Based on the question “Have the Tohono O’odham been adequately compensated?”

While i think it is terrible what has happened and the trials and tribulations that the Tohono O’odham people have been forced to go through. The world is not a fair place, everybody needs to work and fight for their own needs.  I think the federal government has done everything it can to try and repay the water rights to the Tohono O’odham people. The government has even given them access to more water than they currently need. Plus the water will be provided without cost to the Tohono O’odham people, and they were given a $15 million trust fund to develop their own water resources(infrastructure). They also have been given 4,400 square miles of land. Which is 3,100 more acres than the entire state of Rhode Island. The fact that the Tohono O’odham people have decided to not develop their land into more is up to them, and this is exactly the principles that America was founded on. But they have been given the resources to help themselves. Its as the old saying goes “you can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink”.  They are effectively there own country within the US.

Like i said i think it is terrible the things they have gone through, but i feel the government has done what it can for the Native americans.

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.