Feb 22, 2013 - GOP Sen. Grassley Appears Uneducated, Crosses Line into Jackassery -Chase Iron Eyes

Every once in a while someone will make an idiotic statement of epic proportions. Sen. Grassley has recently been reported to say (by thinkprogress.org) that Native Americans via Tribal Courts could not provide a fair trial to White people who violate women on reservations. This is the most recent twist in the ongoing VAWA journey of passage, which has only the House of Reps to clear before being presented to Obama for execution. That day must come.

Grassley claims that allowing White Men to be tried in Indian Country is unconstitutional because in the U.S. Constitution citizens are guaranteed a right to a jury of their peers. If a White man commits a crime in Indian Country he is in a community which a jury of his peers could be drawn from, just the same as Indians committing crimes and being subjected to all-White juries everyday like clockwork in State Courts nationwide. The U.S. Constitution guarantees U.S. Citizens a right to a trial by a fair cross section of the community where the crime was committed.

This comment by Sen. Grassley is misinformed to put it nicely, arrogant and naively racist, or knowingly racist, according to his white-washed upbringing within the institutions of America, legal, educational, and otherwise, to put it truthfully. Oliphant v. Saquamish is RACIST! If I commit crimes in your jurisdiction I expect to be subject to your jurisdiction. If you commit crimes in our jurisdiction you should, respectfully and honorably in ExParte Crow Dog fashion (Crow Dog disagreed with the United States punishing him for murder but showed up to face the consequences because he was an honorable man), expect to be subject to ours. When you make statements such as these Mr. Grassley we are going to blow you out of the water.

Alex White Plume (Eyapaha of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council) has suggested reinstituting a whipman style of Lakota justice when women are raped, beaten or violated on the reservation. This included that woman’s male relatives being authorized to publicly whip the offender. A version of this practice already happens when male relatives seek out the offender to exact justice only not necessarily in a public whipping; however this practice is not reported -it is practical so it is practiced. However, I am of the opinion that any coward that attacks a woman should be accorded due process before any such punishment, be it whipping, fines or jail. Tribes should assert this right to protect our women and children. We don’t have to whip people, but lets teach them respect -lawfully.

Additionally bad White or other men should be brought to swift justice under our Treaties which provide for such occasions, such as the 1868 Treaty of the Great Sioux Nation, which provides “If bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.” 15 Stats., 635

Does that not say to you that if bad men commit offense against Indians that the Indians can make proof to the United States of such offense arguably by trying them in our Courts with due process provided for. I am a lawyer and I know many Tribal Courts that operate with the help of many Law-Trained (as in Graduated from ABA accredited law schools and/or licensed to practice in State and Federal and Tribal Jurisdictions) that operate and serve the interests of justice in far better substance and form than the Courts of the United States.

I don’t mind conservative politics at all but The GOP is dead; there is truly no country for old White unevolving men.

heres a link thinkprogress.org http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/21/1619501/chuck-grassley-native-americans/?mobile=wt