I was wondering if someone could educate me on the relationship between Native American business and the federal government. Specifically, I live near Wa-He-Lut school and Frank's Landing Smoke Shop. The smoke shop is run by my neighbors. Early this summer, the ATF raided the smoke shop and confiscated cigarettes and fireworks. They opened up soon afterwards, but now they're closed again, this time for several weeks, supposedly opening again next week. I hesitate to ask my neighbor's directly because I only know them peripherally and I don't want to be nosy or ask anything too personal. I know they said their yearly, late-June pow-wow was canceled for lack of funds (I'm guessing it relates to the raid, but it could have been a decision made earlier, I didn't press further.)
For a while they had cardboard signs up saying, "Illegal Raid by ATF" and "Call your Congressman". I'd like to be supportive and do that, but honestly I am not sure what to say because I am not at all familiar with the law. The local news is no help. The ATF not only raided the smoke shop, they came in my neighbor's house, with her granddaughter there, guns drawn, and all the coverage the Olympian gave it was a four-sentence news brief about some cigarettes being confiscated based on the ATF's own news release.
They've operated that business for at least the ten years we've lived here, and there are businesses like it all over the country. What laws are they breaking, and if so, why are they choosing to enforce them now? (All I can find online refers to the Jenkins Act, which if I understand it correctly, should only apply to online sales where the cigarettes are shipped across state lines.)
Amy and other interested community members,
I did a google search for "frank's landing smoke shop" and came up with one decent result related to the recent raid.
I found this piece by Daisy Ouye through Works in Progress ( http://www.olywip.org/wip/node/592 ).
Regardless of whether the raid was timed to coincide with the finalization of a shellfish harvest agreement or not, it's troubling how the feds are conducting "operation chain smoker." I think a valid point is made about Clinton's executive order pertaining to the federal government's relations with tribal governments.
Amy, could you ask around and find out more information? If signs are being put up requesting we contact our representatives, it sounds to me like the community is asking for help. They want us to know what happened. Can you get more details or contact information for someone who knows what's going on and then update the email list with what you find?
~ charles
_________________________________________________________________________________
Tribal smoke shops are one of the battlegrounds
that pit the sovereignty of Native American nations
against the jurisdiction of the states. Under trust
responsbility, the federal government is supposed to
serve as the guardian of tribes' interests (tribes predate
states) but in many cases--such as this one--
he feds side with state jusrisdiction and taxation.
Selling cigarettes not carrying a state tax stamp is not a criminal act--
it is an act of sovereignty that should be worked out
in the courts, not at the end of an M-16 butt.
Congress has permitted tribes small legal loopholes to
develop their economies, since they ahve little control
over their reservation land base. Cigarettes and casinos
are two of these openings. Even if you hate smoking and
gambling, that's not the point. The states want
to have these practices, but only have non-Indians
profit from them. The cigarettes from state and
federal raids are usually resold. Police raids elsewhere in
the country (notably Rhode Island) have also been violent.
http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/008161.asp
They damn Indians if they're poor,
then damn them if they try to pull out of poverty--
and offer higher employment to their neighbors too.
It is a little like European Jews, who were denied
access to land ownership and agriculture, but
were then condemned for moneylending.
Last year with Kristina Ackley, I taught a program
on anti-Indian movements
http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/antiindianmovements
and researched anti-Indianism.
Most articles on smoke shops focus only on one
state at a time, but this article helps
put the raids in a larger context:
http://www.articlerealm.com/article2391.html
Zoltan
Dr. Zoltan Grossman
Member of the Faculty in Geography /
Native American & World Indigenous Peoples Studies
The Evergreen State College
Lab 1, Room 3012, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA 98505 USA
Office: (360) 867-6153
E-mail: grossmaz@evergreen.edu
Website: http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz
No comments:
Post a Comment