'Ending Native American Reservations' So Offensive Even Montana Republican Stands Down

Rarely is the question asked: Is our Republicans learning? Haha, probably not.

We always like to recognize those moments when Republicans do the Right Thing, because positive reinforcement is very important to helping people change their ways. So we'll give Montana state Sen. Keith Regier at least a pat on the head, if not an entire cookie, for having the good sense to drop his plans to introduce a resolution calling on Congress to eliminate Native American reservations and replace them with something else. It might have something to do with the fact that an Associated Press story about his suggestion went viral last week for its WTF-ness, compounded by condemnation by the Montana Lege's American Indian Caucus and no end of ridicule on social media.

As the AP reported last week, t he resolution,

riddled with racial stereotypes, is unlikely to pass and would have no practical effect if it did. But it’s causing tensions to surface at the Republican-controlled Montana Legislature that kicked off this week.

Native American lawmakers in the Montana Lege weren't just offended by the resolution's great big pile of stereotypes, which we'll discuss in a moment, but also by the fact that they had to even think about such a stupid proposal at all, as the AP reported, because there are real issues they want to address instead, like

extending the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force for another two years, creating a grant program to train community-based groups to search for missing people and encouraging the state to determine the economic impact of reservations on the state’s economy.

“I hate spending energy and time on this kind of stuff because I feel like it sidetracks us,” state Sen. Shane Morigeau, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said Thursday. “But at the same time, it clearly signals to me that we have a lot of educational work to do in this state.”

The flatly racist resolution came a couple weeks after a would-be member of the state House, Drew Zinecker, said at a meeting of Lewis and Clark County Republicans that maybe Native Americans should lose their right to vote in Montana elections, Just Asking, "If the reservations want to say they are independent countries … but they want a lot of handouts, why are we counting their ballots?"

Regier told the AP that the resolution had actually been written by Mark Agather, a rightwing activist from Kalispell, near the Flathead Reservation in the western part of the state. The AP notes that Agather "didn’t respond to inquiries from The Associated Press, including on whether he sought input from tribal members."

Ya think? Among the very thoughtful racist claims in the draft resolution, we're told these WHEREASes:

WHEREAS, the Indian reservation system has clearly failed to positively enhance the lives and well being of most of the Indians or the other citizens of the State of Montana; and

WHEREAS, for most of our Indian citizens, the Indian reservation system has produced the negative effects of drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, welfare dependence, poverty, and substandard educational achievements, resulting in lack of opportunity for their future well-being and happiness

The draft also claims — contrary to the Supreme Court since roughly forever — that reservations are in fact illegal because they are "based entirely on race," although in mere reality, federal law recognizes tribal membership as a political, not a racial status. 

It also says that the reservation system

is a policy conferring "sovereign nation" status to individual tribes inside of the borders of the United States, a policy that is, again, diametrically opposed to the Constitution of the United States

Agather's draft does at least note that federal courts have consistently upheld the reservation system, but that those decisions "have produced confusion, acrimony, and animosity among the general population in the past and at present," and will surely do so in the future, so can't Congress just replace them with something that eliminates tribal sovereignty, thereby saving Native America from itself.

State Sen. Morigeau told The Missoulian that the draft resolution seemed like a "political stunt" to him:

You know, attack the Indians to muster excitement from your base. And if that’s the case, it’s really sad. … Unfortunately, in this political game, people just want attention. It’s disappointing, but we expected this.

In response, Morigeau posted the draft to Facebook and said that he would be "bringing a bill forward this session to require Indian Education for all for legislators." He didn't specify whether the classes would include giving Republican members of the Lege a good dope slap any time they repeated stereotypes.

On Monday, Regier said he would not introduce the draft resolution after all, noting that he'd "had a productive conversation with Sen. Shane Morigeau about it," so hooray for eventually listening to a Native American colleague, although we're not sure how much Regier really understood, since he also said that the draft "was certainly interpreted by some of the press and the public in a way that wasn’t intended."

OK, we aren't even sure about that pat on the head now.

[ AP / The Missoulian / Indian Country Today / Bozeman Daily Chronicle / Draft Resolution LC 1964 ]

Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please give $5 or $10 a month so we can keep you up to date on all the weirdness out there. It's a LOT!

 Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .