuries of sub…

Side note - as a part 'native' I wish that term you used would come back. Indian is now ambiguous and First Nations and Native American sound so stupid.

Re: U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation

#40

Can someone explain why America has reservations? From what I know, Native Indians had this land almost 2+ centuries ago. Why have a special, looks like an autonomous, region and special treatment to people that are a few generations down from when this happened? How far back into the history should we go?

The US government signed treaties (Legal documents) with Native American tribes. This decision rests on the fact those are, indeed, binding documents. Congress can explicitly modify these treaties, but that is an explicit legislative duty.

It really isn't that hard of a question to answer. If I legally own land, how far back in history should it go? Well, probably as far back as the entity that enforces legality says.

Post reply on HN