Cunning Ruse

Retired law professor Peter D’Errico writes in Indian Country Today that the Obama administration, while pretending to support American Indians, is undermining their rights under international law to control their own affairs. By playing games with language regarding the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, President Obama and Secretary Clinton may think they’ve pulled off a clever public relations coup, but they’re only fooling themselves. As D’Errico remarks, “The Declaration affirms the central importance of the aspirations of indigenous peoples to control their own destinies, while U.S. law is opposed to real self-determination for indigenous peoples.”