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'A slap in the face for Indian Country':Tribes decry Trump administration's delay in $8 billion in
Under fire in Indian Country, Congress and the courts, the Trump administration is finally releasing $8 billion in coronavirus relief funds promised to tribal governments over a month ago.
But rather than distribute the full $8 billion to communities that have been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of the Treasury only plans to send $4.8 billion to Indian nations at this time. And the federal agency is doing so using completely different criteria than previously announced, when tribal leaders were required to submit certifications to the U.S. government under threat of criminal prosecution.
"We are disappointed by the continued defense of a fundamentally incorrect position put forward by this administration -- one that is resulting in a significant sum being held back, as well as the use of a flawed and murky distribution process," President Kirk Francis of the United South and Eastern Tribes said in a statement, "but unfortunately, Indian Country is not completely surprised."
"We are all too familiar with the myriad of complications and challenges that plague our relationship with the United States," said Francis who also serves as President of the Penobscot Nation, based in Maine.
But rather than distribute the full $8 billion to communities that have been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of the Treasury only plans to send $4.8 billion to Indian nations at this time. And the federal agency is doing so using completely different criteria than previously announced, when tribal leaders were required to submit certifications to the U.S. government under threat of criminal prosecution.
"We are disappointed by the continued defense of a fundamentally incorrect position put forward by this administration -- one that is resulting in a significant sum being held back, as well as the use of a flawed and murky distribution process," President Kirk Francis of the United South and Eastern Tribes said in a statement, "but unfortunately, Indian Country is not completely surprised."
"We are all too familiar with the myriad of complications and challenges that plague our relationship with the United States," said Francis who also serves as President of the Penobscot Nation, based in Maine.
https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/05/06/a-slap-in-the-face-for-indian-country-tr.asp
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It was a gesture born of suffering and kindness carried over generations.
In 1847, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma sent $170 to Ireland during the Great Famine — a time of mass starvation on the island. More than 170 years later, Ireland has returned the favor, helping to raise more than $2 million for the Navajo and Hopi nations, which have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Donors said they felt like it was a chance to pay the good deed forward.
“I saw that Irish people were starting to donate and share the story of Choctaw Nation and the historical symmetry really affected me," said Paul Hayes, a native of Tipperary, Ireland, who runs Beachhut, a technology public relations firm said in an email. "Sending the actual amount of $170 personally after 170 or so years felt like the right tribute across the ages."
The Navajo Nation reported more than 2,700 coronavirus cases and 70 deaths as of Monday, a rate of infection that makes it one of the worst outbreaks in the United States. During a visit to Arizona on Tuesday President Trump said the Navajo Nation would receive $600 million in federal funding.
The sentiment runs deep in Ireland where the memory of the Great Potato Famine — which claimed more than one million lives by the time it ended in 1852 — endures to this day. And that’s why strangers were inspired to make a symbolic gesture of goodwill toward people living across an ocean, 5,000 miles away. The donations sent on GoFundMe include messages of hope and gratitude from people in Ireland.
"The care shown generations ago was not and will not be forgotten," said Jonathan Legge, CEO of &Open, a bespoke gift-giving company based in Dublin.
“An overdue debt repaid on behalf of our ancestors to your ancestors. Stay strong,” read a note attached to one $30 donation.
More at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/173-years-170-why-irish-people-are-donating-help-native-n1200811
