WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is failing to provide adequate health
care, law enforcement and education to American Indians, and other
government agencies need to do more to enforce civil rights policies, two
reports from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights say.
The commission said American Indians rank near the bottom of almost every
social, health and economic indicator. They have more than twice the
average poverty rate and unemployment rate and lag in high school and
college graduation rates. In addition, they have the shortest life
expectancy and suffer from more diseases.
``Native Americans have suffered too long from inattention and halfhearted
efforts, and the crisis in Indian country must be addressed with the
urgency it demands,'' the report said. ``The federal government must take
immediate steps to resolve the disparate living conditions that plague
Indian country.''
Various treaties and legislation have given the federal government a
financial obligation to protect American Indian lands and provide social
services, which in large part are not being done.
``I think its a good and long-overdue report, disturbing in what it calls
attention to,'' said Russell Redenbaugh, a commissioner on the commission,
which is an independent, bipartisan agency that monitors federal civil
rights enforcement. ``We as a commission have neglected this topic for too
long.''
The report recommends immediate creation of a task force to study the
problem and recommend solutions in time for next year's budget process.
It also suggests agencies that provide services to American Indians should
do annual assessments of unmet needs and should focus its efforts on
building roads, water services, electrical grids and communications systems
in Indian country.
In a letter to the commission, Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of
the National Congress of American Indians, the nation's largest Indian
group, called the report the most comprehensive analysis of the needs in
Indian country in a decade.
``Without adequate funding for vital programs, empowerment of tribal
institutions, and a genuine commitment on the part of the federal
government to the policy of self-determination, tribal governments are
ill-equipped to provide for their citizens, and their citizens, in turn,
are denied equal access to resources most other citizens enjoy,'' Johnson
said.
The commission's other report analyzed the civil rights enforcement
organizations at the Agriculture Department, Interior Department and Small
Business Administration and found them lacking, with little progress since
the commission recommended a series of changes in 1996.
At the Agriculture Department, civil rights functions remain scattered; the
Interior Department lacks a budget for civil rights enforcement; and the
Small Business Administration lacks adequate resources for enforcement of
civil rights laws, the report said.
The Environmental Protection Agency's program was called a model for others
to emulate. EPA has created several civil rights working groups since 1996,
made several policy changes and created a task force to deal with a backlog
of discrimination complaints.
Cruz Reynoso, vice chairman of the commission, said he feels that the
Agriculture Department needs special attention, because ``they have such
far-flung programs'' that affect millions of people.
On the Net:
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: http://www.usccr.gov/