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xviii Introduction to Indian and White Values family" unit; the "clan" or "society"; the "community";the "tribe" or "nation"; and the "spirituality" of relatedness. Although Indians are, of course, individuals, they fundamentally view themselves as members of a group. The basic unit of group emphasis is the family,and the kinship relationship of all families constitutes a community or village1 town; more than one community forms a tribal nation. (Although many tribes have traditional clans or societies, some do not.) The kinship of the people is of utmost importance. In earlier times, when life was harsh and filled with danger, living and working in a group improved chances for survival, and group values consequently superseded individualism . Democratic equality within the group made everyone feel more secure, although societal development created a different status between the gendersand within male and female groups. The need to belong to a group introduced social controls, determined behavior, shaped values, and restricted individual activity, such as accumulation of wealth, unless it benefited the people as a whole. Biologically, the people were related, but this relatedness extended beyond the concrete reality of life on earth. The people felt a relatedness with all things in a spiritual context. This philosophical relatedness provided emotional comfort, a perspective on the role of humans, and a worldview that everything is interconnected within a balanced order sanctioned by the Creator. The opening chapter in Part 2 addresses the demands created by the mainstream lifestyle on the natural resources of Indian Country. The ways in which Indian nations and their tribal leaders have responded to these demands and organized nationally is discussed in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 demonstrates how tribes and their leaders have used the courts and the law to protect their tribal resources. Chapters 10 and 11 illustrate effective tribal leadership at work, in the context of a general environmental philosophy that offers a lesson for the world. Throughout the twentieth century, Indians have found their traditional order of life challenged legally by non-Indians and the U.S. government. In fact, the continual emphasis on the non-Indian values of'the mainstream, dominant culture overshadowsthe elemental qualities of traditional Indian life, as portrayed in this book. It is important to recognize that these fundamental qualities have survived in the tribal communities against great odds, even as issues related to the exploitation of tribal resources have been lost in the intricacies of federal policies, federal-Indian law, and competition for big dollars in a capitalistic marketplace. For the white society, the Industrial Revolution unleashed the forces of free enterprise and optimistic demands that would be met at xix Introduction to Indian and White Values the expense of American Indians and their lands. Profits were to be made by taking risks and by bending the law if necessary, which was particularly easy if there was little law to bend. Even today, society is largely ruled by “the profit motive harnessed to the powerful impulses of self-interest,” as Paul Blumberg noted in The Predatory Society: Deception in the American Marketplace. Clearly, the twentieth century is the age of American economics. In the courts of the white people’s law, Indian rights regarding natural resources such as water and even the right to hunt and fish have been vigorously contested. Tribal leaders and the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT), founded in 1975, have had to fight hard to protect their natural resources and uphold their traditional philosophies. American capitalism has moved the Indian-white struggle for land and natural resources into the courts—the arena of federal-Indian law. Placing all of this in perspective, the twentieth century has brought significant destructive changes to Indian Country. Tribal leaders, Indian people, and their legal rights, traditional values, and natural resources are in jeopardy. In a final stand, the leaders and their people will have to protect their lands from the ravishing excavations of energy companies. Every day of every year, the tribes are required to defend their natural resources. The realization that American capitalism ’s encroachment upon Indians has involved fraud, exploitation, and murder would no doubt shock Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes, considered the three great economists of all time. As America has developed within the last 100 years, wealth has become a determining factor of one’s place in society. The possession of wealth also brings power, especially in politics and in community, motivating many white Americans to concentrate their energies on acquisition and destruction of obstacles...

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