Please forgive me for not replying sooner. I do not have a computer so I am not daily able to access this forum. My views as much as I am able to discern , like yours is based on the Gospel which Jesus / Yeshua proclaimed. I think our Lord and Savior answered better than I . Who made me a judge and a divider ? I think everyone is a caretaker at best. Those who sold lands and put money at the apostles feet understood that their inheritance was eternal . If they did retain "possession" of it , it was to be used for the glory of God which means to demonstrate the goodness of He who gave us His Son . The God I worship through His Son , is not worried about " owning " for He created all things . I am trying to be a disciple of Yeshua . He was concerned that His name was being blasphemed by BELIEVERS who did not demonstrate His charity and had become covetous and storing up treasures on earth , having none in heaven . Jesus/Yeshua warned against this attitude . In the beginning God ..Not in the beginning U.S.A. so there is no US land . We are members of a Kingdom I believe ..Did not Jesus/ Yeshua preach a Kingdom ? A Kingdom has a King who rules and owns all I believe.
I am not just a Christian and a Jew. I am many other things besides. One of the things I am is American, and I feel good about that. I am also 1/16 Native American, tribe unknown. I don't go around claiming to be an NDN, just of distant descent. I've always felt bad that we had no record of my ancestor's tribe or her Indian name. But back then it was very common for an NDN to cut ties with their tribe when they became baptized and assimilated into American culture.I was not raised in a home that had any consciousness about NDNs.
My love for certain tribes and NDN attitudes towards life took hold through my avid reading in junior high. I simply began adopting certain ways of viewing the world, especially the natural world. I also learned a lot participating in an online Circle that was designed to bring together NDNs with trustworthy white folks who wanted to know them better. Mostly I just listened a lot. LOL that's hard for me.
One time I drove a third of the way across the country to visit the four corners area--my goal was to see the four sacred mountains of the Dinee. I felt hugely unsatisfied with visiting tourist places and looking at all the stuff for sale. You can't buy what I wanted. I finally took a turn off the main highway and drove for over an hour on what was hardly a road. WAY off in the distance, I saw an authentic hogan. It was enough for me to know that there were still those keeping the old ways. I didn't drive closer to it, but kept on going down the road -- I figured the last thing I wanted to do was be another white person pestering them.
Getting back to the thread...
Although many of the tribes had no concept of private ownership of land, they certainly understood communal ownership of the land. Territorial boundaries between tribes were endlessly fought over, as various tribes migrated. The Dinee (Navajo) came down from Canada. The Lakota (Sioux) were once an eastern woodlands tribe that encroached upon the Crow.
When you have land, which is the same thing as saying when you have resources, there has to be an understanding over who has the right to that land / those resources. Without such an understanding, there is going to be violence.
There are currently many treaties signed by Native American tribal leaders with the US Government. The ones signed through trickery should be thrown out. The ones signed in earnestness should be kept, or formally renegotiated. For example, the Lakota received the Black Hills as part of its present abiding treaty BUT in actuality the Black Hills were forcibly taken from them when gold was discovered. IMHO, the Lakota should be able to appeal to the Supreme court for the return of those lands, basically suing the Federal Government for failing to uphold its terms. This was done several decades ago with the tribes in Maine.
The point I'm making is that even the Native Americans make a claim to the land, the fact that they have a more communal culture notwithstanding.
And on a side note -- I hope someday the Black Hills are returned to their natural primal state. The US had no right to create the art on Mt Rushmore. And whose nutty idea was it to honor Crazy Horse by using explosives in the Black Hills to carve his image? Crazy Horse is turning over in his grave.
