This was a difficult assignment in the sense that it is hard to decide what is fair for this tribe. I believe what would be fair is for them to get back all the land that was their’s to begin with. I don’t think that they had records and paper ownership of those lands back then, so it makes it difficult to know exactly what should be their’s.
The Tohono O’Odham are fighting for their rights as a tribe and standing their ground. In one of the articles it stated that they do not accept federal authority and openly reject the idea that the state of Arizona has any right to make decisions for their tribe. I feel they have a right to be angry and to push for what is rightfully theirs, but I’m sure this makes it more difficult from a state and federal standpoint to work with. In the prior appropriation doctrine it states that “water rights are given to whoever first puts water to beneficial use”. I believe based on this doctrine it would be Native Americans who lived and farmed the land first who deserve the water rights.
In the water rights agreement they were awarded 37,000 acres of water annually from the Central Arizona Project. That seems like a lot of water! I feel that this agreement is about compromise and trying to meet in the middle. I think the government wants to work with tribes and are trying to make it fair. I don’t know that the Native Americans will ever feel that we can fully restore what was taken from them originally. But I do believe that most tribes and government (whether its local or federal) are doing their best to work together.
mylesk says
I completely agree that the “fair” thing to do would be to give them back all of they land that we took from them. This of course is not an option as the damage has already been done. We do need to learn how to work together and promote what is best for everybody.
kylemitsunaga says
That is a good point about giving back their land in the first place. Although like what was said about it’s too late and not reasonable anymore. I believe more should have been during during this time to help them out. It seems like there was more talk than action when they were trying to make it “fair” for the Tohono O’odham. All in all good post I enjoyed reading it.