Oklahoma maintains that the Potawatomi owe state
tax on any sales of cigarettes to non-tribal members
on their reservation. The Supreme Court agrees but
also holds that because of the sovereign status of the
Potawatomi, Oklahoma cannot sue the tribe for
the amount owed. The decision, therefore, in prac-
tice is a victory for the Potawatomi: Although the
Court upholds Oklahoma’s right to this tax income,
it gives the state no means to force the Indians to
pay.
Tribal leaders are asked to use reservation
land to store nuclear waste.
At the annual conference of the National Congress
of American Indians (see entry for JUNE 13 TO 20,
1961), David Leroy, the head of the U.S. Office of
Nuclear Waste, encourages Indian tribal leaders to
allow the United States to store nuclear waste on
their reservations. Leroy offers a $100,000 grant to
any tribe that agrees to consider housing waste for
40 years. For tribes prepared to pursue waste storage,
the United States promises another $200,000 for
study of appropriate sites and $2.8 million once ne-
gotiations are finalized.
Over the objections of many tribal members
and others concerned about the possible health
risks, 20 tribes will apply for the $100,000 grants
within six months. Several leaders, however, will be
forced to return the money by pressure from their
people.
February
The InterTribal Bison Cooperative
is founded.
Hosted by the Native American Fish and Wildlife
Society, representatives of 19 tribes come together
in the Black Hills of South Dakota to find ways in
which tribes can work with one another to increase
the buffalo population. From this meeting emerges
the InterTribal Bison Cooperative, a nonprofit or-
ganization that offers Indian tribes information and
the funds needed to maintain buffalo herds and
develops educational programs to teach the impor-
tance of the buffalo in Indian cultures.
April 4The 1990 census shows a growing Indian
population.
The U.S. Census Bureau releases its 1990 figures,
which set the population of Indians and Alaskan
Natives at almost two million. The number repre-
sents a 40 percent increase since 1980. Although
the Indian population in the United States is clearly
growing, much of the increase is attributed to the
diminishing stigma on Indianness, which previ-
ously had prevented many people from identifying
themselves as Indians. (See also entry for MARCH
2001.)June 6Canada’s Studio One promotes Native
filmmaking.
Founded by the National Film Board of Canada,
Studio One in Edmonton, Alberta, is founded as
the first Native-operated studio for film produc-
tion. The studio, dedicated to producing films that
counter stereotypes about Canada’s Natives, offers
aspiring filmmakers instruction and access to pro-
duction facilities.SummerIndians protest against the Atlanta Braves
at the World Series.
During the World Series between the Atlanta Braves
and Minnesota Twins, protests are held at the stadi-
ums of both teams to denounce Atlanta’s team name
and the “tomahawk chop” performed by its fans. To
show support for the Braves, fans make a chopping
motion with their hands to the beat of a drum—a
gesture that the protesters criticize as belittling to
Indian peoples and cultures. Over their objections,
many spectators still make a modified version of the
“tomahawk chop”—among them former President
Jimmy Carter and the wife of the Atlanta Braves’s
owner Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, who had been a ce-
lebrity advocate for Indian rights in the 1960s and
1970s.