Published: June 9, 2020

 We Have PowerIn the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd and the important rising awareness of the plight of our Black brothers and sisters, we are cognizant of ways in which people of color must reclaim policing in their communities to ensure that this cycle of violence, racism, and death be permanently eradicated.

It occurs to us that Indian Tribes provide a prescient set of experiences to share, as we have sought to restore jurisdiction to adequately police our own communities for decades. We know that community policing and prosecution is critical to accountability, peace, and culturally connected justice and healing.

The Supreme Court unfortunately has, without rational legal basis, issued several decisions limiting tribal communities’ ability to police and prosecute crimes against our people, particularly by non-Indians.

In 1978, the Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to Indian Country by deciding in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe that Tribes do not have the right to prosecute non-Indian offenders for crimes committed against tribal members (including, in this case, a crime against a tribal police officer). One of the main concerns the court raised in Oliphant is likely to arise in the conversation around community policing in America, namely, that communities lack authority to prosecute because of due process concerns. Specifically, the common theme of reasoning in Oliphant and other cases is a litany of hand-wringing about “due process concerns” that supersede the right of a community to set its own norms for accountability, peace, and justice. The unstated but prevalent theme is the racially-charged assumption that Tribes, or communities of color, will be unwilling or unable to treat white Americans with fairness as enshrined in the Constitution.

The Oliphant decision, its racially biased worldview, and the landscape of patchwork jurisdiction resulting therefrom have created a confusing, tragic, and racially-oriented gap in policing and prosecution for crimes in tribal communities. Congress has only restored tribal jurisdiction in very limited ways, and the legal inability of Tribes to provide community policing results in the tragic circumstances of violent crime in Indian Country that is an ongoing reality in our communities.

Unfortunately, racial profiling and police brutality is also a common experience for Native Americans today, and, as in every community, constitutes grave human rights violations. Alongside the crisis Indian Country faces in violent crime and the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women (#MMIW), it is long past time to address restoration of tribal jurisdiction and policing of our own communities as to all offenders. We, like communities of color across the nation, have culturally-appropriate solutions and commitment to make our communities safe and just for all. Traditional and current tribal justice systems utilize peacemaking practices, grounded in community and ceremony, to resolve disputes in a way that rebuilds relationships and restores balance to the community. This restorative justice model is an alternative to incarceration and facilitates healing for all.

In this moment, we have called, in solidarity with the families of those murdered by police killings and alongside 600 other organizations, the United Nations to convene a special session to address this ongoing human rights crisis in America. We also call for full restoration of tribal court and police jurisdiction in Indian Country, and unilateral action in every community to end the unfortunate narrative that policing is only effective when communities are not empowered to set their own norms for accountability, peace, and justice. 

We offer our experience in solidarity, and to provide support for the conversations that are long overdue. We stand with Black Lives Matter, the Black community, and Black Americans and commit to help in any way we can to amplify and support your voice and provide assistance to move institutions and America for much-needed change.

Image art by Lucie Skjefte via Illuminative.