Thursday, June 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
WESTERN SHOSHONE: Activists honor sisters
Report cites fight
for ancestral land
By SAMANTHA YOUNG
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Sisters Mary, left, and Carrie Dann of the Western Shoshone are shown January 2003 at their ranch in Crescent Valley.
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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WASHINGTON -- Rights groups Wednesday applauded Western Shoshone sisters Carrie and Mary Dann for their efforts to reclaim ancestral land in Nevada and neighboring states.
The Danns were among 12 individuals and organizations profiled in a 170-page report that supporters said highlighted abuses by the U.S. government.
"Indigenous people do not have the same rights as other people have," said Carrie Dann, who traveled from her Nevada ranch in Crescent Valley to Capitol Hill for the release of the report.
Front Line, The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, based in Dublin, Ireland, has authored reports detailing rights abuses in Brazil, Sierra Leone and Indonesia.
The decision to address cases in the United States came amid concern the federal government was limiting freedoms in the name of a war on terrorism, Deputy Director Andrew Anderson said.
The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights also issued the report.
Alongside Dann were New York attorney Lynne Stewart, who faces trial on charges of providing material support to terrorists; Brenda Henson, a lesbian from Mississippi who alleges harassment by her community; and Enrique Morones of San Diego, who alleges he was fired from his job for promoting immigrant rights.
"These are stories that need to be told," said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass. "It's important to raise the awareness level because if you don't, things are not going to change."
In the case of the Danns, the rights groups faulted the U.S. government for denying the Western Shoshone legal claims to 23.6 million acres of ancestral land in Nevada, California, Utah and Arizona.
"The United States of America is offering us money for the sacred things to us, our spiritual things, approximately 15 cents an acre," Carrie Dann said. "We don't want to sell it."
The Danns and other Western Shoshone argue the U.S. government should abide by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, which recognized the Western Shoshone and its land holdings.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against them in a 1985 case.
Nevada's congressional delegation argue the Western Shoshone have had their day in court and should accept the settlement, which including interest has accumulated to $143 million.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., have been pushing for passage of legislation that would unlock the payment, giving qualified Western Shoshone up to $30,000 apiece.
