Our relations with the various Indian tribes continue to be of a pacific character.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
What tribes are, is a very simple concept that goes back 50 million years. It's about leading and connecting people and ideas. And it's something that people have wanted forever.
I'm a member of the American Indian Movement, and I'm from the indigenous nations of the Western Hemisphere.
It is important to remember that the Pacific Ocean covers a quarter of the world's surface and that each Pacific country has its own cultural, historical and ethnic identity.
Well, the United States is a Pacific power. And we have always had a presence in the Pacific.
Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.
Too often, Indian tribes are at the mercy of the shifting political winds of State government.
As it has for America's other indigenous peoples, I believe the United States must fulfill its responsibility to Native Hawaiians.
On the Native American front, we have turned a new page in the 400-year history of the interface between the American settlers of this country and the nation's first Americans. That's included a new relationship where the sovereignty of tribes is in fact recognized.
Above all, we must avoid the pitfalls of tribalism. If we are divided among ourselves on tribal lines, we open our doors to foreign intervention and its potentially harmful consequences.
Our relations with the Indians have been governed chiefly by treaties and trade, or war and subjugation.