Report: US fails in funding obligation to Native Americans

By FELICIA FONSECA
December 20, 2018

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A new report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights finds that funding levels for Native American tribes are woefully inadequate despite the federal government’s responsibility to provide for education, public safety, health care and other services under treaties, laws and other acts.

The report made public Thursday is a follow-up to a 2003 report that described the shortfalls as a quiet crisis. Funding has remained mostly flat since then, leaving tribes unable to tackle an epidemic of suicide, high dropout rates, violence against women and climate change, for example, the report said.

Commission Chairwoman Catherine Lhamon said she believes it boils down to a lack of political will on the part of the U.S. government, though not all commissioners agreed.

“I am ashamed that this is the way we as a nation treat any among us,” Lhamon told The Associated Press. “I hope that people who live with this every day and for whom this is and has been a set of experiences and expectations will recognize themselves in this, will feel heard and honored and see a path forward consistent with what they are owed.”

The independent, bipartisan commission was created under the 1957 Civil Rights Act to inform Congress about civil rights matters.

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