I agree with Joe. I'm reposting below what I wrote on the Foundation-list.
Direct repost, except I added the parenthetical statement in the first sentence for this
list, because I didn't think to put it in the post to foundation-l.
________________________
I have to tell you, as a former employee of an organization that dealt with Indian
Sovereignty on a daily basis (and, incidentally, someone who's spent more time in
Chief Smith's office than I care to admit - phb), I'm loathe to recommend that
Wikipedia get involved in the recognized/non-recognized battle. Particularly given that
tripes are having recognition stripped and given even today - just google "Tribe
Sovereignty stripped" for some interesting reading.
There are too many uncertainties in this area, and frankly, I don't want to be the one
(or suggest that anyone else is) to involve us in tribal policies. I don't want to
call the Chief/Chairman/Chief Executive of any of these tribes and say we're going to
alter their article and this is why, and I think it's not good policy for us to get in
the middle of this one.
Federal recognition does not equal validity. Until the BIA is straightened out, and the
Department of the Interior, and ancient treaties, this is a field full of landmines, and I
think we're best to stay the heck off of it.
Philippe
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Szilagyi
To: wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 2:47 PM
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] [repost] Native American Tribes Policy
Reposting this mail from Jeffrey to the Foundation list, since it seems
specifically relevant to the english Wikipedia. This was a rejected policy
that would have given more weight and authority apparently to people/editors
'from' Federally recognized tribes, giving additional weight to the US
Government as a source on these matters. Reposting after I noticed the edit
war on the [[Cherokee]] article, where Jeffrey and another editor both
apparently violated 3rr over related things.
I'm not sure why any matter beyond BLP issues should be treated any
differently, content wise. The United States government has no authority as
far as I know over content in articles, so long as it's not illegal (i.e.,
child pornography and so forth). As I mentioned to Jeff on the other list,
it's not a United States encyclopedia, and the "support" of the tribal
nations is no more important than the support of, say, the Jews, Muslims,
Hungarians, Somalis, or the Tamil. In other words, whether the leaders or
representatives of the Cherokee nation (or whomever) have a problem with the
existence of the Southern Cherokee Nation, it has no relevance on the
existance of an article on Wikipedia about them.
Regards,
Joe
http://www.joeszilagyi.com
On 5/15/07, Jeffrey V. Merkey <jmerkey(a)wolfmountaingroup.com> wrote:
I started a policy which was subsequently rejected by Wikiality based
concensus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Native_American_Tribes
The basic problem here is that non-Federally recognized groups claiming
to be Indian Tribes can expose the Foundation and Wikipedia to
considerable liability and negative publicity. By way of example, when
James Mooney was indicted in Utah for impersonating an Indian not only
was he charged, so was the person running his websites and posting the
false information. Mooney was indicted for 19 first degree felony
counts for operating a CEE (Continuing Criminal Enterprise) for the
purposes of distributing peyote. The Southern Cherokee Nation (which is
not a real tribe) under currently operating illegal riverboat casinos
and using their claims of being a Federally recognized tribe to justify
their activities.
Wikipedia needs to exclude these fake tribe from the project. Any of
these tribes can bring legal action against the Foundation, as can the
Federal Government if fake groups are allowed to claim they are indian
tribes, then use Wikipedia as a basis to claim credibility and break the
law. This can have two possible outcomes. The genuine tribes (who
have Federal support and Federal funding) can withdraw financial support
from the project and/or Wikipedia can be exposed to negative publicity
and loss of public trust by the legitimate tribes, as well as being
exposed to Federal Prosecution if these groups use the project to
violate US laws.
I am of Cherokee, German, and English ancestry, but I do not claim I am
a citizen of Germany or the UK., even though I am of these bloodlines as
well as Cherokee. The same applies to Native Tribes recognized by the
US Government. These tribes are sovereign governments, and members are
citizens. For someone who claims Indian ancestry to set themselves up
as a tribe purports claims they are citizens of a non-recgnized
sovereign. It would be the same as for me to claim I am a German or UK
citizen just because I have ancestry from these groups, which would be a
false claim. The same applies to Indian Nations.
I will be unable to garner support from the tribes to publicly support
Wikipedia from other tribes if such a policy does not exist, since any
fake group can claim they are an indian tribe when they are not. Please
read the text of the policy, and the Foundation needs to make a decision
about this matter. Tribes which are not Federally recognized in the US
are NOT indian tribes, and numerous legal liabilities are created if we
allow these groups to post false information into the project.
Jeff
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