The Navajo Nation
An American Colony
Description:... The major portion of this report is devoted to the Anglo and American Indian testimony from the 1973 Commission on Civil Rights Hearings on Navajo economic development, employment, education, and health care. Among the major recommendations cited are those calling for: (1) legal recognition of the Navajo Tribal Council to provide for favorable tax classification and Federal Agency grant and loan qualification; (2) a system by which the Tribal Council could make decisions with greater independence from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); (3) legislation to support program development until tribal revenues are adequate to maintain both infrastructure and development investments; (4) a program to provide superior technical expertise in planning and decision making; (5) a Department of the Interior policy providing for joint enterprises on a 50/50 (tribal and contractor) basis; (6) Federal augmentation of the Navajo Revolving Credit Fund; (7) BIA enforcement of the Navajo preference policy in Federal employment; (8) creation of a tribal agency with jurisdiction over employment discrimination complaints; (9) full Navajo representation in the educational decision making process; (10) curriculum development to include Navajo cultural awareness; (11) elimination of the Navajo teacher shortage; and (12) appropriation of funds for the Indian Health Service to make Navajo health care comparable to that of the U.S. in general.
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