I do not think that the Tohono O’odham have been adequately compensated for their losses. I think the main question you pose of “what is fair” is the key to this question. When you take someone’s land and force them to adapt to a new way of life and take advantage of their struggles as a society, this is not fair. I guess this goes more towards an ethical standpoint because “legally” everything that happened was permitted. I think you have to look at who created these laws though to fully understand how unfair it really is to the Native American people who were on that land long before we came. We created laws that were friendly to expansion and enforced our laws and rules without taking into account their laws and rules. We just always assume ours are right and just.

I do feel that we have tried to make up for some of the mistreatment that has happened by giving back land to them and the formation of reservations. Again someone came in behind and tried to take advantage of water rights and telling them that they have rights but know that they do not have the funds to fully take advantage or use these rights. Now we are acting like we are helping by signing a water right agreement, which says we will help you out, by giving you water but in return you have to waive all future water rights and claims and related damages. Again taking advantage of a situation, in the end, we are the ones who come out ahead in that deal.

I don’t think the Tohono O’odham people had been treated truly fair after the Gadsden Purchase.  Their land got divided and they had to work and relocate in order to keep their people and their traditions together.  Luckily they were able to continue to go to school, and have the right to practice their religious beliefs, along with having access to more than one type of church.

From an ethical standpoint I think it is unfair for outside sources to demand that they need to move around to suit whatever the outside source needs.  By treating a group of people this way it sends a message that they are not important, and all of the work they put into establishing a place to live is disposable.

Looking at the legalities that were put into effect for the Tohono O’odham Nation it was disappointing to see that in the 1980’s they had to discover a legal decision that was made in 1908 called the Winters Doctrine that gave them rights to much of the ground water in their area.  This Doctrine should have been overlooked and found later on, the country should have been working to make sure that not only the Tohono O’odham Nation, but all reservations, were receiving all of their rights.  Once they had discovered that they weren’t receiving all of the things that were legally promised to them the president at the time, Jimmy Carter, encouraged them to use less water because the water was needed elsewhere.

The Tohono O’odham Nation some positive things going for them, but in the grand scheme of things were not treated correctly and both a legal and ethical level.  They should be treated as citizens, and should have access to everything that they were promised.

https://www.engineeringthepast.com/1247-2/

This was a difficult assignment in the sense that it is hard to decide what is fair for this tribe. I believe what would be fair is for them to get back all the land that was their’s to begin with. I don’t think that they had records and paper ownership of those lands back then, so it makes it difficult to know exactly what should be their’s.

The Tohono O’Odham are fighting for their rights as a tribe and standing their ground. In one of the articles it stated that they do not accept federal authority and openly reject the idea that the state of Arizona has any right to make decisions for their tribe. I feel they have a right to be angry and to push for what is rightfully theirs, but I’m sure this makes it more difficult from a state and federal standpoint to work with. In the prior appropriation doctrine it states that “water rights are given to whoever first puts water to beneficial use”. I believe based on this doctrine it would be Native Americans who lived and farmed the land first who deserve the water rights.

In the water rights agreement they were awarded 37,000 acres of water annually from the Central Arizona Project. That seems like a lot of water! I feel that this agreement is about compromise and trying to meet in the middle. I think the government wants to work with tribes and are trying to make it fair. I don’t know that the Native Americans will ever feel that we can fully restore what was taken from them originally. But I do believe that most tribes and government (whether its local or federal) are doing their best to work together.