Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

WASHINGTON - President Clinton's celebrating the 150th birthday of the Department of Interior (DOI), is a celebration of over 150 years of Indian oppression. Clintons statement, "Perhaps more than any, the Interior Department really embodies the history of our country," is an understatement.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), now a department within the DOI, was at first a department within the War Department. The first commissioner of Indian Affairs, now known as the BIA, was Thomas McKenny, appointed without congressional sanction in 1824. When the Indian Removal Act of 1834 was signed by President Andrew Jackson Congress created the Office of Indian Affairs.

The creation of the Interior Department, is said to have played a major role in the sculpturing of America, but the problem is the Indigenous People of this land were not included in the sculpture. As millions of acres of land was being parceled out for logging, ranching, mining, and railroads, the Indigenous People already occupying the land were relocated, simply run off, and worse.

Referring to a visit he made to the Grand Canyon over 30 years ago, Clinton said, "I never got over it", and added that protection of such natural resources is at the heart of the Interior Department's history of land stewardship.

The Indigenous People of this land have never gotten over the deliberate destruction of the Bison (Buffalo), which was and is in the Interior Department's land stewardship history. The Buffalo were at one time placed on the extinction list under the DOI's land stewardship., however, this natural heritage gratefully ended up on the endangered species list instead.

The deliberate destruction of this natural resource was done for two reasons. One was to make more room for ranchers to raise the bovine that had been imported to this land, and the other was to help take care of the Indian problem. Since the Indigenous People of this land relied on the Buffalo for for their very existence, the extermination of the Buffalo also meant the extermination of the Indian problem.

The battle continues today to save the Yellowstone Buffalo which are again being senselessly slaughtered, under the stewardship of a branch of the federal government known as the DOI.

The DOI/BIA is also repeating history, in their role as sculptors of America, by forcibly removing Dineh (Navajo) People from their homelands. Part of this removal includes the confiscation of their livestock, which of course is the People's means of existence as the Buffalo were and still are. This removal, sanctioned by the signature of the president, will open space for the Peabody Mining Co. to enable them to continue freely mine for coal, no matter what the cost to the land.

At one time it was clear that the DOI's primary concern was to help ranchers, timber companies, and mining companies at any cost, and except for the clarity of the Interiors primary purpose, nothing has changed in over 150 years. The only differences now are some of the department names have been changed and the departments primary concerns are not so clear.

"In a real sense, the history of the Interior Department mirrors the history of American expansion and western settlement," the Clinton appointed Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt said and also stated, "it also dramatizes America's evolving relationship with the land."

The forced relocation of the Dineh (Navajo) People of Big Mountain today does dramatize and mirror the infamous "Trail of Tears". Indian People, of tribes referred to as "the five civilized tribes" were forced from their home lands in the east to be relocated in what was to be "Indian Country". The Murals; covering the walls of the DOI headquarters, of settlers rushing to Oklahoma, after oil was discovered, tell only a part of the story. This time instead of oil the prize is coal.

There is also an ongoing investigation being conducted concerning the DOI/BIA's missing billions of dollars. Mr. Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin have been held in contempt of court, over their delay in producing documents concerning missing funds, in a legal suit against the federal government. Babbitt's solution to the missing fund problem, his department has a history of having, is the allocation of more tax payer dollars.

The fact that billions of dollars in tax payer money is missing seems an odd reason for celebration, as is the continued mishandling or mismanagement of tax payer's monies.

The celebration was also used by the president to blast and threaten Republican's, accusing them of "wasting precious time battling over senseless anti-environmental riders," and threatening with the statement, "I'm going to veto anyway". Congress people from both parties have introduced bills to boost spending for land preservation or at least under the guise of land preservation.

Ironically the Great American Indian Dancers were also a token part of this celebration.