Virginia's Tribes Try Once Again

Getting legislation recognizing six of Virginia’s historic American Indian tribes through Congress has been a personal goal of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine ever since his days as Virginia’s governor. Today, he may be closer than he’s ever been in the past.

It’s been a long, hard slog for the Monacan Indian Nation and the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock and Nansemond tribes during the past decades in their quest to gain federal recognition. One hurdle after another has popped up in their paths going back decades.

In the 1920s and 1930s, state officials were determined to erase any ethnic or racial history of the tribes. Dr. Walter Plecker, head of the Bureau of Vital Statistics for more than 30 years, successfully lobbied the General Assembly for legislation that would classify all people as either “white” or “colored” on their birth records, effectively wiping out the tribes’ ethnic identity.

To make matters even worse, many Virginia courthouses, repositories of key historical documents dating to the colony’s first days, were destroyed during the Civil War. Then, the tribes’ own history with Virginia settlers created problems for their recognition efforts. Because their ancestors made peace with English colonists early in the 17th century, there were no official treaties with the government of the United States, as there are with tribes in western America.

And without documents and official records, the tribes were at a distinct disadvantage in the recognition process of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, leaving congressional recognition as the only viable alternative.

In Congress itself, politicians with little or no knowledge of the Virginia tribes created roadblocks.

First, there were staunch opponents of Indian gambling — such as now-retired Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia — who were assuaged when the tribes’ formally disavowed any intention to open casinos on their lands. Then, there were senators, such as now-retired Tom Coburn of Oklahoma who just wanted all recognition efforts to go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs process rather than taking up Congress’ time.

The House of Representatives has always been a staunch supporter of Virginia’s tribes, but the Senate has been the problem. Up until now.

Kaine, Sen. Mark Warner and others have shepherded recognition legislation out of the Indian Affairs Committee to the full U.S. Senate, overcoming the opposition of the panel’s chairman, John Barrasso of Wyoming, who belives all recognition should go through the BIA.

Now that the legislation is on the floor of the full Senate, Kaine and his allies are working hard to forestall any senator (such as Barrasso) from stalling it and to bring the bill to a vote. Were the bill to reach that point, its passage is highly likely. Given past strong support in the House, the odds of the bill going to President Obama for his signature would be great.

It’s time to right this grave injustice of history; indeed, it’s past time. Monacan Chief Sharon Bryant put it best in an interview with The News & Advance: “We believe federal recognition is our civil right and a matter of human justice.”

We wholeheartedly concur and urge the U.S. Senate to move as expeditiously as possible on this matter.

###