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Oregon Militia Brings Battle Back to Malheur Reservation
Sarah Winnemucca isn’t a name known by many—her surname is more likely identified as a town in Nevada than the last name of one of the nineteenth century’s most prominent American Indian writers and activists. Author of Life Among the Piutes, one of the first published narratives by a Native American, she made frequent headlines for her vocal support of indigenous rights. One of her most long-lasting campaigns was to restore her people, the Northern Paiutes, to the Malheur Reservation, which was created in 1872 by the U.S. government. In January 1879, following the Bannock War, residents of the reservation were forced to travel 350 miles to the Yakama Indian Reservation after an ill-informed decision to punish the Northern Paiutes, many of whom had supported the US against the Bannocks in the War. Even the so-called “hostiles” in the war were motivated by the usual: colonialist land encroachment and resource exploitation.
Because of our collective amnesia about both Winnemucca and Malheur, I was surprised to see the site make first-page news across the country last week, when members of a militia group took over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in order to protest the US government’s possession and management of public lands in the West.
Malheur—known now mainly to birders who prize species like the Sandhill Crane—has been a contentious site before. Nineteenth-century newspaper articles that Carolyn Sorisio and I published in the collection The Newspaper Warrior: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins’s Campaign for American Indian Rights 1864-1891 (University of Nebraska Press 2015) indicate that the rightful owner of Malheur was a contested question long before the militia’s current occupation.
The Malheur Indian Reservation was established for the Northern Paiutes in 1872 by President Grant. .....
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Sarah Winnemucca isn’t a name known by many—her surname is more likely identified as a town in Nevada than the last name of one of the nineteenth century’s most prominent American Indian writers and activists. Author of Life Among the Piutes, one of the first published narratives by a Native American, she made frequent headlines for her vocal support of indigenous rights. One of her most long-lasting campaigns was to restore her people, the Northern Paiutes, to the Malheur Reservation, which was created in 1872 by the U.S. government. In January 1879, following the Bannock War, residents of the reservation were forced to travel 350 miles to the Yakama Indian Reservation after an ill-informed decision to punish the Northern Paiutes, many of whom had supported the US against the Bannocks in the War. Even the so-called “hostiles” in the war were motivated by the usual: colonialist land encroachment and resource exploitation.
Because of our collective amnesia about both Winnemucca and Malheur, I was surprised to see the site make first-page news across the country last week, when members of a militia group took over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in order to protest the US government’s possession and management of public lands in the West.
Malheur—known now mainly to birders who prize species like the Sandhill Crane—has been a contentious site before. Nineteenth-century newspaper articles that Carolyn Sorisio and I published in the collection The Newspaper Warrior: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins’s Campaign for American Indian Rights 1864-1891 (University of Nebraska Press 2015) indicate that the rightful owner of Malheur was a contested question long before the militia’s current occupation.
The Malheur Indian Reservation was established for the Northern Paiutes in 1872 by President Grant. .....
The Bizarre Bird Hat Fad That Led To Malheur’s Public Land Protections
Before Bundy, Bird Hats: Malheur’s Bizarre History
The history and law behind Utah’s bid to gain federal public lands
By BRIAN MAFFLY | The Salt Lake Tribune Jan 19 2016
In the 1780s, Maryland was worried about its neighbors as America's newly independent states pondered how to bind 13 former British colonies into a single nation.
Virginia and Pennsylvania envisioned their borders extending far into "unoccupied" land to the west, and Maryland feared that its influence would wane should those states gain large empires. It insisted these lands be reserved for future states and sold to pay down a massive war debt and fund ongoing government operations.
The historic compromise to resolve this impasse led to the principles Utah is now invoking as it builds a legal case to demand that the federal government hand over title to 31 million acres of public lands.
To persuade Maryland's leaders to sign the Articles of Confederation, other states agreed that all future states would join the union on "equal footing" with the original 13, making the young nation a federal republic of sovereigns, according to the legal analysis recently unveiled by consultants hired by the Utah Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands.
However ...........
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By BRIAN MAFFLY | The Salt Lake Tribune Jan 19 2016
In the 1780s, Maryland was worried about its neighbors as America's newly independent states pondered how to bind 13 former British colonies into a single nation.
Virginia and Pennsylvania envisioned their borders extending far into "unoccupied" land to the west, and Maryland feared that its influence would wane should those states gain large empires. It insisted these lands be reserved for future states and sold to pay down a massive war debt and fund ongoing government operations.
The historic compromise to resolve this impasse led to the principles Utah is now invoking as it builds a legal case to demand that the federal government hand over title to 31 million acres of public lands.
To persuade Maryland's leaders to sign the Articles of Confederation, other states agreed that all future states would join the union on "equal footing" with the original 13, making the young nation a federal republic of sovereigns, according to the legal analysis recently unveiled by consultants hired by the Utah Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands.
However ...........
David J. Hayes @djhayes01
#Bundymilitia don't have a legal leg to stand on. My piece in the Nat'l Law Journal:
http://www.nationallawjournal.com/commentary/id=1202747232238/Oregon-Standoff-Is-Legally-Untenable?slreturn=20160018084432 … #Malheur
Understanding the Oregon Standoff
January 19, 2016 by The Beacon by Rachel Rippetoe
... we have people arguing that these men are militia. They’re armed and they actually are damaging property. They’re saying that this should be treated as terrorism. How are we supposed to go about this as a nation?
Well, usually you think of terrorism as being either the attempt to take life or threaten to take life in order to advance a political goal. The fact that these guys are armed and won’t leave and they’re threatening that if the authorities try to force them to leave, they will meet that force, certainly takes us beyond legal protest. On the other hand, I don’t think they’re all the way to terrorism yet. It would be one thing if they were taking hostages or if they started blowing up the building, but I don’t think tearing down a fence really counts. It’s “terrorism-light,” if that. ....
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January 19, 2016 by The Beacon by Rachel Rippetoe
... we have people arguing that these men are militia. They’re armed and they actually are damaging property. They’re saying that this should be treated as terrorism. How are we supposed to go about this as a nation?
Well, usually you think of terrorism as being either the attempt to take life or threaten to take life in order to advance a political goal. The fact that these guys are armed and won’t leave and they’re threatening that if the authorities try to force them to leave, they will meet that force, certainly takes us beyond legal protest. On the other hand, I don’t think they’re all the way to terrorism yet. It would be one thing if they were taking hostages or if they started blowing up the building, but I don’t think tearing down a fence really counts. It’s “terrorism-light,” if that. ....
#RefugeRally chant went from "birds not bullies" to "throw the bums in jail" #Oregonstandoff 43 pics
#RefugeRally Event News - Rallies in Eugene, Bend, Seattle, Portland,... Noon Jan 19th
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