Fulfilling the Promise

United South and Eastern Tribes president Brian Patterson says the 565 federally recognized Indian tribes in the US must challenge the plenary power of Congress in order to fulfill the promise of the nation-to-nation relationship embedded in the US Constitution and Indian treaties. Backed by the National Congress of American Indians, USET plans to make sovereignty and self-determination genuine, ending the two centuries of federal trust mismanagement of Indian lands and resources that has forced the tribes to spend enormous amounts on lawyers and litigation. As the Bear Clan representative to the Oneida Indian Nation council, Patterson says, “This current game is not our game. At some point we have to pause and figure out if this is the game we want to be playing.”