The Associated Press got information from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs that Indian tribes will buy back about 840,000 acres of land, equivalent to the entire area of Rhode Island. According to the report, Indians will also keep some cemeteries and funeral ceremonies, and they will also use the purchased land for farming and closing hillsides to facilitate afforestation, in an effort to make Indian tribes self-sufficient.
These Indian tribes that bought land include Winnebago and Boni. Winnebago has repurchased 700 acres of land in eastern Nebraska from the Federation in the past five years, and Boni has repurchased 65,438+0,600 acres of land in Oklahoma. Although the land owned by these Indians is not restricted by most state laws, it must be bound by federal laws.
Three other tribes bought the land around Black Mountain in South Dakota to prevent developers from using the land to damage the local environment. In addition, 17 Indian tribes from Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and Oklahoma also use Black Mountain for religious ceremonies.
Emily White, a member of the South Dakota organization "RosebudSioux", said that the behavior of Indian tribes to buy back land shows that they are trying to preserve their traditional culture and lifestyle. White said: "All these are interrelated. Owning land will also link land with culture. " .
Rodney Bordeaux, the chairman of the organization, also said that Indian tribes should not take back these lands by buying them because they were originally illegally occupied. But he also admitted that if the land was not recovered through purchase, it would not be protected.
Gary Garrison, a spokesman for the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, said that according to the agreement between the federal government and Indian tribes in the18th century, no one knows how much land the federal government should return to Indian tribes, because the federal government has been revising the terms of the agreement for centuries, and they should give priority to land distribution to pioneers, railway companies and telecommunications companies.
In addition, US President Barack Obama said that the federal government will spend $2 billion to help Indian tribes acquire land lost centuries ago, and the federal government will also help tribes regain control of these lands. (Wang Kai)