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[Introduction To] The Hank Adams Reader: An Exemplary Native Activist And The Unleashing Of Indigenous Sovereignty, David E. Wilkins (Editor)

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Vine Deloria once said that Hank Adams was the most important Native American in the country. From his treaty rights work to his mediation of disputes between AIM and the US government in the 1970s, Adams shaped modern Native activism. For the first time, Adams' writings are collected, evidencing his unparalleled role in Indian affairs and beyond.

[Introduction To] Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty And Federal Law, David E. Wilkins, K. Tsianina Lomawaima

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In the early 1970s, the federal government began recognizing self-determination for American Indian nations. As sovereign entities, Indian nations have been able to establish policies concerning health care, education, religious freedom, law enforcement, gaming, and taxation. Yet these gains have not gone unchallenged. Starting in the late 1980s, states have tried to regulate and profit from casino gambling on Indian lands. Treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather remain hotly contested, and traditional religious practices have been denied protection. Tribal courts struggle with state and federal courts for jurisdiction. David E. Wilkins and K. Tsianina Lomawaima discuss how the political …

[Introduction To] American Indian Sovereignty And The U.S. Supreme Court: The Masking Of Justice, David E. Wilkins

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"Like the miner's canary, the Indian marks the shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere and our treatment of Indians, even more than our treatment of other minorities, reflects the rise and fall in our democratic faith, wrote Felix S. Cohen, an early expert in Indian legal affairs.

In this book, David Wilkins charts the "fall in our democratic faith" through fifteen landmark cases in which the Supreme Court significantly curtailed Indian rights. He offers compelling evidence that Supreme Court justices selectively used precedents and facts, both historical and contemporary, to arrive at decisions that have …